Digital social media: An interactive technology incorporated as a competitive advantage for business

In a more transparent and dynamic world, in which consumers trust other consumers more for advice and recommendations on products and services, the continuity of organizations appears to be associated with socialization, the sharing of interests and the interaction with the audience. This is associated with the incorporation of digital technologies to business, specifically the use of social media. Consequently, it is timely and interesting to explore the phenomenon of virtual socialization, although it is a littlestudied field and what is needed is an innovative and theoretical approach based upon theories of marketing and communication. Expertise in these areas is present in all organizations and their performance is important for appropriate development of them. This work is a qualitative analysis about the behavior, reactions and attitudes of individuals to organizations, in order to understand the social factors that contribute to sustainable competitive advantages of organizations which can support strategic and future actions. We conclude that relevant factors associated with the tacit knowledge of the organization, specifically to learning and social interaction of the organization and their knowledge of virtual communities. The higher the coexistence of factors, the more difficult is the replication and greater will be the hypothesis of sustainable competitive advantage.

FLASH-OFDM System Performance Studies for Wireless Broadband Network Operator Services

@450 wireless broadband service is Digita’s mobile wireless broadband network service. In @450 network Digita acts as the network operator offering network capacity to service operators. For Digita it is important to know what kind of services its network is capable of and what are the network’s service parameters. The knowledge of the network parameters and the behaviour can be used in advance in the development of new service products. Before a new service product can be offered to service operators a lot of work has to be done. The basic testing is necessary to get an understanding of the basic functionality. The requirement specification has to be done and a new product has to be created. The new product has to be tested. The test results have to be analysed in order to find out if the new product is suitable for real use and with which limitations. The content of this Thesis is the development of wireless technologies, @450 service and network, FLASH-OFDM technology, FLASH-OFDM performance testing and the development of a new service product.

Managing regulatory risks when outsourcing network-related services in the electricity distribution sector

Deregulation of the electricity sector liberated the electricity sale and production for competitive forces while in the network business, electricity transmission and distribution, natural monopoly positions were recognised. Deregulation was accompanied by efficiencyoriented thinking on the whole electricity supply industry. For electricity distribution this meant a transition from a public service towards profit-driven business guided by economic regulation. Regulation is the primary means to enforce societal and other goals in the regulated monopoly sector. The design of economic regulation is concerned with two main attributes; end-customer price and quality of electricity distribution services. Regulation limits the costs of the regulated company but also defines the desired quality of monopoly services. The characteristics of the regulatory framework and the incentives it provides are therefore decisive for the electricity distribution sector. Regulation is not a static factor; changes in the regulatory practices cause discontinuity points, which in turn generate risks. A variety of social and environmental concerns together with technological advancements have emphasised the relevance of quality regulation, which is expected to lead to the large-scale replacement of overhead lines with underground cables. The electricity network construction activity is therefore currently witnessing revolutionary changes in its competitive landscape. In a business characterised by high statutory involvement and a high level of sunk costs, recognising and understanding the regulatory risks becomes a key success factor. As a response, electricity distribution companies have turned into outsourcing to attain efficiency and quality goals. This doctoral thesis addresses the impacts of regulatory risks on electricity network construction, which is a commonly outsourced activity in the electricity distribution network sector. The chosen research approach is characterised as an action analytical research on account of the fact that regulatory risks are greatly dependent on the individual nature of the regulatory regime applied in the electricity distribution sector. The main contribution of this doctoral thesis is to develop a concept for recognising and managing the business risks stemming from economic regulation. The degree of outsourcing in the sector is expected to increase in years to come. The results of the research provide new knowledge to manage the regulatory risks when outsourcing services.

