Virtuaalijohtaminen – esimiehen rooli ja tärkeimmät vaikuttamiskeinot virtuaalisen tiimin menestyksen kannalta

Tässä tutkimuksessa tutkittiin esimiehen merkitystä ja roolia virtuaalisessa ympäristössä, jossa tiimit ovat osittain itseohjautuvia ja vastaavat osasta perinteisesti esimiehelle kuuluvista vastuista sekä johtamiskäytäntöjä, joilla esimies pystyy parhaiten tukemaan tiimiään kun vuorovaikutus tapahtuu pääasiassa teknologiavälitteisesti. Tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli selvittää, mistä tekijöistä muodostuu virtuaalisen tiimin tehokas johtaminen. Tutkimus toteutettiin kvalitatiivisena tutkimuksena. Tutkimuksen empiirinen aineisto kerättiin puolistrukturoiduilla teemahaastatteluilla finanssialalla toimivasta tietointensiivisestä asiantuntijaorganisaatiosta. Haastateltavana oli sekä esimiehiä että asiantuntijoita. Tutkimus osoitti, että hajautuneisuus korostaa esimiehen merkitystä virtuaalisessa ympäristössä. Virtuaalinen konteksti vaatii vahvan ihmisten johtamiseen keskittyvän esimiehen, joka johtaa tiimin jäseniä yksilöinä sekä tiimiä kokonaisuutena valmentavalla otteella. Virtuaalijohtamisessa on ennen kaikkea kyse tiimin yhteistyön mahdollistamisesta ja itseohjautuvuuden tukemisesta ja siinä korostuu suhteiden luomiseen, tiimin muodostumiseen, vuorovaikutukseen, kommunikointiin ja tiedon jakamiseen liittyvät johtamiskäytännöt.

Content marketing performance measurement system in the context of customer acquisition

This thesis examines how content marketing is used in B2B customer acquisition and how content marketing performance measurement system is built and utilized in this context. Literature related to performance measurement, branding and buyer behavior is examined in the theoretical part in order to identify the elements influence on content marketing performance measurement design and usage. Qualitative case study is chosen in order to gain deep understanding of the phenomenon studied. The case company is a Finnish software vendor, which operates in B2B markets and has practiced content marketing for approximately two years. The in-depth interviews were conducted with three employees from marketing department. According to findings content marketing performance measurement system’s infrastructure is based on target market’s decision making processes, company’s own customer acquisition process, marketing automation tool and analytics solutions. The main roles of content marketing performance measurement system are measuring performance, strategy management and learning and improvement. Content marketing objectives in the context of customer acquisition are enhancing brand awareness, influencing brand attitude and lead generation. Both non-financial and financial outcomes are assessed by single phase specific metrics, phase specific overall KPIs and ratings related to lead’s involvement.

Utilizing analytic modelling process in industrial retail context

Nykypäivän monimutkaisessa ja epävakaassa liiketoimintaympäristössä yritykset, jotka kykenevät muuttamaan tuottamansa operatiivisen datan tietovarastoiksi, voivat saavuttaa merkittävää kilpailuetua. Ennustavan analytiikan hyödyntäminen tulevien trendien ennakointiin mahdollistaa yritysten tunnistavan avaintekijöitä, joiden avulla he pystyvät erottumaan kilpailijoistaan. Ennustavan analytiikan hyödyntäminen osana päätöksentekoprosessia mahdollistaa ketterämmän, reaaliaikaisen päätöksenteon. Tämän diplomityön tarkoituksena on koota teoreettinen viitekehys analytiikan mallintamisesta liike-elämän loppukäyttäjän näkökulmasta ja hyödyntää tätä mallinnusprosessia diplomityön tapaustutkimuksen yritykseen. Teoreettista mallia hyödynnettiin asiakkuuksien mallintamisessa sekä tunnistamalla ennakoivia tekijöitä myynnin ennustamiseen. Työ suoritettiin suomalaiseen teollisten suodattimien tukkukauppaan, jolla on liiketoimintaa Suomessa, Venäjällä ja Balteissa. Tämä tutkimus on määrällinen tapaustutkimus, jossa tärkeimpänä tiedonkeruumenetelmänä käytettiin tapausyrityksen transaktiodataa. Data työhön saatiin yrityksen toiminnanohjausjärjestelmästä.

