Työryhmäohjelmiston käyttö verkostoituneessa yrityksessä

Verkostoituminen on nimitys toimintatavalle, jossa työ, työn tekijöiden tuottamat palvelut ja asiakkaiden palvelutarpeet kohtaavat uudella, organisoidulla tavalla. Verkoston jäsenten tiivis yhteistyö, yhteistyön aikaansaama kiinteiden kustannusten aleneminen ja keskitetty markkinointi edistävät yksittäisten jäsenyritysten kilpailukykyä. Verkoston jäsenyritys on muiden verkostoon kuuluvien yritysten kumppani, jolle jaetaan vastuuta ja johon luotetaan. Näin ollen verkostoituminen aiheuttaa yritysten toimintatapoihin usein muutoksia, joihin niiden on kyettävä mukautumaan. Työn tarkoituksena oli selvittää case-tapauksen pohjalta, millaisiin seikkoihin yrityksen verkostoituessa on kiinnitettävä huomiota ja mitä asioita on otettava huomioon luotaessa tietojärjestelmää verkostoituneen yrityksen käyttöön. Verkostoitumista tukeva tietojärjestelmä kehitettiin työryhmäohjelmiston pohjalle. Koska työryhmäohjelmistot on tarkoitettu erityisesti informaation hallinnan työkaluiksi, soveltuvat ne hyvin verkostoituneen yrityksen tietojärjestelmän alustaksi. Yritysten välisen yhteistyön lisääntyessä myös tiedon jakamisen ja hallinnan merkitys korostuu.

Rukoile ja työtä tee. Onni Puhakan kehitys innovaattorista oman tien kulkijaksi

Pray and work. The development of Onni Puhakka: from innovator to nonconformist This ethnological biographical study examines the modernization which began in the mid-1800s, continued into the mid-1900s, and has changed Finnish society in many ways. This era has been studied on a general level quite extensively, but this work explores the life and everyday experiences of Onni Puhakka (1870−1955), a farmer who spent most of his life in the town of Liperi. The goal is to find new perspectives on the development of the modernization process in society through the experiences of an individual. In this study, a central theme is the rural co-operative movement represented in Finland by Pellervo as well as its development in this country and as a significant undertaking in Onni Puhakka’s life. The co-operative movement was one of the most significant sectors affecting modernization in rural communities. The main character in the study is the grandfather of the present author, and thus this research belongs to the newly accepted ethnological research tradition of studying one’s own community. Written documents, mainly collected and preserved by Onni Puhakka himself during his lifetime, form the research material. The material consists mainly of Puhakka’s extensive correspondence, personal notes and diaries, documents related to his farm, and photographs taken by him. Earlier research and other written material examining the general development of the period were used to provide a background for the study. The co-operative movement formed a comprehensive ideology for Onni Puhakka, in which the possibilities for the development of both individuals and the community were combined. His life was based on a religious conviction, and he felt that the co-operative movement was the application of Christian love for one’s neighbour in practice. At the beginning of his active working career, Puhakka was an innovator, a reformer at the forefront of progress, but quite soon he became a sworn critic of the development of the co-operative movement in particular. One of Puhakka’s criticisms of the co-operative movement was the shifting of decision-making power to professional managers and central organizations, far from the reach of local actors. A fundamental reason for his dissatisfaction was the development within the co-operative movement in which the ideological background was forgotten, and economic goals and making a profit took an excessive significance. This assessment of the co-operative movement made by Onni Puhakka and his predictions about its development were not unfounded. This has been shown by several studies examining the development of both the Pellervo and working class cooperative movements. The professionalization of management, managerialism, as well as the direct links between professional managers of local co-operatives and central organizations have lead to the situation in which fewer and fewer people make the decisions, and management has as its goal economic success and growth. Co-operative enterprises that have grown in size have become estranged from the everyday life of their members. Instead of taking care of relations with the membership of the co-op, competitive ability and the market share have become the most important concerns of the management. As the membership has become alienated, their interest in large-scale co-ops has also become largely economic. A significant change among the membership of the Pellervo movement occurred at the stage when the co-operative movement shifted from rural areas to urban centres. This meant that the commitment of the membership became much looser than it had been in the farmers’ production and consumer co-ops. From the point of view of its members, the nature of the co-operative movement has become diametrically opposed to its point of departure: the active members who previously formed the subject of the co-operative movement have become the object of the economic activities of that same movement. The co-operative movement has been transformed from the progressive agent of change of its early years into a business activity which no longer has any significant task as a social reformer. This study confirms the observations of the latest research on modernization which states that modernization has not been a straightforward and inevitable development that has lead to the present situation. For example, the criticism directed by Puhakka toward the co-operative movement includes information that shows that a few others who were initially actively involved also criticized the development of the movement. Despite his occasional frustration, Onni Puhakka continued his criticism and attempts to get the co-operative movement to change its course and return to its ‘roots’. In the early years of the cooperative movement he probably did not differ much from the other pioneers in the sense that many of them had adopted and internalized the same values and motive for being involved that he had. However, Puhakka differed from his colleagues in the sense that he was able to believe in what he called the “fundamental values” of the co-operative movement longer than many of them.

