Menestyksen eväät ja murtuva media. Tapaustutkimus aikakauslehden aineettomista kilpailutekijöistä muuttuvassa markkinatilanteessa.

Tutkimuksessa analysoidaan yhden aikakauslehden aineettoman pääoman keskeisiä tekijöitä ja niiden dynamiikkaa laadullisilla menetelmillä. Aineisto perustuu haastattelumateriaaliin. Taustan muodostaa tietojohtamisen teoriakirjallisuus, jossa eri tietopääomatekijät jaotellaan suhde-, rakenne ja inhimillisiin tekijöihin. Aikakauslehdet, kuten koko mediatoimiala, ovat vahvassa muutostilanteessa ja aineettoman pääoman tekijöiden kautta ne voivat jatkossakin ylläpitää markkina-asemaansa. Tutkimuksen kohteena on hyvän markkina-aseman omaava aikakauslehti, jonka arvonmuodostusta ja aineettomia tekijöitä ja niiden välistä dynamiikkaa tutkimuksessa analysoidaan. Tutkimustulokset osoittavat, että tarkasteltavan aikakauslehden arvonmuodostus perustuu vahvaan aineettomien tekijöiden kombinaatioon, vahvaan organisaatiokulttuuriin ja aineettomien tekijöiden väliseen dynamiikkaan, mikä saadaan ulosmitattua printtituotteen muodossa kuluttajamarkkinoilla. Haasteena on näiden pääomatekijöiden hyödyntäminen yhtä tehokkaalla tavalla muuttuvan markkinatilanteen myötä.

Rakennusten kunnossapitoprosessin uudistaminen Lean-ajattelun mukaisesti

Työn tavoitteena oli tutkia ja kehittää rakennusten kunnossapidon prosessia Lean-ajattelun mukaisesti. Teoreettisena taustana oli arvonmuodostus tuotanto- ja palveluprosesseissa ja miten prosesseja yleensä uudistetaan. Lisäksi esiteltiin Lean-filosofian keskeisimpiä ajatuksia sekä menetelmiä prosessien hukkien löytämiseen ja eliminoimiseen sekä mitä tuloksia näillä tavoilla saatiin case-yrityksen kunnossapidon prosessissa. Lopuksi esiteltiin päätelmiä prosessien toimivuudesta ja mitä korjaustoimenpiteitä voidaan tehdä sekä prosesseissa itsessään että myös tietojärjestelmien ja yrityksen resurssien käytön suhteen.

Modelling the simultaneous effects of intellectual capital and knowledge management on the organisational performance of Finnish companies

The aim of this study was to contribute to the current knowledge-based theory by focusing on a research gap that exists in the empirically proven determination of the simultaneous but differentiable effects of intellectual capital (IC) assets and knowledge management (KM) practices on organisational performance (OP). The analysis was built on the past research and theoreticised interactions between the latent constructs specified using the survey-based items that were measured from a sample of Finnish companies for IC and KM and the dependent construct for OP determined using information available from financial databases. Two widely used and commonly recommended measures in the literature on management science, i.e. the return on total assets (ROA) and the return on equity (ROE), were calculated for OP. Thus the investigation of the relationship between IC and KM impacting OP in relation to the hypotheses founded was possible to conduct using objectively derived performance indicators. Using financial OP measures also strengthened the dynamic features of data needed in analysing simultaneous and causal dependences between the modelled constructs specified using structural path models. The estimates were obtained for the parameters of structural path models using a partial least squares-based regression estimator. Results showed that the path dependencies between IC and OP or KM and OP were always insignificant when analysed separate to any other interactions or indirect effects caused by simultaneous modelling and regardless of the OP measure used that was either ROA or ROE. The dependency between the constructs for KM and IC appeared to be very strong and was always significant when modelled simultaneously with other possible interactions between the constructs and using either ROA or ROE to define OP. This study, however, did not find statistically unambiguous evidence for proving the hypothesised causal mediation effects suggesting, for instance, that the effects of KM practices on OP are mediated by the IC assets. Due to the fact that some indication about the fluctuations of causal effects was assessed, it was concluded that further studies are needed for verifying the fundamental and likely hidden causal effects between the constructs of interest. Therefore, it was also recommended that complementary modelling and data processing measures be conducted for elucidating whether the mediation effects occur between IC, KM and OP, the verification of which requires further investigations of measured items and can be build on the findings of this study.

Customer Knowledge Transfer in MNCs

The purpose of this Master’s thesis was to study customer knowledge transfer processes in multinational corporations (MNCs). The main objective was to examine how customer knowledge is transferred in MNCs and what kind of factors enhance or inhibit the knowledge transfer process, and to create a framework on the basis of the existing literature and the empirical findings. In this thesis the factors were organized according to whether they are properties of the unit involved in knowledge management, properties of relationships between the units or properties of the knowledge itself. There are various properties that influence knowledge transfer but in this thesis the focus was on examining the relevant findings from the customer knowledge viewpoint. Empirical results show that internal fragmentation in the MNC seems to be inherent in this type of organization, and may cause many problems in customer knowledge transfer and utilization. These knowledge transfer inhibitors rise from the organization’s properties: it’s absorptive capacity, motivation, organizational culture, and the two dimensions of knowledge. However, in spite of the inherent forces causing internal fragmentation and inhibiting knowledge transfer, moderate customer knowledge and expertise codification, cooperative working practices among the experts, and socialization mechanisms posed by the headquarters seem to help maintain customer knowledge transfer, and value creation in the long-term relationship. This value creation can be seen to be based on accessing and integrating a wide variety of knowledge resources in order to create a coherent product and service offering.