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2 Literature review and conceptual framework
have been strongly targeted to enhance the creation and exploitation of
innovation, particularly in small firms (Blakely, 1994; Bridge et al., 1998;
Malecki, 1997). However, at the same time, many small, growth-oriented
firms have become increasingly dependent on external knowledge sources
due to their incapability to generate all the knowledge required for the
creation and commercialisation of innovation (Cormican and O’Sullivan,
2004; Pellikka and Lauronen, 2007). Prior studies have pointed out that
regional innovation support services have failed to generate such
knowledge sufficiently, but there has been little research effort regarding
the kind of support that is needed to foster innovation and how it should be
provided (Blakely, 1994; Kaufmann and Tödtling, 2002; Klofsten and
Jones-Evans, 1996; Pellikka, 2008; Pellikka and Virtanen, 2009).
It has been argued that the local service infrastructure should provide a
nurturing environment for small technology-intensive firms in order to
support and accelerate their innovation activities and growth, as well as the
growth of local regional economies (Abetti and Rancourt, 2006; Höyssä et
al., 2004; Phillips, 2002; Tidd et al., 2001). Major objectives of economic
policies have included the provision of suitable infrastructure and
enhancement of the availability of appropriate innovation support services
(Heydebreck et al., 2000). In the absence of unlimited resources, it is
necessary to make local choices between industries in order to support the
creation and development of small technology firms efficiently (Cohendet
and Meyer-Krahmer, 2001). Prior studies have shown that realising the
potential benefits of innovation requires an effective commercialisation
process (Andrew and Sirkin, 2003), whereby potential products are
generated from ideas and transformed into market-competent products.
Developing effective commercialisation processes is a complex and
challenging task for small firms in the modern business environment, in
which customer requirements are rapidly changing and the life-cycles of
new products are shortening.
Small firms whose competitiveness is based on diverse information, such
as knowledge intensive business service firms (KIBS), have become
increasingly dependent on external knowledge sources. Prior studies have
clearly indicated that small KIBS firms, in particular, face several challenges
during the commercialisation of innovation (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). Kaufmann and Tödtling (2002) stated that a key objective of local
innovation support services should be to improve the innovation
performance of firms, which can be achieved only by providing certain
inputs to the creation and commercialisation of innovation.
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