Innovating and growing service-based entrepreneurial business – development model based on European and Asian case studies

The main purpose of this paper is analysis of development patterns of service-based entrepreneurial businesses in line with their ability to innovate and grow. The qualitative analysis using process perspective is based on cased studies of the early stage companies from Poland, UK, Vietnam and Indonesia. The study, using systematic grounded theory approach was conducted in the years 2010–2018. The analysis reveals similar development patterns of service-based entrepreneurial businesses in all countries, thus enabling a formulation of 5-stages development model, which is highly knowledge intensive and allows service-based companies to propose radical innovations at the later stages. By providing insights into innovation generation and implementation by service-based entrepreneurial businesses, results of the study enrich the idea of how innovativeness of small service companies can be measured and supported.