Service innovation development and knowledge integration practices - a comparative case study on KIBS sector

Academic research on services and innovations on services has significantly grown during recent years. So far research concerning management of knowledge intensive work on service development activities is very limited. The objective of this study was to examine knowledge integration practices that support service innovation development and to the best of knowledge such studies have not been previously published in academic literature. In the theoretical part of the study a review of state‐of‐the‐art literature was conducted, research gap was indicated and a framework for analysis was built. In the empirical part an explorative comparative multi‐case study was carried out in KIBS sector. Four companies were selected and four service development projects were inspected. The service development activities and knowledge integration practices were identified. The cases were carefully compared and results formed. The empirical results indicated that service innovation development is partly linear and partly incremental flow of activities where knowledge integration practices have important role supporting the planning and execution of tasks. Knowledge integration practices supporting planning and workshops are close interaction, interpretation, project planning and sequencing of work tasks. The identified knowledge integration practices supporting building service solution were careful role and competence management, routines and common knowledge. The main implication is that to manage knowledge intensive service innovation development a firm should carefully develop and choose relevant knowledge integration practices to support the service development activities.

Organisational learning and knowledge acquisition. A case study of internationalising manufacturers of wood-based prefabricated buildings

The study investigates organisational learning and knowledge acquisition of wood-based prefabricated building manufacturers. This certain group of case companies was chosen, because their management and their employees generally have a strong manufacturing and engineering background, while the housing sector is characterised by national norms, regulations, as well as local building styles. Considering this setting, it was investigated, how the case companies develop organisational learning capabilities, acquire and transfer knowledge for their internationalisation. The theoretical framework of this study constitutes the knowledge-based conceptualisation of internationalisation, which combines the traditional internationalisation process, as well as the international new venture perspective based on their commonalities in the knowledge-based view of the firm. Different theories of internationalisation, including the network-perspective, were outlined and a framework on organisational learning and knowledge acquisition was established. The empirical research followed a qualitative approach, deploying a multiple-case study with five case companies from Austria, Finland and Germany. In the study, the development of the wood-based prefabricated building industry and of the case companies are described, and the motives, facilitators and challenges for foreign expansion, as well as the companies’ internationalisation approaches are compared. Different methods of how companies facilitate the knowledge-exchange or learn about new markets are also outlined. Experience, market knowledge and personal contacts are considered essential for the internationalisation process. The major finding of the study is that it is not necessary to acquire the market knowledge internally in a slow process as proposed by the Uppsala model. In four cases companies engaged knowledge in symbiotic relations with local business partners. Thereby, the building manufacturers contribute their design and production capabilities, and in return, their local partners provide them with knowledge about the market and local regulations; while they manage the sales and construction operations. Thus, the study provides strong evidence for the propositions of network perspective. One case company developed the knowledge internally in a gradual process: it entered the market sequentially with several business lines, showing an increasing level of complexity. In both of the observed strategies, single-loop and double-loop learning processes occurred.

Lectio praecursoria : Systems between information and knowledge : in a memory management model of an extended enterprise

VTT Jouni Meriluodon valtio-opin alaan kuuluva väitöskirja Systems between information and knowledge : in a memory management model of an extended enterprise tarkastettiin 21.6.2011 Helsingin yliopistossa.

The role of customer perspective in organizational renewal. A comparative case study of knowledge-intensive business services.

The objective of this thesis was to study organizational renewal from the customer orientation perspective. Customer orientation is divided into customer relationship management and customer knowledge, which both are important components of customer related organizational renewal capabilities. The study was conducted in knowledge intensive business service firms, which are required to renew their strategy, operations and processes constantly in order to gain and sustain competitive advantage. In the empirical research, two companies were studied, both offering services to their customers. The analysis was done in two phases; first each case was analyzed individually and then the cases were compared in a cross-case analysis. The most important finding was that customer orientation is considered important but it is not being utilized for organizational renewal in full capacity.

Knowledge, processes and relationships in organizational change: Understanding how to facilitate management of intellectual capital in diverse organization structures and cultures.

This study examined relationships of organizational dependencies, change management and developed intellectual knowledge resources, in different intellectual capital based development programs on ICT-sector. Study was carried out in a research context, where high degree of external organizational contingencies existed and lots of changes in several development programs had taken place in the last years. From a scientific perspective the main contribution was that evidence between relationships of organizational dependencies, change model portfolio and developed knowledge resources could be suggested. From managerial perspective the primary implication was that in situations where sustainable competitive advantage is pursued by means of increasing knowledge based productivity of labor, firms should seek to pursue organizational settings where external dependencies have minimal amount of effect.

Local Embeddedness and Knowledge Acquisition and How They Affect Finnish Business Operations in Russia

This pilot project aims examine the factors of the Finnish subsidiaries local embeddedness, their knowledge creation capabilities and the transfer mechanisms of new practices in the context of the Russian market. The research is designed as a multiple case study conducted with a qualitative approach. The empirical data consists of the interviews of the four Finnish case companies operating in the Kaluga region and three local partner companies. The deductive and inductive approaches were employed to conduct the analysis of the data. The propositions for the future study were developed in the conclusive chapters of the research, where we propose that the factor of the economy growth and industrialization matters in terms of subsidiaries’ role dedication, their knowledge creation capabilities, and direction of the knowledge flow within the local environment.

