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The bestselling dictionary of the late Middle Ages was named after a morphological procedure, “derivations.” It was written by Hugutio (also known as Uguccione) from Pisa, bishop of Ferrara, probably in the 1160s, and its title refers to one of the procedures used in order to explain the origin and meaning of words. In addition, etymological speculation, with the method inherited from Latin Antiquity—from Varro via Isidore of Seville—also has a prominent place in this work, which enjoyed great success. In an epoch when the Romance languages, including Italian, had long ousted Latin in everyday native spoken usage, Hugutio’s book was extensively used and cited as a dictionary, in order to write not only in Latin—still the main language of culture in Western Europe for centuries to come—but also in the vernaculars in the then-incipient Romance vulgar literature; for example, by no less a figure than Dante Alighieri. To us, Hugutio’s Derivations (Derivationes) is valuable as a source both of knowledge of Medieval culture and thought and of information on the Italian lexicon, at a time when written documentation in Italian was still very scarce.

On the eve of the Middle Ages, slightly more than one century after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, in Spain under Visigothic rule Latin was still the language of culture and everyday spoken communication. In Seville, the bishop Isidore wrote what was to become the reference encyclopedia of the Middle Ages, the Etymologiae, whose very title indicates that speculation about etymology is key to the treatment of all disciplines, from mathematics to theology. This enormously influential treatise established a canon of disciplines and authors that was to last for almost a millennium. As an etymologist, by the standards of modern research Isidore does not count as a full-fledged colleague: he pursues the method adopted in Latin antiquity in Varro, but with less insight than Varro into the mechanisms of language per se. Nonetheless, the Etymologiae are a fascinating cultural object, with speculation on language one of its prime ingredients.

This study aims to clarify the context-specific characteristics of growth management in private healthcare business. The roles of healthcare professional and manager can be conflicting, and it is important to know what practical implications this has on healthcare business growth management. In this multiple case study, we use the growth management framework for general service businesses based on literature synthesis by Muhos et al. (2017) to identify the characteristics and underlying features of management in healthcare business. The data consist of 12 interviews among Finnish healthcare companies. As the main outcome, we present an adapted version of the stages of growth model for healthcare business and identify the contextual characteristics that are related to growth motivation and business competence of entrepreneurs, commitment and competence of employees, public sector relations, and regulation. Further, we adapt some of the original assumptions to better describe growth management in the context of healthcare service business including the conflicting roles of manager and healthcare professional, central of public sector and regulation, as well as growth motivation and business competence of entrepreneurs. These findings provide practical benefits for business owners as the framework assumptions can be used as a checklist when getting prepared for business growth.

The ongoing fourth industrial revolution — Industry 4.0 — is pushing process industries toward massive digital transformation (DT). This transformation is still in its early stages, and many micro- and small enterprises (MSEs) are looking for business opportunities. As digital solution providers, MSEs need to design value propositions that successfully provide services to process industry companies. This multiple-case study explores the business model development of MSEs in the DT of large global process industry companies toward Industry 4.0. Data were gathered from six globally operating process industry companies and 13 Finnish MSEs that provide digital solutions to process industry companies. The Value Proposition Canvas tool was used as an analytical framework. The results reveal that to seize business opportunities, MSEs must articulate their added value to process industry customers. Moreover, to enhance their value propositions, MSEs must have a sufficiently comprehensive understanding of customers’ business processes and industry-specific production processes.

Microenterprises represent most of all businesses and are an essential enabler of any nation’s renewal and sustainable growth. Despite its practical and scientific importance, little is known about what drives microenterprise managers to export. This study aims to bridge this gap by elaborating the export drivers from the perspective of microenterprises. The above-described can be condensed to the following research question: What are the drivers for exporting perceived by the managers of microenterprises? This multiple case study answers the research question by analysing export drivers in ten Finnish microenterprises. A framework of export drivers (Leonidou et al., 2007) was devised in this analysis. This study provided an in-depth analysis of the export drivers in a microenterprise context and summarised the findings in a preliminary framework. Based on this analysis, the drivers related to human resources, marketing, domestic market, foreign market, home government and customers are central to microenterprise export.

