Are software start-ups different? An empirical study on performance of Finnish software companies

Arho Suominen, Sami Hyrynsalmi, Leena Aarikka-Stenroos, Marko Seppänen

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference article in proceedingsScientificpeer-review

    1 Citation (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Entrepreneurship and start-ups have become modern hype terms. Especially, software start-ups have gathered a lot of interest due to a few successful examples, and the potential scalability of new business. A plethora of accelerators, events and communities has been found as well as new research agendas announced to boost and study the new phenomenon. The question, are software start-ups different, still remains unanswered. This study address whether software start-ups differ from the other kinds of new companies. We use the set of over 20,000 Finnish companies founded during 2010-2013 as an empirical material for our inquiry. To compare the financial performance of software start-ups and the rest, we use the current ratio, profit margin, revenue and return on assets as measures of financial performance. The results show that, indeed, software start-ups differ from the control group in the used financial indicators.

    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publication2017 International Conference on Engineering, Technology and Innovation (ICE/ITMC)
    EditorsJoao Pedro Mendonca, Ricardo Jardim-Goncalves, Joao Martins, Alain Zarli, Maria Marques, Marc Pallot
    PublisherIEEE Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers
    Pages991-996
    ISBN (Electronic)978-1-5386-0774-9
    ISBN (Print)978-1-5386-0775-6
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2 Feb 2018
    MoE publication typeNot Eligible
    Event23rd International Conference On Engineering, Technlogy and Innovation, ICE/ITMC - Madeira, Portugal
    Duration: 27 Jun 201729 Jun 2017

    Conference

    Conference23rd International Conference On Engineering, Technlogy and Innovation, ICE/ITMC
    Abbreviated titleICE/ITMC 2017
    Country/TerritoryPortugal
    CityMadeira
    Period27/06/1729/06/17

    Keywords

    • software business
    • start-up
    • entrepreneurship
    • software industry
    • Finland

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