Avainsana: Business School

Julkaistu

Scaling up the circular economy!

The World Circular Economy Forum (WCEF2019) was held in Helsinki 3-4.6.2019. It was the third time this international Forum was organized by SITRA to bring circular economy enthusiastic together to share knowledge, ideas, thoughts and real-life cases on how countries, businesses and other agents have implemented circular economy from a concept to action. WCEF2019 aimed to scale circular economy up! What this means is that it is time to move from talking to action, it is time to move from local to global, it is time to move on from take-make-waste mentality and linear economic model to circular economy.

WCEF2019 had a broad range of international attendance with participants over 90 countries with over 2000 circular economy thinkers and doers. The program was dealing with circular economy issues in cities, governance, international trade, plastics, construction, investments and so forth. The program was really interesting, and it offered a lot of variety. The panel conversations were inspiring, and they offered more detailed insights for instance on plastics and new business opportunities. Carlsberg has an innovation that reduces drastically plastic use, when they use new glue innovation to keep cans together instead of using plastic wraps. The CEO of Carlsberg said that this does not solve all, but this is a good example of business opportunity when thinking and implementing circular economy practices. Another example was by company Tomra which offers bottle and other waste sorting machines and with their machines they sort over 40 billion bottles in a year. They are taking sorting to all over the Europe, some parts of Asia, Australia and USA. A brilliant example of business opportunity on a global scale.

Though, from the point of view of small and medium sized companies, the Forum did not offer as much as we hoped for. We believe that, even though politics and large companies are really important agents in scaling up the circular economy, SME´s in Finland are perhaps the most important change agents. They are the most numerous, they employ the most and they generate the most of new jobs and innovations. The view of entrepreneur was also missing. We believe that entrepreneurs are the real change agents. Besides that, entrepreneurs, especially with growth attitude, have a really important role in societies when implementing circular economy in to their businesses.

What now? Is circular economy still at the level of talk and not action? The answer is both. Certainly, circular economy is going forward in many ways with countries, businesses, third sector organizations, researchers and consumers. The attitudes are changing fast, consumers are demanding businesses to have new solutions and it was great to see that businesses are developing their business with customer-oriented way and they are engaging them into their value chains even more than now.

To conclude, the Forum offered insights on circular economy and the opportunities it offers in many industries. We also got info on circular economy and the effects on regulation, international trade and most importantly we got cases on business opportunities that are already in markets or are in the developing phase. Moreover, circular economy demands new innovations, new ways of thinking, agility to create and exploit the opportunities, that is, scaling up the circular economy!

Ville-Veikko Piispanen

Hanna Lehtimäki

CICAT2025-project is financed by the Strategic Research Council of the Academy of Finland. CICAT2025 aims to facilitate the transition from linear to circular economy. The project supports Finland’s strategic objective to become a global leader in circular economy by 2025. The project will work to identify measures hampering and supporting circular economy and search solutions for companies and regulators to support the transition to a circular economy.

Find more on CICAT2025: https://cicat2025.turkuamk.fi/

Find more on WCEF2019: https://www.sitra.fi/en/projects/world-circular-economy-forum-2019/#Logo Cicat Logo Suomen Akatemia Logo Strateginen tutkimus

Julkaistu

Arts-Based-Methods in Innovation Management Education

The business environment is in turmoil as a result of global economy, politics and digitalization.

Changes can be surprising and quick. The change brought about by digitalization and the global economy makes it difficult to anticipate future changes. This sets a demand for innovation capacity in organizations and innovation sensitive change-oriented leadership.

In addition to analytical competence, empathy and the ability to reflect own beliefs and the established ways of thinking and working are needed in leadership. In a challenging, constantly evolving business environment, creative approaches and fresh ideas for leadership development must be found.

The Innovation Management subject area in the business school at the University of Eastern Finland has systematically developed learning methods that encourage students to take responsibility for their own learning, learn from others and use creative methods in learning. As part of this development, we have utilized arts-based methods in the Innovation Cultures course when considering, how organizations learn, how innovative organizational culture is part of strategic leadership and what kind of leadership is required for renewal.

Our experience shows that arts-based methods promote experiential learning, strengthen student-centered learning and encourage a new kind of dialogue between students and lecturers. Also, arts-based methods increase personal reflection, collective reflection, and awareness of self as a contributor to change.

