ISSUE 20 (52) • 23 – 29 MAY 2008 • €3 • WWW.HELSINKITIMES.FI DOMESTIC NEWS BUSINESS LIFESTYLE CULTURE EAT&DRINK Campaign May, peak Stories Matti Saanio’s Wine funding season for behind photos at alternatives from row intensifies florists names Ateneum Alko’s selection page 5 page 10 page 14 page 15 page 16 LEHTIKUVA / GETTY OUT AFP PHOTO / HO / GREENPEACE / DEAN SEWELL Finns are punctual in paying their bills STT seldom have good systems for au- MICHAEL NAGLER – HT tomatised billing of interest on ar- rears,” says Puumalainen. FINNS are the best bill payers in Eu- Nordic people clearly distinguish rope. In credit management serv- themselves as better bill payers than ices company Intrum Justitia’s others. In the Nordic countries three- payment method survey the oth- fourths of bills are paid on time and er Nordic countries are the top bill only one per cent are left complete- payers after Finland. The worst bill ly unpaid. “One might hypothetically payers are to be found in Portugal, ask whether a Finn pays his bills too Greece and Cyprus. well compared to his European col- In Finland bills are paid fi ve days leagues. However, in the end, it pays late on average, whereas in the whole off to respect the contract made,” of Europe they are paid 56 days late says Puumalainen. on average. Finns’ good payment What kind of bills typically go in- habits are mostly the result of a good to collection? “The most risk-prone fi nancial situation in addition to leg- are contested and large sums. Small islation that is favourable to billing. non-collateral credit is more easily “Finnish legislation makes interest paid,” Puumalainen says. on arrears and reminder expens- Consumers’, businesses’ and the es possible. This in turn encourag- public sector’s bill paying was ob- es people to pay their bills on time,” served in the survey. Consumers pay says Intrum Justitia’s Communica- their bills the fastest and the public tions Chief Max Puumalainen. sector pays the slowest. However, the In Finland about 80 – 90 per cent Portuguese public sector is the slow- of organisations have outsourced est in paying its bills, which take 138 bill collecting whereas in Central days to pay on average. In the pay- Europe the fi gure is roughly 10 per ment method survey invoice payment cent. “When a professional takes time, delays in payment and credit over the billing it’s also refl ected losses in 25 European countries were in the payment of bills. Many fi rms compared, among other things. may bill carelessly and there might Instrum Justitia’s customer in- not be anyone around to send re- formation tent on 3 June 2008 at minders. For example businesses Kauppatori. The fight against climate change requires measures in industry as well as on individual level. According to Greenpeace Percentage of women decision with energy efficiency it is possible to save as much as two nuclear power plants’ worth of energy. makers remains unchanged STT mantschuk on their executive man- DAVID J. CORD – HT agement teams. Energy efficiency essential The clothing and design compa- THE PERCENTAGE of women among ny Marimekko represents a success decision makers has not changed story for businesswomen. It boasts for the past fi ve years according to a seven women on its nine-member in environmental work recent survey by TNS Gallup for De- management team. The iconic de- cision Makers Atlas research. There signer also has a total work force OLLI KUIVANIEMI – STT Mikael Ohlström, a specialist ros a year. “By setting the thermo- are two hundred thousand decision that is comprised of over 90 per cent MICHAEL NAGLER – HT at the Confederation of Finnish In- stat, which often is 23 – 24 degrees makers in the private sector, up al- women. dustries EK, thinks that improving Celsius, to 21 degrees Celsius you most ten per cent from a year ago. The survey also highlighted the VOLUNTARY environmental work is energy effi ciency is important, but can cut off 300 euros a year from Only 30 per cent of these decision popularity of success-driven bo- getting Finnish households and in- that by their scale the calculations this,” Vanhanen says. makers are women. nuses for decision makers. Almost dustry to save on energy. On 19 May in the study are completely unre- According to Vanhanen 100 eu- The survey reports that the distri- half of all private sector manag- Greenpeace released a study that alistic. “Of course each business ros could be easily pinched off from bution of decision makers between ers were offered bonuses tied to claimed that with energy effi cien- strives to conserve energy… How- warm water. The electric bill can the genders is more equal in the pub- the success of the company or goal cy it is