Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-lnqnp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-24T18:45:58.188Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

IBM's Tiny Peripheral: Finland and the Tensions of Transnationality

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 March 2018

Petri Paju  and
Thomas Haigh
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

IBM Finland, a small national subsidiary, was at once a Finnish business and an interface to much larger networks of technological innovation and knowledge sharing. We contextualize its development within a nested set of institutions and identities: IBM's Nordic operations, its European business, and its World Trade Corporation. Its development was profoundly shaped by Finland's unique geopolitical position during the Cold War. IBM's internal structures anticipated and paralleled those of the European Union, with mechanisms for international cooperation, for the creation of transnational identities, and for the resolution and regulation of disputes between national subsidiaries.

Keywords

multinational corporationsubsidiarycomputer industryIBM World Trade CorporationNordic countriesFinland
Type
Research Article
Information
Business History Review , Volume 92 , Issue 1 , Spring 2018 , pp. 3 - 28
Copyright
Copyright © The President and Fellows of Harvard College 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 For a helpful bibliography focused on IBM in the United States, see appendix in Yost, Jeff, ed., The IBM Century: Creating the IT Revolution (Washington, D.C., 2011)Google Scholar.

2 Overviews of IBM's history tend to say little or nothing about its non-U.S. operations, for example, Pugh, Emerson W., Building IBM: Shaping an Industry and its Technologies (Cambridge, Mass., 1994)Google Scholar; Maney, Kevin, The Maverick and His Machine: Thomas Watson Sr. and the Making of IBM (Hoboken, N.J., 2003)Google Scholar; and Tedlow, Richard S., The Watson Dynasty: The Fiery Reign and Troubled Legacy of IBM's Founding Father and Son (New York, 2003)Google Scholar. Thomas Watson Jr. himself gave a somewhat more balanced picture in Watson, Thomas Jr. and Petre, Peter, Father, Son & Co.: My Life at IBM and Beyond (New York, 1990)Google Scholar. The most detailed treatment of IBM World Trade remains Foy, Nancy, The Sun Never Sets on IBM: The Culture and Folklore of IBM World Trade (New York, 1975)Google Scholar.

3 Schlombs, Corinna, “Engineering International Expansion: IBM and Remington Rand in European Computer Markets,” IEEE Annals of the History of Computing 30 (Oct.–Dec. 2008): 42–58Google Scholar; Cortada, James W., The Digital Flood: The Diffusion of Information Technology across the U.S., Europe, and Asia (Oxford, 2012)Google Scholar.

4 Medina, Eden, “Big Blue in the Bottomless Pit: The Early Years of IBM Chile,” IEEE Annals of the History of Computing 30 (Oct.–Dec. 2008): 26–41CrossRefGoogle Scholar. See also the study of IBM's Scottish operations in Pavlos Dimitratos, Liouka, Ioanna, Ross, Duncan, and Young, Stephen, “The Multinational Enterprise and Subsidiary Evolution: Scotland since 1945,” Business History 51 (May 2009): 401–25Google Scholar.

5 Kranakis, Eda, “Politics, Business, and European Information Technology Policy from the Treaty of Rome to Unidata, 1958–1975,” in Information Technology Policy: An International History, ed. Coopey, Richard (Oxford, 2004), 209–46Google Scholar.

6 Misa, Thomas J. and Schot, Johan, “Inventing Europe: Technology and the Hidden Integration of Europe,” History and Technology 21 (Mar. 2005): 1–19, esp. 9–10CrossRefGoogle Scholar. See also van der Vleuten, Erik, “Toward a Transnational History of Technology: Meanings, Promises, Pitfalls,” Technology and Culture 49 (Oct. 2008): 974–94Google Scholar; and Haigh, Thomas, “Computing the American Way: Contextualizing the Early U.S. Computer Industry,” IEEE Annals of the History of Computing 32 (Apr.–June 2010): 8–20CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

7 Bouquet, Cyril and Birkinshaw, Julian, “Weight versus Voice: How Foreign Subsidiaries Gain Attention from Corporate Headquarters,” Academy of Management Journal 51 (June 2008): 577–601Google Scholar.