Impact of Word-of-Mouth on consumer decision-making: An information processing perspective in the context of a high-involvement service

This doctoral study conducts an empirical analysis of the impact of Word-of-Mouth (WOM) on marketing-relevant outcomes such as attitudes and consumer choice, during a high-involvement and complex service decision. Due to its importance to decisionmaking, WOM has attracted interest from academia and practitioners for decades. Consumers are known to discuss products and services with one another. These discussions help consumers to form an evaluative opinion, as WOM reduces perceived risk, simplifies complexity, and increases the confidence of consumers in decisionmaking. These discussions are also highly impactful as WOM is a trustworthy source of information, since it is independent from the company or brand. In responding to the calls for more research on what happens after WOM information is received, and how it affects marketing-relevant outcomes, this dissertation extends prior WOM literature by investigating how consumers process information in a highinvolvement service domain, in particular higher-education. Further, the dissertation studies how the form of WOM influences consumer choice. The research contributes to WOM and services marketing literature by developing and empirically testing a framework for information processing and studying the long-term effects of WOM. The results of the dissertation are presented in five research publications. The publications are based on longitudinal data. The research leads to the development of a proposed theoretical framework for the processing of WOM, based on theories from social psychology. The framework is specifically focused on service decisions, as it takes into account evaluation difficulty through the complex nature of choice criteria associated with service purchase decisions. Further, other gaps in current WOM literature are taken into account by, for example, examining how the source of WOM and service values affects the processing mechanism. The research also provides implications for managers aiming to trigger favorable WOM through marketing efforts, such as advertising and testimonials. The results provide suggestions on how to design these marketing efforts by taking into account the mechanism through which information is processed, or the form of social influence.

Building governance in the international financial system: Context and challenges

ABSTRACTThe international financial system has undergone deep changes since the 1970s and its stability cannot be reached in spite of actor's interests or the existence of countless coordination fora. Analyzing the system's incentive structure, one can note that its stability depends on the control of imbalances, which are not always harmful for States, creating, thus, a disturbing component in the quest for international financial management. Furthermore, non-state actors have acquired a disproportional share of power following financial globalization, escaping the control of States and of the international community.

Digital Content Marketing in the Business-to-Business Context. A Case Study on Marketing Communications Agencies.

Marketing has changed because of digitalization. Marketing is moving towards digital channels and more companies are transitioning from “pushing” advertising messages to “pull” marketing, that attracts audience with the content that interests and benefits the audience. This kind of marketing is called content marketing or “inbound” marketing. This study focuses on how marketing communications agencies utilize digital content marketing and what are the best practices with the selected digital content marketing channels. In this study, those channels include blogs, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. The qualitative research method was utilized in order to examine the phenomenon of digital content marketing in-depth. The chosen data collecting method was semi-structured interviewing. A total of seven marketing communications agencies, who currently utilize digital content marketing, were selected as case companies and interviewed. All the case companies are from the marketing communications industry because that industry can be assumed to be well adapted to digital content marketing techniques. There is a research gap about digital content marketing in the B2B context, which increases the novelty value of this research. The study examines what is digital content marketing, why B2B companies use digital content marketing, and how should digital content marketing be conducted through blogs and social media. The informants perceived digital marketing to be a fundamental part of their all marketing. They conduct digital content marketing for the following reasons: to increase sales, to improve their brand image and to demonstrate their own skills. Concrete results of digital content marketing for the case companies include sales leads, new clients, better brand image, and that recruiting is easier. The most important success factors with blogs and social media are the following: 1) Audience-centric thinking. All content planning should start from figuring out which themes interests the target audience. Social media channel choices should be based on where the target audience can be reached. 2) Companies should not talk only about themselves. Instead, content is made about themes that interests the target audience. On social media channels, only a fragment of all shared content is about the company. Rather, most of the shared content is industry-specific content that helps the potential client.

Linguistic skills and trust creation in international business relationships

Today’s international business in highly related to crossing national, cultural and linguistic borders making communication and linguistic skills a vital part of the trade. The purpose of the study is to understand the role of linguistic skills in trust creation in international business relationships. Subobjectives are to discuss the importance of linguistic skills in international business context, to evaluate the strategic value of trust in business relationships and to analyze the extent to which linguistic skills affect trust formation. The scope is restricted to business-to-business markets. The theoretical background consists of different theories and previous studies related to trust and linguistic skills. Based on the theory a new LTS-framework is created to demonstrate a process model of linguistic skills affecting trust creation in international B2B relationships. This study is qualitative using interviews as a data collection method. Altogether eleven interviews were conducted between October 2014 and February 2015. All of the interviewees worked for organizations operating in the field of international business in B2B markets, spoke multiple languages and had a lot of experience in sales and negotiations. This study confirms that linguistic skills are an important part of international business. In many organizations English is used as lingua franca. However, there are several benefits of speaking the mother tongue of the customer. It makes people feel more relaxed and it makes the relationship more intimate and allows to continue developing it at a more personal level. From the strategic point of view trust creates competitive advantage to a company adding strategic value to the business. The data also supported the view that linguistic skills definitely impact the trust formation process. Quickness and easiness could be stated as the main benefits. It was seen that trust forms faster because both parties understand each other better and they become more open about information sharing within a shorter period of time. These findings and the importance of linguistic skills in trust creation should be acknowledged by organizations, especially regarding the human resource management. Boundary spanners are in key positions so special attention should be put into hiring and educating employees which then take care of company’s relationships. Eventually, these benefits are economical and affect to the profitability of the organization