The Pay-Off Method as a Tool for Evaluating the Risk and Profitability of Public Real Estate Investments

Real option valuation, in particular the fuzzy pay-off method, has proven to be useful in defining risk and visualizing imprecision of investments in various industry applications. This study examines whether the evaluation of risk and profitability for public real estate investments can be improved by using real option methodology. Firstly, the context of real option valuation in the real estate industry is examined. Further, an empirical case study is performed on 30 real estate investments of a Finnish government enterprise in order to determine whether the presently used investment analysis system can be complemented by the pay-off method. Despite challenges in the application of the pay-off method to the case company’s large investment base, real option valuation is found to create additional value and facilitate more robust risk analysis in public real estate applications.

Container logistic innovations in forest-energy sector: Markets, future service concepts and technical improvements

The report presents the results of the commercialization project called the Container logistic services for forest bioenergy. The project promotes new business that is emerging around overall container logistic services in the bioenergy sector. The results assess the European markets of the container logistics for biomass, enablers for new business creation and required service bundles for the concept. We also demonstrate the customer value of the container logistic services for different market segments. The concept analysis is based on concept mapping, quality function deployment process (QFD) and business network analysis. The business network analysis assesses key shareholders and their mutual connections. The performance of the roadside chipping chain is analysed by the logistic cost simulation, RFID system demonstration and freezing tests. The EU has set the renewable energy target to 20 % in 2020 of which Biomass could account for two-thirds. In the Europe, the production of wood fuels was 132.9 million solid-m3 in 2012 and production of wood chips and particles was 69.0 million solidm3. The wood-based chips and particle flows are suitable for container transportation providing market of 180.6 million loose- m3 which mean 4.5 million container loads per year. The intermodal logistics of trucks and trains are promising for the composite containers because the biomass does not freeze onto the inner surfaces in the unloading situations. The overall service concept includes several packages: container rental, container maintenance, terminal services, RFID-tracking service, and simulation and ERP-integration service. The container rental and maintenance would provide transportation entrepreneurs a way to increase the capacity without high investment costs. The RFID-concept would lead to better work planning improving profitability throughout the logistic chain and simulation supports fuel supply optimization.

Collaborative Customer Relationship Management in Business-to-Business Firm's Strategy

The objective of this thesis is to study the presence of collaborative customer relationship management in a firm’s strategy. In addition the thesis explains specific implementations of collaborative CRM, and CRM in general, by each case company. The sample consists of five Finnish business-to-business companies through applying multiple-case study method. The data is collected through face-to-face interviews with employees knowledgeable of the case company’s CRM processes. The qualitative data is analyzed through coding and shows that two out of five case companies have adopted and are using collaborative CRM in their strategy and operations. These case companies see collaborative CRM as an important driver for the company, through customer focus and market orientation. The rest of the case companies are either in the process of moving towards collaborative CRM or have given little consideration to it. The results show that collaborative CRM is in use, and that each company modifies it to meet their exact aspirations. The major challenge in the process is to fully grasp the importance of a shared vision that can translate into collaborative efforts in CRM and business strategy.

What do Sports Sponsors Really Want? The effects of service quality, service value and customer satisfaction on behavioral intentions in sports sponsorship context

The aim of this Master’s thesis was to study the antecedents of customer satisfaction and behavioral intentions and their relative relationships in the sports sponsorship context. The possible antecedents under investigation in the current research are service value and service quality. As the academic background in the sports sponsorship literature is still rather modest there was a need for further empirical testing. The theoretical part of the research builds on the existing services marketing literature with sports sponsorship and business-to-business contexts in mind. The empirical study focused on the case company Liiga-SaiPa Oy. The data for the empirical analysis was collected via quantitative online survey. The total sample consisted of 357 the case company’s business customers and a total of 80 usable responses were collected. The data was analyzed by using statistical analysis software, SPSS. According to the results of the empirical analysis the most important antecedent of behavioral intentions in the underlying context is customer satisfaction. Also service value was found to have a direct and positive relationship with behavioral intentions. Moreover no indirect relationships through satisfaction were found between service quality and service value and behavioral intentions. However both constructs of service value and service quality were diagnosed to have a direct and positive effect on customer satisfaction. Service quality was also found to be a direct antecedent of service value with other service value benefits. However a contradicting finding with the current literature was, that service value sacrifices were not found to have a significant relationship with overall service value perceptions.

