Finland: Intellectual asset management among high-growth SMEs

Abstract

This chapter analyses the innovation activities and formal and informal methods of protection of intellectual assets used by a sample of high growth and non-high growth SMEs in manufacturing and service sectors in Finland. The authors find that there are no important differences between HGSMEs and non-HGSMEs in terms of innovative activities and that there is no significant relationship between the level of innovativeness and firm growth. In terms of intellectual asset management and protection methods their findings suggest that informal and formal methods are not mutually exclusive or competing but rather support each other and that HGSMEs appear more active using formal protection practices than non-HGSMEs. Regarding sectoral differences the authors find that protection strategies in the services sectors are mainly based on diffusing information among the firms’ employees and on documenting tacit knowledge whereas the manufacturing sectors base more their strategies on restricting employees’ access to sensitive information.