Researchers and educators involved with use arts-based methods in universities are small but growing in Finland and elsewhere in the world. Our experiences as a teacher and as a student in the Innovation Cultures course were published in a book (https://www.palgrave.com/us/book/9783319988627) that collected examples of the use of arts-based-methods in universities in different countries. In our chapter we describe the course’s implementation, review student feedback, and consider what opportunities arts-based learning offers. The course will be taught in the autumn 2019 for the seventh time. The course gives students the courage to be creative, reflexive and empathetic. The course will inspire students to discuss how to grow into a future professional who not only appreciate innovation management in organizations as a process of learning and change but also engage in innovative behavior themselves.

Hanna Lehtimäki & Heidi Silvast (2019). Using Student-led arts-based methods in Finnish Higher Education to foster Leadership for Change. In Steven Taylor & Elena Antonacopoulou (Eds.) Sensuous Learning for Practical Judgment in Professional Practice. Vol. II. Palgrave.

 

Hanna Lehtimäki

Professor, Ph.D.

 

Heidi Silvast

M.Sc. in Economics

Julkaistu

Kiertotaloudella kohti kestävämpää talouskasvua – CICAT2025 hanke

Mitä kiertotalous tarkoittaa?

Kiertotalous on taloudellinen malli (reduce-reuse-recycle), jossa tavarat ja palvelut ovat ns. suljetussa kierrossa, toisin kuin nykyinen lineaarinen malli (take-make-dispose), jossa käytämme raaka-aineita, joista valmistetaan tuotteita ja lopulta ne päätyvät kaatopaikalle. Suljettu kierto tarkoittaa tavaroiden ja palveluiden mahdollisimman pitkäikäistä suunnittelua, optimaalista uudelleenkäyttöä, uudelleenvalmistamista ja korjausta. Toimimalla näin on mahdollista luoda arvoa lähes loppumattomia kertoja. Kiertotaloutta on myös jokaisen kotona tekemä materiaalikierrätys. Jokainen voi tehdä pienen teon, jolla on lopulta suuria vaikutuksia.

CICAT2025-kiertotaloushankkeentavoitteet

Suomen Akatemian Strategisen tutkimusneuvoston rahoittamassa CICAT2025 otimme lähtökohdaksi Suomen edelläkävijyyden kiertotalouden innovaatioekosysteemien kehittäjänä. Neljän yliopiston ja kahden ammattikorkeakoulun viisivuotinen tutkimushanke kehittää tapoja, joilla vauhditetaan muutosta innovaatioekosysteemeistä liiketoimintaekosysteemeihin. Keskeistä muutoksessa on uudenlaisten arvonluomisen tapojen ja käytäntöjen tunnistaminen ja kehittäminen. Toteutamme tutkimuksen tiiviissä yhteistyössä sidosryhmien kanssa, jotka sijoittuvat neljään erilaiseen liiketoimintaekosysteemiin. Ekosysteemit ovat 1. olemassa oleva teollinen ekosysteemi, 2. kehittyvä kiertotalouden teknologinen ekosysteemi, 3. alueellinen kiertotalouden klusterimalli, ja 4. ankkuriyrityksen ympärille kehittyvä liiketoiminnan ekosysteemi.

Tieteellinen uutuusarvo syntyy, kun tutkimme kiertotalouden teknologisia, liiketoiminnallisia, lainsäädännöllisiä ja kulttuurisia katalyyttejä, jotka tukevat liiketoiminnan muutosta ja uutta liiketoimintaa. Monitieteinen konsortio yhdistää osaamista teknologiasta, liiketoiminnasta, politiikasta, taiteesta, lingvistiikasta, lainsäädännöstä sekä sidosryhmävuorovaikutuksesta. Hankkeen tuloksina tuotamme uutta tieteellistä tietoa kiertotaloudesta ja käytännön työkaluja yrittäjien, johtajien, päättäjien ja kiertotalouden asiantuntijoiden käyttöön.

UEF kauppatieteiden rooli

Itä-Suomen yliopiston kauppatieteiden laitoksen innovaatiojohtamisen tutkijat keskittyvät kasvuyrittäjyyteen, liiketoimintamalleihin, kaupallistamiseen, strategiseen- ja muutosjohtamiseen sekä johtajuuteen. Tarkoituksemme on ymmärtää kiertotalouden yrittäjyyttä ja johtamisen katalyyttejä, jotka vauhdittavat kiertotalouden liiketoimintaekosysteemejä.