Integrating Use of Customer Information Throughout Multiple Sales Channels to Create Customer Competence

Customer knowledge management (CKM) practices enable organizations to create customer competence with systematic use of customer information that is integrated throughout the organization. Nonetheless, organizations are not able to fully exploit the vast amount of data available. Previous research on use of customer information is limited especially in a multichannel environment. The aim of this study was to identify the main obstacles for utilizing customer information efficiently across multiple sales channels. The study was conducted as a single case study in order to gain deeper understanding of the research problem. The empirical findings indicate that lack of CKM practices and a common goal are major challenges obstructing effective utilization of customer information. Furthermore, decentralized organizational structure and insufficient analytical skills create obstacles for information sharing and capabilities to process information and create new knowledge. The implications of the study suggest that in order to create customer competence organizations should shift their focus from technology to the organizational factors affecting use of information and implement CKM practices throughout the organization.

Sähkönsiirtoprojektien kustannuslaskennan kehittäminen

Tämän tutkimuksen tarkoituksena oli lisätä tietoa asiakasyrityksen voimajohto- ja sähköasemaliiketoimintayksiköiden tarjouslaskennan nykytilasta, etsiä ongelmakohtia ja kehittää ratkaisuja ongelmiin. Työn tuloksena saatu tieto on kyseisille liiketoimintayksiköille tärkeää tulevaisuuden kannattavuuden ja jatkuvuuden kannalta. Työn alun teoriaosuudessa esitellään Suomen sähkönsiirtojärjestelmä, käydään läpi voimajohto- ja sähköasemarakentamisen perusteet sekä esitellään kirjallisuuskatsaus projektiliiketoiminnasta. Teoriaosuutta hyödynnetään myöhemmissä tarkasteluissa joissa pyrittiin löytämään kustannuslaskennan ongelmia. Tutkimuksen tärkein tavoite oli löytää tämän hetkisen kustannuslaskennan ongelmakohdat. Tutkimukseen sisältyy tarjouslaskentaohjelmiston koekäyttö sekä sen analysointi. Työn lopputuloksena todetaan, ettei tarkasteltu ohjelma ole sopiva voimajohto- tai sähköasematarjouslaskennan toteutukseen. Ohjelma on laskentatarkkuudeltaan hyvä, mutta ohjelman käyttö hidastaa ja vaikeuttaa sekä laskennan että projektin talouden seurannan suorittamista. Lopputuloksissa todetaan myös erinäisiä pienempiä kehityskohteita tarjouslaskennan sujuvoittamiseksi ja sen tarkkuuden parantamiseksi. 

Metsäteollisuuden puunhankinnan ohjaus: Hankintalähteen kannattavuus ja siihen vaikuttavat tekijät

