Skill Development in Music Reading. The Eye-Movement Approach

This dissertation examined skill development in music reading by focusing on the visual processing of music notation in different music-reading tasks. Each of the three experiments of this dissertation addressed one of the three types of music reading: (i) sight-reading, i.e. reading and performing completely unknown music, (ii) rehearsed reading, during which the performer is already familiar with the music being played, and (iii) silent reading with no performance requirements. The use of the eye-tracking methodology allowed the recording of the readers’ eye movements from the time of music reading with extreme precision. Due to the lack of coherence in the smallish amount of prior studies on eye movements in music reading, the dissertation also had a heavy methodological emphasis. The present dissertation thus aimed to promote two major issues: (1) it investigated the eye-movement indicators of skill and skill development in sight-reading, rehearsed reading and silent reading, and (2) developed and tested suitable methods that can be used by future studies on the topic. Experiment I focused on the eye-movement behaviour of adults during their first steps of learning to read music notation. The longitudinal experiment spanned a nine-month long music-training period, during which 49 participants (university students taking part in a compulsory music course) sight-read and performed a series of simple melodies in three measurement sessions. Participants with no musical background were entitled as “novices”, whereas “amateurs” had had musical training prior to the experiment. The main issue of interest was the changes in the novices’ eye movements and performances across the measurements while the amateurs offered a point of reference for the assessment of the novices’ development. The experiment showed that the novices tended to sight-read in a more stepwise fashion than the amateurs, the latter group manifesting more back-and-forth eye movements. The novices’ skill development was reflected by the faster identification of note symbols involved in larger melodic intervals. Across the measurements, the novices also began to show sensitivity to the melodies’ metrical structure, which the amateurs demonstrated from the very beginning. The stimulus melodies consisted of quarter notes, making the effects of meter and larger melodic intervals distinguishable from effects caused by, say, different rhythmic patterns. Experiment II explored the eye movements of 40 experienced musicians (music education students and music performance students) during temporally controlled rehearsed reading. This cross-sectional experiment focused on the eye-movement effects of one-bar-long melodic alterations placed within a familiar melody. The synchronizing of the performance and eye-movement recordings enabled the investigation of the eye-hand span, i.e., the temporal gap between a performed note and the point of gaze. The eye-hand span was typically found to remain around one second. Music performance students demonstrated increased professing efficiency by their shorter average fixation durations as well as in the two examined eye-hand span measures: these participants used larger eye-hand spans more frequently and inspected more of the musical score during the performance of one metrical beat than students of music education. Although all participants produced performances almost indistinguishable in terms of their auditory characteristics, the altered bars indeed affected the reading of the score: the general effects of expertise in terms of the two eye- hand span measures, demonstrated by the music performance students, disappeared in the face of the melodic alterations. Experiment III was a longitudinal experiment designed to examine the differences between adult novice and amateur musicians’ silent reading of music notation, as well as the changes the 49 participants manifested during a nine-month long music course. From a methodological perspective, an opening to research on eye movements in music reading was the inclusion of a verbal protocol in the research design: after viewing the musical image, the readers were asked to describe what they had seen. A two-way categorization for verbal descriptions was developed in order to assess the quality of extracted musical information. More extensive musical background was related to shorter average fixation duration, more linear scanning of the musical image, and more sophisticated verbal descriptions of the music in question. No apparent effects of skill development were observed for the novice music readers alone, but all participants improved their verbal descriptions towards the last measurement. Apart from the background-related differences between groups of participants, combining verbal and eye-movement data in a cluster analysis identified three styles of silent reading. The finding demonstrated individual differences in how the freely defined silent-reading task was approached. This dissertation is among the first presentations of a series of experiments systematically addressing the visual processing of music notation in various types of music-reading tasks and focusing especially on the eye-movement indicators of developing music-reading skill. Overall, the experiments demonstrate that the music-reading processes are affected not only by “top-down” factors, such as musical background, but also by the “bottom-up” effects of specific features of music notation, such as pitch heights, metrical division, rhythmic patterns and unexpected melodic events. From a methodological perspective, the experiments emphasize the importance of systematic stimulus design, temporal control during performance tasks, and the development of complementary methods, for easing the interpretation of the eye-movement data. To conclude, this dissertation suggests that advances in comprehending the cognitive aspects of music reading, the nature of expertise in this musical task, and the development of educational tools can be attained through the systematic application of the eye-tracking methodology also in this specific domain.

