Strategic management of value networks: how to create value in cross-sector collaboration and partnerships

Cross-sector collaboration and partnerships have become an emerging and desired strategy in addressing huge social and environmental challenges. Despite its popularity, cross-sector collaboration management has proven to be very challenging. Even though cross-sector collaboration and partnership management have been widely studied and discussed in recent years, their effectiveness as well as their ability to create value with respect to the problems they address has remained very challenging. There is little or no evidence of their ability to create value. Regarding all these challenges, this study aims to explore how to manage cross-sector collaborations and partnerships to be able to improve their effectiveness and to create more value for all partners involved in collaboration as well as for customers. The thesis is divided into two parts. The first part comprises an overview of relevant literature (including strategic management, value networks and value creation theories), followed by presenting the results of the whole thesis and the contribution made by the study. The second part consists of six research publications, including both quantitative and qualitative studies. The chosen research strategy is triangulation, as the study includes four types of triangulation: (1) theoretical triangulation, (2) methodological triangulation, (3) data triangulation and (4) researcher triangulation. Two publications represent conceptual development, which are based on secondary data research. One publication is a quantitative study, carried out through a survey. The other three publications represent qualitative studies, based on case studies, where data was collected through interviews and workshops, with participation of managers from all three sectors: public, private and the third (nonprofit). The study consolidates the field of “strategic management of value networks,” which is proposed to be applied in the context of cross-sector collaboration and partnerships, with the aim of increasing their effectiveness and the process of value creation. Furthermore, the study proposes a first definition for the strategic management of value networks. The study also proposes and develops two strategy tools that are recommended to be used for the strategic management of value networks in cross-sector collaboration and partnerships. Taking a step forward, the study implements the strategy tools in practice, aiming to show and to demonstrate how new value can be created by using the developed strategy tools for the strategic management of value networks. This study makes four main contributions. (1) First, it brings a theoretical contribution by providing new insights and consolidating the field of strategic management of value networks, also proposing a first definition for the strategic management of value networks. (2) Second, the study makes a methodical contribution by proposing and developing two strategy tools for value networks of cross-sector collaboration: (a) value network mapping, a method that allows us to assess the current and the potential value network and (b) the Value Network Scorecard, a method of performance measurement and performance prediction in cross-sector collaboration. (3) Third, the study has managerial implications, offering new solutions and empirical evidence on how to increase the effectiveness of cross-sector collaboration and also allow managers to understand how new value can be created in cross-sector partnerships and how to get the full potential of collaboration. (4) And fourth, the study also has practical implications, allowing managers to understand how to use in practice the strategy tools developed in this study, providing discussions on the limitations regarding the proposed tools as well as general limitations involved in the study.

IT:n ja liiketoiminnan välisen palvelutason hallinta ulkoistetussa IT- palvelumallissa

Knowledge and competence are in important role in today’s demanding business environment where hard competition forces everyone to specialize and concentrate more to core competencies. Companies are outsourcing services, making processes more efficient and utilizing better their staff and available knowledge capital. It requires good strategic planning, process measuring and management and motivated staff, who is willing to continuously learn and absorb new information. This Thesis examines almost total IT service outsourcing to international service provider in situation where company previously had own IT. Work contains problematic situations during the change and suggestions how to improve services and understand the new model in a better way.