Market entry order and competitive advantage of the firm

A firm that wishes to launch a new product to the market is faced with a difficult task of deciding what the best moment for the launch is. Timing may also be critical when a firm plans to adopt new processes or intends to head for new markets. The critical question the firm needs to tackle is whether it will try to reach the so-called first-mover advantage by acting earlier than its rivals. The first-mover position may reward the entrant with various opportunities to gain competitive advantage over later movers. However, there are also great risks involved in the early market entry, and sometimes the very first entrant fails even before the followers enter the market. The follower, on the other hand, may be able to free-ride on the earlier entrants' investments and gain from the languished uncertainties that characterize the new markets. According to the current understanding the occurrence of entry order advantages depends not only on the mechanism and attributes in the firm's environment that provide the initial opportunities but also on the firm's ability to capitalize on these advantage opportunities. This study contributes to this discussion by analyzing the linkages between the asset base of the firm, characteristics of the operating environment and the firm's entry timing orientation. To shed light on the relationship between the entry timing strategy and competitive advantage, this study utilizes the concept of entry timing orientation. The rationale for choosing this type of approach arises from the inability of previously employed research tools to reach the underlying factors that result in entry timing advantage. The work consists of an introductory theoretical discussion on entry timing advantages and of four research publication. The empirical findings support the understanding that entry timing advantage is related to the characteristics of the firm's operating environment but may also be related to firm-specific factors. This in turn suggests that some of the traditional ways of detecting and measuring first-mover advantage - which to some extent ignore these dimensions - may be outdated.

The accumulation of financial and social capital as a means to achieve a sustained competitive advantage for consumer co-operatives

By so far, scholars have discussed how the characteristics of consumer co-operatives (cooperative principles, values and the dual role of members as the users and owners) can potentially give them a competitive advantage over investor-owned firms (IOFs). In addition, concern for the community (as partly derived from locality and regionality) has been seen as a potential source of success for consumer co-operatives. On the other hand, the geographicbound purpose of consumer co-operation causes that consumer co-operative can be regarded as a challenging company form to manage. This is because, according to the purpose of consumer co-operation, co-operatives are obligated to 1) provide the owners with services and goods that are needed and do so at more affordable prices than their competitors do and/or 2) to operate in areas in which competitors do not want to operate (for example, because of the low profitability in certain area of business or region). Thus, consumer co-operatives have to operate very efficiently in order to execute this geographic-bound corporate purpose (e.g. they cannot withdraw from the competition during the declining stages of business). However, this efficiency cannot be achieved by any means; as the acceptance from the important regional stakeholders is the basic operational precondition and lifeline in the long run. Thereby, the central question for the survival and success of consumer co-operatives is; how should the consumer co-operatives execute its corporate purpose so it can be the best alternative to its members in the long run? This question has remained unanswered and lack empirical evidence in the previous studies on the strategic management of consumer cooperation. In more detail, scholars have not yet empirically investigated the question: How can consumer co-operatives use financial and social capital to achieve a sustained competitive advantage? It is this research gap that this doctoral dissertation aims to fulfil. This doctoral dissertation aims to answer the above questions by combining and utilizing interview data from S Group co-operatives and the central organizations in S Group´s network (overall, 33 interviews were gathered), archival material and 56 published media articles/reports. The study is based on a qualitative case study approach that is aimed at theory development, not theory verification (as the theory is considered as nascent in this field of study). Firstly, the findings of this study indicate that consumer co-operatives accumulate financial capital; 1) by making profit (to invest and grow) and 2) by utilizing a network-based organizational structure (local supply chain economies). As a result of financial capital accumulation, consumer co-operatives are able to achieve efficiency gains but also remain local. In addition, a strong financial capital base increases consumer co-operatives´ independence, competitiveness and their ability to participate in regional development (which is in accordance with their geographically bound corporate purpose). Secondly, consumer cooperatives accumulate social capital through informal networking (with important regional stakeholders), corporate social responsibility (CSR) behaviour and CSR reporting, pursuing common good, and interacting and identity sharing. As a result of social capital accumulation, consumer co-operatives are able to obtain the resources for managing; 1) institutional dependencies and 2) customer relations. By accumulating both social and financial capital through the above presented actions, consumer co-operatives are able to achieve sustained competitive advantage. Finally, this thesis provides useful ideas and new knowledge for cooperative managers concerning why and how consumer co-operatives should accumulate financial and social capital (to achieve sustained competitive advantage), while aligning with their corporate purpose.