IP Multicast in Future Mobile Networks

Erilaisten IP-pohjaisten palvelujen käyttö lisääntyy jatkuvasti samalla, kun käyttäjistä tulee yhä liikkuvaisempia. Tästä syystä IP- protokolla tulee väistämättä myös mobiiliverkkoihin. Tässä diplomityössä tutkitaan mobiliteetin IP multcastingiin tuomia ongelmia ja simuloidaan niitä Network Simulatoria käyttäen. Pääpaino on ongelmalla, joka aiheutuu multicast- ryhmänmuodostusviiveestä. Tätä ongelmaa simuloidaan, jotta viiveen, mobiilikäyttäjien palveluunsaapumistaajuuden ja Scalable Reliable Multicast (SRM) protokollan ajastinarvojen asetusten vaikutus repair request- pakettien määrään ja sitä kautta suoritettavien uudelleenlähetysten määrään selviäisi. Eri parametrien vaikutuksen tutkimiseksi esitetään simulaatiotuloksia varioiduilla parametreillä käyttäen CDF- käyriä. Tulosten perusteella merkittävin tekijä uudelleenlähetyspyyntöjen kannalta on protokollan ajastimien arvot ja haluttu palvelun taso, viiveen merkityksen jäädessä vähäiseksi. Työn lopuksi tutkitaan SRM- protokollan soveltuvuutta mobiiliverkkoihin ja pohditaan vaihtoehtoja toiminnan parantamiseksi.

KUMPPANUUKSIEN LAATUTEKIJÄT JA KUMPPANUUSKYVYKKYYS VERKOSTOSUHTEIDEN KRIITTISINÄ MENESTYSTEKIJÖINÄ

Pro gradu -tutkielman tavoitteena on selvittää, mitkä ovat kahden yrityksen läheisen verkostoyhteistyösuhteen menestystekijät ja kuinka yritys pystyy parantamaan onnistumistaan verkostosuhteissaan. Päämääränä on selvittää kirjallisuudesta löydettyjen menestystekijöiden avulla, mikä on case –yritysten yhteistyösuhteiden ja kumppanuuskyvykkyyden nykytila, pullonkaulatekijät ja kuinka niitä voidaan parantaa. Tutkielman tavoitteisiin on pyritty kvalitatiivisiin tutkimusmenetelmiin kuuluvalla case –tutkimuksella. Aineisto kerättiin teemahaastatteluin ja analysoitiin purkamalla ne sanallisiin, teema-alueiden mukaisiin kokonaisuuksiin. Analyysissä käytettiin osittain Atlas.Ti –ohjelmistoa. Tutkimuksen tulokset osoittavat, että läheisen verkostoyhteistyösuhteen menestystekijät ovat luottamus, sitoutuminen ja kommunikaatio sekä verkostoidentiteetti. Näistä luottamuksen tila oli tutkituissa suhteissa hyvä ja sitoutumisenkin kohtuullinen. Sen sijaan verkostoidentiteetti oli jossain määrin epäselvä ja kommunikaatiossa oli puutteita kasvaen sitä mukaan, kun organisaatiohierarkiassa edetään korkeammalle. Nämä mahdollisesti heikentävät läheisestä suhteesta saatavia hyötyjä. Tulokset osoittavat myös sen, että nostaakseen onnistumisen tason kaikissa yhteistyösuhteissaan, niiden tulee pyrkiä järjestelmällisesti hyödyntämään aikaisempaa yhteistyökokemustaan ja näin rakentamaan kumppanuuskyvykkyyttään. Kohdeyrityksissä oli tehty vielä vähän konkreettisia toimenpiteitä yritystason kumppanuuskyvykkyyden kohentamiseksi.

Organisaation strategian mukainen uudistumiskyky case: KM-factor -mittaus Itäisessä tullipiirissä