Projektin kotisivuilta löydät tietoa hankkeesta ja tulevista tapahtumista ja www.cicat2025.fi

Voit lukea CICAT2025-kuvauksen täältä: http://www.aka.fi/fi/strategisen-tutkimuksen-rahoitus2/ohjelmat-ja-hankkeet/kestavan-kasvun-avaimet2/cicat2025/

CICAT2025 (Circular Economy Catalysts: From Innovation to Business Ecosystem) rahoittajana Strategisen tutkimuksen neuvosto Suomen Akatemia, 320194, 320209.

Professori Hanna Lehtimäki

Yliopistotutkija Kaisa Henttonen

Tutkijatohtori Ville-Veikko Piispanen

Logo Strateginen tutkimusLogo Suomen Akatemia

Julkaistu

Flippausta ja flippauksen tutkimusta

Yliopistossamme on meneillään huima opetuksen kehittämisbuumi, jonka moottoriksi – vai pitäisikö sanoa sateenvarjoksi – on valittu käänteinen opettaminen eli flippaus (flipped classroom, flipped learning). Kauppatieteiden laitokselta mukana on ollut neljä opettajaa. Kokemuksia on jaettu ja kursseja on kehitetty laitoksen yhteisessä Pedatiimissä, joten vielä isompi opettajajoukko on sitä kautta tutustunut menetelmään. Flipatuille kursseille on osallistunut kymmeniä opiskelijoita.

Voisi sanoa, että strategia todella ohjaa nyt toimintaa, sillä Itä-Suomen yliopisto aikoo olla Suomen paras yliopistollinen oppimisympäristö vuoteen 2020 mennessä. Se on kylläkin aika pian, se.

Yliopiston kasvatustieteilijät ovat työskennelleet tiiviisti meidän flippariopettajien kanssa. Kehittämistyö sai juuri komeaa kansainvälistä tunnustusta, sillä Flipping Finland valittiin parhaaksi eurooppalaiseksi tutkimuksen ja oppimisen projektiksi EAPRIL-konferenssissa (European Association for Practitioner Research on Improving Learning). Hienoa olla osa sitä!

Yhä edelleen luennointi, yksisuuntainen tiedonsiirto, on varsin yleinen opetustapa yliopistoissa. Näin siitä huolimatta, että tutkimus on selkeästi osoittanut, että tuolloin vuorovaikutus opettajan ja opiskelijoiden välillä jää vähäiseksi, opiskelijoitten tarkkaavaisuus herpaantuu ja oppiminen on pinnallista. Flippaus on yksi ratkaisu näihin ongelmiin. Opiskelija tutustuu esimerkiksi luentoaineistoihin etukäteen ja luokkatapaamisissa pystytään perehtymään ilmiöihin syvällisemmin, soveltamaan opittua, jakamaan asiantuntijuutta ja oppimaan yhdessä.


Lisää flipattuja kursseja, kiitos

Flippasin markkinointi- ja yhteisöviestinnän kurssini (MYVI) kaksi vuotta sitten ja yhdessä kasvatustieteilijöitten kanssa kirjoitimme artikkelin opiskelijoitten oppimiskokemuksista ja oppimistuloksista. Käsikirjoituksemme on käynyt läpi vertaisarvioinnin ja ilmestyy toivottavasti pian Business and Professional Communication Quarterly -lehdessä.

Meillä oli tutkimuksessamme sekä kvantitatiivista että kvalitatiivista aineistoa. Kvanttiaineisto koostui opiskelijakyselystä ennen ja jälkeen kurssin. Kvaliaineistona oli opiskelijoitten omat kuvaukset heidän oppimiskokemuksistaan ja -tuloksistaan.

Oli kiinnostavaa, että 96 % opiskelijoista oli sitä mieltä, että flippausmenetelmä soveltui heille hyvin. 92 % oli halukas opiskelemaan samanlaisin menetelmin myös jatkossa ja 76 % piti flippausta perinteistä luennointia parempana. Koettiin, että opiskeltavaan aineistoon oli helppo orientoitua ja opiskelutapa oli motivoiva ja joustava, sillä aineistoja voi opiskella vaikka lenkkeillessään.

Toisaalta 24 % piti perinteisiä menetelmiä flippausta parempina. Flippaus taitaa vaatia aika paljon itseohjautuvuutta, ajanhallintataitoja ja vastuun ottamista omasta työskentelystä. Yksi ratkaisu voisi olla se, että opiskelijat tutustuisivat ennakkoaineistoihin pareittain tai ryhmissä.

