Competence needs of global middle management

Tutkielman tavoitteena oli tarkastella henkilöstöjohdon ja linjajohdon näkemyksiä kansainvälisissä tehtävissä toimivan keskijohdon osaamistarpeista suurissa suomalaisissa vientiyrityksissä. Teemahaastatteluja tehtiin 12:ssa Suomen tärkeimpien vientialojen suurimmista yrityksistä. Kansainvälisissä tehtävissä toimivan keskijohdon osaamistarpeiden, kategorioihin jaoteltuna, nähtiin olevan: - - Tieto ja ymmärtäminen: asiakkaan liiketoiminta ja tarpeet, oma tuote ja prosessit, globaali toimintaympäristö, alaisten osaamistarpeet- - Asioiden ja ihmisten johtaminen: muutoksen johtaminen, asiakkuuksien hallinta, ajan hallinta, motivointi, monikulttuurisen tiimin johtaminen- - Vuorovaikutus: kielitaito, suhteiden luominen, viestin kohdentaminen- - Henkilökohtaiset ominaisuudet ja motivaatio: joustavuus, kulttuurinen herkkyys, epävarmuuden sietokyky, oppimishalu, erilaisuuden kunnioitus- - Tehtäväkohtainen osaaminen: kansainvälinen markkinointi, talous, myyntitaidot, tekninen asiantuntemus.

Globaalin hankintastrategian komponentit, case: Joptek Oy Composites

Viimeiset vuosikymmenet ovat olleet voimakasta kansainvälistymisen aikaa liiketoiminnassa, jonka myötä globaalista hankinnasta on tullut yhä enenevässä määrin hyvin merkittävä osa yritysten hankintastrategiaa. Kansainvälisten hankintapäätösten tekeminen vaatii yritykseltä kansainvälistymisen asteesta riippuen taloudellisia-, ajallisia- ja henkilöresursseja. Suhteessa näihin panoksiin nähden kansainvälisestä hankinnasta on saavutettavissa merkittäviä etuja, joista tärkeimpiä ovat kustannussäästöt, kilpailuetu sekä laatu- ja teknologiaedut. Projektiluontoisessa liiketoiminnassa hankintastrategian muodostamiseen ja hankintaprosesseihin vaikuttavat yksittäisten projektien ominaisuudet ja niille asetetut tavoitteet. Projektitoiminnassa hankintastrategian mukauttaminen kulloinkin vallitseviin olosuhteisiin, tavoitteisiin ja asiakkaiden tarpeisiin on projektien onnistumisen kannalta tärkeää. Tutkielman teoriaosassa tarkasteltiin projektihankintaprosesseja sekä projekteihin perustuvan liiketoiminnan ominaispiirteitä ja niiden vaikutuksia hankintaan. Teorian keskeisimpänä asiakokonaisuutena on kansain-välinen hankintastrategia osana yrityksen kokonaisvaltaista hankinta-strategiaa. Globaalia hankintastrategiaa on tarkasteltu investointien, kilpailuedun, strategian muodostuksen, motiivien ja esteiden sekä sen eri komponenttien osalta. Empiiriaosassa tutkittiin tutkielman case –yrityksen ja toimeksiantajan, Joptek Oy Compositesin hankinnan nykytilaa sekä kansainvälisen hankintastrategian eri osa-alueita. Haastattelun avulla suoritetun tutkimuksen mukaan Joptek Oy:n liiketoimintaympäristö edellyttää yrityksen entistä aktiivisempaa panostamista kansainväliseen hankintaan. Projektiliiketoiminnassa kansainvälisen hankintastrategian muodostamisessa on pyrittävä yrityksen tarpeisiin vastaaviin räätälöityihin ratkaisuihin, huomioiden erillisten projektien muutokset ja riskitekijät.