8 Andersson, Ulf and Forsgren, Mats, “In Search of Centre of Excellence: Network Embeddedness and Subsidiary Roles in Multinational Corporations,” Management International Review 40 (4th quarter, 2000): 329–50Google Scholar. The relevant literature is reviewed in Kostova, Tatiana, Marano, Valentina, and Tallman, Stephen, “Headquarters—Subsidiary Relationships in MNCs: Fifty Years of Evolving Research,” Journal of World Business 51 (Jan. 2016): 176–84CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

9 Jones, Geoffrey, “Control, Performance, and Knowledge Transfers in Large Multinationals: Unilever in the United States, 1945–1980,” Business History Review 76 (Autumn 2002): 435–78CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

10 Caprar, Dan V., “Foreign Locals: A Cautionary Tale on the Culture of MNC Local Employees,” Journal of International Business Studies 42 (June/July 2011): 608–68CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Ferner, Anthony and Quintanilla, Javier, “Multinationals, National Business Systems and HRM: The Enduring Influence of National Identity or a Process of ‘Anglo-Saxonization,’” International Journal of Human Resource Management 9, no. 4 (1998): 710–31CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

11 Blaszczyk, Regina Lee, “Synthetics for the Shah: DuPont and the Challenges to Multinationals in 1970s Iran,” Enterprise & Society 9 (Dec. 2008): 670–723CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Merrett, David, “Sugar and Copper: Postcolonial Experiences of Australian Multinationals,” Business History Review 81 (Summer 2007): 213–36Google Scholar.

12 Godley, Andrew, “Selling the Sewing Machine around the World: Singer's International Marketing Strategies, 1850–1920,” Enterprise & Society 7 (June 2006): 266–314CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

13 “Oy” and “Ab” mean Inc. (incorporated, joint-stock company); the abbreviations are the same in Finnish (osakeyhtiö) and in Swedish (aktiebolag), respectively. About the Systema Company, see Paju, Petri, “Carl Robert Mannerheim Teknologiayrittäjänä” [Carl Robert Mannerheim as a technology entrepreneur], Tekniikan Waiheita 28, no. 1 (2010): 16–27Google Scholar.

14 Einar Dickman, “Några data beträffande förhållandena på hålkorts-området i Finland före 1937” [Some facts about conditions in the punched card field in Finland prior to 1937], manuscript, 1961–1962, IBM Finland Archive, Helsinki (hereafter IFA).

15 For comparison, see Heide, Lars, Punched-Card Systems and the Early Information Explosion, 1880–1945 (Baltimore, 2009), esp. 152CrossRefGoogle Scholar. See also Dickman, Klas, “Uudet tuotteet – tuttu ympäristö” [New products – familiar environment], in Tietotekniikan alkuvuodet Suomessa [The first years of information technology in Finland], ed. Tienari, Martti (Helsinki, 1993), 316–39, esp. 328Google Scholar.

16 Nerheim, Gunnar and Nordvik, Helge W., Ikke bara maskiner. Historien om IBM i Norge 1935–1985 [Not just machines: History of IBM in Norway 1935–1985] (Oslo, 1986), 26–27Google Scholar; Anttila, Pentti, Big Blue Suomessa. O. y. International Business Machines A. b. 1936–1996 [Big Blue in Finland: O.y. International Business Machines A.b. 1936–1996] (Salo, Finland, 1997), 11–12Google Scholar; Paju, Petri, “IBM Manufacturing in the Nordic Countries,” in History of Nordic Computing 3, ed. Impagliazzo, John, Lundin, Per, and Wangler, Benkt (Heidelberg, 2011), 215–27Google Scholar.

17 Hjerppe, Riitta, “Monikansallisten yritysten tulo Suomeen ennen toista maailmansotaa” [The entering of multinational corporations into Finland before the Second World War], Kansantaloudellinen aikakauskirja 100, no. 3 (2004): 216–38Google Scholar.

