The role of organization-level factors on informal learning process

This study discusses the nature of informal learning process in business organizations, and the importance of different organization-level factors in this process. The purpose of this study is to understand the role of organization-level factors on informal learning process with three subquestions: how informal learning process takes place in business organizations, what organizationlevel factors affects informal learning process, and how informal learning process is affected by organizational-level factors. The theoretical background of this study includes literatures on the concept of informal learning, its process, and organization-level factors that can affect informal learning process. The empirical research has been conducted in this study by face-to-face interviews. The interviews were conducted between June and August 2015 in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Thirteen interviews were made with the employees from different hierarchical levels from four freight forwarding MNCs in Bangladesh. Constant comparative analysis has been used to process the collected data until reaching a level of saturation. The empirical research found that all the phases in an informal learning process are not linear and sequential, and the role of organization-level factors on each phase varies with the degree and nature of each factor. In addition, the results also revealed that all the organization-level factors do not interact with each other while playing their role on informal learning process. The findings of this study considerably extend our understanding of the important role of HRD, manager, colleague, culture, and work structure on informal learning process in the workplace. However, future research in different organizational contexts is required to generalize the findings of this study.

Industry specific lifecycle services for process critical motors

This Master’s Thesis examines industrial service business and studies how Global Technical Support Center Finland, part of ABB Oy, can develop its lifecycle services based on availability related customer needs. Focus is in three most business critical industry segments OGP (Oil, Gas and Petrochemical), Power and Metals. The research was conducted as a qualitative case study, including literature review and empirical part. The literature review explores industrial service business, product lifecycle services and related customer needs, product effectiveness and maintenance. This study contains also characteristics of constructive research. Primary material was gathered through internal and external interviews. Both theme and semi-structured interviews were performed. This research has shown that customers have different needs depending of the industry segment where they operate. Most remarkable differences are related to maintenance schedules. The main outcomes of the study are the industry specific lifecycle service models that combine company recommendations with customer specific needs. Other development needs were related to proactivity, condition based monitoring, information sharing and lifecycle estimations.

THE ADAPTATION PROCESS AND CHALLENGES OF EDUCATION EXPORT

The purpose of this study is to investigate the challenges of the adaptation process of education export. The research is conducted as a single case study that concentrates on three education export projects. The case company in the research is Team Academy. The study goes through the different forms of education export, the adaptation of education export and the challenges of the education export –process by means of theory and empirical data. The research is carried out as a qualitative research and the method used is a qualitative content analysis. More specifically the research is an abductive content analysis. The research data is collected in four in-depth interviews from Team academy representatives who have been strongly involved in certain education export –project of Team Academy. The research confirms the theory in the challenge of hierarchy, funding and registration issues, and refutes it in the challenge of competition, legislation, different governmental attitudes and knowledge in productization. The main challenges of the adaptation process are related to funding, differences in values, sudden changes, the complex nature of the learning model, concept of time, teamwork as method and accreditation. It is highlighted that in the future operations, anticipating problems that arise from for example cultural differences and differences in values, communication, managing the money flows and the company form is recommended. Future research could continue with investigating the suitable company form for education exports of this kind, and how to stand out and communicate when operating under another institution. It is considered a potential risk that a brand encloses the brand that operates under it.

Increased profitability and efficiency by improving the Meetings & Events Category S2P-process – Case Company

The purpose of this research was to examine the most optimal way to arrange meetings and events management and source to pay –process in a global company. The research is a qualitative multi-method case study and is a commission from a global company. The theoretical framework of this research structures around two approaches. First approach focus on a purchasing strategy and management that shows the current role of procure-ment and introduce different ways to organize purchasing functions. Second approach focus on purchasing process management and improvement methods. Annual spend analyze, external and internal interviews and internal survey were done to gain compre-hensive knowledge about the current state of operations and possible solutions. Gathered data were then combined to theoretical framework in order to create optimal solution for the case company. Based on the research a source to pay –process and global policy for meeting and event category was created. The solution includes all relevant matters that are needed in order to secure efficient and profitable operations. The results show that optimal way to arrange meetings and events structures around standardized source to pay –processes, central-ized procurement, preferred supplier and clearly defined roles and responsibilities be-tween different stakeholders.

