Word: finland
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...year) out of 131 countries, thanks in part to top scores in venture-capital availability (plentiful), domestic-market size (huge) and cost of firing workers (low). The index focuses on productivity, not its collateral effects. Next are Switzerland, Denmark (see page 68 for a look at why), Sweden, Germany, Finland, Singapore, Japan, the U.K. and the Netherlands--some fairly usual suspects. Further down are some more surprising comparisons (see list at left), such as South Korea at No. 11, up from 23rd place last year...
...saving bits of energy and environment here and there add up, then Finland's Enfucell has a battery that will help people make a difference by cutting down on all the metal, lithium and alkaline that leaks from conventional cells. "Our battery doesn't have to go to the battery-recycle bin. It's disposable as household waste," says Jaako Happonen, 50, Enfucell's chief executive...
From the outside, Meritanordbanken in Helsinki looks like a typical staid European bank. Merita's ornate headquarters hall, with its rose marble columns and gilded cornices, harks back to the 19th century, when the Czar of Russia still ruled Finland. But don't be fooled. Behind the historic decor, Merita has become one of the world's most advanced banks, using the Internet and mobile phones to conduct most of its business. Some 1.2 million of its customers use the Web to bank, a world record, while only 6% of the institution's transactions are processed through a traditional branch...
...this high-tech prowess is a matter of necessity. MeritaNordbanken controls about 40% of Finland's banking market, so a merger with another domestic bank to cut costs was out of the question on antitrust grounds. Merita therefore embarked on a two-pronged strategy: use mobile and Internet technology to cut overhead, and become Europe's most aggressive bank in expanding across borders. In April it completed a merger with Denmark's Unidanmark three years after Merita joined forces with Sweden's Nordbanken. The deals have made Merita the largest bank in Scandinavia. "We see ourselves as a pan-Nordic...
...more is on the way. One service already attracting a lot of attention is a pilot project between MeritaNordbanken, the Finnish cell-phone maker Nokia, and Visa International, the credit-card company. Nokia will soon have available in Finland cell phones that contain two chips, one for mobile-telephone service and one from Visa that adds a nifty credit-card function to the handset. The Visa chip will allow a customer to hold the phone near a cash register and push a button to pay a bill rather than having a clerk swipe a credit card. The digital mobile phone...