Absorptive capacity of Multinational Corporation’s parent company

The objective of this paper is to contribute to the literature concerning absorptive capacity by revealing the factors affecting the absorptive capacity of MNC parent company toward subsidiary and most particularly the effects of intra-organizational antecedents. The theoretical framework is build around previous findings on knowledge sharing and absorptive capacity. The empirical part of the study is a qualitative research which includes in-depth interviews and analysis of secondary data based on a single case company. The results showed that organizational structure, internal communication, informal networks, formal networks, internationalization, human resources management, shared language, meetings, trust, participation in decision-making, level of awareness, IT system, level of adaptation to market specifications and job rotation influence parent company���s absorptive capacity. Moreover, related problems to these antecedents have been identified. Additionally, recommendations to solve these problems are formulated. In the end, directions for future research on this topic are given.

Intellectual Property Management in a Small Company

Opinnäytetyö keskittyi kriittisiin tapahtumiin, joita on tullut yhtiön tai sen edeltävän yhtiön, joka oli Mobile Screen TV – 4 ALL, tekemien aikaisempien patenttihakemusten yhteydessä . Tutkimus vertasi ja evaluoi yhtiön aikaisemmin tekemien keksintöjen suojausta. Toisaalta opinnäytetyön päämäärä oli tutkia ja selvittää monitapaus-menetelmällä yhtiön aikaisempia keksintöjä ja miten aineettoman oikeuden suojaus toteutui prosessien eri vaiheissa. Tämä päättötyötutkielma vei loppuun asti erittäin suuren patenttien ja hyödyllisyysmallien hakemusten tutkimuksen. LH Communications Oy on tehnyt monia niistä, mutta tutkimus sisälsi myös joitakin kilpailijoiden hakemuksia. Tässä tutkimuksessa oli kaksi pääkysymystä. Miten pieni yhtiö voisi suojella heidän uusia ideoitaan ja keksintöjään ja myös samalla pitää yhtiön talouden hyvällä tasolla. Tämä tutkimus käytti The Critical Incidents Technique (CIT), joka keskittyy kriittisiin tapahtumiin, selvittääkseen sopivia menetelmiä pienelle yhtiölle siitä, miten suojella uusia ajatuksia, ideoita ja keksintöjä ja samanaikaisesti olla tuottava niiden kanssa. Tutkimuksemme käsitteli kaikenlaisia tarvittavia käytäntöjä pienessä yhtiössä ja päähuomio pienessä yhtiössä tulee olla omien keksintöjen suojaamisessa. Paras suojaus on tehdä patentteja, mutta se tulee maksamaan hyvin paljon koko tapahtumasarjan aikana.

Marketing-Sales Cooperation and its Relation on Direct Sales Performance: an Example of a Medium-sized Oil Company

The study touches upon marketing-sales departments’ cooperation and investigates marketing-sales cooperative model within the case company. So that research increases understanding of linkages between Marketing and Sales departments with an illustrative example of Russian medium-sized oil company (LLC Neste St. Petersburg), the subsidiary of Finnish-based Neste Oil. The empirical study is done from marketing and sales perspectives. And for sales main attention was brought to direct sales, both B2B and B2C. Research considers all five domains of cooperation, and among others, study reveals the attitude towards external (market) and internal (product) knowledge, and its mutual use by marketing and sales managers. A qualitative research method, participant observations, and in-depth interviews with upper-management made it possible to explore all facets of joint work. Moreover, research responses the changes in a model of cooperation between marketing and sales when moving from medium size to large company.