Tutkimusten lukemisen ja niistä kirjoittamisen haaste 

Oppimistulosten osalta opiskelijoitten raportit osoittivat runsaasti oivaltamista ja syvällistä oppimista varsinkin työyhteisöviestinnän ja kriisiviestinnän teemoista, kun taas markkinointiviestinnän aiheita käsiteltiin pinnallisemmin.

Opettajan kannalta oli mielenkiintoista, että uudenlainen opetustapa ja siitä tehty tutkimus paljastivat joitakin oppimisstrategioihin ja -valmiuksiin liittyviä haasteita. Tällaisia olivat esimerkiksi ajanhallintataidot, englanninkielisten tutkimusartikkelien etsiminen, lukeminen ja ymmärtäminen sekä esseen kirjoittaminen. Aivan ilmeisesti esseen kirjoittamiseen tarvitaan nykyistä enemmän ryhmän tai opettajan tukea. Usein kysytyt kysymykset -sivu Moodlessa voisi myös olla tarpeen. Olen sellaisen tänä vuonna jo kurssilleni tehnytkin.

Kaiken kaikkiaan tutkimuksemme osoitti, että flippauksen ja tutkivan oppimisen menetelmin opiskelijoita voidaan varustaa esimerkiksi näillä keskeisillä työelämätaidoilla: yhteistyötaidot, vuorovaikutustaidot ja kriittisen ja luovan ajattelun taidot.

Ei opetusta ilman tutkimusta, niinhän sen yliopistossa kuului mennä 🙂

Kuvassa Helena Kantanen

Helena Kantanen
Yliopistonlehtori, FT

Lisää flippaamisesta blogissani: Flipped or flopped? Kurssia kääntämässä

 

Lähde: Kantanen, Helena, Koponen, Jonna, Sointu, Erkko & Valtonen, Teemu. Including the Student Voice: Experiences and Learning Outcomes of a Flipped Communication Course

 

Julkaistu

The Sojourn of an Asian Researcher in the Nordic Region

From India to Finland

It was New Year’s Eve, and the world was celebrating the transition from 2017 to 2018. I was packing my bags and was excited about my journey on the first day of the new year. I would be travelling roughly 4 000 miles, from New Delhi to Helsinki and then to a place called Kuopio. I had no idea what I should expect.

I grew up in a land where the highest temperature goes to +45, and I was going to a country where the lowest temperature can reach to -45. But I was excited to meet the new people who would form a major part of my life in the months to come. I was excited to meet my supervisor, with whom I had exchanged many emails and WhatsApp messages to plan this trip.

The best time in my life

The months that followed were some of the best in my life. I was visiting the Business School, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, with the EDUFI fellowship from the Govt. of Finland.

I was working with the Innovation Management Research Group at the school. I met such wonderful colleagues, who were warm, kind, and helpful. They had tried to understand me as a person and had made all necessary arrangements to make my stay and work as comfortable as possible.

I remember that when I had reached the apartment, my supervisor showed me so many things that my colleagues had donated so that I do not need to buy new things for my work and stay in Finland. It included a ranges of utilities, from warm clothes to kitchen utensils.

Debates and silence

In terms of the workplace environment, we spent rich time in discussing research, and in exchanging knowledge about our culture, society, polity, and history. In research, I had exposure to new approaches in qualitative research, which was one of my key objectives for visiting a Finnish university.

One important observation that I had of the Finnish way of doing things is that they are peace loving and straightforward people, and they talk only when it is necessary. Honestly speaking, that is exactly the kind of approach that I personally like. I appreciate the culture that speaks only when it is necessary, and focuses energy majorly on doing things well.

Experiencing the Arctic

The cold proved to be no difficult for me, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. For me it was very new and fresh.

The Arctic wilderness came with amusements, such as the husky rides and the northern lights, the smile of Santa Claus and the shiny white snow bathing in golden sunlight coming from across the horizon.

In spring and summer, the beauty abounds with the freshness of the fresh new green and the beguiling blue sky reflecting on the fresh water after the melting of the snow. It is amazing to see how beautifully the people in the Nordic have been able to preserve their environment.

