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406 J. Siikonen et al.
innovation activity of firms conventionally we risk missing much of the holistic
innovation and innovation activities in diverse branches of industry.
The results of the industry-level study show that the KIBS sector is relatively
heterogeneous in terms of innovation activity targeted to growth. The main finding in this
respect is that KIBS firms’ orientation towards new commercial and conceptual services
increased their probability of being classified as growth-oriented. There were several
differences between classes I and II related to numbers and types of innovation. Firms in
group I saw innovation activities as a central part of their business. Interestingly, the
firms in class I estimated that innovation also had a substantial impact on their business,
while their counterparts in class II reported that innovation only had minor positive
influences. When the respondents were asked to estimate the relationship between
innovations created during the years 2003 to 2005 and their effects on their business,
40% of the respondents claimed that innovation had a less than 10% impact on their
turnover. Interestingly, however, almost 25% of the respondents estimated that
innovation had a remarkable influence (25% or more) on their firm’s turnover. Logistic
regression analysis revealed that the following characteristics significantly increased the
firm’s likelihood of recording turnover growth over 25% (and hence being classified in
class I): complete new process innovation, current product or service renewals, complete
new product or service innovation and complete new market and marketing innovation.
The other variables were not significant in this respect (see Appendix 1).
Table 5 presents summary statistics of a stepwise logistic regression model indicating
that the following variables increased the probability of a firm having turnover growth
exceeding 25% (and thus being classified as class I):
1 enhancement of products or services
2 implementation of new products or services
3 new market or marketing-related innovation.
Table 5 Variables increasing the probability of KIBS-firms being classified in class I, i.e.,
increasing turnover by more than 25% in the preceding three years (2003–2005)
Enhancement or renewal of current
products or services
B. S.E. Wald Sig. Exp(B)
0.613 0.199 9.90 * 1.85
Implementation of new products or
services
0.592 0.186 10.13 * 1.81
New market or marketing-related
innovations
0.585 0.192 9.27 * 1.79
Constant –4.538 0.797 4.50 ***
Notes: –2 log Likelihood 190.6
Cox and Snell R 2 Nagelkerke R
29.8%
2 40.3%
Level of significance *** = p 0.001, ** = p 0.01 and * = p 0.05
Clasiification capability 76%
The goodness of the model (Cox and Snell – R 2 ) is 30%, showing that it is statistically
very significant, and it has a satisfactory classification capability of 76%. The logistic
regression analysis confirmed that several factors significantly influenced the probability
of having turnover growth exceeding 25%. However, innovation related to partnerships