Research
Education
News
TSE Entre is actively involved in developing and renewing entrepreneurship and small business management. In its field of expertise, the team is the leading group in Finland with a wide variety of international activities. If you are interested in having more detailed information, please, refer to our contact persons by phone or e-mail (first.lastname@tse.fi)
Research
An extensive research project on technology incubation and incubatees in Finland has been finalized in the TSE Entre. The research is conducted as a part of a national development programme for technology incubators in 2004-2008 and it reports the development of incubation activity during this period from different perspectives.
The development programme for technology incubators was cordinated by Sitra and aimed at developing technology incubation activity both in quantitative and qualitative terms. The research results will be described in detail by the publication to be published in Sitra’s publication series. The particular cornerstones for the success in the project were the development of more tightly knit, national-level incubator network which promotes genuine co-operation and the emphasis on generation of business ideas and on the development of early-stage services, particularly the preincubator services. The project resulted in has resulted in an increase in the number and improvement of the quality of new incubator businesses. In the future the challenge is building even more flexible services that support the growth and development of the firms. For the public sector the challenge lies in securing this promising development by developing a long term financing mechanism for technology incubators.
The research report written by Ulla Hytti and Katja Mäki will be published in Sitra’s Reports –series in April 2008 (in Finnish). The electronic version of the report can be read from Sitra’s website (in Finnish).
Reference: Hytti, Ulla – Mäki, Katja (2008, in print) Teknologiahautomot aloittavien yritysten liiketoiminnan käynnistyksen ja kasvun tukena, Yrke-hankkeen loppuarviointi. Sitran raportteja 77.
Further information: Ulla Hytti, tel. +358 2 4814 514 and Katja Mäki, tel. +358 2 4814 544
The creation, development and maintaining of vital and strong regional clusters has been seen to be an important goal of industry and science policies both in Finland and in the whole Europe during last 10-20 years. In the European level especially the sixth framework programme for the years 2002-2006 launched a range of projects related to clusters and innovation. However, there are some significant differences in the goals and means of national cluster policies between European countries. As well as, the structure of already existing clusters.
TSE Entre has participated in the European-wide European Cluster Observatory mapping. The mapping has been con-ducted to this extent now for the first time. The data draws a versatile picture of regional clusters, cluster organizations, and policy programmes promoting the process of regional and national cluster building and growth. A database has been created based on the mapping. The objective of the database is to inform policymakers, cluster practitioners and researchers about European clusters and cluster policies. TSE Entre has been responsible for the analysis and reporting of Finnish cluster policy.
The data which has been brought forth by a multinational team is in easily accessible form at: www.clusterobservatory.eu. You can search for information about European clusters both by country or region and also by cluster categories. The results are presented in the form of tables and maps, which helps the comparison between regions and countries. Data can be exported as PDF or CSV format. National policies and on-going programmes are analyzed in separate reports, which are downloadable at Cluster Policies section.
The European Cluster Observatory is managed by the Center for Strategy and Competitiveness (CSC) at the Stockholm School of Economics, and it is financed by the European Commission under the Europe INNOVA programme. Oxford Research AS in Norway has been responsible for the coordi-nation of the mapping of national cluster policies, organizations and programmes.
Further information: Satu Aaltonen, tel. (02) 4814 512
Export operations of Finnish SMEs are quite modest. According to the ongoing research of TSE Entre the modest export rates are not due to the lack of skills, but rather the lack of willingness.
The longitudinal study, conducted by TSE Entre analysed the growth among Finnish SMEs between the years 2003 and 2006. The empirical data of the study was collected by two surveys and the final data set includes replies from about 150 companies in the years 2003 and 2006. About 10 percent of the studied companies received over half of their total turnover from international markets. On the other hand, about 60 percent of studied SMEs operate solely in domestic markets. Based on our study this seems to be the case also in the near future. Only 2.2 percent of companies, operating currently solely in domestic markets, predicted that the share of their international operations will rise remarkably during the next three years.
– SMEs trust on their abilities but their willingness to internationalise is moderate. However, they have a considerable amount of unused potential to internationalise. Only one fourth of those companies that operate solely in domestic markets, perceived that they do not have enough skills needed in international growth, states Jarna Heinonen (director of TSE Entre).