Nurse Competence of Graduating Nursing Students

The competence of graduating nursing students is an important issue in health care as it is related to professional standards, patient safety and the quality of nursing care. Many changes in health care lead to increased demand with respect to nurses’ competence as well the number of nurses. The purpose of this empirical study was to i) describe the nurse competence areas of nursing students in Europe, ii) evaluate the nurse competence of graduating nursing students, iii) identify factors related to the nurse competence, and to iv) assess the congruence between graduating nursing students’ self-assessments and their mentors’ assessments of students’ nurse competence. The study was carried out in two phases: descriptive phase and evaluation phase. The descriptive phase focused on describing the nurse competence areas of nursing students in Europe with the help of a literature review (n=10 empirical studies and n=4 additional documents). Thematic analysis was used as the analysis method. In the evaluation phase, the nurse competence with particular focus on nursing skills of graduating nursing students (n=154) was assessed. In addition, factors related to the nurse competence were examined. Also, the congruence between graduating nursing students’ self-assessments and their mentors’ assessments of students’ nurse competence was evaluated by comparing graduating nursing students’ self-assessments with the assessments by their mentors (n=42) in the final clinical placement in four university hospitals. Descriptive statistics and inferential statistics were used to analyse the data. Based on the results, the nurse competence of nursing students in Europe consists of nine main competence areas: (1) professional/ethical values and practice, (2) nursing skills and interventions, (3) communication and interpersonal skills, (4) knowledge and cognitive ability, (5) assessment and improving quality in nursing, (6) professional development, (7) leadership, management and teamwork, (8) teaching and supervision, and (9) research utilization. Graduating nursing students self-assessed their nurse competence as good. However, when graduating nursing students’ nurse competence was assessed by their mentors, the results were poorer. Readiness for practice based on nurse education, pedagogical atmosphere on the ward, supervisory relationship between student and mentor and being in paid work in health care at the moment of the study were the most significant factors related to the nurse competence. Conclusions: Nurse competence can be evaluated with a scale based on self-assessment, but other evaluation methods could be used alongside to ensure that nurse competence can be completed and evaluated critically. Practical implications are presented for nurse education and nursing practice. In future, longitudinal research is needed in order to understand the development of nurse competence during nurse education and the transition process from a nursing student to a professional nurse.

Osaamiskartoitus osaamisen mittaamisen välineenä

Yrityksen aineeton pääoma ja etenkin osaaminen on arvokasta, mutta sen mittaaminen on vaikeaa. Osaaminen on ensin tunnistettava, jotta sitä voidaan kehittää. Tässä tutkimuksessa on tarkoitus luoda kaupan alalle osaamiselle lukuarvo, joka voidaan viedä ketjun tuloskorttiin. Tutkimusaineisto koostuu kuvailevasta ja tilastollisesta osasta. Case yrityksenä on Osuuskauppa Hämeenmaan Sale-ketju ja kartoitus kohdentuu päivittäistavarakaupan myyjän osaamistarpeisiin. Tutkimus toteutettiin kvalitatiivisena tutkimuksena, mutta yhteenvedossa on myös kvantitatiivisia piirteitä. Kuvaileva aineisto koostui ryhmähaastattelusta, joka tehtiin lomakkeen suunnitteluvaiheessa haastattelemalla Osuuskauppa Hämeenmaan Sale-ketjun esimiehiä tulevaisuuden osaamistarpeista. Tilastollinen aineisto koostui osaamistarpeiden kartoituksessa käytetystä kyselystä. Tutkimuksessa tulevaisuuden osaamisen tarve eroaa tutkijoiden esittämästä näkemyksestä ja painottuu asenne osaamiseen. Sale-ketjun asenne osaamisissa vahvuuksia ovat: sitoutuminen omaan työhön ja halu oppia. Ammattiosaamiset kuten hyllytys ja kassatyö ovat myös vahvuuksia. 2013 vuoden tutkimuksessa suurimmat kehitystarpeet olivat tilausjärjestelmien hallitsemisessa sekä kilpailuetuosaamisissa. Yksiköiden välissä tarkastelussa löytyi selkeitä eroja, mutta erot eivät olleet riippuvaisia yksikön koosta tai työryhmän keski-iästä. Tutkimuksen tuloksena jokaiselle yksikölle tuotettiin yhteenveto sen hetkisestä osaamisesta, selvittäen vahvuudet ja kehittämisalueet. Näiden pohjalta tehtiin yksiköille kehityssuunnitelmat sekä jokaiselle työntekijälle henkilökohtainen kehityssuunnitelma kehityskeskustelun yhteydessä. Tämän tutkimuksen mukaan osaaminen, työtyytyväisyys ja asiakastyytyväisyys korreloivat keskenään. Yksikössä, jossa on hyvä osaaminen, ovat myös työtyytyväisyys ja asiakaspalvelu kunnossa. Vaikuttava tekijä taustalla on johtaminen. Esimiehet, jotka jakavat vastuuta työryhmässään saavuttivat osaamisessa suurempaa kehitystä kuin ne esimiehet, jotka eivät vastuuta jakaneet. Päivittäistavarakauppa on murroksessa tällä hetkellä ja tulevaisuuden osaamistarpeet ovat muuttuneet jo tämän tutkimuksen aikana. Vuonna 2014 toteutettiin sama kartoitus kuin vuonna 2013 ja voitiin todeta osaamistarpeen muuttuneen. Kustannustietous ja kriisienhallinta ovat työryhmien arkea ja osaamisalueet kuten työssä jaksaminen, ripeys ja muutosvalmius ovat korostuneet vuoden aikana. Henkilöstöjohtamisen luonteessa on myös havaittavissa muutoksia, kauaskantoinen tekeminen on muuttunut ketteräksi ja joustavaksi strategiseksi kumppanuudeksi. Osaamista johdetaan edelleen hyvin perinteisin menetelmin, johtaminen on vain entistä kohdennetumpaa. Tutkimuksessa syntyi kuvaava malli henkilöstöjohtamisen luonteesta sekä kaupanalan osaamistarpeesta 2014.

