%0 Research article
%T Firm capabilities in the Finnish forest cluster: comparisons based on self-organizing map
%A Järvinen, Joonas
%A Linnakangas, Jaakko
%D 2012
%J Silva Fennica
%V 46
%N 1
%R doi:10.14214/sf.70
%U https://silvafennica.fi/article/70
%X This paper examines the capability portfolios of Finnish forest cluster  firms in 1998–2008. In particular, the focus is on what kind of  capabilities the firms in the cluster have developed, whether the firms  have developed such capabilities consistently, and whether they have  developed similar capability portfolios. Further, a particular focus is  on the links between innovativeness and other identified capabilities.  We approach the topic with an exploratory quantitative analysis of the  annual reports of 11 large firms in the cluster by using computerized  content analysis and a self-organizing map as the main research methods.  Based on the content analysis and earlier literature, we first identify  fifteen capabilities, and then build capability portfolios for the  firms on the basis of the results of the self-organizing map. At the  firm level, the results reveal both similarities and differences in the  capability portfolios of the forest cluster firms. Similarly, we  identify both continuity and change in the development of the  portfolios. At the cluster level, the focus is on innovativeness  capability and its relationship with other capabilities. The results  suggest that especially being strategic, market-oriented, and monitoring  the external environment are positively related with innovativeness; in  contrast, a focus on finance and change seems to suppress  innovativeness.