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Introduction and Early Use of Computers in the Finnish Retail Industry The retail industry in Finland was at the national forefront in terms of computer adoption shortly after the Second World War. Analyzing the societal, organizational, and industry-specific preconditions and the drivers for this early adoption, both at industrial and organizational levels, helps illustrate how this development unfolded inside the four major retailing organizations in Finland from the 1950s to the late 1970s. Retail organizations were among the first nongovernmental entities to adopt electronic computers in Finland.1 In fact, in the late 1950s, only two government-run computers were operating in Finland. Thus, the early commercial adoption of computers in Finland stands in marked contrast to the US, where the retail industry was the last major industry to embrace computers.2 In this respect, it is interesting to investigate how computer adoption took place in Finnish retailing and, moreover, the reasons behind this development. By doing so, we intend to respond to a relatively recent call for research investigating industrial computer adoption outside the US.3 Moreover, we view adopters as active agents with idiosyncratic needs, applications, and decision-making processes,4 situated in a particular (and in this case dynamic) institutional environment that influences their decision making.5 The Finnish retail industry in particular is an interesting research area because between the early 1950s and the late 1970s—during which Finland experienced substantial societal changes—the industry was dominated by only four large retail groups: OTK, Kes-ko,S Group, and TUKO.6 In addition to documenting early computer adoption in the industry, we suggest that as a response to changes in their operating environment, Finnish retailers introduced computers to manage their data-intensive routines; improve the effectiveness of their supply chains; and better manage the transactions betwee