Internationalising business services and the national innovation system: The Finnish business services sector in a European comparison

The business services sector is often neglected in assessing the capacities of innovation systems although its role may be crucial in transferring business knowledge between firms and industries. This paper presents a statistical comparative tool on the significance and level of internationalisation of the business services sector and deploys it by comparing the EU15 countries with a special focus on Finland. The outcomes show a considerable variation between the European national economies and indicate that Finland has a relatively weakly developed business services sector. The paper then discusses factors that affect the growth and internationalisation of a national business services sector.yyy The business services sector is often neglected in assessing the capacities of innovation systems although its role may be crucial in transferring business knowledge between firms and industries. This paper presents a statistical comparative tool on the significance and level of internationalisation of the business services sector and deploys it by comparing the EU15 countries with a special focus on Finland. The outcomes show a considerable variation between the European national economies and indicate that Finland has a relatively weakly developed business services sector. The paper then discusses factors that affect the growth and internationalisation of a national business services sector.