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President of the Republic of Finland Sauli Niinistö has presented the 2012 Internationalization Award to L-Fashion Group

"The Internationalization Award of the President of the Republic is a tribute to the global risk-taking and success of Finnish entrepreneurs. The aim is for the award-winners to set an example that encourages other Finnish companies to internationalize. Export and international company growth are the prerequisites for Finnish success. Nine out of ten workplaces in Finland have been created in small and medium-sized companies in recent years. Now, it’s important to encourage growth entrepreneurship and give companies the tools they need to succeed internationally," says Finpro's President and CEO Kari Häyrinen.

Each year, Finpro performs the search and preliminary assessment of internationalization prize nominees, on the basis of which Finpro’s Board of Directors, in cooperation with the Association for Finnish Work, prepares a proposal concerning the award recipients to the President. The President selects the Internationalization Award winners on the basis of these proposals. The prizes presented today were donated by the Finnish Fair Foundation. The award is now being granted for the 45th time.

“Product quality, design and price all have to be right if you want international success in the fashion business. Finding the right combination for success requires constant deliberation and close monitoring of consumer requests. The decision to move nearly all of our entire production to China in the early 2000s was a major and important decision in the company's history. It was a difficult choice because we had been struggling to keep production in Finland for a long time. However, price competitiveness is particularly important when you don't build a special product segment," explains L-Fashion Group's CEO Vesa Luhtanen.