Corporate managers rank Tampere as number-one large city

The best assessments for image both this year and 2021 were given to Seinäjoki, Kaarina, and Tampere. Corporate leaders were given 13 different image factors to evaluate. Tampere's location and transport connections, its positive attitude toward business, and the ease of cooperation with the city's economic development agency were ranked as its best features. There was a slight decline in how municipal matters were communicated to companies and in support for innovations.

The ease of cooperation with regional economic development agencies is a new angle and metric in the study when evaluating image factors.

– I am pleased with the result. There is demand for the services of Business Tampere and they correspond to the needs of companies. Based on the survey, good business services are a success factor in competition among city regions, says Harri Airaksinen, CEO of Business Tampere.

The availability of labour and cooperation between companies and educational institutions was also seen as a success for Tampere.

– Tampere has made plenty of bold decisions in recent years and the city has developed rapidly. The results certainly reflect the good cooperation that Tampere has with educational institutions and the way we do things in generalm and how we develop the city together with companies, educational institutions, and different actors. We will continue this good cooperation in the future as well, says Tampere Mayor Anna-Kaisa Ikonen.

Tampere is also at the top of cities of its size class according to the Net Promoter Score (NPS) index. The three best in the best recommendation index are Seinäjoki, Tampere and Kaarina this year as well. A year ago, Tampere was in third place, and now it is number two. Respondents were asked how likely it was that they would recommend the city/municipality to another company as a business location. They were also asked to give reasons for their recommendations and for their criticism in their own words.

Tampere scored an average of 8.21 for their overall impression. The average was slightly higher than last year. For example, Helsinki's overall evaluation was 7.71 and Turku's was 7.57. The average for the overall impression of all municipalities taking part in the study was 7.50.

In the annual study the image factors and recommendation indexes of more than 30,000 residents were examined, and an evaluation of the overall impression was given. Responding to the survey were company decision-makers: CEOs and CFOs.

The interviews were conducted as telephone-informed internet questionnaires in the autumn, and a total of 1983 persons responded to the study. The evaluation involved 36 Finnish municipalities.