A practice perspective on organizational implementation of information technology

Implementering av ett informationssystem ur en organisatorisk synvinkel initieras av en idé om ett system och avslutas då användningen av det inte längre kräver en medveten ansträngning. Ifall tolkningen av implementering är denna, är det fråga om en långsam och komplicerad process, som berör organisationens alla parter. Ny informationsteknologi anses påverka flertalet arbetsprocesser och organiseringen av det dagliga arbetet. Möjligheterna att ta i bruk systemet och utnyttja det är många. I avhandlingen undersöks implementering av ett system för att administrera hemvårdsbesök där hemvårdare använde handdatorer för att registrera information om besökens längd och innehåll. I avhandlingen observeras vilka förändringar som sker i arbetets praxis p.g.a. det nya systemet och hur dessa förändringar påverkar vårdarbetet. Forskningen inleds med att strukturera teorier om arbetspraxis för kommande analys. Arbetspraxis är inarbetade och rutinmässiga arbetssätt i arbetets sociomateriella omgivning. Arbetspraxis i avhandlingen innebär hemvårdarens praxis och upplevd erfarenhet, där verksamheten informeras av gemensamma arbetssätt, projekt, identiteter och intressen. Organisationens auktoritet kommer även fram i den förverkligade arbetspraxisen. Forskningen genomfördes som en etnografisk longitudinell studie under åren 2001-2004. I studien observerades hur nyttjandet av handdatorerna framskred ur ett organisatoriskt perspektiv. Hemvårdares arbete och verksamhet (arbetspraxis) observerades både under vårdsbesök och under pauser. Därtill intervjuades hemvårdarna för att erhålla en bättre förståelse för de rationaliteter som styr arbetet och hur systemet togs i bruk. Dokument relaterade till projektet att införa ett nytt system och administrativa dokument har utnyttjats som källmaterial. Analysen av källmaterialet styrdes av det teoretiska tillvägagångssättet att undersöka arbetspraxis. Problem som identifierades i samband med införandet av systemet och de förändringar som det medförde analyserades i detalj. Parallellt analyserades organisatorisk makt, kontroll och arbetsidentitet. Undersökningen beskriver hur det nya systemet gradvis anpassades till hemvården efter ett initialt motstånd. Under själva implementering av systemet ifrågasattes tidigare arbetspraxis och inställningen till den eftersom arbetspraxisens materiella omgivning förändrades. Det teoretiska tillvägagångssättet i att undersöka arbetspraxis framhäver vårdarens agerande i förändringsprocessen. Resultatet av forskningen visar vikten av realistiska målsättningar, givande av gruppstöd med återkoppling samt förmåga att anpassa sig till det oväntade vid införande av informationssystem.

Adoption of information technology based patient education in psychiatric nursing

The overall goal of the study was to describe adoption of information technology (IT)-based patient education (PE) developed for patients and nurses use in psychiatric nursing. The data were collected in three phases during the period 2000-2006 in a variety of psychiatric settings in Finland. Firstly, the development process of IT-based PE for patients with schizophrenia spectrum psychosis was described. Secondly, nurses’ adoption of IT-based PE and the variables explaining adoption were demonstrated. Moreover, use of daily IT-based PE in clinical practice and factors associated with use were identified and described. And thirdly, nurses’ experiences of the IT-based PE after one year clinical use were evaluated. IT-based PE program was developed in several stages based on users’ needs and it included information and multimedia applications. Altogether, almost 500 IT-based PE sessions were carried out by the nurses on the study wards and revealed nurses’ activity in educating patients using IT to vary and depend on the hospital in which they worked. Almost 80% of all the possible IT-based PE sessions involved 93 patients and 83 nurses. Less than 2% of the IT-based PE sessions were interrupted and less than 10% suffered disturbances due to the patients or external causes. Moreover, the patients whose education took more days had poorer mental status than those whose education was carried out over a shorter period. After a year’s experience, advantages and disadvantages were described by the nurses for both patients and nurses of the IT-based PE. IT-based PE can be used even on closed acute psychiatric wards with patients with serious mental health disorders. However, technology adoption requires time, and therefore, it must fit in with clinical practice. Collaboration between users and developers is needed when developing user-centered methods in the area of mental health services. Moreover, it is important to understand factors that affect IT adoption in healthcare settings. IT-based PE is one option in interactive and co-operative health care practice between patients and nurses. Therefore the staff should begin to refer patients to established, credible and well-maintained Internet sites that provide information on common psychological problems. Even if every nurse should be trained and engaged to carry out IT-based PE, by targeting the training especially for the most active nurses aids them to support the less active ones. Adoption should also be understood from a perspective that includes aspects related to the context where it is implemented and examine how and in what circumstances it works.

