| Summary: | Purpose: In Finland, customers often view public business services as being a multifaceted, complex and scattered system. Service providers in sparsely populated areas are facing context-specific challenges as they provide services for their customers. The aim of this study is to describe what kinds of business services are provided for early-stage companies in the sparsely populated case region and to investigate how customers evaluate the importance and success of provided services. Design/methodology/approach: This is a retrospective single case study focusing on a sparsely populated subregion in Northern Finland. The case study devises a four-stage configuration framework to describe the current state of public business services and to reflect the customer experiences related to these services. The study uses semi-structured interviews and surveys for data collection. Multiple perspectives were analysed in the interviews for triangulation. Findings: This study describes public business services, especially for early-stage SMEs, in a sparsely populated region. As a result of this case study, key characteristics of organising public business services in sparsely populated area context are described. The success and importance of the public business services from the service customers’ perspective are clarified. Research limitations/implications: This descriptive case study is limited to a single sub-region of a sparsely populated Northern Finland to get an in-depth understanding of the phenomenon. Originality/value: Current literature provides limited information about how to effectively and successfully organize public business services in sparsely populated areas. This study evaluates how services correspond to the needs of the customers and how customers evaluate the importance and success of the business services in the sparsely populated case area. public business services, sparsely populated area, SME, stage models, growth
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