– The Finnish SMEs are usually operating in international markets in very small-scale. 40 percent of those companies that operated in international markets declared that their share of the international operations was less than 10 percent of their total turnover, comments researcher Arto Kuuluvainen from TSE Entre.
During the research period (2003-2006) the attitudes of managers towards internationalization changed only slightly to more positive direction. Attitudinal change seemed to be very slow. Especially companies operating in home-markets did not even seem to be very interested in the potential of international markets. Instead, these companies believed that domestic markets offer still enough potential for company growth.
The ongoing research project aims to understand and model different mechanisms of growth and internationalization. The study will provide recommendations to Finnish companies and policymakers on how to support and promote company growth within Finnish SMEs. The final report of the study will be published during the spring 2009.
Further information: Arto Kuuluvainen, +35840 538 7515 and Jarna Heinonen, tel. +358 2 4814 577
EXIT: Entrepreneurs Exiting their Businesses – who and why?
The research project of the TSE Entre ‘EXIT: Entrepreneurs Exiting their Businesses – who and why?’ explores the processes which entrepreneurs undergo when exiting their businesses. The research material consists of the data set collected by telephone survey carried out in Spring 2007 and a large panel data provided by the Statistics Finland. The telephone survey was targeted to entrepreneurs who have exited their businesses during the last ten years.
Half of the entrepreneurs enter the labor markets immediately after their exit, a quarter retires, eight percent continue as an entrepreneur and six percent go to study, the remaining 10 % go to other activities. There are variations in exit routes resulting from entrepreneurs’ phase of life, educational background and reasons for exit.
In most cases the exit was not directly due to any business related reason. Over 60 percent of the entrepreneurs who replied to our survey had positive experiences of their entrepreneurship. That was the case even if the business had faced some financial problems. The data portrayed a picture of justified exits and closures, and of content entrepreneurs and ex-entrepreneurs.
Our findings indicated that the entrepreneurs often prolong their exit unnecessary long time. Hence, more attention is suggested to be paid to encouraging the justified closures as well as releasing and channeling the entrepreneurial capacity towards starting-up a new business. Prolonged closures plotter away financial and mental resources both at the personal and national level.
The results are based on ongoing EXIT –research project of the TSE Entre, which is financed by the Turku School of Economics and the Federation of Finnish Enterprises. The executive summary of the research project ‘Entrepreneurs Exiting their Businesses – who and why?’ will be published in the near future.
Further information: Satu Aaltonen, tel. (02) 4814 512 and Jarna Heinonen, tel. +358 2 4814 577
Education
2nd Doctoral Seminar in Entrepreneurship in the Turku archipelago 13 – 16 June 2008
The 1st Doctoral Seminar in Entrepreneurship was organised in the Turku archipelago as part of the ICSB World Conference in 2007. The next seminar will be organised in the summer of 2008 as a co-operation between Turku School of Economics and Abo Akademi University supported by international faculty members. In the seminar the students make formal presentations of their researcher followed by comments by faculty as well as fellow participants. The deadline for the applications closes on 31 March 2008. Further details on applications and the seminar from
http://www.tse.fi/FI/media/ajankohtaista/Pages/yj_jatko-opintoseminaari.aspx
Further information: Ulla Hytti, tel. +358 2 4814 514
Entrepreneurship awareness raising seminars for the researchers at the Commission Joint Research Centre (2008-2010)
TSE Entre, Turku School of Economics has been elected to organize entrepreneurship seminars for the researchers at the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre in 2008-2010. The goal of the seminars is to raise awareness and give basic information about business idea development and making a business plan to the participants. The teachers at the seminars are entrepreneurship teachers from the entrepreneurship programme at the Turku School of Economics (internal and external faculty members).
Further information: Jarna Heinonen, tel. +358 2 4814 577
News
Our research programme Towards the Entrepreneurial Society is strengthened as professor Garry D. Bruton from the Neeley School of Business (Texas Christian University, USA) starts as a Visiting Professor within TSE Entre, Turku School of Economics. Professor Bruton is the academic director of the Entrepreneurship Programme within Neeley School of Business and he has a wide record of publications in high-quality aca-demic journals in the field of management and entrepreneurship. Our aim is to start collaborative research projects with Professor Bruton and to exploit his competence in the field of entrepreneurship research.