18 Tepora, Tuomas and Roselius, Aapo, eds., The Finnish Civil War 1918: History, Memory, Legacy (Leiden, 2014)Google Scholar.

19 Matti Klinge, Kaksi Suomea [Two Finlands] (Helsinki, 1982); Petri Paju, “Ilmarisen Suomi” ja sen tekijät. Matematiikkakonekomitea ja tietokoneen rakentaminen kansallisena kysymyksenä 1950-luvulla [Building “Ilmarinen's Finland”: The Committee for Mathematical Machines and computer construction as a national project in the 1950s] (Turku, 2008), 298–99.

20 Fellman, Susanna, Uppkomsten av en direktörsprofession: Industriledarnas utbildning och karriär i Finland 1900–1975 [The birth of a managers’ profession: Industrial leaders’ education and career in Finland 1900–1975] (Helsinki, 2000), esp. 61Google Scholar.

21 Anttila, Big Blue Suomessa, 12. This happened previously in 1937.

22 R. Hurup to J. E. Holt, Re: Stock Holders Meeting, Helsingfors, 29 Apr. 1938, IBM Archives, Somers, N.Y. (hereafter IBMA); “Kansainvälisen kauppakamarin uusi puheenjohtaja” [The new chairman of the International Chamber of Commerce], Uusi Suomi, 4 July 1937; “Kansainvälisen kauppakamarin puheenjohtaja vierailulle Suomeen” [The new chairman of the International Chamber of Commerce to visit Finland], Kauppalehti 20 May 1938. See also Helsingin Sanomat, 21 May 1938. Clippings from major newspapers, IFA. Enckell was chairman of IBM Finland from 1938 until his death in 1959. On Watson in the ICC, see Maney, Maverick and His Machine, 203–23.

23 Dickman, “Uudet tuotteet,” 320–21. Cf. Anttila, Big Blue Suomessa, according to which it was often difficult to get that (or any) help. Anttila had access to the original correspondence, which is now missing.

24 Cortada, James W., Before the Computer: IBM, NCR, Burroughs, and Remington Rand and the Industry They Created 1865–1956 (Princeton, 1993), esp. 126Google Scholar; Campbell-Kelly, Martin and Aspray, William, Computer: A History of the Information Machine (New York, 1996), 49Google Scholar.

25 Paju, “IBM Manufacturing,” 217–18.

26 Paju, Petri and Haigh, Thomas, “IBM Rebuilds Europe: The Curious Case of the Transnational Typewriter,” Enterprise & Society 17 (June 2016): 265–300Google Scholar.

27 Paju, Petri and Durnová, Helena, “Computing Close to the Iron Curtain: Inter/national Computing Practices in Czechoslovakia and Finland, 1945–1970,” Comparative Technology Transfer and Society 7 (Dec. 2009): 303–22, esp. 308CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

28 Anttila, Big Blue Suomessa, 36–37. The year 1952 was unprofitable for IBM Finland. “Kotimaiset tulokset vuodesta 1937 lähtien tukkuhintaindeksin mukaan (1937–1985)” [Domestic revenues and profits from 1937 according to wholesale price index], IFA.

29 Löytty, Reijo and Mäenpää, Tapio, eds., Bisneksiä Ihmisiä Muistumia. Kaskuja ja tarinoita työstä ja työtovereista Suomen IBM:ssä 1936–2000 [Businesses, people and recollections: Anecdotes and stories of work and colleagues at IBM Finland, 1936–2000], 2nd ed. (Kouvola, 2006), 29Google Scholar.

30 Anttila, Big Blue Suomessa, 18–19, 21, 24, 34; Dickman, “Några data beträffande förhållandena,” 6–9. World Trade Division was the IBM organization in 1947, right before WTC.

31 Dagbok, a travel log, from 1947 to 1958, 40–42, IFA.

32 Dickman, “Några data beträffande förhållandena,” 6–9.

33 Winberg, Are, “Suomen IBM:n harjoittama alihankintatoiminta” [Subcontracting activity coordinated by IBM Finland], IBM Katsaus 15, no. 3 (1976): 48–49Google Scholar; Paju and Haigh, “IBM Rebuilds Europe.”

