Tracking spatial distribution and regional characteristics of gazelles
Björk, Pauliina; Saarela, Martti; Kotavaara, Ossi; Muhos, Matti (2025-06-08)
Taylor & Francis
08.06.2025
Björk, P., Saarela, M., Kotavaara, O., & Muhos, M. (2026). Tracking spatial distribution and regional characteristics of gazelles. Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 38(1–2), 164–184. https://doi.org/10.1080/08985626.2025.2515287
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
© 2025 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
© 2025 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:oulu-202506164474
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:oulu-202506164474
Tiivistelmä
Abstract
This study focuses on the spatial distribution of gazelle enterprises and their connections to regional characteristics, using register data-based analysis in Finland during the years 2015–2021. Contributing to the stream of high-growth firms research, this paper differentiates itself by recognizing the role of micro-sized firms in high-growth dynamics and analysing spatial patterns of gazelles in a sparsely populated country, mostly ignored by previous studies. By considering geographical dimensions, this study has broader implications contributing to the literature on regional disparities in entrepreneurship and innovation, especially in rural and peripheral regions. The main analyses were spatial and statistical aggregation, principal component analysis and univariate logistic regression. The essential findings show that urban regions are in general more capable of producing gazelles than rural regions, but also some rural regions have shown remarkably high gazelle per population rates. Thus, it appears that the absence of economies of scale does not prevent the occurrence of gazelles, and rural and remote regions may produce gazelles, although there is a great deal of variation. However, regional structural characteristics are connected to the presence of gazelles.
This study focuses on the spatial distribution of gazelle enterprises and their connections to regional characteristics, using register data-based analysis in Finland during the years 2015–2021. Contributing to the stream of high-growth firms research, this paper differentiates itself by recognizing the role of micro-sized firms in high-growth dynamics and analysing spatial patterns of gazelles in a sparsely populated country, mostly ignored by previous studies. By considering geographical dimensions, this study has broader implications contributing to the literature on regional disparities in entrepreneurship and innovation, especially in rural and peripheral regions. The main analyses were spatial and statistical aggregation, principal component analysis and univariate logistic regression. The essential findings show that urban regions are in general more capable of producing gazelles than rural regions, but also some rural regions have shown remarkably high gazelle per population rates. Thus, it appears that the absence of economies of scale does not prevent the occurrence of gazelles, and rural and remote regions may produce gazelles, although there is a great deal of variation. However, regional structural characteristics are connected to the presence of gazelles.
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