Legitimacy Building in Public Disclosures on Strategic Energy Investments

Renewable energy investments play a key role in energy transition. While studies have suggested that social acceptance may form a barrier for renewable energy investments, the ways in which companies perceive and attempt to gain the acceptance have received little attention. This study aims to fill the gap by exploring how large electric utilities justify their strategic investments in their press releases and how do the justifications differ between renewable and non-renewable energy investments. The study bases on legitimacy theory and aims at contributing to the research on legitimation in institutional change. As its research method, the study employs an inductive mixed method content analysis. The study has two parts: a qualitative content analysis that explores and identifies the themes and legitimation strategies of the press releases and a quantitative computer-aided analysis that compares renewable and non-renewable energy investments. The sample of the study consists of 396 press releases representing the strategic energy investments of 34 electric utilities from the list of the world’s 250 largest and financially most successful energy companies. The data is collected from the period of 2010–2014. The study reveals that most important justifications for strategic energy investments are fit with the strategy and environmental and social benefits. Justifications address especially the expectations of market. Investments into non-renewable energy are justified more and they use more arguments addressing the proprieties and performance of power plants whereas renewable energy investments are legitimized by references to past actions and commonly accepted morals and norms. The findings support the notion that validity-addressing and propriety-addressing legitimation strategies are used differently in stable and unstable institutional settings.

Evaluating the Strategic Objectives of Cameroonian Higher Education: An application of the Balanced Scorecard

Contemporary higher education operates in an environment of dwindling and parsimonious resources; the increasing need for accountability and relevance to varying stakeholders with differing expectations. These relatively new trends in higher education have been faced by business organizations which have developed different ways of operating in response. This study outlines one way by which business organizations have addressed similar circumstances to show how the Cameroon higher education (HE) could learn from business organizations to manage strategic objectives. The balanced scorecard (BSC) has been used by business organizations to address similar trends. This study evaluates the strategic objectives of Cameroonian higher education using the balanced scorecard. The system level is used to identify the general strategic objectives and one state university is used to represent the translation and implementation of the objectives at the institution level. The BSC principles used include: operational strategic objectives; organizational alignment to the strategy; making strategy everyone’s everyday job; making strategy continual and; mobilizing the leadership for change. The underlying concepts in these principles are communication, consensus, relevance, and a participatory approach. The study employs data from policy documents, relevant literature, websites and semi-structured interviews. The research approach is qualitative and the analyses are done by making meaning of phenomena in their natural contexts. The results show that there is a general knowledge of the strategic objectives but there is disagreement on the relevance of these objectives to HE and on the type of approaches used in implementing the objectives. It was also found that the relevant stakeholders are known, but not all the respondents agree on the importance of these stakeholders. All stakeholders do not have the same level of influence-the state is the most influential. Reporting is sufficiently done but there are insufficient provisions for feedback from stakeholders. The study concludes that the BSC principles can be applied to the management of strategic objectives in Cameroon HE. For Cameroonian higher education, it is recommended that the focus should be first, on developing tools for strategy before the strategy itself. Even though the need for the BSC is confirmed the context does not seem sufficiently ready to implement the BSC as a strategic management tool. The proposed BSC framework can only be used as a communication tool. The barriers to managing strategic objectives in Cameroon HE are related to the communication, consensus, clarity and relevance. However, the system has prospects for improved management and eventual adoption of the BSC as both a strategic management and communication tool. In line with other BSC applications to higher education, this study concluded that it is more feasible to apply the balanced scorecard to a single higher education institution than to a higher education system. The study makes a contribution to the BSC by showing how its principles can be used in a non-business context. The study also opens up possibilities for future research on the same topic in a different context or the same context with a wider scope (more institutions and respondents); the same study with a deeper focus on the interrelationships between the different strategic objectives (strategy maps). The study could also be extended by including the perspectives of the identified stakeholders who are not directly part of the higher education system but constitute the environment in which higher education operates.