34 Anttila, Big Blue Suomessa, 41 (based on a letter from 1954).

35 Ulf Enbom was the name of the company's founder and manager; “Uusi muoto suomalaista yritteliäisyyttä” [A new form of Finnish enterprise], Reikäkortti 4, no. 1 (1958): 11–12Google Scholar.

36 Sten Enbom, phone interview by Petri Paju, 10 Apr. 2010 and 12 Apr. 2010. Ulf Enbom's company was closed in the early 1970s, if not before.

37 “Tietoa kortilla – jos nauhoillakin. Suomen IBM:n ATK-tarvikeosasto, IRD, Information Records Division” [Information on card – and also on tapes. IBM Finland's Information Records Division], IBM Katsaus 10, no. 2 (1971): 42–45Google Scholar.

38 See Paju, “IBM Manufacturing.”

39 Dickman, “Uudet tuotteet,” 339.

40 Anttila, Big Blue Suomessa, 35–36, 42. In addition, IBM had many more customers buying its electric typewriters and time equipment.

41 The coordinating organization was the State Computer Centre (in Finnish, Valtion tietokonekeskus). Prior to this, there had been other attempts at coordination, the latest being a data-processing committee in 1960–1961. Paju, Petri, “Computer Industry as a National Task: The Finnish Computer Project and the Question of State Involvement in the 1970s,” in History of Nordic Computing 2, ed. Impagliazzo, John, Järvi, Timo, and Paju, Petri (Berlin, 2009), 171–84, esp. 179CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

42 See for instance Forsberg, Tuomas and Pesu, Matti, “The ‘Finlandisation’ of Finland: The Ideal Type, the Historical Model, and the Lessons Learnt,” Diplomacy & Statecraft 27, no. 3 (2016): 473–95Google Scholar.

43 Cartels provided another avenue for international engagement via business; Finland was an active member of a paper products cartel during this era. Jensen-Eriksen, Niklas, “Industrial Diplomacy and Economic Integration: The Origins of All-European Paper Cartels, 1959–72,” Journal of Contemporary History 46 (Jan. 2011): 179–202Google Scholar.

44 Savio, Juhani, “Rinnakkaiseloa (1954)” [Coexistence, 1954], in Bisneksiä Ihmisiä Muistumia II [Businesses, people and recollections II], ed. Löytty, Reijo (Kouvola, 2006), 18–20Google Scholar.

45 Dagbok, a travel log, from 1947 to 1958.

46 V. Troels-Smith (IBM World Trade Service Corp.) to B. Gronholm (Grönholm, IBM Finland), 12 Oct. 1956, World Trade Corporation legal records, regional files, European headquarters, box 108, RG 6, IBMA.

47 Teboil or Oy Trustivapaa bensiini Ab (Trust-free gasoline) belonged to the Punched Card Association in 1957. Roll of members, 1957, Archive of the Finnish Information Processing Association, Helsinki.

48 “E. A. S. E. -nimisen yhdistyksen perustamiskirja sääntöineen.” [Declaration and rules of an Association called EASE] Helsingissä, 27 May 1955. Liite, Electrical Accounting Service Engineers, ilmoitus yhdistysrekisteriin, 26 June 1955, an appendix to an official notification to the register of associations, Archives of the National Board of Patents and Registration of Finland, Helsinki; Anttila, Big Blue Suomessa, 42–43, 57.

49 Morgan, Glenn and Kristensen, Peer Hull, “The Contested Space of Multinationals: Varieties of Institutionalism, Varieties of Capitalism,” Human Relations 59 (Nov. 2006): 1467–90Google Scholar.

50 Svengöran Dahl, phone interview by Petri Paju, 10 Dec. 2010. Dahl worked for IBM Sweden from 1966 until the early 1980s and tried to promote unions elsewhere in IBM.