Integrating professional education, research and extensionin irrigated agriculture technology centers

With the objective to stimulate the use of irrigation and the electric energy fee reduction during night time program granted by the 2004 Federal law, the Government of the state of Paraná, Brazil launched the Night Irrigation Program - NPI. Beyond this discount, the farmer that adheres to NPI will get additional benefits, as completion of the electric grid without cost, subsidized financing of equipment, technical assistance, support with environmental farm compliance, and the possibility of replacing the entire pump energy matrix. As part of the NPI strategy of action, installation of learning centers for irrigation technology was planned in agricultural schools, thus contributing both to improve technical professional training in agriculture, and for the dissemination of knowledge in irrigated agriculture, in order to increase agricultural productivity.

TURKU TAKING STEPS TOWARDS FUTURE - technology supports physical activity

Physical activity (PA) is an important field of healthcare research internationally and within Finland. As technology devices and services penetrate deeper levels within society, the need for studying the usefulness for PA turns vital. We started this research work by reviewing literature consisting of two hundred research journals, all of which have found technology to significantly improve an individual’s ability to get motivation and achieve officially recommended levels of physical activity, like the 10000 steps a day, being tracked with the help of pedometers. Physical activity recommendations require sustained encouragement, consistent performance in order to achieve the long term benefits. We surveyed within the city of Turku, how the motivation levels and thirty three other criterions encompassing technology awareness, adoption and usage attitudes are impacted. Our aim was to know the factors responsible for achieving consistent growth in activity levels within the individuals and focus groups, as well as to determine the causes of failures and for collecting user experience feedback. The survey results were quite interesting and contain impeccable information for this field. While the focus groups confirmed the theory established by past studies within our literature review, it also establishes our research propositions that ict tools and services have provided and can further add higher benefits and value to individuals in tracking and maintain their activity levels consistently for longer time durations. This thesis includes two new models which dictate technology and physical activity adoption patterns based on four easy to evaluate criterions, thereby helping the healthcare providers to recommend improvements and address issues with an easy rule based approach. This research work provides vital clues on technology based healthcare objectives and achievement of standard PA recommendations by people within Turku and nearby regions.

Towards a Strategic Sales Channel Partnership: A Case Study from the IT Services Industry

Strategic partnerships have become a key to competitive advantage and success in a dynamic, global business environment. Partnering provides a strategic response to complex offerings that need multiple sources of technology and knowledge, allowing companies to offer a wider range of services and solutions to meet their customers’ needs. Companies that collaborate with strategic partners in sales channels may significantly grow their business and improve their prospects of winning major contracts. As a consequence, companies are increasingly transforming their go-to-market strategies and sales channel structures to align with the need to create added value to customers together with a business partner. The research objective of this case study is to review and assess the success of an established sales channel partnership in IT services industry and to find ways how to develop it towards a strategic collaboration. The research consists of two main parts. The first part reviews the literature, concluding with the identification of the critical success factors for partnering. The second part sets out for the case findings, focusing on how the success of the established sales channel partnership is perceived by key executives within the partner organizations, and further what actions are required to make the sales channel partnership and joint go-to-market more strategic.

Open Repositories : Our Infrastructure Services for Libraries and Research Institutions

Presentation at the Exhibition of the IFLA WLIC 2012 in Helsinki, Finland

Assessing the Environmental Value of Water Treatment Solutions in the Mining Industry

