Avainsana: Innovation Management

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

Johtajuus muutoksessa – opiskelijakeskeinen oppiminen korkeakoulutuksessa

Liiketoimintaympäristö on murroksessa globaalin talouden, politiikan ja digitalisoitumisen seurauksena. Muutokset saattavat olla yllättäviä ja nopeita. Digitalisoitumisen ja globaalin talouden aikaansaama murros sumentaa näkymää, on vaikea nähdä kauas ja on vaikea ennakoida tulevia muutoksia. Tarvitaan innovaatiokyvykkyyttä ja uudistamiskeskeistä muutosherkkää johtamista.

 

Johtamisessa tarvitaan analyyttisen osaamisen lisäksi empatiakykyä ja kykyä peilata omia uskomuksia ja vakiintuneita ajattelu- ja toimintatapoja. Haastavassa jatkuvasti muotoutuvassa toimintaympäristössä on löydettävä luovia lähestymistapoja ja tuoreita näkemyksiä johtajuuden kehittämiseksi.

 

Itä-Suomen yliopiston Innovaatiojohtamisen oppiaine Kauppatieteiden laitoksella on pitkään kehittänyt oppimismenetelmiä, jotka rohkaisevat opiskelijoita ottamaan vastuuta omasta oppimisestaan, oppimaan toisilta ja hyödyntämään luovia menetelmiä oppimisessa. Osana tätä kehitystyötä olemme Innovaatiokulttuurit -kurssilla hyödyntäneet taidepohjaisia menetelmiä tarkastellessamme, miten organisaatiot oppivat, miten innovatiivinen organisaatiokulttuuri on osa strategista johtamista ja minkälaista johtajuutta uudistuminen edellyttää.

 

Taidelähtöisten menetelmien tutkijoita ja hyödyntäjiä yliopistoissa on Suomessa ja maailmalla pieni, mutta kasvava joukko. Oma kokemuksemme osoittaa, että taidelähtöiset menetelmät edistävät kokemuksellista oppimista, vahvistavat opiskelijakeskeistä oppimista ja kannustavat uudenlaiseen vuoropuheluun opiskelijoiden ja luennoitsijan kesken. Kokemuksemme osoittavat, että taidelähtöiset menetelmät lisäävät henkilökohtaista refleksiivisyyttä, kollektiivista reflektointia ja tietoisuutta itsestä muutoksen edistäjänä.

 

Kerromme kokemuksistamme opettajana ja opiskelijana Innovaatiokulttuurit kurssilla juuri äskettäin ilmestyneessä kirjassa (https://www.palgrave.com/us/book/9783319988627). Kirjoittamassamme luvussa kuvaamme kurssin toteutuksen, käymme läpi opiskelijapalautetta ja pohdimme, minkälaisia mahdollisuuksia taidelähtöinen oppiminen tarjoaa. Kurssilla, joka pidetään syksyllä 2019 jo seitsemättä vuotta, opiskelijat kirjoittavat oppimispäiväkirjaa ja tekevät lopputyönä videon. Kokemuksemme osoittavat, että kurssilla opiskelijat saavat rohkeutta olla luovia, refleksiivisiä ja empaattisia. Kurssi innostaa opiskelijoita keskustelemaan siitä, miten kasvaa tulevaisuuden ammattilaiseksi, joka ymmärtää uudistumisen johtamista laaja-alaisesti ja on valmis aktiivisesti innovoimaan itsekin.

 

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, professori, KTT

 

Heidi Silvast, KTM

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

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

Plausibility and power in commercialization of knowledge

Commercialization of knowledge shakes the traditional practices in the universities throughout the world. Traditionally, universities have focused on teaching and research aiming to peer reviewed academic publications. However, the external pressure in terms of ever tightening research funding as well as universities’ internal interests have been transforming universities towards commercially oriented sources of public welfare since Bayh Dole Act in 1980.

In Finland, this change has been slow and driven often by engineering sciences or sporadic commercialization projects. In my Doctoral Thesis (link), I focused on a two-year commercialization project aimed at developing university-industry co-operation and generating a general commercialization model for the Science Faculty of a Finnish university. The main objective was to analyze how the sense of commercialization is produced over time and how it unfolds and changes through social interaction.

Social interaction in board meetings

According to Karl Weick’s sensemaking framework, people try to understand novel situations through their identity, according to extracted cues from the ongoing events, in a relation to their experiences, and with other people involved. In short, actors try to find a plausible explanation for the things happening around them.

In my data, the board meetings of the project served as a key site where the interaction between various actors took place and where the meanings of commercialization were negotiated, created, and maintained. The data for the study consisted of observations made in the board meetings, board member interviews, and project documents.

This socially constructed understanding of commercialization changed throughout the study, however, leaning little by little towards plausible explanation where challenges in commercialization were caused by a number of factors external to the project.

More plausible than others

The sensemaking framework focuses on socio-psychological properties of understanding, thus it sparsely provides tools to analyze, why a certain plausible meaning exceeds others. Albert Mills and Jean Helms Mills of Saint Mary’s University, Halifax, have introduced critical approach to sensemaking bringing formative context, organizational rules, power, and discursive practices into sensemaking process.

Through this extended heuristics, I found that the meeting and project rules, substance experts’ competence, and power relations between the board members guided a sense of commercialization, and it unfolded and took shape as a plausible commercialization story. The plausible story condensed into a local rule influencing the unfolding understanding of commercialization.

Scientific knowledge in front

In practice, those with academic background led the unfolding plausible story by bringing forth the academic principles and practices, and thus exercising discursive power to determine the commercialization process.

But, the power wasn’t only related to positions but socially constructed, negotiated and maintained in discourses. It was relational to issues considered, the phase of the project, the events, and the actors present in meetings.

Commercialization as a social process

My Thesis indicates that commercialization is a social interaction of which content and plausibility are constructed through making sense of events happening during the process. In academia, scientific knowledge is so dominant (see Montonen 2014) that it might even bypass or overshadow the economic aspects in commercialization process.

Therefore commercialization of academic knowledge might be easier to organize by such organizations of not directly involved to university (see e.g. Maia & Claro 2013; Isabelle 2013).

Photo of Outi-Maaria Palo-ojaOuti-Maaria Palo-oja, D.Sc. (Econ. & Bus. Adm.)

Uskottavaa kaupallistamistarinaa punomassa (written in Finnish)
Weaving plausibility into commercialization

Supervisors:
Professor Päivi Eriksson, University of Eastern
Lecturer Teuvo Kantanen, University of Eastern Finland
Postdoctoral Researcher Marke Kivijärvi, Jyväskylä University School of Business and Economics

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