51 Paju, Petri, “National Projects and International Users: Finland and Early European Computerization,” IEEE Annals of the History of Computing 30 (Oct.–Dec. 2008): 77–91, esp. 84–86Google Scholar. On IBM customers in Finnish retail industry, see Valorinta, Mikko and Nokelainen, Tomi, “Introduction and Early Use of Computers in the Finnish Retail Industry,” IEEE Annals of the History of Computing 33 (Oct.–Dec. 2011): 45–55Google Scholar.

52 “Tietokoneiden lukumäärä Suomessa huhtikuussa 1967” [The number of computers in Finland, April 1967], ATK:n Tieto-Sanomat 13, no. 4 (1967): 31Google Scholar.

53 Foy, Sun Never Sets, 99.

54 Pale, Erkki, “Testamentti” [Testament], Reikäkortti 2, no. 2 (1956)Google Scholar: inner cover. The journal was published by the Punched Card Association, basically a user organization independent of vendors.

55 Anttila, Big Blue Suomessa, 41.

56 Vernay, Jacques, “IBM France,” Annals of the History of Computing 11 (Oct.–Dec. 1989): 299–311CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Ganzhorn, Karl E., “The Buildup of the IBM Boeblingen Laboratory,” IEEE Annals of the History of Computing 26 (July–Sept. 2004): 4–19CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Paju, “Ilmarisen Suomi” ja sen tekijät, 293–97.

57 Hauru, Veikko, “Konttoritöiden tekeminen elektronikoneilla alkamassa myös Pohjoismaissa,” [Office work with electronic machines starts in the Nordic countries], Reikäkortti 2, no. 3 (1956): 5Google Scholar; Carlsson, Anders, “Tekniken – politikens frälsare? Om matematikmaskiner, automation och ingenjörer vid mitten av 50-talet” [Technology—liberating politics? About mathematical machines, automation and engineers around the mid-1950s], Arbetarhistoria 23, no. 4 (1999): 23–30Google Scholar. They had originally established their society, in 1953, to gain more influence over their main supplier, IBM Finland.

58 Paju, “National Projects.” Olli Varho managed IBM Finland from 1973 until his death in an air crash in Rissala, Finland, in 1978.

59 “Korttipakkaa kerrakseen” [A huge deck of cards], IBM Katsaus 6, no. 1 (1967): 33Google Scholar; Paju, “IBM Manufacturing.” IBM Katsaus was the customer magazine of IBM Finland.

60 Magnússon, Magnús, “The Advent of the First General-Purpose Computer in Iceland,” in History of Nordic Computing, ed. Bubenko, Janis Jr., Impagliazzo, John, and Sølvberg, Arne (New York, 2005), 123–36, esp. 124Google Scholar.

61 Hans E. Andersin, “The Role of IBM in Starting Up Computing in the Nordic Countries,” in Bubenko, Impagliazzo, and Sølvberg, History of Nordic Computing, 33–43, esp. 43.

62 Oddur Benediktsson, email to Petri Paju, 26 Nov. 2008.

63 “IBM COMPUTOUR. Lentävä tietokonenäyttely Helsingissä” [IBM COMPUTOUR: A flying computer exhibit in Helsinki], IBM Katsaus 4, no. 2 (1965): 22–23Google Scholar.

64 Suomen IBM 1968. Vuosiraportti [IBM Finland 1968 annual report] (n.d., n.p.).

65 Cf. Schlombs, “Engineering International Expansion.”

66 Suomen IBM 1969. Vuosiraportti [IBM Finland 1969 annual report] (n.d., n.p.), 16.

67 Lindegren, Olavi, “IBM Nordic Education Center – Lidingö” (in Finnish), ATK:n Tieto-Sanomat 16, no. 1 (1970): 12–13Google Scholar. The NEC was the third in a series of IBM World Trade Corporation boarding schools. The first and the second were located in Japan and in Mexico.

68 Suomen IBM 1969. Vuosiraportti, 16.

69 Suomen IBM 1970. Vuosiraportti [IBM Finland 1970 annual report] (n.d., n.p.), 15–16.

70 “Pohjoismainen panos. IBM:n pohjoismainen laboratorio” [The Nordic input: IBM's Nordic laboratory], IBM Katsaus 5, no. 4 (1966): 24–25Google Scholar.