Increasing diversity

With this rich natural capital, the Nordic region is also now growing in diversity of population with an inclusiveness towards people from other parts of the world. I witnessed that during my stay, and found different actors in society making necessary efforts to help and guide foreigners like me.

I met lots of new people, and made such good friends. During my research at the university, I was also given the opportunity to co-develop and co-instruct the Masters course on Social Innovation and Strategy. Teaching and mentoring a class of international students, which was a mix of both European and Asian students, was a very good experience.

I believe Finland is definitely one of the preferred destinations for any international researcher today, because of the example that the Finnish society sets in terms of being highly education oriented and welfare oriented. At some point of time in future, for short or for long, I would surely visit this wonderful part of our world once again.

Photo of Subhanjan SenguptaSubhanjan Sengupta, PhD
Assistant Professor – BIMTECH

Julkaistu

Drivers of online sales: An integrated study of customer reviews and backward effects

In February 2018, the third movie in an American series Fifty Shades was released. The movie itself earned a significant amount of success in opening weekend revenue – $38,560,195 in USA (Source: imdb.com). At the same time, the book version of the series also enjoyed additional sales from such release. Interestingly enough, not only the book three, the one on which the movie was based, but the first book in the series also gained major benefits. In fact, even though this is not the first time the series released a movie, the Amazon salesrank of the first book Fifty Shades of Grey still dropped to the lowest point 494 within one week of release from the peak 11,715 it reached two months ago (Source: Keepa.com). The decreasing salesrank indicates an increase in book sales on the website.

According to brand extension theories, the phenomenon that an introduction of extension affects the consumption of original product is referred to as reciprocal spillover effect or backward effect. The above-mentioned case of Fifty Shades is an evident example; yet, the phenomenon can be observed in various occurrences such as when artists release new album, etc. Interested in the phenomenon, in my thesis I investigated the effect of releasing a new book on the first book sales using data collected from Amazon.com. With the use of linear mixed-effects models, I found that the first book sales indeed decreased during the release of a new book. Besides that, the success of a new book determined the volume of extra sales. One surprising finding was that for popular book, the earlier release of new book enjoys more radical backward effect than the subsequence. However, this might not be the case for less popular book, particularly for extremely unpopular ones

Factors affecting product sales have always been an intriguing topic of research and word-of-mouth communication has been considered as one of the most influential drivers of sales. Especially in today’s world, online word-of-mouth possesses even more profound effect owning to its incredible spread and breadth. Searching on Google Scholar using keywords ‘effect of online reviews on sales’, one can easily find more than 700,000 papers, which demonstrates the rigorous attention of academic community to the topic. As a result, I chose to examine the role of online reviews. The result suggested that book rating alone did not have any significant persuasive effect on sales. In contrast, the number of reviews and its interaction with ratings did the job once consumers are informed about the parent product upon exposing to extension information.

Hien Nguyen

Master’s Thesis title: The reciprocal spillover effect in online book sales. Integrated with the effect of online reviews

Supervisor: Dr. Ville-Veikko Piispanen

Julkaistu

Työssä koettu hyvinvointi osana kasvuliiketoimintaa

Liiketoiminnan kasvu ja työhyvinvointi ovat ajankohtaisia puheenaiheita. Molempia pidetään tavoiteltavina, mutta voivatko työhyvinvointi ja kasvu toteutua samanaikaisesti, samassa yrityksessä, vai onko niiden välillä ristiriita? Miten yksilötason työhyvinvointi ja organisaatiotason kasvu liittyvät toisiinsa?

Laajempi yhteiskunnallinen keskustelu työurien pidentämisestä alleviivaa työssä jaksamisen ja hyvinvoinnin merkitystä, mutta myös haastaa organisaatiot pohtimaan, miten henkilöstön työhyvinvointia voidaan kehittää ja tukea työssä jaksamisen edistämiseksi. Toisaalta taas kasvuyritystä leimaavat usein epävarmuus ja jatkuva muutos, joita voidaan pitää haasteina nimenomaan työhyvinvoinnin näkökulmasta.

