Summary Highlights
Introduction
Literature review
Entrepreneurship, institutions and resources
Language, education and entrepreneurship
Methodology
Company and context | Main business | Operations context | Interviewees’ position |
---|---|---|---|
Company A, Finland | Designs web and mobile phone services | Finland, Sweden and South Korea. Currently entering Hong Kong | Co-founder |
Company B, Finland | Provides online services for personal trainers and sports enthusiasts | Finland, the Netherlands and the USA | Chairman of the Board |
Company C, Finland | Provides online platforms for international students regarding study advice and practical information | Finland, yet hopes to expand | CEO |
Company D, Portugal | Creates and increases treatment opportunities with stem cells, contributing to science evolution in the cell therapy | Portugal, Spain and Italy | CEO |
Company E, Portugal | Produces sensor information to measure amounts of oil and gas in tanks | Mainly the USA and Canada, but also France, Spain, Portugal, Brazil, the UK and Australia | CEO |
Company F, Portugal | Provides internet systems in developing countries | Latin America and Africa | Product Manager |
Company G, Sweden | Provides software and online solutions for capturing world sporting events | Operates in 40+ countries on almost all continents | CEO |
Company H, Sweden | Produces household security sensors connected to clients’ smartphones | The Nordics (Norway, Sweden, Denmark and the UK), Europe. Plans to extend to the USA late 2016 | Co-founder |
Company I, Sweden | Provides free internet for smartphones | Worldwide users, mainly Brazil, Mexico, the USA and India | CEO |
Data analysis
Olá, hei, hej!
Primary language(s) | Secondary language(s) | Future language(s) | International orientation | Long-term language strategy | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Finland | Company A | Finnish | English | – | Yes | No |
Company B | English | Finnish, Swedish, German | – | Yes | Possibility of incorporating Portuguese | |
Company C | English/Finnish | Spanish, French, German and Russian | – | Yes and domestic | No | |
Portugal | Company D | Portuguese | English, Spanish and German | – | No | Yes—to standardise everything to English |
Company E | Portuguese | English and French | More English and French | Yes | No. But, would like to develop French | |
Company F | English | Portuguese | More indigenous languages | Yes | No | |
Sweden | Company G | Swedish | English | – | Yes | No |
Company H | Swedish/English | – | More English | Yes | No | |
Company I | English | Swedish | – | Yes | No |
Of course, these are subjective opinions from a selection of entrepreneurs and not sweeping cultural generalisations. Nevertheless, such normativity exhibited by the Swedes offers institutionalisation to varying degrees whereby perceptions of the ‘other’ are framed by internal, contextually bound assumptions. This is reinforced via the use of modals verbs such as ‘have to’ and ‘need to’ which suppose the Swedish interviewees as the purveyors of mastered second languages, discrediting those ‘inferior’ by assuming what can be interpreted as an authoritative role. Indeed, this may relate to the strong internal education systems as regulatory forces in Sweden where languages are incorporated from an early stage as products of the domestic institutional education system, i.e. the regulative pillar of institutionalisation. Nevertheless, start-ups from other countries may perceive language assimilation and ability as extremely difficult, as their institutional environments focus on other skill sets or different language branches.‘There are plenty of examples of companies […] where English is not the natural second language and you can spot that immediately […] you definitely lose credibility straight away so you have to appear as almost as English is your first language […] if you don’t have that, you need to take help’.
Rapport through similarity?
Themes | Finland | Portugal | Sweden |
---|---|---|---|
CautionT | ✓ | ||
Closeness to customerOR | ✓ | ||
Communication/skills necessityOR | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Bilateral cultural educationOR | ✓ | ✓ | |
CredibilityL | ✓ | ||
Cultural adaptationL | ✓ | ||
Cultural differenceOR | ✓ | ✓ | |
Cultural integrationT | ✓ | ||
Cultural interactionOR | |||
Cultural responsivenessL | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Cultural richnessOR | ✓ | ||
Cultural understanding/toleranceT | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
EmpathyT | ✓ | ✓ | |
EqualityL | ✓ | ||
International cultureL | ✓ | ||
Local responsiveness/local representationL | ✓ | ✓ | |
Management as a role modelL | ✓ | ||
Open-mindednessOR | ✓ | ||
RespectT | ✓ | ||
Team spiritOR | ✓ | ||
Textual discourseL | ✓ |
An illustration of shared histories
This ‘quietness’ is of interest, given that the Finns appear to actively concentrate on building a communicative approach. Also of interest is the regional divide between the north and the south, suggesting that ‘national’ culture is indeed not entirely national; a view that is addressed in Tödtling and Wanzenböck’s (2003) study of regional patterns of entrepreneurship in Austria. One can only hazard a guess that these sources of—perhaps unfound—criticism (from both sides) are most probably the combined result of institutionalisation, that is, the result of shared—and sometimes conflicted—histories, as well as personal experience.‘… they are great to work with, but take some time getting used to as they are quiet. The northern part of Finland is not as good in English. A big difference in the profession, very different [than] if you are in the South’.
Manufacturing entrepreneurs
Company and context | Can anyone become an entrepreneur? | Outcome |
---|---|---|
Company A, Finland | Well not everybody, but of course you can be an entrepreneur if you are part of a team. It depends really. | ? |
Company B, Finland | In theory yes but not in practice. Being an entrepreneur requires, for example, willingness to take risks, excellent people skills, and ability to identify and understand market problems. | ? |
Company C, Finland | No, only the ones who have the right mindset. Those people who are willing to work really really hard… are persistent… believe in themselves… are orientated to growth thinking and are positive. They also like challenges, they see challenges as opportunities. They are willing to learn all the time. They are not afraid to take risks. | No |
Company D, Portugal | It’s a good question. I think there are personal characteristics that are necessary to be an entrepreneur. I think there are many characteristics that can be developed, but also there are others that are inborn. It has to do with the way the people are. And I think there are many personality traits of people which are genetic, born with them. In this way, I think there are people with more proficiency than others. However, I think there are features that can be developed, for people that are not born with that profile, but still can make good entrepreneurs. And, when I say entrepreneur, I’m talking not just about managers or people who set up a company, etc. Entrepreneur, for me, is more than that: it is to be able to create things, solve problems—it can be within a public institution, it may be in your home, it can be found in many forms. | ? |
Company E, Portugal | I don’t think so… you have to take risks… to be very focused, you can’t be mainstream and have good skills. Some people haven’t got those characteristics. | No |
Company F, Portugal | Yes, I believe so. If you really want to have your own business you will work for it. If you have that desire, you will manage everything to achieve your goals. | Yes |
Company G, Sweden | I think I’m going to have to say no, I don’t think everyone has what it takes. | No |
Company H, Sweden | I would say yes today, but I have been more definite before that anyone can become an entrepreneur and then becoming less and less sure. But as of today I say yes. | Yes |
Company I, Sweden | Good question, I think yes, absolutely I don’t think everybody wants to, or that everybody should … to do something you need to be passionate about it. If I wanted to be a singer-songwriter I could probably do that if I practiced a lot. You need to really practice a lot to do that. It is the same with entrepreneurship, If you are going to start a company you are going to be working quite a lot of hours, I mean, really long hours, you have to be really sure about what you are doing. You better love what you are doing because that helps you to be good at doing it, but I think that goes for everything in life. | Yes |