Developing Supply Chain Process Management and Measurement in Global Manufacturing Company

The objective of this research is to create a current state analysis of pulp supply chain processes from production planning to deliveries to customers. A cross-functional flowchart is being used to model these processes. These models help finding key performance indicators (KPIs) which enable examinations of the supply chain efficiency. Supply chain measures in different processes reveal the changes need processes that affect the whole supply chain and its efficiency and competitiveness. Structure of pulp supply chain differs from most of the other supply chains. The fact that there are big volumes of bulk products, small product variations and supply forecasts are made for the year ahead make the difference. This factor brings different benefits but also challenges when developing supply chain. This thesis divides pulp supply chain in three different main categories: production planning, warehousing and transportation. It provides tools for estimating the functionality of supply chain as well as developing the efficiency for different functions of supply chain. By having a better understanding of supply chain processes and measurement the whole supply chain structure can be developed significantly.

Incorporating Sustainability in Global Sourcing Process, Industry Focus- Apparel / Textile

This is a Master’s thesis research, which mainly aims at identifying the sustainability issues in sourcing process and to identify the core competencies in sourcing process through triple bottom line adaptation. The focus of this thesis is on apparel industry’s sourcing process. The purpose of this thesis is to examine global apparel industry’s reality in their sourcing process and how buyers-suppliers are cooperating with their sourcing process to incorporate sustainability. Other goal of this research paper is to provide recommendation for sustainable sourcing process for companies and how the stakeholders can be benefitted by sustainable sourcing. The literature review part of this paper has presented the research gaps from the earlier researches along with the key concepts, academic purposes and key definitions. Theoretical framework chapter has focused on global sourcing strategies and firm’s competencies and sustainable strategies. From the theoretical framework, author has presented essential theory which establishes the link between research questions and proposed hypotheses. Main results and findings have been presented in empirical findings and in data analysis chapter. This study is an exploratory research followed by deductive method and primary data has been used to evaluate the current situation of apparel industry; which will assist to build the recommendation model. Primary data has been collected through online questionnaires and secondary data has used to cover the literature and theoretical parts. Therefore, the potential outcome of this paper will display the importance of sustainable sourcing from academic point of view and also from the business perspective. As a final point, this paper has followed the research objectives and has generated some new directions for further studies.

Real-time adaptive control of ultra-fast laser scribing process with spectrometer online monitoring

There exist several researches and applications about laser welding monitoring and parameter control but not a single one have been created for controlling of laser scribing processes. Laser scribing is considered to be very fast and accurate process and thus it would be necessary to develop accurate turning and monitoring system for such a process. This research focuses on finding out whether it would be possible to develop real-time adaptive control for ultra-fast laser scribing processes utilizing spectrometer online monitoring. The thesis accurately presents how control code for laser parameter tuning is developed using National Instrument's LabVIEW and how spectrometer is being utilized in online monitoring. Results are based on behavior of the control code and accuracy of the spectrometer monitoring when scribing different steel materials. Finally control code success is being evaluated and possible development ideas for future are presented.

The roles and tasks of salespeople in Software-as-a-Service company's value-based sales process

Recent research in relationships marketing and sales and sales management emphasizes companies’ ability to create customer value as a core of all business-to-business relationships. The role of individual salespeople in business relation-ships is commonly acknowledged, but has been largely neglected in extant literature. This study offers especially more detailed perspective on salespeople’s roles and tasks in business-to-business value-based sales process. It focuses especially on Software-as-a-Service business environment. The objective of the study is to find out how salespeople can create value in Software-as-a-Service value-based sales process. It determines value-based sales process, salespeople’s roles and tasks in it, and combines value assessment in to process. The results indicate that salespeople have to adapt different selling roles and tasks in Software-as-a-Service value-based sales process to be able to support the customer’s value-in-use experience. The process itself is highly complex, consisting of multiple facets and selling behaviors, and involves relevant actors from both parties of relationship. The study concludes with a discussion of possibilities that provide interesting aspects for future research.