Näistä lähtökohdista rakentui pro gradu –tutkielmani, jossa tutkin henkilöstön koettua työhyvinvointia kasvuyrityksessä. Tutkimukseni mukaan tärkeimpiä henkilöstön koettuun työhyvinvointiin vaikuttavia tekijöitä ovat työyhteisön tuki, avoin ilmapiiri, työstä palautuminen, työ- ja yksityiselämän välisen rajapinnan hallinta sekä työnohjaus. Merkittävin työhyvinvointia heikentävä tekijä on kiire; se hankaloittaa jo itsessään työhyvinvointia, mutta vaikuttaa siihen myös välillisesti. Kasvun ei koettu suoranaisesti aiheuttavan stressiä, mutta kasvun tuomia muutoksia ei myöskään toivottu. Välillisesti kasvustrategian toteuttamisen vaikutukset olivat kuitenkin läsnä henkilöstön arjessa, ja näin ollen osa myös heidän hyvinvointiaan.

Työn tunnekuorman käsittely on merkittävässä roolissa työssä jaksamisen tukena, ja siinä auttavat parhaiten työyhteisön eli kollegoiden tuki ja työnohjaus. Työ- ja yksityiselämän välisen rajapinnan hallinnan, työstä palautumisen sekä tukevien kollegoiden ja esimiesten merkitys työhyvinvoinnille on tärkeää. Tukeva ja luottamusta kehittävä johto edistää myös työhyvinvointia. Esimiehet voivat vaikuttaa työhyvinvointiin lisäämällä työnohjauksen saatavuutta, rakentamalla avointa virhekulttuuria ja ennen kaikkea olemalla läsnä. He voivat myös vaikuttaa kiireeseen selkeyttämällä vastuunjakoa ja tarjoamalla keinoja sen hallintaan.

Työelämälähtöisestä näkökulmasta tarkasteltuna työhyvinvoinnin tutkiminen kasvuyrityksessä on tärkeää, jotta olisi mahdollista tunnistaa sen tarjoama potentiaali monipuolisemmin ja jotta osattaisiin suhtautua kasvun tuomiin haasteisiin rakentavammin. Tarvetta kasvun ja työhyvinvoinnin yhdistävälle tutkimukselle on edelleen, sillä kasvustrategiat tarvitsevat toteutuakseen konkreettisia keinoja, joilla molempiin panostetut resurssit tuottaisivat yhdessä maksimaalisen tuloksen. Tutkielmani osoittaa, että henkilöstön työhyvinvoinnin nostaminen keskiöön ei ole itseisarvo sinänsä, vaan väline, joka palvelee koko organisaatiota ja sen tavoitteiden toteutumista. Henkilöstö on yrityksen tärkein voimavara, kivijalka, jonka varaan kasvua on turvallista rakentaa. Yksilön työhyvinvointi ja organisaation kasvu eivät siis ole toisistaan erilliset, vaan pikemminkin jatkuvassa keskinäisessä vuorovaikutuksessa olevat ilmiöt.

 

Kaisa Kohtamäki

Pro Gradu -tutkielma: Työssä koettu hyvinvointi osana kasvuliiketoimintaa

Ohjaaja: Hanna Lehtimäki

Julkaistu

EMPLOYEES AT THE HEART OF SERVITIZATION

Manufacturing companies search for new ways of generating profits in the rapidly changing and highly competitive global markets. Is servitization the answer? Maintenance, digitalization and R&D support are examples of the wide range of services that are offered to cover the life span of a product. Servitization offers a possibility to differentiate from the competitors and a remedy to the deteriorating profit margins of product sales. Studies show that a too modest service strategy can result in financial losses while opting for a bold strategy with advanced services supports profitability.

Service business is inherently people focused. Developing and delivering services requires substantial input and involvement from not only customers but also employees. My master’s thesis on servitization in the manufacturing industry shows that involving employees from a very early stage of the process is crucial for the success. Employees have a significant role in implementing servitization strategies. There is a lot of tacit knowledge in the organization and this knowledge is transferred through collective sensemaking and meaning making and not so much through documentation. Bringing together tacit knowledge and the servitization plans supports the creation of a shared vision between managers and employees.

Often, servitization calls for an organizational change and with change comes support and resistance. Some individuals and teams in the organization view servitization as an enabler of the future success of the organization while others look at it as an unnecessary obstacle and extra work in their day-to-day work. Creating a shared vision is, therefore, important in leading change. When managers pay attention to the ways by which employees make sense of services and servitization plans, the potential of successful implementation is increased.

The implementation of servitization strategies can be supported by flexible organizational structures, well-planned rewarding systems and management’s readiness to do self-reflection of the impact of their change communication. In other words, close attention to leading the process of implementation of servitization is needed.

