In the Nordics, the governments don't really try to run the economy. They provide stable environment to their local capitalists, let them do business at their leisure, and then tax their profits.
That is a huge difference from the mass experiment with central-command economy that was run in the countries of the Soviet Bloc. Unsurprisingly, ideologues and bureaucrats cannot really create and sustain a competitive economy. That requires a different sort of mentality.