Industrial solution business – transition from product to solution offering

The business logic in the manufacturing industry has changed in the 21st century. In the current industrial market, manufacturers are driven to provide more comprehensive offerings that go beyond the traditional product-orientation by providing capacity and availability for their customers. From incidental merchandise, services have become the core of manufacturers’ offerings with long-lasting service agreements over the life-cycles of their products. This change is driven both by the need of providers to grow and gain competitive advantage and by increased customer demand caused by customers’ outsourcing trends. The three key drivers for manufacturers’ service strategies are outsourcing trends, saturation of the installed base, and commoditization in product markets. Thus, manufacturers focus on providing industrial solutions which are delivered through relational processes with customers by using solution-driven business models. In the management of marketing activities, this can be regarded as closer customer relationships, service-dominant business logic, and collaboration in solving customers’ problems. However, there are few studies on comprehensive conceptualizations of a solution offering that include different elements and their roles, especially in the context of capital goods industry. Also the transition process needs further studies in a real life context. This study explores the transition process of an industrial company from product to solution business and, as an aid to managing the solution business, explicates the structure and management of an industrial solution offering. There are two themes, the industrial transition process and industrial solution offering. Regarding the industrial transition process, the aim is to understand the supplier view on the process and its execution and to determine the challenges related to the transition process. The industrial solution offering is discussed by its elements and characteristics, as well as management. Furthermore, a special type of build-own-operate-transfer business model is presented and its suitability in the industrial context analyzed. The study includes findings achieved by qualitative methods and from four case companies. Based on the results, it is tentatively suggested that in the industrial solution business, the transition from product to solution business is not a linear project but an evolving process that varies according to customer needs, which suggests that companies need to possess an ability to develop new business models for different customer needs. The industrial solution offering is dynamic as it evolves in collaboration according to the prevailing and latent customer needs, which suggest restructuring of the organization from a product-centric to a customer-centric one. Furthermore, based on the findings, the concept of industrial solutions is defined as an ongoing relational process to satisfy a customer’s particular business or operational requirements, and the concept of industrial solution offering as an entity comprising the customized goods, services, collaboration, and finance needed to fulfill the industrial solution. Finally, the study offers several managerial implications for industrial managers involved in the transition and management of the solution business and its offering.

Hakunilan Kultsa/Urban II hanke : pohdintaa yhteisöteatterin merkityksestä alueelle

This thesis analyses what local community theatre activity means to an area and its residents, and whether this kind of activity is meaningful. The objective was to explore whether and how community art can help urban areas to move in the direction of sustainable development: whether art can be part of regional policy development work. Hakunilan Kultsa was founded in 2003. It is an Urban II, European Union project and part of the Community Iniative Programme 2001-2006, financed by the EU. Hakunilan Kultsa is also a co-operation between Vantaa city council's culture and youth services. The project encourages Hakunila residents of different ages to take part in versatile art and cultural intrests in the Hakunila youth centre. People have the opportunity to participate in theatre, expression, arts, dance, performing arts and writing groups. One of the main aims is to found a sustainable community theatre in the area. The thesis examines what effects Hakunilan Kultsa has had so far. Inquiry form and thematical interviews have been used as research methods. Interviews and questionnaires were gathered between Autumn 2004 and Spring 2005. The whole process lasted from Spring 2004 until Spring 2006. The author also made participatory observations during the research process which in turn affected the conclusions. The thesis also deals with associated topics such as urban programmes, sustainable development, Hakunila as a suburban area, resident stimulation, and community thetare work. Hakunilan Kultsa has proved its importance. Based on the enquiries and interviews, the project has effectively presented the possibility for art forms to become hobbies. There is no cultural, age or economical discrimination. The easily accessible site and the low threshold principle make it easy for people to participate. The community theatre has improved the area's public image, increased participation and initiative, and given a voice to the community.

