The transforming network of a foreign company operating in Mongolia. Case: A Finnish firm in Mongolia

In the globalising business environment ever fewer market areas remain unknown. Mongolia is yet only considered as an isolated strip between two power states. The purpose of this study is to put Mongolia on the map of academic business research. This is done by describing the transforming network of a foreign company operating in Mongolia. The objective of the study is approached through a case study, which presents the transformation of a Finnish company operating in Mongolia. This study aims at providing understanding on how the foreign case company observes the transformations of its network. The transformation within the case company is reflected to the transformations that occur in the Mongolian business environment. This study was conducted through a qualitative, intrinsic case study approach. The empirical data was gathered by using the method of network pictures. The network pictures were completed with the assistance of themed interviews. In order to be able to analyse the transformation within a network, three different time periods were observed: the past period around 2000, the present around 2014, and the estimated future around 2020. The data was collected from four executives positioned either in Finland, Russia or Mongolia. The respondents have a long experience within the case company, they hold managerial position, and therefore were able to offer valuable data for this study. The analytical framework used to analyse the collected data was built on the industrial network model, the ARA (actors-resources-activities)-model. The study shows that the changing business environment of Mongolia was utilised by the case company. In order to better meet the transforming customer wishes, the case company transformed from being a retailer to being a manufacturer. The case company was able to become a pioneer in the market. Thus, the case company has undergone similar kind of rapid transformation as the economy of Mongolia in entirety. This study shows that the general nature of the ARA-model makes it usable for new research contexts. The initial ARA-model offers a way to identify the dimensions of a network and a mean to understand these dimensions. The ARA-model can be applied to different contexts and to all time dimensions, past, present and future. The managerial recommendations offered in this study are directed towards the managers that plan to start operations in Mongolia. While this study is the first of its kind, it offers a good starting point for the future research on the change of Mongolian business networks. Valuable information could, for example, be obtained from a comparative study between the case company of this study and a multinational mining company operating in Mongolia.

Cloud computing contribution to manufacturing industry

Manufacturing industry has been always facing challenge to improve the production efficiency, product quality, innovation ability and struggling to adopt cost-effective manufacturing system. In recent years cloud computing is emerging as one of the major enablers for the manufacturing industry. Combining the emerged cloud computing and other advanced manufacturing technologies such as Internet of Things, service-oriented architecture (SOA), networked manufacturing (NM) and manufacturing grid (MGrid), with existing manufacturing models and enterprise information technologies, a new paradigm called cloud manufacturing is proposed by the recent literature. This study presents concepts and ideas of cloud computing and cloud manufacturing. The concept, architecture, core enabling technologies, and typical characteristics of cloud manufacturing are discussed, as well as the difference and relationship between cloud computing and cloud manufacturing. The research is based on mixed qualitative and quantitative methods, and a case study. The case is a prototype of cloud manufacturing solution, which is software platform cooperated by ATR Soft Oy and SW Company China office. This study tries to understand the practical impacts and challenges that are derived from cloud manufacturing. The main conclusion of this study is that cloud manufacturing is an approach to achieve the transformation from traditional production-oriented manufacturing to next generation service-oriented manufacturing. Many manufacturing enterprises are already using a form of cloud computing in their existing network infrastructure to increase flexibility of its supply chain, reduce resources consumption, the study finds out the shift from cloud computing to cloud manufacturing is feasible. Meanwhile, the study points out the related theory, methodology and application of cloud manufacturing system are far from maturity, it is still an open field where many new technologies need to be studied.

Optimizing the Performance of a Heat Exchanger Network

This research is the continuation and a joint work with a master thesis that has been done in this department recently by Hemamali Chathurangani Yashika Jayathunga. The mathematical system of the equations in the designed Heat Exchanger Network synthesis has been extended by adding a number of equipment; such as heat exchangers, mixers and dividers. The solutions of the system is obtained and the optimal setting of the valves (Each divider contains a valve) is calculated by introducing grid-based optimization. Finding the best position of the valves will lead to maximization of the transferred heat in the hot stream and minimization of the pressure drop in the cold stream. The aim of the following thesis will be achieved by practicing the cost optimization to model an optimized network.

Luonnonhaltijat ‒ haltijoita luonnonympäristössä? : Nature spirits : continuity and change : Conference of Belief Narrative Network of ISFNR, Zugdidi, Georgia 1.‒4.10.2014

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