Internationalisation Heat Map

This is a tool for Finnish companies to easily and rapidly evaluate the attractiveness of entering various European markets. The tool encompasses all the European countries with the exception of mini countries, as well as some of the Balkan and Eastern European countries, where no reliable information is available. To use the tool, go through the steps from A to C below. 

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About the method

Six elements were selected as the key factors of the Heat Map, with a user giving weight to each of them:
  1. Market size: measured by the population of a country (the biggest country in Europe 100, others according to population less)
  2. Purchasing power of the market: the measure of a country's gross domestic product (GDP) per capita (the richest country in Europe 100, others according to GNP less)
  3. Ease of doing business in a country: measured using a World Bank comparative study on barriers and incentives of doing business in different countries (the higher a country is ranked, the higher value it gets)
  4. Market openness: measured by using a comparative study by the International Chamber of Commerce on international trade openness in different countries (the better a country is in the openness index, the higher value it gets)
  5. Physical distance from Finland: measured using distances of country capitals from Helsinki, Finland (the closer a country capital is to Helsinki in kilometers, the higher value it gets)
  6. Psychic distance from Finland: there are numerous, complex formulae developed to evaluate this, but here we use a good approximation of country's total trade (exports + imports) with Finland (the bigger country trade with Finland is, the bigger value it gets)
The tool is used so that a user will assess the significance of each of the factors 1 to 6 from his or her business and internationalisation point of view, giving each factor a number value between 0 and 100. If the number is zero, then the factor is not taken into account in assessing the attractiveness of the country. Similarly, the number one hundred means that the factor is extremely important. Each factor should be evaluated individually, but a user gives each factor a weight based on what is important in company business. Each country gets an end result between zero and one hundred: the higher it is, the more lucrative the country is for market entry.

More information on the used method can be found in this article.