Tutkielmassa rakennettiin laskentamalli metsäteollisuuden puunhankinnan hankintalähteen kannattavuuden määrittämiseksi ja selittämiseksi. Tutkimuksessa noudatettiin konstruktiivisen tapaustutkimuksen tutkimusotetta. Tutkimuksen kohdeorganisaationa oli kansainvälisesti toimivan metsäteollisuusyrityksen Suomen puunhankintaorganisaatio. Kannattavuusmalli määrittelee hankintalähteen kannattavuuden sekä käsitteellisellä että laskentamenettelyn tasolla. Kannattavuusmallin katesuure on porttikate, joka rakennettiin taloudellisen lisäarvon teoriaan nojaten kohdeorganisaation tarpeiden ja sen laskenta-asiantuntijoiden näkemysten perusteella. Kannattavuusmallin rakenne ja osat kuvattiin seikkaperäisesti. Kannattavuusmallin käyttämän liiketoimintadatan poiminta ja laskentasuureiden raportointi testattiin. Mallin tarvitsemat laskentatiedot on saatavissa kohdeorganisaation kehitteillä olevasta toiminnanohjausjärjestelmästä. Laskentamallin hyödyntämismahdollisuudet arvioitiin. Hankintalähteen kannattavuutta mittaavalla porttikatteella voidaan ohjata puunhankintaorganisaatiota sen tavoitteiden saavuttamisessa. Malli ilmaisee porttikatteeseen vaikuttavien tekijöiden vaikutuksen kannattavuuteen, minkä avulla voidaan tehdä parempia päätöksiä hankintalähteiden hyödyntämisessä. Aiemmista tutkimuksista poiketen malli huomioi hankintalähteen suoritteen arvon tärkeimmille asiakastehtaille perustuen todellisiin liiketapahtumiin. Kannattavuusmallia voidaan hyödyntää laajalti metsäteollisuusyritysten tavaralajimenetelmään perustuvassa puunhankinnassa. Kannattavuusmallin rakentaminen rohkaisee puunhankinnan johtoa ja laskentahenkilöitä hedelmällisen yhteistyöhön.

Strategic planning of major disturbance proof network

In the 2000’s Finland suffered from storms that caused long outages in electricity distribution, longest up to two weeks. These major disturbances increased the importance of supply security. In 2013 new Electricity Market Act was announced. It defined maximum duration for outages, 6 h for city plan areas and 36 h for other areas. The aim for this work is to determine required major disturbance proof level for a study area and find tools for prioritizing overhead lines for cabling renovation to improve supply security. Three prioritization methods were chosen to be studied: A: prioritization line sections by customer outage costs they cause, B: maximizing customers major disturbance proof network and C: minimizing excavation costs in medium voltage network. Profitability calculations showed that prioritization method A was the most profitable and C had the weakest profitability. The prioritization method C drove renovation into unreasonable locations in the study area in reliability point of view. Therefore universal rule prioritization methods couldn’t be made from the prioritization methods. This led to the conclusion that every renewing area need to be evaluated in a case by case basis.

Customer orientation of sales personnel: Implications for service quality

Prior customer orientation research has concentrated mainly on studying the economical potential of customer orientation to companies. Service quality research instead has concentrated on emphasizing the evaluation of service quality from the customer’s perspective. This means that the service providers lack important information regarding customer orientation and service quality they would need for managerial purposes such as selecting and training employees. Therefore, there is an emerging need to study how customer orientation and service quality relate to company processes, policies and employees, and this study answers to those calls. The objective of this study was to examine what is the role of sales personnel’s’ customer orientation in quality of service delivery and what features support the development of customer orientation among sales personnel. Also the components customer orientation were studied extensively in order to understand how they relate to service quality. The empiric part of the study was conducted as a qualitative research by interviewing seven sales people from operative, tactical and strategic levels of the case corporation in order to get a broader view for customer orientation. The findings propose that both organizational factors and individual factors are affecting customer orientation construct inseparably. Organizational factors are bundled in this study under standards, support and systems, whereas individual factors are formed of employees’ personal attributes, motivation and self-perceived decision making authority. The findings suggest that in the service delivery process at an operative level, customer orientation appears largely in the employees’ individualistic characteristics. Their social and technical skills and motivation to serve customers are the most identifiable factors for customer orientation and consequently, quality service. However, organizational standards, support and systems are strongly dictating the frames the operative sales people operate in, having an influence on how the employees are experiencing their decision making authority and in the end, customer orientation. When looking at the service delivery process at tactical and strategic levels, customer orientation is affecting mainly in the organizational constructs through setting standards, support and systems. However, tactical and strategic level employees influence the operative level through individual customer orientation components as well. The findings indicate that their emotion and personal interaction skills are affecting the overall service delivery process mainly through supervisor support and motivation of the operative level employees. Based on this study it can be argued that an organization can operate as a facilitator and create certain frames for customer oriented sales behavior through standards, support and systems. However, as the impact of individual customer orientation factors on sales people’s service quality seems decisive, from an organizational perspective it puts pressures on the recruitment.

