Factoryless production

In factoryless production, an enterprise located in Finland (factoryless producer) has outsourced all its production, but its other activities, such as the head office, sales and research and development are located wholly or partly in Finland. A factoryless producer located in Finland organises the international manufacturing process. In addition to manufacturing costs, the sales price of a product includes planning, administration, patents and knowhow, marketing and financing. Especially in high technology goods these immaterial inputs may be considerable compared to the value of materials and assembly. In the balance of payments, the difference between sales and purchases (the margin of sales from abroad to abroad) in factoryless production is recorded in Finland in goods exports.