Informal learning and competence development during a management trainee program

The purpose of this research was to study how management trainee program participants experienced the program with respect to their learning and competence development. Additionally, the purpose was also to examine what the trainees learned and how the learning occurred. Furthermore, factors affecting learning in the workplace were examined. The theoretical framework of this research was formed utilizing individual competence and informal learning frameworks. Research was conducted as a single case study and data was gathered by thematic interviews. The results of this research indicate that the trainees experienced the program as a good method for learning the overall picture of the organization and its business. Regarding competence development, especially knowledge- and cognitive competence categories were developed during the program. The best learning outcomes were achieved through learning by doing, in co-operation with others, and learning from others. The results indicate that the planning of the program and its structure have a significant effect on learning. Furthermore, a sufficient level of challenge was experienced as being important for the quality of the learning as well.

The role of network competence and international business competence in multinational corporations: Subsidiary perspective

On-going process of globalization makes companies all over the world to go beyond the national markets and internationalize. Organizational form of multinational corporation (MNC) has capabilities for establishing the affiliate companies in several countries. Thus, the relocation of resources occurs and particularly, the cross-border transfer of knowledge which possesses the competitive advantage. However, differences in countries` business environments and cultures may constrain this capability. The research aim of this thesis is to investigate the role of subsidiary’s network competence (ability to build and manage the relationships with other local business units) and international business competence in relation to the benefits that MNC receives from a subsidiary. Additionally, subsidiary’s business adaptation, partnerships and knowledge transfer mechanism with parent company and external partners are investigated. This research, conducted in the Finnish-Russian context, consists of theoretical and empirical parts. The qualitative approach in the form of multiple case studies is employed. The empirical data incorporated primary and secondary data in the form of interviews collected in 2013 and 2015 years. Interviews were collected from four Finnish case companies in Saint-Petersburg and Kaluga region and five Russian partner companies. Results are drawn from two cases from Saint-Petersburg. The abductive research approach for the results analysis is adopted. The results indicate that both competencies lead to the subsidiary’s local embeddedness in the form of mutual business activities with local business partners and product adaptation for the local market needs. In addition to the monetary benefits in form of payments or turnover share, local embeddedness brings the knowledge of the local environment which is utilized by an MNC in the long-term planning. Another found tacit benefit is the access to the national market. This is strategically useful benefit not only for parent MNC but also for the subsidiary’s partners, i.e. international suppliers.

Representations of cultural encounters in the global business press – The importance of cross-cultural competence

This qualitative study has started from the interest to examine how the reality of crosscultural encounters is presented in the global business press. The research paper emphasizes different ways to classify culture and cross-cultural competency, both from the point of view of individuals and organizations. The analysis consists of public discourses, where cross-cultural realities are created through different persons, stories and contexts For data collection, a comprehensive database search was performed and 10 articles from the widely known worldwide business magazine The Financial Times were chosen as the data for the study paper. For the functions of addressing the research study questions, Thematic Content Analysis (TCA) and also Discourse Analysis (DA) are utilized, added with the continuous comparison method of grounded theory in the formation of the data.The academic references consist of literary works and articles presenting relevant concepts, creating a cross-cultural framework, and it is designed to assist the reader in the navigation through the topics of culture and cross-cultural competency. The repertoires were formed from the data and following, the first repertoire is contrast difference between home and target culture that the individual was able to discern. As a consequence of the first repertoire, the companies then offer cultural training to their employees to prepare them to situations of increasing levels of cultural variation. The third repertoire is increased awareness of other cultures, which is conveyed as a result of cultural training and contextual work experience. The fourth repertoire is globalization as an international business environment, where the people in the articles perform their job functions. It is stated in the conclusions that the representations emphasize Western values and personal traits in leadership.