The analysis of knowledge retention mechanisms for leaving experts

The goal of this thesis is studying knowledge retention mechanisms used in cases of single experts’ leaving in the case company, analyzing the reason for the mechanisms choice and successfulness of knowledge retention process depending of that choice. The theoretical part discusses the origins of knowledge retention processes in the theoretical studies, the existing knowledge retention mechanisms and practical issues of their implementation. The empirical part of the study is designed as employees’ interview with later discussion of the findings. The empirical findings indicate the following reasons for knowledge retention mechanisms choice: type of knowledge retained, specialty of leaving experts and time and distance issues of a particular case. The following factors influenced the success of a retention process: choice of knowledge retention mechanisms, usage of combination of mechanisms and creation of knowledge retention plans. The results might be useful for those interested in factors influencing knowledge retention processes in cases of experts’ departure.

Adult education policy in the European Union during the Lisbon decade : the shift to vocational adult learning and work skills matching

This doctoral dissertation investigates the adult education policy of the European Union (EU) in the framework of the Lisbon agenda 2000–2010, with a particular focus on the changes of policy orientation that occurred during this reference decade. The year 2006 can be considered, in fact, a turning point for the EU policy-making in the adult learning sector: a radical shift from a wide--ranging and comprehensive conception of educating adults towards a vocationally oriented understanding of this field and policy area has been observed, in particular in the second half of the so--called ‘Lisbon decade’. In this light, one of the principal objectives of the mainstream policy set by the Lisbon Strategy, that of fostering all forms of participation of adults in lifelong learning paths, appears to have muted its political background and vision in a very short period of time, reflecting an underlying polarisation and progressive transformation of European policy orientations. Hence, by means of content analysis and process tracing, it is shown that the new target of the EU adult education policy, in this framework, has shifted from citizens to workers, and the competence development model, borrowed from the corporate sector, has been established as the reference for the new policy road maps. This study draws on the theory of governance architectures and applies a post-ontological perspective to discuss whether the above trends are intrinsically due to the nature of the Lisbon Strategy, which encompasses education policies, and to what extent supranational actors and phenomena such as globalisation influence the European governance and decision--making. Moreover, it is shown that the way in which the EU is shaping the upgrading of skills and competences of adult learners is modeled around the needs of the ‘knowledge economy’, thus according a great deal of importance to the ‘new skills for new jobs’ and perhaps not enough to life skills in its broader sense which include, for example, social and civic competences: these are actually often promoted but rarely implemented in depth in the EU policy documents. In this framework, it is conveyed how different EU policy areas are intertwined and interrelated with global phenomena, and it is emphasised how far the building of the EU education systems should play a crucial role in the formation of critical thinking, civic competences and skills for a sustainable democratic citizenship, from which a truly cohesive and inclusive society fundamentally depend, and a model of environmental and cosmopolitan adult education is proposed in order to address the challenges of the new millennium. In conclusion, an appraisal of the EU’s public policy, along with some personal thoughts on how progress might be pursued and actualised, is outlined.

Open knowledge in science and elsewhere

Presentation at the Nordic Perspectives on Open Access and Open Science seminar, Helsinki, October 15, 2013

Salon keskusta-alueen tulvasuojelu : Tulvasuojelutoimenpiteiden mitoitus ja arviointi

Uskelanjoki virtaa Salon kaupungin läpi ja varsinkin jääpato tulvatilanteissa tulvavedenkorkeudet uhkaavat nousta maa-alueille. Tässä työssä tutkittiin valittujen tulvasuojelutoimenpiteiden vaikutuksia tulvavedenkorkeuksiin Uskelanjoessa sekä Salon kaupungin keskusta-alueella. Tavoitteena oli löytää Uskelanjoen tulvimisen ehkäisyyn kustannustehokas ratkaisu. Työssä mallinnettiin Uskelanjoen vedenkorkeuksia yksidimensionaalisesti käyttäen HEC-RAS -mallia. Mallinnus suoritettiin mitoitustulvalla tulvasuojelutoimenpiteille, jotka olivat jäidenpidätysrakennelmien rakentaminen, ruoppaus, pengerrys sekä näiden vaihtoehtojen yhdistelmät. Mallinnuksesta saatujen tulvavedenkorkeuksien avulla laadittiin tarkastellulta uomaosuudelta tulvavaarakartat sekä tulvavahinkoarviot. Näiden tietojen pohjalta voitiin vaihtoehtojen hyötyjä vertailla käyttämällä kustannus-hyötyanalyysia. Kustannus-hyötyanalyysin tuloksista havaittiin, että jäidenpidätysrakennelmat osoittautuivat parhaaksi tulvasuojeluvaihtoehdoksi Uskelanjoessa. Muutkin työssä tutkitut vaihtoehdot osoittautuivat kannattaviksi. Epävarmuuden kumuloituminen vedenkorkeuksien mallinnuksesta hyötyjen ja haittojen arviointiin luo oman epävarmuutensa tässä työssä laskettuihin arvoihin. Tätä epävarmuutta on tutkittu työssä käyttämällä herkkyysanalyysia. Herkkyysanalyysin tuloksia tarkastelemalla jäidenpidätysrakennelmien rakentaminen osoittautui kaikkein riskivapaimmaksi vaihtoehdoksi Uskelanjoen tulvasuojelussa.

Knowledge Bases and Related Tools (KBART)

Magaly Basconesin esitys Kirjastoverkkopäivillä 24.10.2013 Helsingissä.