The Impact of Electrical Capacity Market Mechanisms on Capacity Mobility and End Use Customer Pricing

Potential impacts of electrical capacity market design on capacity mobility and end use customer pricing are analyzed. Market rules and historical evolution are summarized to provide a background for the analysis. The summarized rules are then examined for impacts on capacity mobility. A summary of the aspects of successful capacity markets is provided. Two United States market regions are chosen for analysis based upon their market history and proximity to each other. The MISO region is chosen due to recent developments in capacity market mechanisms. The PJM region neighbors the MISO region and is similar in size and makeup. The PJM region has had a capacity market mechanism for over a decade and allows for a controlled comparison of the MISO region’s developments. Capacity rules are found to have an impact on the mobility of capacity between regions. Regulatory restrictions and financial penalties for the movement of capacity between regions are found which effectively hinder such mobility. Capacity market evolution timelines are formed from the historical evolution previously summarized and compared to historical pricing to inspect for a correlation. No direct and immediate impact on end use customer pricing was found due to capacity market design. The components of end use customer pricing are briefly examined.

Palvelusetelien prosessit ja hallinnolliset kustannukset Helsingin kaupungin sosiaali- ja terveysvirastossa

Diplomityö käsittelee Helsingin sosiaali- ja terveysviraston palvelusetelitoimintaa eräänä ostopalvelun järjestämistapana. Vakinaistettuja palveluseteleitä on kaksi-toista, joista työhön on valittu viisi kustannuksiltaan ja lukumääriltään suurinta palveluseteliä. Tutkimuksessa mallinnetaan kahden keskenään erilaisimman palve-lusetelin prosessikuvaukset, vanhusten palveluasumisen (sosh) ja suun terveyden-huollon (tervh) palveluseteleille ja kuvataan niiden hallinnolliset työvaiheet ja toi-minnot. Empiirinen aineisto koostuu aiemmin kerätystä hallinnollisen työajan da-tasta, jonka avulla eri toimintoihin sitoutuneiden hallinnollisten kustannuksien las-kenta on suoritettu hyödyntäen aikaperusteista toimintolaskentaa. Aikaperusteisen toimintolaskennan avulla saadaan esille kirjanpidon ulkopuolelle jääviä piileviä prosessikustannuksia. Lisäksi diplomityössä tehdään edullisuusvertailua oman vas-taavan palvelutoiminnan ja palvelusetelien välillä. Terveydenhuollon palvelusetelien hallinnolliset prosessit osoittautuvat hallinnolli-sesti ja kustannuksien osalta kuormittavammaksi kuin sosiaalihuollon vastaavat prosessit. Terveydenhuollon palveluseteliprosessit ovat luonteeltaan monivaihei-sempia, ne ovat toimenpiteellisiä ja kertaluonteisia, joka lisää asiakasvolyymia ja tiedon välittämisen tarvetta sosiaali- ja terveysviraston ja palveluntuottajan välillä. Hallinnollinen kustannuslisä on vuoden 2013 palvelusetelitoiminnan volyymeillä suun terveydenhuollossa +24%, kolonoskopiassa +9%, ikäihmisten päivätoimin-nassa +8%, vammaisten henkilökohtaisessa avussa +5% ja vanhusten palveluasu-misessa +1%. Hallinnollisten kustannusten esiin tuomiseksi tulee terveydenhuollon palvelusetelien kirjanpidon kustannuksissa käyttää kerrointa 1,167 ja sosiaalihuol-lon palvelusetelien kustannuksissa kerrointa 1,046. Edullisuusvertailussa suun terveydenhuollon ja kolonoskopian palvelusetelit osoittautuvat omaa toimintaa kalliimmiksi, vanhusten palveluasuminen, ikäihmisten päivätoiminta ja vammais-ten henkilökohtainen apu on edullisempaa tuottaa palvelusetelillä. Palveluseteli-toiminnan kustannushyöty ei ole ainoa tekijä toimintaa suunnitelleessa. Hoitota-kuuseen vastaaminen, asiakasorientaation ja vapaavalintaisuuden lisääntyminen, sekä palvelun sujuvuus vaikuttavat myös palvelusetelitoiminnan kehittämisessä.

