This research project focuses on the entrepreneurial ecosystems and their influence towards firm development. Specifically, we look at growth entrepreneurship, in which conditions entrepreneurs seize and sense international opportunities, and subsequently develop appropriate business models to sustain their growth.
Project period
Jan 2022 – Dec 2022
Research questions
The main research questions we seek answer to are:
- How should the Finnish entrepreneurial ecosystem be supported in order to encourage growth entrepreneurship and successful seizing of international opportunities by growth enterprises?
- How should Finnish SMEs develop their business models to successfully leverage the entrepreneurial ecosystem to achieve international growth?
Project goals
This research project will provide a scientific breakthrough in the field of international entrepreneurship research, by integrating the separate domains of research on business models and international opportunity recognition within the framework of the entrepreneurial ecosystem. The result will be a comprehensive framework explaining how the regional entrepreneurial ecosystem impacts the entrepreneurial activities aimed at international growth. The result will be the pioneering studies clarifying these dynamics.
The project research team is in an excellent position to provide this breakthrough, as the research team is at the forefront in these domains of research, having recently provided some of the first studies on the role of entrepreneurial ecosystems in startup development (Velt et al., 2018) as well as for the role of business model innovation in internationalization of SMEs (Asemokha et al., 2019), and of entrepreneurial opportunities (Vuorio, 2018; Vuorio et al., 2017).
Vuorio, A., Velt, H. & Kuivalainen, O. (2022). The role of the entrepreneurial ecosystem in shaping entrepreneurial mindset and internationalization decision. 2022 ACERE Conference.
Vuorio, A., Ivanova-Gongne, M. & Torkkeli, L. (2020). Sensemaking, institutional environment and bricolage in SMEs. 2020 ACERE Conference.
Vadana, I., Torkkeli, L., Kuivalainen, O. & Saarenketo, S. (2020). The Role of Digitalization on Internationalization Strategy of Born-Digital Companies. Accepted to the 2020 AIB UKI Conference, Glasgow.
Contact information
Hannes Velt
