Gazelles in services: what are the specifics of their existence in Slovakia?

Abstract

Young dynamic service enterprises – gazelles – represent the modern economy phenomenon, which stimulates the growth by its operation, in particular of local economy. This article identifies the position of gazelles in services and defines their characteristic features with regard to knowledge intensity of their production. Research results document the dominant representation of gazelles in services within the framework of their sectoral distribution and their growing economic effects in the Slovak Republic. Knowledge intensity of production is determinant of gazelle innovativeness in services, and the result is supported by knowledge of higher intensity perception of innovation effects in a knowledge-intensive production of services.

Reading and Managing Service Businesses

“…SMEs that innovate most successfully are classified as ‘ gazelles’, or all enterprises up to five years old with average annualized growth greater than 20% per annum over a three-year period, and with ten or more employees at the beginning of the observation period (Eurostat-OECD 2007 ). Research on the total number of ‘gazelles’ by sector has revealed that the share of service ‘gazelles’ exceeds the share of manufacturing ‘gazelles’ (Kubičková et al 2018 ). Firms that are identified as ‘gazelles’ grow rapidly compared to their counterparts or so-called elephants—large companies employing many thousands, but which do not create significant numbers of new jobs.…”