Tutkielman tarkoituksena on tutkia case-organisaationa toimivan Itäisen tullipiirin strategista uudistumiskykyä. Minkälaiset lähtökohdat organisaatiolla on kohdata tulevaisuuden haasteet omassa toimintaympäristössään ja minkälaisia esteitä uudistumiselle löytyy? Pärjätäkseen kiristyvässä kilpailussa on uudistumiseen vaikuttavien tekijöiden, kuten osaamisen, tiedon kulun, johtamisen ja suhteiden tunnistaminen ja hyödyntäminen ensiarvoisen tärkeää myös julkishallinnon organisaatioille. Tässä tutkielmassa uudistumiskykyä tarkastellaan kolmiulotteisen organisaatiomallin (mekaaninen, orgaaninen ja dynaaminen) valossa ja kehittämistoimien lähtökohtana pidetään organisaation omaa strategista fokusta. Tutkimus- ja tiedonkeruumenetelminä käytetään kvantitatiiviseksi luokiteltavaa, sähköisessä muodossa tehtävää KM-factor -kyselyä ja kvalitatiivista teemahaastattelua. Tutkimustulokset antavat strategisesti tärkeää tietoa case-organisaation nykytilasta; sen heikkouksista ja vahvuuksista. Tulosten perusteella organisaation toimintatapa on melko yhtenäinen ja strategisen fokuksensa, eli orgaanisen toimintaympäristön vaatimusten mukainen. Kehittämistoimia tulee kuitenkin kohdentaa erityisesti henkilöstön strategian mukaisen osaamisen ja esimiesten tiedon kulun lisäämiseen sekä yleisesti työmotivaatiotason nostamiseen koko kohdeorganisaatiossa. Organisaatiossa on luotava käytäntöjä, jotka tukevat avoimen tiedon kulun ilmapiiriä ja dialogimaista kommunikointia, jotta organisaation uudistumiskyky yhtenäisenä systeeminä parantuisi entisestään.

Development of Collaborative Product Structure Management

The purpose of this thesis is to develop an environment or network that enables effective collaborative product structure management among stakeholders in each unit, throughout the entire product lifecycle and product data management. This thesis uses framework models as an approach to the problem. Framework model methods for development of collaborative product structure management are proposed in this study, there are three unique models depicted to support collaborative product structure management: organization model, process model and product model. In the organization model, the formation of product data management system (eDSTAT) key user network is specified. In the process model, development is based on the case company’s product development matrix. In the product model framework, product model management, product knowledge management and design knowledge management are defined as development tools and collaboration is based on web-based product structure management. Collaborative management is executed using all these approaches. A case study from an actual project at the case company is presented as an implementation; this is to verify the models’ applicability. A computer assisted design tool and the web-based product structure manager, have been used as tools of this collaboration with the support of the key user. The current PDM system, eDSTAT, is used as a piloting case for key user role. The result of this development is that the role of key user as a collaboration channel is defined and established. The key user is able to provide one on one support for the elevator projects. Also the management activities are improved through the application of process workflow by following criteria for each project milestone. The development shows effectiveness of product structure management in product lifecycle, improved production process by eliminating barriers (e.g. improvement of two-way communication) during design phase and production phase. The key user role is applicable on a global scale in the company.

Technological and business challenges of smart grids

Growing recognition of the electricity grid modernization to enable new electricity generation and consumption schemes has found articulation in the vision of the Smart Grid platform. The essence of this vision is an autonomous network with two-way electricity power flows and extensive real-time information between the generation nodes, various electricity-dependent appliances and all points in-between. Three major components of the Smart Grids are distributed intelligence, communication technologies, and automated control systems. The aim of this thesis is to recognize the challenges that Smart Grids are facing, while extinguishing the main driving factors for their introduction. The scope of the thesis also covers possible place of electricity Aggregator Company in the current and future electricity markets. Basic functions of an aggregator and possible revenue sources along with demand response feasibility calculations are reviewed within this thesis.

Mining in Developing Countries: A Case Study of Sustainability Challenges

Mining has severe impacts on its surrounding. Particularly in the developing countries it has degraded the environment and signigicantly altered the socio-economical dynamics of the hosts. Especially relocation disrupts people from their homes, livelihoods, cultures and social activities. Mining industry has failed to develop the local host and streghten its governance structures; instead it has further degraded the development of mineral rich third world countries, which are among the world poorest ones. Cash flows derived from mining companies have not benefitted the crass-root level that however, bears most of the detrimental impacts. Especially if the governance structure of the host is weak, the sudden wealth is likely to accelerate disparities, corruption and even fuel wars. Environmental degradation, miscommunication, mistrust and disputes over land use have created conflicts between the communities and a mining company in Obuasi, Ghana; a case study of this thesis. The disputes are deeply rooted and further fuelled by unrealistic expectations and broken promises. The relations with artisanal and illegal miners have been especially troublesome. Illegal activities, mainly encroachment of the land and assets of the mine, such as vandalising tailings pipes have resulted in profits losses, environmental degradation and security hazards. All challenges mentioned above have to be addressed locally with site-specific solutions. It is vital to increase two-way communication, initiate collaboration and build capacity of the stakeholders such as local communities, NGOs and governance authorities. The locals must be engaged to create livelihood opportunities that are designed with and for them. Capacity can also be strengthened through education and skills training, such as women’s literacy programs. In order to diminish the overdependence of locals to the mine, the activities have to be self -sufficient and able to survive without external financial and managerial inputs. Additionally adequate and fair compensation practises and dispute resolution methods that are understood and accepted by all parties have to be agreed on as early as possible.

