Critical incidents in a growth path of a small software company

The objective of this paper is to analyze the growth of a small software firm by examining the approach it has taken to resource development. We have carried out a qualitative study of a small firm and interviewed the entrepreneur and the key personnel adopting the critical incident technique. On the basis of interviews we identified 10 categories of incidents - internationalization, internal organization, expansion of offering, R&D, strategic alliance, change in operational environment, focusing of business, remote offices, public development cooperation, crisis in cooperation - that have had a significant (positive or negative) effect to the business activities of the firm. The development path of the firm mainly consisted of alternation of growth elements and arrangements made in a way the firm operates. According to our results the growth path of the case company has indications of selective bricolage. There is evidence of both alertness to market opportunity and alertness to utilizing the accumulated knowledge to new area. There is also evidence that bricolage is more important as a tool of value creation than as a tool of value appropriation.