Effect of soil-spraying time on root-colonization ability of antagonistic Streptomyces griseoviridis

Selostus: Kasvualustan käsittelyajan vaikutus Streptomyces griseoviridis -antagonistin juurten asutuskykyyn

Possibilities of Competition Indices to Describe Competitive Differences between Scots Pine Families

Summary

Logistic services as competitive means : segmenting the retail market for softwood lumber

Abstract

The competitive position of the Nordic wood industry in Germany : intangible quality dimensions

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Business Development Efforts and Performance Improvements in SMEs Case Study of Business Development Projects Implemented in SME

Under the circumstances of the increasing market pressure, enterprises try to improve their competitive position by development efforts, and a business development project is one tool for that. There are not many answers to the question of how the development projects launched to improve the business performance in SMEs have succeeded. Theacademic interest in the business development project success has mainly focused on projects implemented in larger organisations rather than in SMEs. The previous studies on the business success of SMEs have mainly focused on new business ventures rather than on existing SMEs. However, nowadays a large number of business development projects are undertaken in existing SMEs, where they can pose a great challenge. This study focuses on business development success in SMEs thathave already established their business. The objective of the present study is to gain a deep understanding on business development project success in the SME-context and to identify the dimensions and factors affecting the project success. Further, the aim is to clarify how the business development projects implemented in SMEs have affected their performance. The empirical evidence is based on multiple case study. This study builds a framework for a generic theory of business development success in the SME-context, based on literature from the areas ofproject and change management, entrepreneurship and small business management, as well as performance measurement, and on empirical evidence from SMES. The framework consists of five success dimensions: entrepreneurial, project preparation, change management, project management and project success. The framework provides a systematic way for analysing the business development project and its impact on the performance and on the performing company. This case evidence indicates that successful business development projects have a balanced, high performance concerning all the dimensions. Good performance in one dimension is not enoughfor the project success, but it gives a good ground for the other dimensions. The other way round, poor performance in one success dimension affects the others, leading to poor performance of the project. In the SME-context the business development project success seems to be dependent on several interrelated dimensions and factors. Success in one area leads to success in other areas, and so creates an upward success spiral. Failure in one area seems to lead to failure in other areas, creating a downward failure spiral. The study indicates that the internal business development projects have affected the SMEs' performance widely also on areas and functions not initially targeted. The implications cover all thesuccess categories: the project efficiency, the impact on the customer, the business success and the future potentiality. With successful cases, the success tends to spread out to areas and functions not mentioned as the project goals, andwith unsuccessful cases the failure seems to spread out widely to the SMEs' other functions. This study also indicates that the most important key factors for successful business development project implementation are the strength of intention, business ability, knowledge, motivation and participation of the employees, as well as adequate and well-timed training provided to the employees.

Analysing the competitive advantage of Internet based marketing research company starting in Finland

The purpose of this master's thesis was to analyse a competitive advantage of an Internet based marketing research company based on a competitive strategy oriented way. First Internet panel was compared to mostly used marketing research method, telephone interview. Secondly fourteen potential clients were interviewed personally. Intention was to find out what the potential clients thinkabout Zapera Finland Ltd and what kind of competitive strategy could be chosen considering costs, product differentiation, competition, research method, segmentation of business line and substitution. Finally the interviews were analysed and some strategic suggestions were made based on the competitive advatage(s). Conclusion was that Zapera Finland Ltd can choose a competitive strategy based on both the cost advantage and the product differentiation in a narrow competition scope.

