Pääomamaiset

Pääomamaiset is a Finnish term that translates to "capital-intensive" in English. It describes industries, businesses, or processes that require a significant amount of capital investment in relation to their labor input. This means that a large proportion of the costs involved in operating in such an industry are related to purchasing and maintaining physical assets like machinery, equipment, buildings, and infrastructure, rather than to wages and salaries.

Industries commonly considered pääomamaiset include manufacturing, energy production (such as power plants and oil refineries), telecommunications, transportation (airlines, shipping companies), and heavy industry. These sectors often involve complex and expensive technology, which necessitates substantial upfront investment. The high capital requirements mean that businesses in these industries typically have high fixed costs.

The characteristic of being pääomamaiset influences various aspects of business operations and strategy. For instance, companies in these sectors may seek long-term financing, focus on economies of scale to spread their high fixed costs over a larger output, and may be more sensitive to interest rate changes. Barriers to entry can also be high due to the substantial capital needed to establish operations. Conversely, businesses that are not pääomamaiset, often referred to as labor-intensive, rely more heavily on human labor as their primary input and require less initial investment in physical assets.