Environmental accountability has become a major source of competitive advantage for industrial companies, because customers consider it as relevant buying criterion. However, in order to leverage their environmental responsibility, industrial suppliers have to be able to demonstrate the environmental value of their products and services, which is also the aim of Kemira, a global water chemistry company considered in this study. The aim of this thesis is to develop a tool which Kemira can use to assess the environmental value of their solutions for the customer companies in mining industry. This study answers to questions on what kinds of methods to assess environmental impacts exist, and what kind of tool could be used to assess the environmental value of Kemira’s water treatment solutions. The environmental impacts of mining activities vary greatly between different mines. Generally the major impacts include the water related issues and wastes. Energy consumption is also a significant environmental aspect. Water related issues include water consumption and impacts in water quality. There are several methods to assess environmental impacts, for example life cycle assessment, eco-efficiency tools, footprint calculations and process simulation. In addition the corresponding financial value may be estimated utilizing monetary assessment methods. Some of the industrial companies considered in the analysis of industry best practices use environmental and sustainability assessments. Based on the theoretical research and conducted interviews, an Excel based tool utilizing reference data on previous customer cases and customer specific test results was considered to be most suitable to assess the environmental value of Kemira’s solutions. The tool can be used to demonstrate the functionality of Kemira’s solutions in customers’ processes, their impacts in other process parameters and their environmental and financial aspects. In the future, the tool may be applied to fit also Kemira’s other segments, not only mining industry.

Integration in project business : mechanisms for integrating customers and the project network during the life-cycle of industrial projects

This thesis focuses on integration in project business, i.e. how projectbased companies organize their product and process structures when they deliver industrial solutions to their customers. The customers that invest in these solutions run their businesses in different geographical, political and economical environments, which should be acknowledged by the supplier when providing solutions comprising of larger and more complex scopes than previously supplied to these customers. This means that the suppliers are increasing their supply range by taking over some of the activities in the value chain that have traditionally been handled by the customer. In order to be able to provide the functioning solutions, including more engineering hours, technical equipment and a wider project network, a change is needed in the mindset in order to be able to carry out and take the required responsibility that these new approaches bring. For the supplier it is important to be able to integrate technical products, systems and services, but the supplier also needs to have the capabilities to integrate the cross-functional organizations and departments in the project network, the knowledge and information between and within these organizations and departments, along with inputs from the customer into the product and process structures during the lifecycle of the project under development. Hence, the main objective of this thesis is to explore the challenges of integration that industrial projects meet, and based on that, to suggest a concept of how to manage integration in project business by making use of integration mechanisms. Integration is considered the essential process for accomplishing an industrial project, whereas the accomplishment of the industrial project is considered to be the result of the integration. The thesis consists of an extended summary and four papers, that are based on three studies in which integration mechanisms for value creation in industrial project networks and the management of integration in project business have been explored. The research is based on an inductive approach where in particular the design, commissioning and operations functions of industrial projects have been studied, addressing entire project life-cycles. The studies have been conducted in the shipbuilding and power generation industries where the scopes of supply consist of stand-alone equipment, equipment and engineering, and turnkey solutions. These industrial solutions include demanding efforts in engineering and organization. Addressing the calls for more studies on the evolving value chains of integrated solutions, mechanisms for inter- and intra-organizational integration and subsequent value creation in project networks have been explored. The research results in thirteen integration mechanisms and a typology for integration is proposed. Managing integration consists of integrating the project network (the supplier and the sub-suppliers) and the customer (the customer’s business purpose, operations environment and the end-user) into the project by making use of integration mechanisms. The findings bring new insight into research on industrial project business by proposing integration of technology and engineering related elements with elements related to customer oriented business performance in contemporary project environments. Thirteen mechanisms for combining products and the processes needed to deliver projects are described and categorized according to the impact that they have on the management of knowledge and information. These mechanisms directly relate to the performance of the supplier, and consequently to the functioning of the solution that the project provides. This thesis offers ways to promote integration of knowledge and information during the lifecycle of industrial projects, enhancing the development towards innovative solutions in project business.

Supply and usage of hemodynamic services in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Objective: The paper analyzes the supply and the utilization of hemodynamic services in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.Methods: It's an exploratory study that uses data obtained from Brazilian official databases. The period of supply analysis was from 1999 to 2009, and of utilization was from 2008 to October 2012.Results: Since 1999 there is a growth of hemodynamic equipment purchase. The private sector concentrates most of the supply, but it has been reducing its availability to SUS. The rate between population and equipment in Brazil exceeds the ones of some rich countries. In the sense of supply, there are in 2009, a supply rate of 1,4 equipments for 1 million inhabitants in RJ state, larger than brazilian rate, of 3,4 but the rates are similar for public customers.Conclusion: Interventional cardiology procedures have improved in the state, but in a different way. And this is because the public hospitals at Rio de Janeiro have mostly reduced their production, while the private ones have increased their production. The observed result is the SUS users performing their procedures at great distances.

