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Elisabeth
Manford
Director of Invest in Denmark
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There are approximately 107 investment agencies
in the EU working to bring companies to their respective
countries. None, however, seem to be as successful
as Invest in Denmark.
With the government’s increased focus on foreign
direct investments, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
created Invest in Denmark.
"Companies from all over the world come to
Denmark to benefit from its location, strong labor
force, specialized clusters and stable economy.
Invest in Denmark has been imperative at making
certain Denmark’s advantages are visible to
the foreign market," said Foreign Minister
Per Stig Moeller. Invest in Denmark is typically
a companies first Danish "friend," they
provide introductions to potential Danish partners,
organize visits to Denmark, supply information on
location possibilities, and support companies after
they have become established. Company leaders who
want to set up shop in Denmark are often times surprised
that the service and support offered by Invest in
Denmark is free. "Our goal is to make the move
to Denmark go smoothly and to introduce potential
businesses to Denmark’s high intellectual capital
as well as its efficient and adaptable infrastructure,"
said Elisabeth Manford, executive director of Invest
in Denmark.
To further attract foreign investors the Danish
Government has also implemented policies to stimulate
a company’s growth, for example, a foreign
company locating in Denmark has the same access
to financial support programs for innovation and
product development as Danish businesses. Companies
also move to Denmark in order to tap into to highly
educated and flexible labor force. "It is worth
mentioning that labor wages are extremely competitive
when direct and indirect compensation is taken into
consideration. This is due to the employer’s
low cost burden. Hidden expenditure such as labor
taxes, social security, and healthcare are provided
by the government through the welfare system,"
said Manford.
The picture is attractive, but a welfare community
does not come cheaply and is often burdened by heavy
taxation. Elisabeth Manford dismisses the tax concern,
"Denmark has created a special tax rate for
expatriates and the corporate tax-rate is lower
than the European average." No wonder Denmark
was rated as the most advantageous place to locate
a business by Economist Intelligent Unit. Denmark
offers holistic support to successful business growth
and many United States companies such as Gillette,
Oracle, IBM, Microsoft, Biogen and HP have set up
shop as a means to greater success. Take Steve Balmer,
CEO of Microsoft, who could not be happier about
Microsoft’s choice to set up their biggest
site outside the United States in Denmark. He demonstrated
his appreciation at a keynote speech at the company’s
Worldwide Conference in Toronto. "If we were
just as successful in other countries as we are
in Denmark, the Microsoft Business Solutions would
be a factor of 10 bigger in terms of revenue."
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