The synchronization of personal information between mobile devices and online services by using SyncML

Monet henkilökohtaiset mobiililaitteet tarjoavat mahdollisuuden tallentaa henkilötietoja ja mahdollisuuden lyhyen kantaman radiotekniikoiden hyödyntämiseen. Vastaavasti henkilötietoja käyttävien tai vaativien verkkopalveluiden määrä on kasvussa. Mobiililaitteisiin tallennetut henkilötiedot tarjoavat potentiaalisen keinon välttää samojen henkilötietojen toistuva käsinsyöttö erilaisiin verkkopalveluihin ja keskitettyyn ajantasallapitoon. Tässä työssä käydään läpi ratkaisumalli henkilökohtaisen mobiililaitteen ja verkkopalveluiden välillä tapahtuvaan henkilötietojen siirtoon ja synkronointiin. Malli pohjautuu selainlaajennukseen, joka voi pyytää sekä selaimessa auki olevalta verkkopalvelun sivulta että mobiililta päätelaitteelta senhetkiset henkilötiedot ja synkronoida ne. Jo olemassaolevia henkilötietojen hallintaa helpottavia ratkaisuja käydään läpi arvioiden käyttökelpoisuutta tämänkaltaisiin tarpeisiin. Ratkaisumallin kannalta olennaiset tekniikat ja standardit, erityisesti Bluetooth ja SyncML, esitellään. Ratkaisumallin arkkitehtuuri käydään korkealla tasolla läpi ja esitellään toteutuksen yksityiskohtia. Tuloksena on periaatteeltaan kelvollinen henkilökohtaisten tietojen synkronointijärjestelmä, jonka toteutusta nykyisten mobiilien päätelaitteiden toiminnallisuus jossain määrin hankaloittaa.

Productivity of Business Services - Towards A New Taxonomy

Statistics show that the expanding service sector accounts already for three quarters of GDP in the developed economies. Moreover, there is abundant evidence on high variation in productive performance across the service industries. This suggests divergent technological and institutional trajectories within the tertiary sector. While conceptual knowledge on services and their performance has accumulated substantially, the overall landscape on productivity and competitiveness is still inconclusive. As noted by number of authors the research on service productivity is still in its infancy. The purpose of this paper is to develop further the analytical framework of service productivity. The approach is based on the notion that service definitions, classifications and performance measurement are strongly interdependent. Given the ongoing restructuring of businesses activities with higher information content, it is argued that the dichotomy between manufacturing and services should not be taken too far. Industrial evolution also suggests that the official industry classifications are increasingly outdated and new taxonomies for empirical research are therefore needed. Based on the previous analyses and new insights the paper clarifies the debated concept of service productivity and identifies the critical dimensions by which the service industries cluster. It is also demonstrated that the dimensions enable to construct new service taxonomies which bear essentially on productivity opportunities at the business level. Needles to say the key determinant explaining the development and potential of productivity growth is innovation activity. As an extensive topic of research, however, service innovation is tackled here only in a cursory way. The paper is constructed as follows: the first section focuses on the conceptual issues and evolving nature of service activities. A workable definition of service should capture the diversity of service activities, as well as the aspects of service processes, comprehensively. The distinctions and similarities between services and manufacturing are discussed, too. Section 2 deals with the service productivity, a persistent and controversial issue in academic literature and policy. With the assessments of strengths and weaknesses of the main schools new insights based on value creation will be brought in. Industry classifications and taxonomies are discussed in Section 3. It begins with a short analysis of the official classifications and their evaluation from the perspective of empirical research. Using well-known examples it is shown that the taxonomies on the manufacturing industries have a clear analogy with the business services. As there is a growing interest to regroup services too, the work to date, has been less systematic and inherently qualitative. Based on the earlier contributions threedimensional service taxonomy is constructed which highlight the key dimensions of productive performance. The main findings and implications are summed up in Section 4.

Mobiilin työajanhallinnan ohjelmistokehitys

Työajan seuranta ja kohdistaminen oikeisiin kustannuslajeihin on yrityksen suorituskyvyn ja kasvun kannalta usein välttämättömyys. Tässä työssä tutkitaan mobiiliteknologioiden mahdollisuuksia ja soveltuvuutta tuottaa palveluita työajan hallinnointiin, valitaan sopiva arkkitehtuuri ja kehitetään Java ME –teknologialla prototyyppi, joka on helposti integroitavissa yrityksen nykyisiin palvelinpuolen järjestelmiin ja tietokantoihin. Työn sovellusosuudessa kuvataan prototyypin ohjelmoinnissa käytetyt työkalut, menetelmät, ongelmakohdat sekä niiden ratkaisut. Suunnitelluissa käyttötapauksissa tapahtumatiedot syötetään manuaalisesti puhelimen käyttöliittymän kautta tai automatisoidummin kerätään kustannuskohdistetietoa työkohteisiin sijoitetuista NFC-tageista. Työaikaleimaamista testattiin emulaattorilla ja oikealla matkapuhelimella. Lopputuloksena asiakkaan työajanhallinnan tapahtumat siirtyvät langattomasti ja reaaliaikaisesti yrityksen webpalvelimelle JSON-formaatissa.