The aim of this study was to clarify growth management of service- and technology-based firms in sparsely populated areas (SPAs). This retrospective multiple case study reached this aim by investigating owner–managers’ experiences from the early growth process and by reflecting on these experiences through the meta-analytical management priority framework. The contextual management priorities were visited from the perspectives of service- and technology-based companies in SPAs. The owner–managers of service- and tech-based firms paid primary attention to three shared priorities: human resources, the development of services/products and organisational design, but in a different order and with context-specific characteristics. In service-based firms, owner–managers’ primary attention was on human resource management; meanwhile, the attention of owner–managers was primarily on the development and delivery of products/technology.

Many stages of growth models have been introduced to clarify management priorities during the early stages of business growth. However, many of these models are conceptual and universal, providing only limited benefits to specific industries and business contexts. The early stages of technology-based ventures have attracted broad interest, while less attention has been paid to the early stages of service-based firms. However, in recent years, interest in service-based businesses, as well as servitisation, has grown. This literature-based study explores and compares the early stages of growth in service-based and technology-based firms. On one hand, this study condenses the basic characteristics of recent empirical studies on the early stages of technology- and service-based firms. On the other, this study clarifies the central themes, sequential patterns and central differences in the early stages of service- and technology-based firms. This study pinpoints the importance of contextual understanding related to the early stages of business growth and encourages the scholars towards bridging the contextual gaps of this stream of literature.

Digitalisation has been identified as one of the major trends changing society and business. However, companies are not making the most of all the opportunities that digitalisation has to offer. In the digital transformation process, it is important to start with assessing the current state. Digital maturity assessment can be used to analyse the current level of digital readiness and performance of an organisation. Micro-enterprises are the smallest group of enterprises and numerically the dominant enterprise type in economies. They differ from larger enterprises in terms of organisational characteristics, such as their unique attitude towards digital tools and application deployment. Furthermore, micro-enterprises are lagging behind in exploring the possibilities that come with digitalisation. This article describes the design process, usage possibilities, and initial experiences of a digital maturity model, especially from the viewpoint of micro-enterprises. As result, this article presents a micro-enterprise-focused self-evaluation framework providing holistic digital maturity status.

Stages of growth theory provide little or no evidence regarding international aspects of growth management. Moreover, international entrepreneurship research and the international new venture approach view the growth of start-ups through the perspective of internationalisation, without a special growth management focus. There is a need for research which integrates both aspects. The start-up stage is the most critical period for the survival of a company, as decisions made during this time have a decisive influence on its success, if not survival. Digitalisation is revolutionising international business, and healthcare delivery is no exception. It provides business opportunities, even globally, for innovative start-ups. The aim of this chapter is to clarify international aspects of growth management in eHealth service start-ups. Utilising critical incident techniques and semi-structured interviews in the data collection, managerial priorities are analysed in five case companies in Finland, Sweden and the U.S. The findings demonstrate that international aspects are inseparable from the growth management of international eHealth start-ups. The key management priority areas related to internalisation are focus, strategic management and service development and delivery.

