The ability to internationalize has become a competitive necessity for many firms, and one important for survival and growth in the era of globalization. At the same time, digitalization is transforming the locus of entrepreneurial opportunities and entrepreneurial practices, thus offering new perspectives on internationalization. Internationalization requires marketing capability as well as market orientation. However, there is a gap in the literature exploring the interplay of digitalization, market orientation and marketing capability in the internationalization process. The objective of the present study is to improve our understanding of (1) the impact of market orientation, marketing capability and digitalization on firm performance among small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and (2) the differences in this impact between internationalized SMEs and SMEs operating only in domestic markets. The data were gathered from 101 Finnish SMEs in the wood-product industry, and analyzed with AMOS using path analysis. The results show that marketing capability mediates the effect of market orientation on firm performance. For internationalized firms, market orientation and marketing capability are crucial to their success in foreign markets. However, digitalization has no effect on firm performance with internationalized firms. With other firms, the effect is direct and significant.

The aim of this paper is to understand how sustainable entrepreneurship competence impacts entrepreneurial intentions in two educational contexts: in higher education and in secondary education. We applied the sustainable entrepreneurship framework, which includes six competencies of sustainable entrepreneurship, and the Theory of Planned Behavior. The data were gathered from seven European countries and consist of 486 responses from higher education students and 642 responses from secondary-level students. The results show that sustainable entrepreneurship competence (SEC) is a significant factor that can explain entrepreneurial intentions. It has a significant direct effect on entrepreneurial intentions in both educational contexts. Perceived behavioral control (PBC) moderates the relationship between SEC and entrepreneurial intentions; the effect of SEC decreases when PBC increases. The moderating effect was found only with higher education students, not with secondary-level students. This study demonstrates a connection between sustainable entrepreneurship competence and entrepreneurial intentions and contributes to a better understanding of the role of sustainable entrepreneurship competence in shaping students’ aspirations for an entrepreneurial career in different educational contexts.

Entrepreneurial intentions have been extensively studied, but little is known about the intended mode of entry into entrepreneurship and its antecedents. This study tests the utility of the theory of planned behavior in a new, more specific context, namely business takeover intentions. The impact of entrepreneurship competence on antecedents of takeover intentions is explored. Entrepreneurship competence is measured using a scale based on the EntreComp framework. Data (N = 1373) were gathered from two institutes of higher education in Finland and analyzed using logistic regression. The results show that the TPB can be useful in investigating takeover intentions. The subjective norm has a notable and direct effect on takeover intentions, but the effect of entrepreneurship competence is mediated by attitudes and perceived behavioral control. The effect of parental role models on takeover intentions is significant, although the study is not limited to family successions; gender is also significant. The results show that the relationship between takeover intentions, entrepreneurship competence, and family role models is a complex one. Future studies on entrepreneurial intentions should pay attention to the differences in antecedents of entry modes.

The objective is to contribute to understanding entrepreneurship in ageing societies and to suggest avenues to ensure people in their third age (aged 50+) actively contribute to the supply side of the silver economy. To this end, we apply mixed methods to understand the different effects of motives and attitudes on the well-being of part-time entrepreneurs. The analysis is refined by categorizing those entrepreneurs into third age and prime-age cohorts. The analysis used data from 400 Finnish part-time entrepreneurs. When the stability of the financial situation is controlled for, attitudes to entrepreneurship and self-realization as a motive explain well-being among third-age group. For the younger age group, financial motives were also important in explaining well-being, but recognition and independence motives had a negative effect. Policymakers should consider incentivizing third-age entrepreneurs to continue working also after retirement and aim to foster a climate marked by a positive attitude to third-age entrepreneurship

The ability to access external expertise is crucial to small firms’ development, yet research examining the purchasing process of expert services by small firms is scarce. External expertise is defined here as knowledge or competence, that is relatively rare to the client firm, provided by an external party. Hence, external expertise includes professional business services as well as business advice. The paper reports on a qualitative study of small manufacturing firms’ behaviour in accessing external expertise. Five distinct patterns by which small firms come to use external expertise are described, demonstrating how small firms’ actions differ from the expert service purchasing process. The firms are found to acquire expert resources opportunistically and reactively as well as by calculated or routine purchasing, and by utilising informal sources of expertise.

Knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) are a key sector in any knowledge economy, and as such they are subject to multiple policy influences. This article considers the inadvertent impacts of policies on KIBS, using examples drawn from the policy setting in Finland. The key elements of the policy environment are described, with particular attention to innovation policy and small and medium enterprise support policies. The direct and indirect effects of public policies on KIBS are explored with particular attention to effects on innovativeness. The role of research and training organisations as a semi-competitor of KIBS is highlighted. The examples analysed suggest that policy has simultaneously both positive and negative impacts on the innovativeness of KIBS industries.