Global virtual teamwork. Building and communicating trust through technology

Tutkimuksen ensisijaisena tavoitteena oli tarkastella luottamuksen rakentumista virtuaalitiimissä. Keskeistä tarkastelussa olivat luottamuksen lähteiden löytäminen, suhteen rakentuminen sekä teknologiavälitteinen kommunikaatio. Myös käytännön keinoja ja sovelluksia etsittiin. Tässä tutkimuksessa luottamus nähtiin tärkeänä yhteistyön mahdollistajana sekä keskeisenä elementtinä ihmisten välisten suhteiden rakentumisessa. Tämä tutkimus oli empiirinen ja kuvaileva tapaustutkimus. Tutkimuksessa kvalitatiivista aineistoa kerättiin pääasiassa web-pohjaisen kyselyn sekä puhelinhaastattelun avulla. Aineistonkeruu toteutettiin siis pääasiassa virtuaalisesti. Saatu aineisto analysoitiin teemoittelun avulla. Tässä työssä teemoja etsittiin tekstistä pääasiassa teoriasta johdettujen oletusten perusteella. Tutkimuksen tuloksena oli, että luottamusta rakentavia mekanismeja ovat, karkeasti luokiteltuna, yhteiset päämäärät ja vastuut, kommunikaatio, sosiaalinen kanssakäyminen ja informaation jakaminen, toisten huomioiminen ja henkilökohtaiset ominaisuudet. Mekanismit eivät suuresti eronneet luottamuksen rakentumisen mekanismeista perinteisessä kontekstissa. Virtuaalitiimityön alkuvaiheessa luottamus pohjautui käsityksille toisten tiimin jäsenten kyvykkyydestä. Myös institutionaalinen identifioituminen loi pohjaa luottamukselle alkuvaiheessa. Muuten luottamus rakentui vähän kerrassaan tehtävään liittyvän kommunikaation ja sosiaalisen kommunikaation kautta. Tekojen merkitys korostui erityisesti ajan myötä. Työssä esitettiin myös käytännön keinoja luottamuksen rakentamiseksi. Olemassa olevien teknologioiden havaittiin tukevan hyvin suhteen rakentumista tiedon jakamiseen ja sen varastoimiseen liittyvissä tehtävissä. Sen sijaan vuorovaikutuksen näkökulmasta tuen ei nähty olevan yhtä kattavaa. Kaiken kaikkiaan kuitenkin parannuksella sosiaalisissa suhteissa voitaneen saada enemmän aikaan kuin parannuksilla teknologian suhteen.

Being Global? La crisis y los museos virtuales en arte público y diseño urbano

Este trabajo surge de la experiencia desarrollada en Barcelona, Zaragoza y Lisboa de puesta en marcha de los respectivos sistemas de información del Arte Público de estas ciudades, así como del desarrollo de investigación posibilitado por los proyectos BHA2002- 00520;HUM2005-00420;HUM2006-12803-C02-01, HAR 2009-13989-C02-01, del Ministerior de Ciencia e Innvoción español y de los proyectos 2005SGR00150 y 2009SGR903 de la Generalitat de Catalunya, así como de los distintos convenios entre la Universidad y el Ayuntamiento de Barcelona. Sorprendentemente, en el panorama de la innovación internacional, son proyectos del sur de Europa los que plantean por primera vez un uso sistemático de Internet para el mejor conocimiento y difusión de esta parte del patrimonio que es el Arte Público de las ciudades, una historia escrita en bronce y piedra que forma parte de la herencia cultural, de las raíces identitarias y del orgullo de ciudad Sin embargo, la crisis internacional supone un frenazo importante a estos proyectos y a la posibilidad de desarrollar un Museo Virtual del Arte Público y el Diseño Urbano.