On Undecidable Dynamical Properties of Reversible One-Dimensional Cellular Automata

Cellular automata are models for massively parallel computation. A cellular automaton consists of cells which are arranged in some kind of regular lattice and a local update rule which updates the state of each cell according to the states of the cell's neighbors on each step of the computation. This work focuses on reversible one-dimensional cellular automata in which the cells are arranged in a two-way in_nite line and the computation is reversible, that is, the previous states of the cells can be derived from the current ones. In this work it is shown that several properties of reversible one-dimensional cellular automata are algorithmically undecidable, that is, there exists no algorithm that would tell whether a given cellular automaton has the property or not. It is shown that the tiling problem of Wang tiles remains undecidable even in some very restricted special cases. It follows that it is undecidable whether some given states will always appear in computations by the given cellular automaton. It also follows that a weaker form of expansivity, which is a concept of dynamical systems, is an undecidable property for reversible one-dimensional cellular automata. It is shown that several properties of dynamical systems are undecidable for reversible one-dimensional cellular automata. It shown that sensitivity to initial conditions and topological mixing are undecidable properties. Furthermore, non-sensitive and mixing cellular automata are recursively inseparable. It follows that also chaotic behavior is an undecidable property for reversible one-dimensional cellular automata.

Health-related quality of life in school children: validation of instrument, child self assessment, parent-proxy assessment and school nursing documentation of health check-ups

The aims of this study were to validate an international Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQL) instrument, to describe child self and parent-proxy assessed HRQL at child age 10 to 12 and to compare child self assessments with parent-proxy assessments and school nursing documentation. The study is part of the Schools on the Move –research project. In phase one, a cross-cultural translation and validation process was performed to develop a Finnish version of Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory™ 4.0 (PedsQL™ 4.0). The process included a two-way translation, cognitive interviews (children n=7, parents n=5) and a survey (children n=1097, parents n=999). In phase two, baseline and follow-up surveys (children n=986, parents n=710) were conducted to describe and compare the child self and parent-proxy assessed HRQL in school children between the ages 10 and 12. Phase three included two separate data, school nurse documented patient records (children n=270) and a survey (children n=986). The relation between child self assessed HRQL and school nursing documentation was evaluated. Validity and reliability of the Finnish version of PedsQL™ 4.0 was good (Child Self Report α=0.91, Parent-Proxy Report α=0.88). Children reported lower HRQL scores at the emotional (mean 76/80) than the physical (mean 85/89) health domains and significantly lower scores at the age of 10 than 12 (dMean=4, p=<0.001). Agreement between child self and parent-proxy assessment was fragile (r=0,4, p=<0.001) but increased as the child grew from age 10 to 12 years. At health check-ups, school nurses documented frequently children’s physical health, such as growth (97%) and posture (98/99%) but seldom emotional issues, such as mood (2/7%). The PedsQLTM 4.0 is a valid instrument to assess HRQL in Finnish school children although future research is recommended. Children’s emotional wellbeing needs future attention. HRQL scores increase during ages between childhood and adolescence. Concordance between child self and parent-proxy assessed HRQL is low. School nursing documentation, related to child health check-ups, is not in line with child self assessed HRQL and emotional issues need more attention.

Best practices of international double degree programmes. Case of Russian and European universities

The purpose of the Master’s thesis research is to study and disseminate the best practices of international double Master’s degree programmes organization, implementation and development. The given research is focused on two main areas: motivation of higher education institutions to start double degree programmes and best practices of double degree programme design and implementation from the perspective of building joint curriculum and organizing balanced mobility and development of existing programmes in terms of increasing their quality and attractiveness. This is a case study of the double degree programmes between Russian and European universities. The study findings reveal good developments in the field of double degree cooperation between Russian and European universities and a high motivation from both parties. The research depicts different models of building a joint curriculum and organizing academic mobility. The following areas could be outlined as development points for double degree programmes: - Personal interest and commitment of organizers of double degree programmes; - Comprehensive agreement between partners on different aspects and practicalities of the double degree programme implementation; - Promotion towards more balanced student participation and two-way mobility; - Foreign language skills improvement for students and university staff; - Joint strategy and actions in marketing and quality assurance; - Involvement of international companies; - Wider usage of e-learning technology.

