dissertation in pdf-format - Aalto-yliopisto

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3 Research methodology
From the Voitto+ CD-ROM database, 567 growing businesses were
identified – 466 in urban and 101 in rural areas. In order to obtain robust
results, the sample was carefully analysed to ensure that it reflected the
success data provided by Balance Consulting Ltd. In order to focus on high
growth and highly successful SMEs the data were refined as needed.
Because the full dataset included some figures for micro businesses, all
businesses that had fewer than 10 employees were excluded. All firms that
had more than 250 employees were also excluded, since these included
several multinationals and their subsidiaries. The final step was to exclude
data for investment banks, finance and holding companies, which have
disproportionately large assets compared to other companies with similar
numbers of personnel.
The full data set (n=567) was used when analysing branches of industry in
Article IV. Altogether, 219 companies were eliminated prior to the analyses
presented in Articles I and II. Thus, the refined data provided information
regarding 348 growing SMEs (262 located in urban and 86 in rural areas)
and were used in the analyses presented in Articles I and II. The growth and
success data covered the period 2002-2005. Growth businesses were
selected by applying a 10% threshold in annual turnover, corresponding to
the definition of a growth company suggested by Smallbone et al. (1995), as
one that doubles turnover within 10 years. High-growth firms (gazelles)
were defined as those that increased turnover by at least 30% per year, and
thus more than doubled their turnover during the examination period. The
figures were not deflated, since the annual change in the consumer price
index during the study period was less than 1%. Moreover, the closing
month of the accounting period may vary among firms, which could skew
the impact of the annual inflation rate as a deflator. Using these criteria,
273 non-high growth (NHG) and/or non-highly successful (NHS) and 75
high growth (HG) and high success (HS) businesses were identified.
In the study reported in Article III five HGS firms were selected from the
longitudinal data, which included 348 growing SMEs. Altogether this data
set included information on 49 HGS firms, nine of which were located in
rural areas (Eastern Finland). The growth and success of those nine firms
exceeded the industry average in 2002-2005. Four were excluded because
they represented branches of industry where they had monopoly power
because of legislation (motor-vehicle inspection) or could cause some bias
in employment and job creation (labour leasing).
The remaining cases were classified as highly successful business if their
sales increased by at least 20% on average and by at least 15% every year in
the period 2002-2005, and their Success Index was at least 70 points out of
the 100 maximum (Appendix 2).