On Locations of Call Centres - An Illustration from Two Rural Regions in Sweden and Finland

As infrastructure for information and communication technology develops and for strategic purposes or in order to reduce costs, organisations organise around smaller units and workplaces geographically distant from a main workplace, i.e. distance work or e-work. An increased application of ework, i.e. an information based activity which use information and communication technology, leads to an increased mobility and geographically independent organisations emerge. A call centre is here regarded a cost effective Abstract: Call centres are a key business form in the modern information society. Call centres, based on e-work, allow flexibility in space concerning organisational locations. The long-term aim of our study is to understand factors behind establishments, locations and continued existence of call centres, and this paper is one step in this process. The paper illustrates call centre locations in two rural regions, Ljusdal in Sweden and Kuusamo in Finland. In the analysis we use a model for call centre location, based on our earlier studies in the field. The model consists of five factors that affect call centre location, or relocation, in a specific region; Business Environment and Community Related Factors, Communications and Organisation Related Considerations, Market Existence and Access, Resource Availability and Entrepreneurship. The paper illustrates how two regions give different prerequisites for call centre location.