Title: Internationalising business services and the national innovation system: The Finnish business services sector in a European comparison

Authors: Mika Kautonen, Marja Hyypia

Addresses: Unit for Science, Technology and Innovation Studies, Institute for Social Research, FIN 33014 University of Tampere, Finland. ' Unit for Science, Technology and Innovation Studies, Institute for Social Research, FIN 33014 University of Tampere, Finland

Abstract: The business services sector is often neglected in assessing the capacities of innovation systems although its role may be crucial in transferring business knowledge between firms and industries. This paper presents a statistical comparative tool on the significance and level of internationalisation of the business services sector and deploys it by comparing the EU15 countries with a special focus on Finland. The outcomes show a considerable variation between the European national economies and indicate that Finland has a relatively weakly developed business services sector. The paper then discusses factors that affect the growth and internationalisation of a national business services sector.

Keywords: business services; national innovation systems; Finland; EU15; statistical comparison; internationalisation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSTM.2009.024091

International Journal of Services Technology and Management, 2009 Vol.11 No.3, pp.229 - 246

Published online: 25 Mar 2009 *

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