Intra-organizational knowledge transfer in a Finnish multinational company

The ability of a multinational company to effectively transfer knowledge from one unit to another can create a great source of competitive advantage and is crucial for long-term success. However, in their attempts to disseminate existent knowledge across national boundaries, organizations encounter several obstacles. Especially challenging is the transfer of tacit knowledge, the most valuable kind, as it is embedded in the minds and the behavior of people. The purpose of this study is to identify the main factors and challenges to be considered in intra-organizational knowledge transfer and consequently develop a framework that could be utilized to improve the process. The research is of qualitative nature and it adopts an exploratory approach. The study was further conducted as an intensive single-case study through studying a Finnish multinational company, and the researcher adopted a role as a participant observant in the research setting. Other data collection methods include semi-structured interviews and an online survey. The research findings show that knowledge transfer is currently challenging within the international sales organization of the case company. The majority of knowledge is currently concentrated in the company headquarters, and it is not always systematically distributed to the regional offices abroad. The main factor affecting knowledge transfer seems to be the organizational culture, which does not support or encourage knowledge sharing. The company is struggling in having a common place for information and employees that lack proper social networks have difficulties accessing relevant knowledge. Some recommended improvement suggestions include the institutionalization of knowledge transfer by turning it into an articulated organizational goal, and the implementation of a reward system that includes soft factors, such as teamwork and knowledge sharing behavior. Furthermore, the organizational culture should be more open and supportive in order to reinforce trust. Individuals in regional offices should be given better support by offering them dedicated mentors and increasing the amount of expatriation. Finally, knowledge should actively be codified and stored in commonly shared platforms where it is easily accessible by all employees.

De-escalation of commitment management strategy in IT project management methodology: case of ERP implementation project by IT consulting company

According to several surveys and observations, the percentage of successfully conducted IT projects without over-budgeting and delays in time schedule are extremely low. Many projects also are evaluated as failures in terms of delivered functionality. Nuldén (1996) compares IT projects with bad movies; after watching for 2 hours, one still tries to finish it even though one understands that it is a complete waste of time. The argument for that is 'I've already invested too much time to terminate it now'. The same happens with IT projects: sometimes the company continues wasting money on these projects for a long time, even though there are no expected benefits from these projects. Eventually these projects are terminated anyway, but until this moment, the company spends a lot. The situation described above is a consequence of “escalation of commitment” - project continuation even after a manager receives negative feedback of the project’s success probability. According to Keil and Mähring (2010), even though escalation can occur in any type of project, it is more common among complex technological projects, such as IT projects. Escalation of commitment very often results in runaway projects. In order to avoid it, managers use de-escalation strategies, which allow the resources to be used in more effective. These strategies lead to project termination or turning around, which stops the flow of wasted investments. Numbers of researches explore escalation of commitment phenomena based on experiments and business cases. Moreover, during the last decade several frameworks were proposed for de-escalation strategy. However, there is no evidence of successful implementation of the de-escalation of commitment strategy in the literature. In addition, despite that fact that IT project management methodologies are widely used in the companies, none of them cover the topic of escalation of commitment risks. At the same time, there are no researches proposing the way to implement de-escalation of commitment strategy into the existing project management methodology The research is focused on a single case of large ERP implementation project by the consulting company. Hence, the main deliverables of the study include suggestions of improvement in de-escalation methods and techniques in the project and in the company. Moreover, the way to implement these methods into existing project management methodology and into the company general policies is found.

Hotelli Grand Hôtel. [Laskulomake]

Hotellilaskulomake

Hotelli Grand : Viinihinnasto = Hotel Grand : Vinlista

Viinilista. Ei hintoja. Suomen- ja ruotsinkielinen

Grand Cocktails

Cocktaillista. Hotelli Grand

Grand Cocktails

Cocktaillista. Hotelli Grand

Grand : Cabaret-ohjelma = Cabaret-program : 1/9 – 30/9 1939

Ravintolan viihdeohjelma

Grand : Ohjelma = Program : 1.4. – 30.4.1939

Ravintolan viihdeohjelma

Grand : Ohjelma = Program : 1.3. – 31.3.1939

Ravintolan viihdeohjelma. Sama nimi mutta eri sisältö kuin URN:NBN:fi-fe201211129708:ssa

Grand : Ohjelma = Program : 1.3. – 31.3.1939

Ravintolan viihdeohjelma. Sama nimi mutta eri sisältö kuin URN:NBN:fi-fe201211129707:ssa