Market Orientation in Rapidly Internationalizing Small Companies — Evidence from the Software Industry

For more than a decade, researchers have been aware of the increased pace of small-firm internationalization and the greater effect of these rapidly growing small businesses on the wealth, international trade, and job-creation opportunities of countries. Due to the small size of the home market, Finnish companies have been generally considered highly interested in internationalization. One particular domain in which rapid internationalization has been considered feasible is the global software business, with its knowledge-intensive nature and high growth potential. However, over time the failure rate of small entrepreneurial firms has remained especially high in high-technology markets. One of the reasons for this seems to lie in the fact that these companies are often formed by people with a strong technological background but limited competences in other areas. Further, research on the marketing capabilities of rapidly internationalizing high-tech firms has been scarce thus far. In addition, while there is much research on the first years of operations of rapidly internationalizing companies, it is not well known what becomes of them later on. Therefore, there is a need for more investigation into the managerial mindset, competences and decision-making in these small companies, especially from the perspective of how they acquire and exploit market knowledge, and enhance their networking capabilities in order to promote international expansion. The present study focuses on market orientation in small software firms that internationalize their operations rapidly in global software markets. It builds on qualitative data to illustrate how these companies develop their market-oriented product-market strategies during the process of increasing international commitment. It also shows how they manage their network relationships in order to be able to offer better customer service and to thrive in the fierce global competition. The study was conducted in the empirical context of Finnish small software companies, and the main data consists of interviews with top managers in these businesses. The interviews were designed to cover a minimum period of five years of the company's international operations, thus offering a retrospective in-depth perspective on market orientation, internationalization and partnerships in the given context. One particular focus is on less successfully internationalized software companies, and the challenges they face when approaching international markets. This study makes a significant contribution to the literature on market orientation for several reasons. First, building on data from the software industry, it clarifies the existing theory in the context of rapid internationalization and network relationships. Secondly, it provides a good body of evidence on market orientation in both successfully and less successfully internationalized companies, and identifies the key related differences between the two company groups. Thirdly, it highlights the importance of inter-firm networks in the rapid internationalization of small software firms, providing companies with important market knowledge and, in some cases, management challenges. Fourthly, this investigation clarifies market orientation in the context of different software-product strategies, thus, combining the perspectives of market orientation in both manufacturing and services. In sum, the results of the study are significant for both small software firms and public-policy makers since they shed light on the market-oriented managerial mindset and the market-information gathering and sharing processes that are needed in successful rapid internationalization.

Diffusion of Administrative Innovation: TQM Implementation and Effectiveness in a Global

The main objective of this dissertation is to create new knowledge on an administrative innovation, its adoption, diffusion and finally its effectiveness. In this dissertation the administrative innovation is approached through a widely utilized management philosophy, namely the total quality management (TQM) strategy. TQM operationalizes a self-assessment procedure, which is based on continual improvement principles and measuring the improvements. This dissertation also captures the theme of change management as it analyzes the adoption and diffusion of the administrative innovation. It identifies innovation characteristics as well as organisational and individual factors explaining the adoption and implementation. As a special feature, this study also explores the effectiveness of the innovation based on objective data. For studying the administrative innovation (TQM model), a multinational Case Company provides a versatile ground for a deep, longitudinal analysis. The Case Company started the adoption systematically in the mid 1980s in some of its units. As part of their strategic planning today, the procedure is in use throughout the entire global company. The empirical story begins from the innovation adoption decision that was made in the Case Company over 22 years ago. In order to be able to capture the right atmosphere and backgrounds leading to the adoption decision, key informants from that time were interviewed, since the main target was to clarify the dynamics of how an administrative innovation develops. In addition, archival material was collected and studied, available memos and data relating to the innovation, innovation adoption and later to the implementation contained altogether 20500 pages of documents. A survey was furthermore conducted at the end of 2006 focusing on questions related to the innovation, organization and leadership characteristics and the response rate totalled up to 54%. For measuring the effectiveness of the innovation implementation, the needed longitudinal objective performance data was collected. This data included the profit unit level experience of TQM, the development of the self assessment scores per profit unit and performance data per profit unit measured with profitability, productivity and customer satisfaction. The data covered the years 1995-2006. As a result, the prerequisites for the successful adoption of an administrative innovation were defined, such as the top management involvement, support of the change agents and effective tools for implementation and measurement. The factors with the greatest effect on the depth of the implementation were the timing of the adoption and formalization. The results also indicated that the TQM model does have an effect on the company performance measured with profitability, productivity and customer satisfaction. Consequently this thesis contributes to the present literature (i) by taking into its scope an administrative innovation and focusing on the whole innovation implementation process, from the adoption, through diffusion until its consequences, (ii) because the studied factors with an effect on the innovation adoption and diffusion are multifaceted and grouped into individual, organizational and environmental factors, and a strong emphasis is put on the role of the individual change agents and (iii) by measuring the depth and consistency of the administrative innovation. This deep analysis was possible due to the availability of longitudinal data with triangulation possibilities.