THE ROLE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN CREATING SUSTAINABILITY VALUE FOR FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS IN 2020 : a scenario planning approach

The growing importance of global sustainability issues has been causing many changes to the financial services industry. Facts such as climate change, social development and the financial crisis in 2008 have been making banks reconsider the manner that they consider environmental, social and economic factors in their decision-making process. At the same time, information technology (IT) has been transforming the financial service industry and its fast development has casted doubts on the way it should be managed within an organization. This current changing environment brings a number of uncertainties to the future that cannot be addressed using traditional forecasting techniques. This research investigates how IT can bring value to sustainability in the financial service industry in 2020. Through the use of a scenario planning technique, we analyzed how trends in the current environment (considering the relation between sustainability, financial institutions an IT) can lead to four different future scenarios. Then, we discussed how IT can improve a bank’s sustainability performance, considering the limitations of each scenario.

The Finnish it industries in transition. Defining and Measuring the Finnish Software Product and IT Services Industries by Applying Theoretical Frameworks

The starting point of this study is that the prevailing way to consider the Finnish IT industries and industry information often results in a limited and even skewed picture of the sector. The purpose of the study is to contribute and increase knowledge and understanding of the status, structure and evolution of the Finnish IT industries as well as the Finnish IT vendor field and competition. The focus is on software product and IT services industries which form a crucial part of all ICT industries. This study examines the Finnish IT sector from production (supply) as well as market (demand) perspective. The study is based on empirical information from multiple sources. Three research questions were formulated for the study. The first concerns the status of the Finnish IT industries considered by applying theoretical frameworks. The second research question targets at the basis for the future evolution of the Finnish IT industries and, finally, the third at the ability of the available definitions and indicators to describe the Finnish IT industries and IT markets. Major structural changes like technological changes and related innovations, globalization and new business models are drivers of the evolution of the IT industries. The findings of this study emphasize the significant role of IT services in the Finnish IT sector and in connection to that the ability to combine IT service skills, competences and practices with high level software skills also in the future. According to the study the Finnish IT enterprises and their customers have become increasingly dependent on global ecosystems and platforms, applications and IT services provided by global vendors. As a result, more IT decisions are made outside Finland. In addition, IT companies are facing new competition from other than IT industries bringing into market new substitutes. To respond to the new competition, IT firms seek growth by expanding beyond their traditional markets.. The changing global division of labor accentuates the need for accurate information of the IT sector but, at the same time, also makes it increasingly challenging to acquire the information needed. One of the main contributions of this study is to provide frameworks for describing the Finnish IT sector and its evolution. These frameworks help combine empirical information from various sources and make it easier to concretize the structures, volumes, relationships and interaction of both, the production and market side of the Finnish IT industry. Some frameworks provide tools to analyze the vendor field, competition and the basis for the future evolution of the IT industries. The observations of the study support the argument that static industry definitions and related classifications do not serve the information needs in dynamic industries, such as the IT industries. One of the main messages of this study is to emphasize the importance of understanding the definitions and starting points of different information sources. Simultaneously, in the structure and evolution of Finnish IT industries the number of employees has become a more valid and reliable measure than the revenue based indicators.

Technology park as an element of innovative infrastructure- its role in internationalization support.

The Thesis concentrates on two central terms – Technology park and the resource-based view of the organization. General attention is devoted to competencies and capabilities of organizations that operate in foreign environment. It is difficult to go abroad without any experience and support from local government, especially for small or medium company. Technology and Science parks are the main sources of competitive advantage for this kind of organizations. They provide a huge range of services as well as business consultations and financial support on different stages of companies’ development. The Thesis was made with the assistance of Technopolis Oy in Lappeenranta. During the research companies in Finland and Russia were interviewed. Based on empirical findings important capabilities for entering foreign market were identified and some recommendations for the Technology park were given.