dissertation in pdf-format - Aalto-yliopisto

The development of high growth and highly successful SMEs 423
The driver for growth of Blancco Oy Ltd. will be the obvious growth of the need for
data erasure. The amount of data will increase 150% in two years. New editions
of different devices, terminals and servers will create a rising market for the applications.
In the future there will be more need for mobile solutions and new methods.
For BP Asennus Oy growth strategy is dependent on their ability to get more
employees. Currently it would mean that the firm could give work to those
professionals who are laid off in the region. Thereafter recruiting more personnel will
cause problems since there are always some candidates who are inappropriate for the
tasks offered.
The decision about internationalisation is a real challenge for Mipro Oy. If the
firm wants to grow it has to internationalise or diversify its activities to other branches of
the industry. Eastern markets include too high risks. The firm participates in the
export group which has China as a target market. According to the CEO Russia is
not an actual market yet, but former Eastern-Bloc countries have large potential. “If the
decision to go abroad will be made we will do it seriously, not just in order to test the
market”.
In Mummon Turva Oy, the growth motivation is evident: “the aspiration to grow is
strong but we must control the growth as well as possible by using retained earnings and
picking the raisins from the cake”. CEO Hartikainen states that all business areas will be
growing. The new firm Joen Onni Oy was established to take care of home services in
Joensuu. The use of electronic communication systems makes geographical expansion
easier but very distant areas cause some problems with meetings and foremen would
probably be needed to manage these distant locations.
Profitable growth is also the dominant strategy in Pentin Paja Oy. “We do not seek
such growth which is not explicit from the very beginning or at least possible to foresee.
We do not invest like crazy when the family business is in your own hands, you do not
have to take crazy risks”. The CEO highlights how surprisingly well they have managed
high growth compared to the resources of the firm. When it comes to the need for funds
in investments they have been very lucky, too.
“In our first location the growth of activities would have been impossible since
there was not enough space for production. Then we got from the Ilomantsi
municipality the donation of production space which normally would have
required millions in investment. In the 2000s we already had construction plans
for production expansion when my wife noticed the suitable space which was
for rent. Later on we had an opportunity to buy the facilities and got funding
from Finnvera. We were very lucky to get a suitable space and did not have to
move away.”
Roper (1999) states that small firm performance will depend on strategy choices and
growth of turnover will be particularly strategy dependent. Especially the family firms in
our study challenge this proposition and lead us to suggest that the firms focus on
strategy where profitability will be taken care of first before managed growth. The
development path of the case firms as well as the interviews demonstrate that the firms
have focused strategies which have been changed because of some critical event
(cf., Littunen and Virtanen, 2009; Smallbone et al., 1995). Even if the strategies focus
on very narrow niche markets they could be very successful in the international market
(Blancco Oy Ltd. and Pentin Paja Oy).