Competitiveness of Finnish small and medium-sized enterprises – A follow-up study

Abstract

This thesis examines the relationship between the strategic focus of Finnish SMEs and their business performance in the years 2013-2015. Research is based on the large enterprise study (Suuri Yrittäjätutkimus) conducted by credit marketing company Collector Finland Oy in cooperation with the University of Vaasa and builds on the Master’s Thesis by Vainio in 2014. The method of analysis has been the RAL (responsiveness, agility, leanness) -model developed by Takala which based on distributions of the critical success factors cost, quality, time and flexibility determines the strategy types; prospector, analyzer and defender formulated by R.E. Miles and C.C. Snow. Results from the analysis shows clearly that the business environment of Finnish SMEs has been slowly deteriorating over the years 2013-2015. The same applies to the companies’ financial situation and consequently their competitiveness. The outlook on future performance still remained relatively unchanged. The results also show that while quality was the most common critical success factor throughout the time-period cost had become a more emphasized factor in 2015. Prospector proved to be the most competitive strategy type throughout the time-period and emphasize on time was connected to over-average performance.