71 Ibid.; Birgitta Frejhagen, “Från matematikmaskin till IT” [From computing machines to IT], interview by Per Lundin, 29 Nov. 2007, https://www.tekniskamuseet.se/samlingar/forskning/fran-matematikmaskin-till-it/intervjuer-med-it-pionjarer/.

72 Foy, Sun Never Sets, 100, 103–4.

73 Syrjänen, J., “Finnload – Suomen ensimmäinen todellinen reaaliaikajärjestelmä” [Finnload – the first true real time system in Finland], ATK:n Tieto-Sanomat 16, no. 5 (1970): 1, 3, 5Google Scholar.

74 Suomen IBM 1969. Vuosiraportti, 2–3.

75 Ibid.

76 Suomen IBM 1970. Vuosiraportti, 15–16.

77 “Valtion Atk:n koneriippumattomuustoimikunnan mietintö” [Report of the Committee for Machine Independence in State Data Processing], committee report 116 (Helsinki, 1973), 95–96.

78 Petri Paju, “Finlandized Computing or Business as Usual? Computer Trade between Finland and the Soviet Bloc in the 1970s” (paper presented at the 24th International Congress of History of Science, Technology and Medicine (iCHSTM 2013), Manchester, U.K., 23 July 2013.

79 Suomen IBM 1969. Vuosiraportti, 12.

80 Are Winberg, “Suomen IBM:n harjoittama,” 48–49.

81 Paju, “IBM Manufacturing,” 222.

82 Kettunen, Katri, “Pioneerihenkeä ROECE:ssa” [Pioneering spirit in ROECE], IBM Uutiset 6, no. 7 (1971): 6–7Google Scholar. IBM Uutiset was the personnel magazine of IBM Finland.

83 Kettunen, Katri, “Systemotechnica -71:llä alkoi myyntimme Nl:oon” [Our sales in the USSR began with the Systemotechnica -71 (exhibit)], IBM Uutiset 6, no. 7 (1971): 8–10Google Scholar. The group responsible for the exhibit was IBM's Regional Office Europe Central and East in Vienna. One of the reviewers observed that this replaced an earlier hostility to the USSR on the part of Watson Sr., driven in part by its lack of respect for intellectual property.

84 Erik Anderson, interview by Petri Paju, 21 Aug. 2009. Anderson was assigned in Paris at that time (1972–73) and later became the CEO of IBM Finland, from 1992 to 1996.

85 A new company, IBM Trade Development, took charge of business in the USSR. Brad Lesher, “Don't Forget the Peanut Butter, George!” Fun and Funny Times Abroad (self-published, 2010), esp. 86.

86 Nuutila, Timo, “Suomen IBM:n atk-tarvikeosasto tänään” [IBM Finland's information records division today], IBM Katsaus 15, no. 3 (1976): 46–47Google Scholar. The competitor was Jaakkoo-Taara Oy. Matti Parkkinen and Jorma Lehtinen, Suomen atk-yritystiedosto 1976 [ADP-companies in Finland, 1976], Raportti n:o 11 (Espoo, 1976), appendix 2, 26.

87 IBM Finland, Annual Report 1978. Appendix to translation of minutes kept at the ordinary meeting of stockholders of Oy IBM Ab, Helsinki, 18 Apr. 1979, Country Files, Finland, WTC Office of the Secretary, RG 6, IBMA.

88 Lehtinen, Jorma and Lahti, Seppo, eds., Suomen ATK-yritystiedoston vuosikirja 1978 [ADP-companies in Finland, year book, 1978], Raportti n:o 40 (Espoo, 1978), 17Google Scholar.

89 ja Jorma Lehtinen, Seppo Lahti, eds., Suomen ATK-tuotannon vuosikirja 1979 [ADP production in Finland, yearbook, 1979], Raportti n:o 53 (Espoo, 1979), 20Google Scholar. Each year, the top producer by far was Nokia Company.

90 Anttila, Big Blue Suomessa, 68.