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398 J. Siikonen et al. determinants of a region’s competitive advantage. These factors are especially important for small firms, which may be more deeply embedded in regional innovation systems than large corporations, and thus more dependent on regional innovation infrastructure and social networks (Galbraith et al., 2008). In addition, small knowledge-intensive firms are especially dependent on external partners’ resources to create and exploit innovations (Axelsson and Easton, 1992), and use multiple channels to seek external resources, many of which are gathered through innovation support services (Freeman, 1991). Thus, facilitating access to external resources may provide several advantages for the creation and exploitation of innovation, such as accelerating the processes and reduction of costs and uncertainty (Dodgson, 2000). In order to support innovation-related activities, diverse innovation support services and programmes have been developed, some of which (as mentioned) are provided by science parks, technology centres and business incubators. In addition, there are large numbers of public and private organisations and other KIBS firms that aim to support small firms’ creation and commercialisation of innovation in various ways (see, for instance, Abetti et al., 1988; Blakely, 1994; Malecki, 1997). Previous studies have clearly indicated that small knowledge-intensive firms, in particular, face several challenges during the commercialisation of innovations (e.g., Pellikka and Virtanen, 2009). Most of the challenges are associated with the inability to acquire and exploit external resources that are often crucial for small firms (Blakely, 1994). Consequently, small firms whose competitiveness is based on knowledge such as KIBS have become increasingly dependent on external knowledge sources due to their incapability to generate all the required knowledge on their own. In addition, substantial positive externalities may be realised by providing innovation support services to help small firms to overcome these challenges in order to accelerate firm-related growth (e.g., Blakely, 1994; Pellikka and Lauronen, 2007). In conclusion, small knowledge-intensive firms are most likely to rely heavily on regional innovation support services, and they are key drivers of regional growth, so it is important to examine ISS in a regional context (Malecki, 1997; Tödtling and Kaufmann, 1999). Hence, a key objective of regional innovation support services must be to improve the innovative performance of firms that can be achieved only by providing certain inputs to the creation and commercialisation of innovation (Kaufmann and Tödtling, 2002). The study presented below assesses in more detail the requirements of small high-technology firms in these respects, and ways in which support services could be adjusted to meet their requirements more effectively. 3 Data and methods In this study we use a triangulation method to increase holistic understanding of the requirements of the growth firms. Triangulation in this context refers to attempts to describe the phenomena under consideration and increase understanding of the phenomena using multiple data sources (data triangulation), gathered by various methods (data gathering triangulation) and analysis by various methods (data analysis triangulation) (Eisenhardt, 1989; Scandura and Williams, 2000; Yin, 1994). The data considered here include:
Developing innovation support services 399 1 national data (related to 567 firms) 2 branch of industry data (213 KIBS sector firms) 3 organisational data (case studies of 12 high-growth T-KIBS firms; to increase our understanding of the specific requirements of the high growth KIBS firms and their need for innovation support services in Eastern Finland). The content of the data, the research methodology applied in each step and the main purposes of each stage of the analysis are summarised in Table 1. Table 1 The three levels of research data considered in the study Level of analysis Firm: (Population of firms from two regions: Eastern Finland and Capital area of Finland and diverse branches of industry) Firm: (Population of firms from one branch of industry and region: Eastern Finland, especially the North-Savo region) Firm: (Population of firms from one region: Eastern Finland, especially the North-Savo region) No. of firms Type of data Research methodology 567 Quantitative Logistic regression analysis 213 Quantitative Logistic regression analysis 12 case firms Qualitative Case study methodology Objective To identify the most rapidly growing industry sector from the data and the distinguishing characteristics of that sector, relative to other sectors, during the years 2002 to 2005 To identify the innovation-related activities of the chosen sector (KIBS firms) and their relationship to growth To identify the small KIBS firms’ requirements for regional innovation support services (ISS) Table 2 National-level data; branch of industry distribution of growth firms (n = 567) Services inc. KIBS-sector Included in LR-analyses (n = 433) N Branch % Total % Cross-validation cases (n = 133) N Branch % Total % N Total (N = 567) Branch % Total % 216 49.5 0 0 216 38.1 Other branches of industry: 217 50 133 100 350 61.7 Trade 97 44.7 61 45.9 157 44.9 Manufacturing 56 25.8 29 21.8 85 24.3 Construction 34 15.7 20 15.0 54 15.4 Transportation and telecommunication 30 13.8 23 17.3 53 15.1 Missing cases 1 0.5 0 0 1 0.3 0.2 Total 434 100 100 133 100 100 567 100 100
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Aalto University publication series
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Author Tomi Heimonen Name of the do
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Acknowledgements This dissertation
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CONTENTS PART 1: Overview of the di
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List of Articles This thesis is bas
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1 Introduction Some scholars claim
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1 Introduction In addition, the dur
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1 Introduction Figure 1: Framework
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1 Introduction factors that affect
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1 Introduction 1.4 Key concepts and
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2 Literature review and conceptual
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3 Research methodology Constructivi
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3 Research methodology and the meth
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3 Research methodology The data use
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3 Research methodology 3.4 Models a
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3 Research methodology reliable. Se
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3 Research methodology concluded th
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4 Results, evaluation of the studie
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References Abetti, P. A. (2001). Ac
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References Bhide, A. (2000). The or
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References Creswell, J. W. (2003).
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References Golafshani, N. (2003). U
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References Leitch, C., Hill, F., an
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References Pellikka, J. and Laurone
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References Storper, M. (1992). The
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Appendixes Overview: Appendix 1: Ke
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Appendixes High growth When examini
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Appendixes profitability, liquidity
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Appendixes Appendix 1 Continued (Ke
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Appendixes Appendix 2 Construction
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Appendixes Appendix 2 Continued (Co
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not increased compared to Eastern F
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___________________________________
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propensity for risk taking (Covin a
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2. Former studies and derivation of
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firm’s annual sales growth (Arund
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H4. Firm success has an impact on t
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other branches in which employment
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and Rao, 2008). Because of the unev
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Table 1. Characteristics of the dat
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firms from other firms. The data in
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Table 2. Logistic Regression analys
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Public R&D funding was shown to inc
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References Achtenhagen, L., Naldi,
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Kanter, R. (1985), “Supporting in
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Appendix 1. Corporate population ch
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Appendix 3. Distribution of personn
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12 Int. J. Business and Globalisati
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14 T. Heimonen and M. Virtanen we u
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16 T. Heimonen and M. Virtanen suff
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18 T. Heimonen and M. Virtanen Glan
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20 T. Heimonen and M. Virtanen 3.2.
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