Kuvassa Päivi EskelinenPäivi Eskelinen

Master’s Thesis Title:

“Organizational Change and Servitization: Employee Sensemaking in the Manufacturing Industry.”

 

Thesis supervisor: Päivi Eriksson

Julkaistu

Strategic entrepreneurship – a key for business growth

Today, entrepreneurship raises a lot of interest in the society. Government decision makers see it as a vehicle for economic growth. Growth of small companies brings jobs and tax revenues and gives a boost of energy to the economic activity. While entrepreneurship is a solution to many macroeconomic challenges, it also opens up new and exciting opportunities to people who want to create something new.

Interestingly, most new companies that start out small also remain small through the whole lifespan. In fact, it is very rare that a small start-up grows into a large company. One explanation is that the majority of business start-ups are imitations of existing businesses in the matured industries. Another explanation is that start-ups are typically located in local markets, and therefore, their growth potential is limited. Yet one more explanation might be that many start-up entrepreneurs are not at all interested in business growth, instead, other aspects of being an entrepreneur motivate them.

But how about those entrepreneurs, who are growth oriented, what could be done to support their ambitions? Start-ups are agile in detecting and creating new opportunities, but upholding competitiveness is not in their best game.

Despite few in number, there are entrepreneurs who want to grow their businesses. One way to support these entrepreneurs is to guide them into strategic entrepreneurship. The core idea in strategic entrepreneurship is in balancing the competitive advantage seeking and business opportunity creation when making business decisions.

I found in my doctoral thesis that the best way to balance between competitive advantage seeking and business opportunity creation sequentially is to alternate the emphasis on one or the other over time or to create an organization so that different people look into one or the other.

My study shows that there is a great but underutilized potential in the Finnish entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurs show great resilience in pursuing renewal even in difficult financial times and show commitment to their business ideas in the face of many challenges they face. There is a great growth potential in the Finnish entrepreneurial field. With support on strategic entrepreneurship, we could see many more growth oriented start-ups and read many more exciting success stories on business growth.

Ville-Veikko Piispanen, D.Sc. (Econ. & Bus. Adm.)

 

Title of Doctorate thesis

Strategic Entrepreneurship in Small Business Context

http://epublications.uef.fi/pub/urn_isbn_978-952-61-2250-2/urn_isbn_978-952-61-2250-2.pdf
Supervisor: Professor Päivi Eriksson

Julkaistu

To the unknown and beyond: Appreciative intelligence® in Start-up Companies

A phenomenon such as the Slush (www.slush.org) is a sign that the start-up hype is storming in Finland. Slush is an annual event for start-ups and tech talent to meet with investors, executives and media. It is organized in Helsinki in November, that is when you can get a first hand experience of slush on the streets, and in just a few years it has grown a major start-up event in Finland and in Europe. It is a part of a movement that is taking place all over the world where young educated experts set up businesses instead of looking for positions in established organizations. Slush is the focal point for start-ups and tech talent to meet with top-tier international investors, executives, and media.

The interesting question is why are well educated people ready to jump into an extremely uncertain work environment with well-known fact that most companies will fail and disappear after a couple of years. So what drives people forward to fight against the odds and all that uncertainty? With this questions in mind, I interviewed people who work in start-up companies and asked how they cope with the challenges they face in setting up a new business.

Using a framework of Appreciative Intelligence® introduced by professor Tojo Thatchenkery, George Mason University, USA, I found that the entrepreneurs were able to reframe the uncertainty in the business environment as an opportunity for personal learning and meeting exciting challenges. Also, they were able to see a quick career development as a positive potential in the situation. And finally, they were capable of acting on uncertainty and using it as an energizing and community building shared experience that fueled the entrepreneurs and their teams to make the future potential unfold in actions taken today.

According to professor Thatchenkery, people tend to reframe challenging situations in two contrasting ways – either negatively or positively. I was able to identify a tremendous amount of positive reframing in the ways the entrepreneurs perceived uncertainty in start-up business.

It appears that the start-up score high in Appreciative Intelligence® which helps them make a challenging situation into an exciting opportunity. The good news is that we can all practice Appreciative Intelligence® and put it in use in our own lives and at work.

 

Tuomas Holma

Thesis: To the Unknown and Beyond: Appreciative Intelligence® in Start-up Companies

Thesis supervisor: Professor Hanna Lehtimäki

To learn more about appreciative intelligence, please visit www.appreciativeintelligence.com