Dissertation: Corporate leadership and advocacy organizations are key actors in shaping national grand strategy
Grand strategy refers to a long-term agenda for how a nation uses all its resources to pursue its interests and ensure long-term security. Traditionally, attention has focused on political and military power and on the leaders who determine national priorities and resource allocation. Roosa Oinasmaa’s dissertation shows that the picture is more complex: companies, advocacy organizations, and other non-state actors play a central role in shaping national grand strategy.
“I show in my research that grand strategy is not the result of isolated political decisions but a long-term process in which different levels of decision-making continuously negotiate national objectives and how they should be implemented,” Oinasmaa explains.
Corporate–state interlock guides national direction
Oinasmaa’s dissertation focuses in particular on how leaders in the forest industry and their advocacy organizations have worked closely with the state to build networks and channels of influence that have shaped both economic policy and national visions of the future.
The findings indicate that advocacy organizations have been a key mechanism through which the forest industry has been able to influence national priorities and the allocation of resources. These networks are not limited to individual meetings or working groups; rather, they form long-term cooperative relationships in which the roles and influence of actors may change over time.
“These findings challenge the traditional understanding of grand strategy as a top-down state-driven plan. The case of the forest industry shows that the actions of companies and interest groups can influence national-level resource decisions and even the very definition of national interests,” Oinasmaa notes.
Grand strategy is a process, not a plan
Oinasmaa emphasizes that grand strategy should be examined as a process rather than a fixed plan. The four sub-studies of the dissertation build a holistic view in which grand strategy is seen as historically layered, temporally flowing, and manifested in practice.
A processual perspective reveals how strategy evolves in changing circumstances. In the case of the forest industry, various crises, structural shifts, and political turns have created moments in which actors were able to question existing goals, reinforce them, or redirect resources.
“Grand strategy resembles a puzzle: it is constantly assembled, revised, and repaired across different levels of decision-making. A shared strategic direction between companies and the state is never fully complete but emerges through negotiations, compromises, and practical decisions,” Oinasmaa describes.
Timing and emotions at the core of strategic work
One key finding of the research is the importance of timing. Influencing grand strategy is not only about direction but also timing: when to act, when to delay, and when to inact. The dissertation shows how the forest industry elite has at different times carefully considered when the moment is right to influence political processes or introduce new initiatives into national debate.
Oinasmaa also highlights the role of emotions in shaping grand strategy. Emotions such as fear, anger, and sadness guide what decision-makers focus on, how they interpret the past, and what kinds of futures they consider possible or desirable.
“Emotions are not bylines in strategic work; they filter what decision-makers perceive as important. My empirical material shows that different emotional regimes guide which solutions decision-makers see as realistic and acceptable,” Oinasmaa explains.
A multilevel perspective clarifies the relationship between the forest industry and the state
The dissertation develops a multilevel perspective on emergent grand strategy. At the micro level, individual actors conduct everyday strategic work; at the meso level, companies and industry associations coordinate actions through networks; and at the macro level, these practices shape national strategic directions.
This approach links the everyday practices of strategy work to the long-term formation of national economic policy and industrial structure. The Finnish forest industry provides a concrete example of how private and public sector objectives become intertwined and how their interaction builds and sustains national grand strategy.
“My results show that the strategic position of key sectors such as the forest industry is not self-evident, but a construct developed over decades and continually renegotiated. By better understanding these processes, we can have a more transparent discussion about how grand strategy is born and how different developmental paths emerge,” Oinasmaa concludes.
The public examination of Roosa Oinasmaa’s doctoral dissertation in strategy and entrepreneurship, “The Rise, the Decline, and the Re-Emergence of Grand Strategy: Corporate–Government Interlock in the Making of Grand Strategy in the Finnish Forest Industry”, will be held on Friday, 19 December 2025 at 12:00 in room H320 in the Historica building at the University of Jyväskylä. The opponent is Professor Kalle Pajunen (Tampere University) and the custos is Professor Juha-Antti Lamberg (Jyväskylä University School of Business and Economics). The language of the defense is English.