Supplier codes of conduct: Acting responsibly in global supply chains

Nowadays the Western companies are considered responsible for the social and environmental issues in their whole supply chains. To influence the practices of their suppliers the Western companies have created suppliers codes of conduct (SCCs) which express their requirements. Suppliers’ compliance with the SCCs is checked through audits. The purpose of this thesis is to analyze SCCs as a means for Western companies to ensure socially and environmentally responsible actions in their global supply chains, and the sub-objectives are to find out 1) how well do the SCCs and their auditing work at suppliers’ production sites and 2) how can possible problems related to SCCs and their auditing be solved. This is a qualitative research carried out in the form of a case study with two case companies. In this study both primary and secondary data is used. The primary data is collected in the form of interviews of the case company representatives and three external experts. Based on a theoretical framework of previous research in the fields of corporate social responsibility and supply chain management, a model with eleven factors, which influence the success of SCC implementation and the auditing of SCC –implementation, is drafted. Also several different best-practices to help to solve and avoid possible problems related to SCC -implementation and auditing have been identified from previous research. Based on the findings of this study the theoretical model has been updated adding two new influential factors. It seems that how well the SCC and its auditing work at suppliers’ production sites depends on the joint effect of thirteen influential factors: buyer’s purchasing policy, supplier’s motivation, buyer’s commitment, the solving of agency problems, the contents of the SCC, supplier’s role and the buyer-supplier –relationship, complexity of supply chain, the limitations of the smaller buyers, cooperation through a business association or multi-stakeholder system, the role of supplier’s employees, SCC –related communication and supplier’s understanding, cheating in audits and the auditors. The possible problems related to SCCs and their auditing can be solved by adopting best-practices. Nine of the theoretical best-practices stand out from the findings of this study: 1) two-way communication and collecting feedback from suppliers, 2) the philosophy of continuous improvement, 3) long-term business relationships with the supplier, 4) informing the supplier about the advantages of SCC –compliance, 5) rewarding code-compliant suppliers, 6) building collaborative, good buyer-supplier relationships, 7) supporting and advising the supplier, 8) joining a business association or multi-stakeholder system and 9) interviewing supplier’s employees as a part of the audits.

Subshifts with Simple Cellular Automata

A subshift is a set of in nite one- or two-way sequences over a xed nite set, de ned by a set of forbidden patterns. In this thesis, we study subshifts in the topological setting, where the natural morphisms between them are ones de ned by a (spatially uniform) local rule. Endomorphisms of subshifts are called cellular automata, and we call the set of cellular automata on a subshift its endomorphism monoid. It is known that the set of all sequences (the full shift) allows cellular automata with complex dynamical and computational properties. We are interested in subshifts that do not support such cellular automata. In particular, we study countable subshifts, minimal subshifts and subshifts with additional universal algebraic structure that cellular automata need to respect, and investigate certain criteria of `simplicity' of the endomorphism monoid, for each of them. In the case of countable subshifts, we concentrate on countable so c shifts, that is, countable subshifts de ned by a nite state automaton. We develop some general tools for studying cellular automata on such subshifts, and show that nilpotency and periodicity of cellular automata are decidable properties, and positive expansivity is impossible. Nevertheless, we also prove various undecidability results, by simulating counter machines with cellular automata. We prove that minimal subshifts generated by primitive Pisot substitutions only support virtually cyclic automorphism groups, and give an example of a Toeplitz subshift whose automorphism group is not nitely generated. In the algebraic setting, we study the centralizers of CA, and group and lattice homomorphic CA. In particular, we obtain results about centralizers of symbol permutations and bipermutive CA, and their connections with group structures.