possible to save as much as ever, improving energy effi ciency also be lowered by an air source lic sector. As an example, the state- achievement. two nuclear power plants’ worth of should be economically sensible,” heat pump. The investment could owned alcohol retailer Alko reported Performance-based bonuses are energy. says Ohlström. be in the scale of 3,000 euros, but that 30 per cent of its shop manag- viewed as an excellent way to moti- According to the study, in 2020 According to the Greenpeace the pump pays itself back in 3 – 7 ers, 59 per cent of its middle-man- vate employees. Bonuses also tend with a single-minded policy the to- study an ordinary consumer can years. agers and 22 per cent of its senior to reinforce loyalty to the compa- tal electricity need could be as much conserve energy by lowering the Currently the government is set- managers were women. The propor- ny, as employees wish to stay with as 20 per cent less compared to cur- indoor thermostat, decreasing the ting up a national climate and en- tion of women in all management po- their employer in order to receive rent trends. use of water and by favouring pub- ergy strategy which also includes sitions in Alko has steadily increased an expected bonus. Tying the fi nan- At a central role in energy con- lic transportation, among other decisions on energy conservation over the past several years. cial success of the employer together servation is industry, which con- things. and energy effi ciency. “The most The three largest companies list- with the employee is seen as a way to sumes about half of Finland’s There are also economic ben- important task for national ener- ed on the Helsinki Stock Exchange harmonise their respective goals. energy and a little over half of Fin- efi ts to saving energy. Juha gy policy is to make the most ener- only have four women among their TNS Gallup surveyed over 4,000 land’s electricity. According to the Vanhanen of Gaia Group, the con- gy effi cient solution into the easiest top management. Nokia has Mary upper managers from November study industry could improve its sulting fi rm that carried out the and most profi table alternative for T. McDowell, Nordea has Gunn 2007 to April 2008 for the survey. energy effi ciency by utilising ener- study, estimates that the electric households and businesses,” sums Waersted and Fortum has Maria Read about the gender pay gap gy effi cient motors and frequency bill for a typical electrically heated up Greenpeace campaigner Kaisa Paatero-Kaarnakari and Maria Ro- on page 4. changers, for example. detached house could be 3,000 eu- Kosonen. 2 23– 29 MAY 2008 VIEWPOINT HELSINKI TIMES FIRST RESULTS published from the USA are expected Europe hundreds of thou- this spring show that the US to be available. In Finland sands of new jobs are cre- safety requirements are not there is no need to wait for ated in the renewable fulfi lled without new safe- the results from the US, be- energy sector. Several gov- ty criteria for the fuel ele- cause the genetic properties ernments think that it is in ments. The NRC has launched of Finns make nuclear power their economic interest to a three-year consultation safe in Finland. be in the forefront of the process to fi nd out how this rapidly developing technol- problem could be solved. THE PRESIDENT of the EU ogy. But Finland is already But if the current timeta- Commission José Manuel a technologically highly ad- ble is kept, the new reactor Barroso is talking about a vanced country. Therefore in Olkiluoto, Finland, will be new industrial revolution in Finland energy technolo- switched on in 2011, in the in order to prevent a cata- gy cannot be developed any same year when the results strophic climate change. In further. SATU HASSI is a Member of European Parliament and Licentiate of Technology. She is the Vice-Chair of the Com- mittee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety at the European Parliament. She has been the Minister of Environment and Development is- sues 1999-2002 and the Chairperson of the Green League 1997-2001. She presents her summary of the Finnish energy policy discussion. Finland has her own laws of nature IN SWEDEN and Norway en- IN SOME countries the pow- last year. In Finland increas- ergy consumption has not er companies favour intelli- ing the share of renewable en- grown any further during gent refrigerators and other ergy is a threat to the nation, this millennium. In Denmark devices which can switch on except for renewable peat. In all political parties have re- and off according to the con- Germany the market price of cently agreed on actions to sumption and production sit- electricity always falls when reduce energy consumption.