Toimintojohtamisen soveltuminen päivittäistavarakaupan johtamiseen

Tutkimuksen tarkoituksena oli tutkia johdon näkökulmasta toimintojohtamisen soveltuvuutta Pirkanmaan Osuuskaupan päivittäistavarakaupan johtamiseen. Tavoitteena oli rakentaa esimerkkiyritykselle toimintolähtöinen organisaatiomalli ja tutkia organisaation muutoksen edellytyksiä sekä strategian vaikutusta organisaatiomallin valintaan. Tutkimuksessa käytetään konstruktiivista tutkimustapaa. Tutkimus on teoreettinen ja toiminta-analyyttinen case-tutkimus. Toimintojohtaminen, jonka tavoitteena on liiketoiminnan horisontaalinen ohjaus, ei sovellu päivittäistavarakaupan johtamiseen. Toimintojohtaminen ei lisää Pirkanmaan Osuuskaupan market-kaupan kilpailukykyä, koska sen resurssitarve on suuri ja näin ollen se on kustannustehokkuus-strategian vastainen. Organisaatiomuutos edellyttää erityisesti johdolta strategista ajattelua ja kykyä nähdä nykyisen toimintamallin uhat tulevaisuuden kilpailuympäristössä ja toisaalta nähdä tulevaisuuden menestystekijät, joita toteuttamalla yritys menestyy jatkossakin. Johdon tulee pystyä viestimään henkilöstölle muutoksen välttämättömyys ja kuva tulevaisuuden toimintamallista. Johdon rooli ja tuki organisaatiolle muutosprosessissa on keskeistä. Strategia on keino toteuttaa yrityksen visio, päämäärät ja tavoitteet. Toiminnan organisointi on keskeisin keino strategisten päämäärien ja tavoitteiden toteuttamiseksi.

Competitive intelligence yksikön palvelustrategia

Tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli selvittää, kuinka yrityksen Compeitive Intelligence (CI) yksikön palvelustrategia pitäisi rakentaa ja mitä tekijöitä ottaa huomioon palvelustrategian rakentamisessa, jotta se parhaiten tukisi CI-yksikön integrointia muuhun organisaatioon. Tutkimus suoritettiin laadullisena case tutkimuksena. Tutkimuksen aineisto kerättiin kirjallisuudesta, artikkeleista sekä suorittamalla teemahaastatteluja. Tutkimuksen teoreettisena pohjana käytettiin näkemyksiä markkina-, kilpailu- ja liiketoimintatiedosta, palveluiden markkinoinnista sekä tietojohtamisesta. Tutkimuksen empiirinen aineisto kerättiin haastattelemalla kymmenen CI-yksikön asiakasta kohdeyrityksestä. Niin teorialähteiden kuin kohdeyrityksessä kerätyn materiaalin pohjalta voidaan sanoa, että palvelustrategiaa suunniteltaessa oleellisia elementtejä, joilla voidaan parantaa CI:n integrointia muuhun organisaatioon, ovat palvelu/tuote, jakelu sekä viestintä ja vuorovaikutus. Palvelustrategian rakentamisessa erityisessä ja keskeisessä asemassa on vuorovaikutus. Vuorovaikutuksen merkitys korostuu, koska sillä on vaikutusta palvelustrategian muihin elementteihin, kuten tiedon laatuun ja proaktiiviseen tiedon jakeluun.

Absorptive capacity and the effect of social integration mechanisms in knowledge utilization

Tiedosta on tullut määräävä tekijä yrityksensuorituskyvylle. Yritykset hankkivat aktiivisesti uutta tietoa ulkoisesta ympäristöstään ja tallentavat sitä tietokantoihinsa. Uusi tieto on innovaatioiden ja uusien ideoiden peruselementti. Uudet ideat pitää myös kaupallistaa, jotta niiden avulla voidaan hankkia kilpailuetua. Absorptiivisen kapasiteetin malli yhdistää tiedon prosessointiin liittyvät kyvykkyydet, jotka vaikuttavat yrityksen kykyyn hyödyntää tietoa tehokkaasti. Ennen kuin tietoa voidaan käyttää uusien tuotteiden ja palveluiden luomiseen, täytyy sitä jakaa yrityksessä ja muuttaa se yrityksen toimintaa palvelevaksi. Aiemmissa tutkimuksissa innovaatiot ovat vahvasti liitetty yrityksen kykyyn uudistua. Tämä pro gradu -tutkielma tutkii sosiaalisten integraatiomekanismien vaikutusta potentiaalisen absorptiivisen kapasiteetin muuttamiseen toteutuneeksi absorptiiviseksi kapasiteetiksi. Yksilöiden ja osastojen välisen yhteistyön sekä luottamuksen vaikutus tiedon sisäistämiseen tutkittiin. Tutkielma pohjautuu monikansallisessa yrityksessä keväällä 2006 suoritettuun uudistumiskyky-tutkimukseen. Tutkielma keskittyy yrityksen kykyyn uudistua uuden tiedon ja innovaatioiden avulla. Tutkielma on kvantitatiivinen tapaustutkimus. Tutkielmassa tehtyjen havaintojen mukaan sosiaaliset integraatiomekanismit ovat tärkeitä uuden tiedon hyödyntämisessä. Tiedon eksplisiittyyden havaitaan vaikuttavan tiedon muuttamiseen yritykselle hyödylliseksi resurssiksi.