B-to-B-palvelutuotteiden kehittäminen tuotteistamalla

Kilpailukykyisen palveluliiketoiminnan ylläpitäminen ja kehittäminen on kiristyvässä palvelukilpailussa yhä haastavampaa myös perinteisesti palveluliiketoiminnassa oleville palveluyrityksille. Haasteessa on kaksi ulottuvuutta: kyky luoda markkinoinnillisesti ylivoimaista arvoa asiakkaille ja tuottaa tehokkaasti asiakaskohtaisia palvelukokonaisuuksia. Ratkaisuksi tarjotaan tuotteistamista. Tuotteistaminen on käsitteenä vakiintumaton ja monessa yhteydessä sisällöltään päällekkäinen muiden palvelukehityksen käsitteiden kanssa. Tässä kandidaatintyössä tavoitteena on perehtyä kirjallisuustutkimuksen avulla tuotteistamisena ymmärretyn palvelujen kehittämisen käytäntöihin yritysten välisillä markkinoilla. Tuotteistamisen sisältöä ja käytäntöjä peilataan palvelututkimuksessa esitettyihin palvelukehityksen periaatteisiin. Tuotteistamisen todetaan olevan tavoitteiltaan tärkeä, mutta käsitteenä haasteellinen. Yrityksissä tuotteistaminen ymmärretään oikeasuuntaisesti, mutta haasteena on laajentaa näkökulmaa asiakkaalle näkyvän tuotteistamisen ulkopuolelle ja kohti palvelututkimuksen tarkoittamaa asiakaslähtöistä palvelujen kehittämistä.

Productivity and Services – Safety Telephone Services for the Elderly

Previous research on productivity is often associated with manufacturing or uses manufacturing definitions of productivity. Marketing research on services has not been satisfied with the manufacturing definitions. No universal definition for service productivity exists. The lack of a universal definition highlights the complexity entailed in the concept of productivity. The objective of this study was to investigate service productivity in situations, where traditional ways are in some cases even not possible or are not enough. In one definition of the productivity of service organisations there is the efficiency of the organisation on the input side and on the output side the customers’ perceived quality or value-in-use. To learn about value-in-use, many methods have been developed. A common practice is to make customer opinion surveys in the form of customer questionnaires and interviews. However, customers cannot always be asked directly, for example, because of impaired cognitive abilities. Such cases include the elderly and children. Furthermore, customer opinion surveys are time consuming. In addition, customers do not always know what kind of services they would benefit from. For the empirical part of the study, a business area was identified where traditional ways of measuring value-in-use are difficult or in some cases even not possible. This business area is safety telephone services. These services are most often used by the elderly. The way to define value-in-use here was to assess how well the services offered met customer expectations. Comparing the services customers asked for and the services provided to them indicated whether customer expectations were met. This study showed that customers had their ideas concerning the contents of the services but many times the services provided did not meet these expectations. Organisational efficiency aspirations can decrease customers’ value-in-use. This study found a solution, in which increasing organisational efficiency would go hand-in-hand with increasing customers’ value-in-use; the result being that the organisations’ needs and the service users’ expectations were in line. Value creation for customers produced organisational efficiency and thus increased productivity. In this study, customer expectations were observed by means of wellness technology. With the help of modern technology, customer expectations can be followed quickly and easily and customers can co-create with the organisation. This type of an approach could be useful even in the development of other services for other ages and in different contexts. If a service organisation decreases the number of personnel and, at the same time, tries to offer services to the same or a larger clientele, customers easily notice the change, which is often negative. To avoid harmful decrease in value-in-use, limitations to the aspiration of efficiency should be implemented – one of such is that the organisation is required to meet certain quality standards defined by experts. The aim is to secure that, as a result of efficiency aspirations in the organisation, the quality of the service offerings does not diminish below mutually agreed standards. Traditionally, when productivity in services has been estimated, organisational efficiency has not been combined with both customer expectations and an expert assessment of quality. This study contributes with novel thinking entitled ‘Relationship Management of the Elderly’. This study handles productivity, expert defined quality and value-in-use in an organisational context, which is practically untouched in previous research studies.

AgEcon Search: Evolution of a Subject Repository

Poster at Open Repositories 2014, Helsinki, Finland, June 9-13, 2014

Interoperability and Services Through Shared Identifiers

Poster at Open Repositories 2014, Helsinki, Finland, June 9-13, 2014