Healthcare and the well-being of populations are critical economic considerations. Increased healthcare service demand and the economic challenges faced by healthcare systems have recently intensified the need for effective, scalable, and innovative health services. Integration of digital technology into health services, known as eHealth, is an emerging and fast-growing area, which has been viewed as a key response to increased requirements of healthcare systems and services. Start-ups have organizational agility, promising ideas, the willingness to take risks, and the tendency toward growth that make them pioneers of innovation. EHealth service start-ups create digital solutions to meet the needs, complement traditional services, and even create new markets in the areas of healthcare and well-being. The theoretical framework of this study is based on the stages of growth approach, particularly from the viewpoint of the start-up stage of a service business. However, research areas related to start-ups in the eHealth context are also integral to this study’s theoretical background. As the start-up stage is the critical period for a new company’s survival and growth, growth management is of central importance. However, the current understanding of growth management in eHealth service start-ups is incomplete. Thus, there is a need for industry-specific understanding of eHealth service start-ups. The aim of this study was to clarify the growth management of eHealth service start-ups. This multiple-case study used the critical incident technique in data collection, and the data were gathered from Finland, Sweden, and the United States. The study revealed twelve characteristics of eHealth service business during the start-up stage which contribute to the understanding of growth management in eHealth service start-ups. Slow growth and extreme uncertainty were found to be key characteristics and the results of the other revealed characteristics. Moreover, the findi, Tiivistelmä Terveydenhuolto ja väestön hyvinvointi ovat taloudellisesti kriittisiä näkökohtia. Lisääntyvä terveydenhuoltopalveluiden kysyntä ja terveydenhuoltojärjestelmien kohtaamat taloudelliset haasteet ovat lisänneet tehokkaiden, skaalautuvien ja innovatiivisten terveyspalvelujen tarvetta. Digitaalitekniikan integroituminen terveys- ja hyvinvointipalveluihin (eHealth), on nopeasti kasvava alue, jota pidetään vastauksena terveydenhuoltojärjestelmien ja -palvelujen lisääntyneisiin vaatimuksiin. Start up -yrityksillä on ketteryyttä, lupaavia ideoita sekä halukkuutta kasvuun ja riskinottoon, mikä tekee niistä innovaatioiden edelläkävijöitä. Digitaalisia terveyspalveluita tuottavat start up -yritykset (eHealth startup -yritykset) vastaavat terveydenhuollon ja hyvinvointialojen tarpeisiin luomalla uusia digitaalisia ratkaisuja, täydentämällä perinteisiä palveluita ja luomalla sektorille jopa uusia markkinoita. Tutkimuksen teoreettinen viitekehys perustuu yritysten kasvuvaiheteoriaan, erityisesti palveluyritysten startup -vaiheeseen. Tutkimusalueet, jotka liittyvät eHealth start up -yrityksiin ja niiden toimintaympäristöön, täydentävät tutkimuksen teoreettista taustaa. Koska startup -vaihe on kriittinen ajanjakso yrityksen selviytymiselle ja kasvulle, on kasvunhallinta keskeistä startup -yrityksille. Ymmärrys eHealth start up -yritysten kasvunhallinnasta on puutteellista, joten on olemassa tarve näiden yritysten kasvunhallinnan toimialakohtaiselle tutkimukselle. Tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli selvittää eHealth start up -yritysten kasvunhallintaa. Tutkimus toteutettiin monitapaustutkimuksena, jonka tiedonkeruussa käytettiin kriittisten tapahtumien tekniikkaa. Haastatteluaineisto eHealth start up -yrityksistä kerättiin Suomesta, Ruotsista ja Yhdysvalloista. Tutkimus tuo esille kaksitoista ominaispiirrettä eHealth start up -yritysten liiketoiminnasta, jotka auttavat ymmärtämään kasvunhallintaa tutkitussa kontekstissa. Hidas kasvu ja äärimmäinen epävarmuus ovat avainpiirteitä

Small and medium-sized enterprises (smes) play a key role in national economies around the world but face pressure to sustain their competitiveness in domestic and global markets. smes should check their position periodically and figure out what they need to do next. Maturity models are suitable tools for documenting smes’ current state, for developing the company’s future vision and path and for comparing capabilities between companies. This study’s aim is to obtain an overview of existing maturity models focused on smes by conducting a systematic literature review (slr) of the publications on business maturity models from the lens of smes. As a result of this study, a growing trend for business maturity models for smes is identified and future research opportunities for sme maturity research are suggested.

There is a need for new knowledge about growth in technology-based growth ventures in order to strengthen business development within this context. This retrospective multiple-case study clarifies the context-specific viewpoints related to the early stages of technology-intensive companies in two cities in Finland. The research question is: What are the management priorities of technology-intensive growth ventures in Finnish high-tech contexts? Using the sequential incident technique and semi-structured interviews, the managers of ten companies were asked to describe their business growth. The study tests the applicability of a literature-based framework for the early stages of growth in technology companies and analyses context-specific viewpoints. By taking account of the context, the study provides new insights into the growth and management of technology-intensive companies as well as into the special characteristics of different high-tech contexts. Moreover, the results provide evidence of the applicability of the framework in the selected contexts.