Calidad de vida global en personas con demencia

Objetivo: Evaluar la calidad de vida (CV) global en personas con demencia e investigar las variables asociadas con la percepción subjetiva de la CV. Pacientes y métodos: Se llevó a cabo un estudio transversal en seis centros de Barcelona y Tarragona. Un total de 99 personas con demencia leve-moderada que vivían en casa con un cuidador conocido completaron una entrevista cara-cara que incluía información sociodemográfica, percepción del estado de salud, un listado de problemas crónicos de salud, sintomatología depresiva, estado funcional, aspectos positivos, sentido de la vida y satisfacción con las relaciones personales. La CV global se evaluó con la pregunta global del World Health Organization Quality of Life-BREF. Resultados: El 40,6% de los entrevistados consideró su CV como buena/muy buena. Los análisis univariados de regresión logística ordinal y binaria no mostraron asociación entre CV con datos sociodemográficos, gravedad de la demencia ni estado funcional, pero sí con las otras variables de estudio. Los análisis multivariados de la regresión logística ordinal y binaria mostraron que una mejor percepción de salud y mayor satisfacción con las relaciones personales se asociaban con mejor CV. Asimismo, en el análisis multivariado de regresión logística ordinal, mejor CV se asoció con un menor número de síntomas depresivos, y en el análisis de regresión logística binaria, con disfrutar de la vida y menor gravedad de la demencia. Conclusiones: Personas con demencia leve-moderada pueden informar sobre su CV y estados subjetivos. Además de los aspectos relacionados con la salud, aspectos positivos y las relaciones personales deberían evaluarse sistemáticamente en esta población.

CTP in Transient Global Amnesia: A Single-Center Experience of 30 Patients.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Medial temporal lobe abnormalities on DWI and functional imaging are occasionally observed in patients with transient global amnesia. We used CTP to study these patients during or briefly after resolution of their amnesic syndrome. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From 2002 onward, patients satisfying clinical criteria for transient global amnesia who underwent CTP were included. Patients with additional clinical features suggesting transient ischemic attack or stroke and those with an ischemic lesion on subsequent DWI were excluded. If deemed necessary by the clinician, DWI was performed within 10 days. RESULTS: Thirty patients with transient global amnesia underwent CTP at a median latency of 5.9 hours (interquartile range, 4.3-9.7 hours) after symptom onset. All findings, except for those in 1 patient, were normal, including those in the 14 patients with well-imaged hippocampi. In the patient with abnormal findings, CTP and PWI showed hypoperfusion in both lentiform nuclei extending into the insulae, with normalization on the repeat CTP 6 days later. In 10 patients, DWI was performed at a median latency of 2 days (interquartile range, 0-9 days). Of these, 2 showed punctate hippocampal lesions, often seen in transient global amnesia. In 2 patients excluded because of mildly atypical transient global amnesia and ischemic lesions on subsequent DWI, acute CTP findings were also normal. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with transient global amnesia had normal CTP findings in the acute phase with the exception of 1 patient with transient hypoperfusion in both basal ganglia. If imaging is performed for typical and atypical transient global amnesia, DWI should be the preferred method.