Yrittäjyyskasvatus yhteistyöverkostoissa

Tutkimus käsittelee Yrittäjyyskasvatuksen Mittariston -projektia, jossa tutkimuskohteena on peruskoulun ensimmäisen asteen luokan- ja aineenopettajien näkemys ja kokemus yrittäjyyskasvatuksen verkostoyhteistyöstä. Tutkimuksen tarkoituksena oli selvittää miten hyvin opettajat tuntevat verkostoyhteistyötä, mikä on heidän tietämyksensä yrittäjyyskasvatuksesta ja kuinka tämä näkyy heidän työssään ja opetuksessaan. Tutkimuksen otos on 450 opettajaa. Tulokset analysoitiin SPSS-tilastomenetelmäohjelmalla. Tilastollisina tutkimusmenetelminä käytettiin jakaumien frekvenssianalyysiä, Faktori­analyysin Pääkomponenttianalyysiä ja Kaksisuuntaista varianssianalyysia (Anova). Tutkimuksen johtopäätöksenä voidaan todeta, että opettajien tiedot yhteistyö-verkostojen tarjoamista palveluista ovat hyvin hajanaiset. Ongelma jatkuu helposti niin kauan kunnes opettajien koulutusohjelmaan tuodaan lisää yrittäjyyskasvatus- ja yrittäjyysopintoja. Tämä pitäisi huomioida myös tulevissa opetussuunnitelmissa. Tämän tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli tuoda esille Yrittäjyyskasvatuksen mittariston tulosten kautta yrittäjyyskasvatuksen nykytila, tuoda ratkaisuja ehdotusten kautta opetukseen ja herättää keskustelua yrittäjyyskasvatuksen parantamiseksi.

The board of directors as a part of family business governance – multilevel participation and board development

In this study, I examine the board of directors as a part of family business governance. Both boards and governance have increased their attractiveness as a research topic lately. Research on boards has concentrated mostly on the study of different board attributes, like composition, and the relationship of these attributes to the firm’s performance. Family business governance studies are criticized for ignoring the multifaceted needs of companies. More research observing the context and contingencies affecting the governance and board of directors is needed. The objective of this study is to clarify: 1) how the board participates in family business governance, and 2) how the board develops along with the firm’s and family’s development. The study is implemented as qualitative research, and the longitudinal process approach has been used as it provides the opportunity to examine development in context. Selection criteria for the two cases selected for this study are: active board of directors, at least one implemented succession, and interviewees available from two generations and from different positions in the firm. The data consists of interviews and secondary data, and it is collected from different data sources. The analysis was done selecting first some critical events from both cases to closer examination, and analysing them by using content analysis technique. Several conclusions were drawn basing on the findings. First, the family business board participates in the firm’s activities much more widely than it is customary to think. Second, the family business board is not a static part of the business, but it develops and it has to develop for different reasons. Third, ownership is not only the basis for the board’s activities or existence, but the relationship between the board and ownership is two-way. The board contributes to a large extent to the ownership decisions, and in this way to the management of ownership. Fourth, according to the cases, the board has many unrecognized possibilities to facilitate succession in family firms.

Contemporary marketing in the high-tech industry: Perceptions of Finnish IT marketing professionals

Over the last 30 years, new technologies and globalization have radically changed the way in which marketing is conducted. However, whereas their effects on business in general have been widely discussed, the focus of the effects on marketing remains without clear recognition. Global research has been made to shed light onto the issue, but it has widely concentrated on the views of executives as well as the consumer markets. In addition, a research gap is existent in applying the concept of marketing change in a specific business-to-business (B2B) industry. Therefore, the main research question this study seeks to answer is: “How is contemporary marketing conducted in the high-technology industry?” In this research, the researcher considers the specific industry of high-technology. However, as the industry is comprised of differing markets, the focus will be given to one of the industry’s prime sectors – the information technology (IT) markets, where companies offer other firms products or services manufactured with advanced technology. The growing IT-market is considered of critical importance in the economies of technologically ready countries such as Finland, where this research is also conducted. Through multiple case studies the researcher aims to describe how the changes in technology, customer engagement and future trends have shaped the way in which successful high-tech marketing is conducted in today’s marketplace. Then, results derived from the empirical research are presented to the reader with links to existing literature. As a conclusion, a generalized framework is constructed to depict and ideal marketer-customer relationship, with emphasis on dynamic, two-way communication and its supporting elements of customer analytics, change adaptation, strategic customer communication and organizational support. From a managerial point of view, the research may provide beneficial information as contemporary marketing can yield profitable outcomes if managed correctly. As a new way to grasp competitive advantage, strategic marketing is much more data-driven and customer-focused than ever before. The study can also prove to be relevant for the academic communities, while its results may act as inspiring for new focus on the education trends of future marketers. This study was limited to the internal activities done at the high-tech industry, leaving out the considerations for co-marketing, marketing via business partners or marketing at other B2B-industries.