Customer-driven service product development

This thesis studies customer-driven service product development and how to manage customer involvement in the service product development process. The theory part of this thesis is a literature review of the prior studies and the thesis also includes empirical evidence in the form of a case study about ABB.

A Phase Model for Building a Customer Value Based Sales Tool – Case Mining and Metals Industry

The objective of this research is to observe the state of customer value management in Outotec Oyj, determine the key development areas and develop a phase model with which to guide the development of a customer value based sales tool. The study was conducted with a constructive research approach with the focus of identifying a problem and developing a solution for the problem. As a basis for the study, the current literature involving customer value assessment and solution and customer value selling was studied. The data was collected by conducting 16 interviews in two rounds within the company and it was analyzed by coding openly. First, seven important development areas were identified, out of which the most critical were “Customer value mindset inside the company” and “Coordination of customer value management activities”. Utilizing these seven areas three functionality requirements, “Preparation”, “Outotec’s value creation and communication” and “Documentation” and three development requirements for a customer value sales tool were identified. The study concluded with the formulation of a phase model for building a customer value based sales tool. The model included five steps that were defined as 1) Enable customer value utilization, 2) Connect with the customer, 3) Create customer value, 4) Define tool to facilitate value selling and 5) Develop sales tool. Further practical activities were also recommended as a guide for executing the phase model.

Marketing of fire suppression systems: customer value and institutional aspects

The paper studied marketing of automatic fire suppression systems from the perspectives of customer value and institutions. The object of the study was research the special features of the sales and marketing of fire suppression systems, and find some practical applications for sales, and for lobbying of a new fire suppression technology. The theoretical background of the study was in the customer value literature and the theoretical concept of institutional entrepreneurship. The research was conducted as an electronic survey for three different groups of respondents; end customers, solution integrators, and re-sellers. From the answers was gathered generalisations about the customer value assessment and communication of the value related to the sales and marketing processes of the fire suppression systems. In addition, there was observed manners to receive information about the systems, and effects caused by institutions to the decision making of the different parties involved. The findings of the study support companies that are launching a new safety technology to the market focus their marketing, and help to understand institutional forces that are affecting to a safety related product.

Profitability differences between online and offline retailers -An empirical study on European SMEs

Tämän pro gradu tutkielman tarkoituksena oli selvittää jos ja miten kannattavuus eroaa verkko- ja kivijalkakauppojen välillä. Lisäksi pyrittiin selvittämään onko näiden erojen syitä mahdollista selvittää yritysten taloudellisten tunnuslukujen avulla. Tutkielma koostuu kirjallisuuskatsauksesta ja kvantitatiivisesta tutkimuksesta. Kirjallisuuskatsaus antaa yleiskuvan siitä miten verkkokaupan toiminta eroaa kivijalkaliikkeen toiminnasta ja mitkä ovat näistä eroista koituvat hyödyt ja yleisimmät sudenkuopat. Kvantitatiivisessa tutkimuksessa käytetään Amadeus tietokannasta kerättyjä taloudellisia tietoja Eurooppalaisista verkko- ja kivijalkakaupoista. Tutkimuksessa löydettiin tilastollisesti merkitseviä eroja verkko- ja kivijalkakauppojen kannattavuudessa. Verkkokauppojen todettiin olevan kivijalkakauppoja kannattavampia, mutta taloudellisten tunnuslukujen tilastollisella analysoinnilla ei kyetty löytämään yksittäisiä selittäviä tekijöitä näille eroille.