State of Logistics and Operations Management in Finnish and Swedish Companies – Survey Research Findings

In this research we are examining what is the status of logistics and operations management in Finnish and Swedish companies. Empirical data is based on the web based questionnaire, which was completed in the end of 2007 and early 2008. Our examination consists of roughly 30 answers from largest manufacturing (highest representation in our sample), trade and logistics/distribution companies. Generally it could be argued that these companies operate in complex environment, where number of products, raw materials/components and suppliers is high. However, usually companies rely on small amount of suppliers per raw material/component (highest frequency is 2), and this was especially the case among Swedish companies, and among those companies, which favoured overseas sourcing. Sample consisted of companies which mostly are operating in an international environment, and are quite often multinationals. Our survey findings reveal that companies in general have taken logistics and information technology as part of their strategy process; utilization of performance measures as well as system implementations have followed the strategy decisions. In the transportation mode side we identify that road transports dominate all transport flow classes (inbound, internal and outbound), followed by sea and air. Surprisingly small amount of companies use railways, but in general we could argue that Swedish companies prefer this mode over Finnish counterparts. With respect of operations outsourcing, we found that more traditional areas of logistics outsourcing are driving factors in company's performance measurement priority. In contrary to previous research, our results indicate that the scope of outsourcing is not that wide in logistics/operations management area, and companies are not planning to outsource more in the near future. Some support is found for more international operations and increased outsourcing activity. From the increased time pressure of companies, we find evidence that local as well as overseas customers expect deliveries within days or weeks, but suppliers usually supply within weeks or months. So, basically this leads into considerable inventory holding. Interestingly local and overseas sourcing strategy does not have that great influence on lead time performance of these particular sourcing areas - local strategy is anyway considerably better in responding on market changes due to shorter supply lead times. In the end of our research work we have completed correlation analysis concerning items asked with Likert scale. Our analysis shows that seeing logistics more like a process rather than function, applying time based management, favouring partnerships and measuring logistics within different performance dimensions results on preferred features and performance found in logistics literature.

Sales lead management in a global enterprise

Many companies today struggle with problems they face around sales lead management. They are suffering from inconsistent quality of leads, they miss clear sales opportunities and even cannot handle well their internal marketing lists. Meanwhile customers are better and better equipped with means to easily initiate contact via internet, via call centers etc. Investing in lead generation activities that are built on a bad process is not a good idea. Better than asking how to get more leads, companies should ask how to get better quality leads and invest in improving lead management. This study looks sales lead management as a multi step process where a company generates leads in controlled environment, qualifies them and hands over to the sales cycle. As a final step, organization needs to analyze the incomes and successes of different lead sources. Most often in sales lead management a process improvement requires setting up additional controls to enable proper tracking of all leads. A sales lead management process model for the case company is built based on the findings. Implementing the new model involves changes and improvements in some key areas of current process. Starting from the very beginning, these include redefining a bit the lead definition and revising the criteria set for qualified lead. There are some improvements to be done in the system side to enable the proposed model. Lastly a setting for responsible roles is presented.

Fiber flows in global paper and pulp industry. A panel data approach.

The purpose of this thesis is to study factors that explain the bilateral fiber trade flows. This is done by analyzing bilateral trade flows during 1990-2006. It will be studied also, whether there are differences between fiber types. This thesis uses a gravity model approach to study the trade flows. Gravity model is mostly used to study the aggregate data between trading countries. In this thesis the gravity model is applied to single fibers. This model is then applied to panel data set. Results from the regression show clearly that there are benefits in studying different fibers in separate. The effects differ considerably from each other. Furthermore, this thesis speaks for the existence of Linder’s effect in certain fiber types.

Regulation of Port Charges in Spain: Global versus Local Competition

This article examines the determinants of traffic volumes and the revenues per tonne generated by Spain’s port authorities. The interest of the study lies on the strong differences between port authorities in a context of strict regulation but that provides some scope for price competition. We find that port charges influence the amount of traffic that a port is able to generate. Furthermore, we find clear evidence of local price competition and report mixed results for global competition. Revenues per tonne are higher in ports operating more international regular lines and with multinational terminal operators, while they are lower in ports with nearby competing facilities and where the market share of the dominant shipping firm is high.