Interviews

In the initial stages of the process, a non-standardised in depth interview with Hanne Rahbæk Kragh and Lea Jehl (CLEAN) was used to gain a deeper understanding of the topics of interest in order to identify specific areas which called for deeper investigation. Hence, this initial interview was used in an explorative manner in order to determine the topic of research.

However, the primary data collection method employed in this report is semi-structured interviews.

This type of interviews are non-standardised, as there is a range of themes and questions which the interviews have sought to cover, but the order of the questions varies from interview to interview (Saunders et al., 2007). The content of the questions have also in some instances varied between the different interviews because they have been adapted to the particular organisation that is being interviewed. Because the order and logic of the questions needed to be varied to accommodate the situation, and because many of the questions needed to be open ended to capture the complexity of the interrelatedness between cluster dynamics and internationalisation, semi-structured interviews have been considered the most appropriate type of interview for this thesis.

In order to investigate the dynamics between the meso and the micro level, eight interviews were conducted with actors on these levels. On the meso level, three interviews have been conducted with different employees in CLEAN in order to avoid the interviewee bias that can occur when merely interviewing one person. These interviews include the initial interview with Chief Consultant Hanne Rahbæk Kragh and Project Assistant Lea Jehl. These interviewees were chosen due to their broad interface with the different departments in CLEAN which was useful given the explorative character of the interview. Next, the interview with the Senior Project Manager in the Internationalisation department, Scott Allison, has been conducted to gain insights into his area of expertise, namely the internationalisation activities and projects for which he is responsible. By conducting several interviews with CLEAN concerning the operations and objectives behind the cluster’s SME support provided a better overall understanding of the different views within the organisation. Moreover, one interview was conducted with the head of the secretariat, James Armour, from the International Cleantech Network (ICN). This interview was conducted in order to understand ICN’s role as a meta cluster, the interplay between the ICN and CLEAN, and how the ICN influences the internationalisation of CLEAN’s member firms. As James Armour also works as an internationalisation assistant in CLEAN, an additional unstructured interview was conducted with him on the topic of CLEAN to gain a better understanding of the organisation and its initiatives.

To examine micro level dynamics, interviews were conducted with three member SMEs; VisBlue, ReMoni and STAC. The purpose of these interviews was to understand their interactions with CLEAN

as well as to gain a more practical understanding of how CLEAN influences the internationalisation processes for the member firms. These interviews have been used to examine how the firms’

internationalisation processes have been influenced by the context, individual firm resources and CLEAN. These interviews were conducted with the SME CEO’s as well as one supporting interview with the head of Communication and Marketing in VisBlue.

Throughout the data collection process, a range of emails, phone calls and other ongoing communication was arranged, allowing the researchers to ensure a deep understanding of complex aspects by following up and asking questions continuously throughout the process. This in turn contributed to the establishment of trust between the researchers and interviewees. All interviews and ongoing communication has been presented in table 2 below.

Table 2: Data Sources

To ensure that the interviews focused on the relevant issues related to the research area, the interview guides were comprised of a combination of open, probing and specialised questions. Firstly, the interviews were divided into key themes that were found relevant based on the level of analysis in the theoretical framework. For CLEAN, the interviews took their point of departure in understanding the services provided and identifying areas corresponding to themes identified in the reviewed cluster theory. The interview guide therefore included questions like; “How do you help your members become part of a consortia?” and “How does the internationalisation department overlap and cohere with the two departments for energy and environment?”. The full interview guide can be found in appendix 1.1.

In the interview with ICN, the key objective was to gain an understanding of the collaboration between ICN and the member clusters and the influence that ICN has on CLEAN as well as the SMEs. Questions for this interview therefore included; “Where do you see that your support to the SMEs differs from the support provided by the individual clusters?” and “How would you describe your collaboration with the clusters?” (Appendix 1.2).

When designing the interview guide for the SMEs, table 1 was used to establish a frame around the key areas that were particularly interesting to understand from a firm perspective. On that basis, the main themes for this interview guide were; Networks, Knowledge, Institutions, Internationalisation Experience and Lock-in effects. This was done in order to be able to compare the cluster and internationalisation dynamics identified throughout the literature to the chosen case, and to understand how these areas affect the internationalisation process of SMEs. Questions in these interviews included:

“Have you participated in projects/activities with CLEAN, which you later used for other purposes?”

and “Have you experienced that your opportunities for internationalisation have been affected by your size?” (Appendix 1.3). Including somewhat open questions in all interviews increased the flexibility and allowed the interviewee to elaborate processes or areas in more detail. It further enabled the researchers to ask follow up questions to ensure understanding of complex topics. This further allowed for a deeper understanding within certain processes and thereby helped the researchers increase reliability.

Two of the interviews took place in CLEAN’s Copenhagen office which allowed the researchers to observe the dynamics around the office and ask questions throughout the process to gain a better understanding of CLEAN as an organisation. This contributed positively to the data analysis process, as it enabled the researchers to interpret the interview data in the context of the organisation. The remaining five interviews were conducted online via Skype with video in the native language of the interviewee. Hence, the interviews made with Scott Allison and James Armour were conducted in English and the remaining interviews in Danish. This was done in order to ensure that all interviewees felt comfortable speaking their mind, and to avoid misunderstandings caused by language barriers. In the interview process, both researchers asked questions and ensured that all important themes were covered. Prior to the interviews, permission was given to the researchers to record the interviews. This was found relevant in order to allow the interviewers to concentrate on questioning and listening as the interview went along. It further made it possible for the interviewers in the interpretation phase to revisit parts of the interview, to avoid wrongful interpretation based on inadequate notes or memory.