Real-time monitoring of laser scribing process utilizing high-speed camera

Currently, laser scribing is growing material processing method in the industry. Benefits of laser scribing technology are studied for example for improving an efficiency of solar cells. Due high-quality requirement of the fast scribing process, it is important to monitor the process in real time for detecting possible defects during the process. However, there is a lack of studies of laser scribing real time monitoring. Commonly used monitoring methods developed for other laser processes such a laser welding, are sufficient slow and existed applications cannot be implemented in fast laser scribing monitoring. The aim of this thesis is to find a method for laser scribing monitoring with a high-speed camera and evaluate reliability and performance of the developed monitoring system with experiments. The laser used in experiments is an IPG ytterbium pulsed fiber laser with 20 W maximum average power and Scan head optics used in the laser is Scanlab’s Hurryscan 14 II with an f100 tele-centric lens. The camera was connected to laser scanner using camera adapter to follow the laser process. A powerful fully programmable industrial computer was chosen for executing image processing and analysis. Algorithms for defect analysis, which are based on particle analysis, were developed using LabVIEW system design software. The performance of the algorithms was analyzed by analyzing a non-moving image from the scribing line with resolution 960x20 pixel. As a result, the maximum analysis speed was 560 frames per second. Reliability of the algorithm was evaluated by imaging scribing path with a variable number of defects 2000 mm/s when the laser was turned off and image analysis speed was 430 frames per second. The experiment was successful and as a result, the algorithms detected all defects from the scribing path. The final monitoring experiment was performed during a laser process. However, it was challenging to get active laser illumination work with the laser scanner due physical dimensions of the laser lens and the scanner. For reliable error detection, the illumination system is needed to be replaced.

Product recall process development for exported nonfood consumer products

The purpose of this research is to examine the different opportunities that companies operating on international level has for conducting a product recall. The main subject of the research is strategic decision-making of recall and product recall process. The theoretical framework, core of the research, is based on research questions. The research is performed as qualitative case study and the material has been collected by combining results of previous studies and by observing the case company. Different opportunities for conducting a recall are examined in the empirical part of this study. As a result, different product recall models have been created, which all require deep cooperation between different entities of the supply chain.

Improving purchasing process for small purchases at a manufacturing company in chemical industry

This thesis was conducted on assignment by a multinational chemical corporation as a case study. The purpose of this study is to find ways to improve the purchasing process for small purchases at the case company. The improvements looked after are mainly cost and time savings. Purchasing process is the process that starts from the requisition of goods or services and ends when the invoice is paid. In this thesis the purchases with value less than 1000€ are considered to be small. The theoretical framework of the thesis consists of general theoretical view of costs and performance of the purchasing process, different types of purchasing processes and a model for improving purchasing processes. The categorization to small and large purchases is the most important followed by the division between direct and indirect purchases. Also models that provide more strategic perspective for categorization were found to be useful. Auditing and managerial control are important parts of the purchasing process. When considering the transaction costs of purchasing from the costs–benefits perspective large and small purchases should not have the same processes. Purchasing cards, e-procurement and vendor managed inventory are seen as an alternative to the traditional purchasing process. The empirical data collection was done by interviewing the company employees that take part of the purchasing process in their daily work. The interviews had open-ended questions and the answers were coded and analyzed. The results consist of process description and assessment as well as suggestions for potential improvements. At the case company the basic purchasing process was similar to the traditional purchasing process that is entirely done with computers and online. For some categories there was already more sophisticated e-procurement solutions in use. To improve the current e-procurement based solutions elimination of authorization workflow and better information exchange can be seen as potential improvements for most of the case purchases. Purchasing cards and a lightweight form of vendor managed inventory can be seen as potential improvements for some categories. Implementing the changes incurs at least some cost and the benefits might be hard to measure. This thesis has revealed that the small purchases have potential for significant cost and time savings at the case company.