Browsing by Author "Aspara, Jaakko"
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Item Alleviating business symptoms of seasonal end-demand by product portfolio and supply chain management(2008) Tölö, Miikka; Aspara, Jaakko; Informaatio- ja luonnontieteiden tiedekunta; Teknillinen korkeakoulu; Helsinki University of Technology; Lamberg, Juha-AnttiSeasonal variation in demand for company's products causes special difficulties in ensuring that the right resources will be on hand when needed and in scheduling production (Buxey, 2005). If the sales of a manufacturing company are fluctuating, the company must have flexible production or flexible inventory (Bowman, 1956). Directors in companies experiencing predictable seasonal peaks in monthly sales attempt to eliminate or control the most significant marginal costs instead of seeking perfect solutions (Buxey, 2005). In this study we developed a framework from seasonal end-demand to company performance. First, we identified 13 business symptoms of seasonal end-demand for a company. Second, we demonstrated how the symptoms have adverse implications on company performance. Third, we presented an appropriate measure for company performance. Furthermore, we identified 44 strategies for a company with products of seasonal end-demand that could alleviate the business symptoms of the seasonality. Nine of the strategies were classified as product portfolio management (PPM) strategies and 35 as supply chain management (SCM) strategies. Finally, we conducted a case study of four companies where we studied how the feasibility of the 44 strategies depends on factors specific to the nature of products and production in a company as well as illustrated the strategies and their usability in case companies that had different natures of products and production. In addition, we gave recommendations for these companies on implementing a strategy to improve the company performance. Basically, the feasibility of the strategies in a company depends also on various other company specific factors than the nature of products and production in a company. These factors can vary sporadically or systematically between companies.Item Chance, Strategy, and Change: The Structure of Contingency in the Evolution of the Nokia Corporation, 1986–2015(Academy of Management, 2023-12-18) Aspara, Jaakko; Lamberg, Juha-Antti; Sihvonen, Antti; Tikkanen, Henrikki; Department of MarketingEarlier research has analyzed how chance influences strategic choices, yet it has largely ignored the processes that chance events generate. We address this issue by analyzing how chance events and political dynamics coproduce strategic change. We study the history of the Nokia Corporation between 1986 and 2015, focusing on the event structures that led to the divestment of core businesses on two separate occasions. Our findings show how chance events and resulting political dynamics generate periods of collective indeterminacy where multiple, competing strategic scenarios become apparent. These emerge either directly from chance events or indirectly from political dynamics as coalitions translate chance events into their preferred scenarios. The search for a new strategic direction then ensues through the emergence and elimination of alternative scenarios until an acceptable scenario is converged upon, ending the period of collective indeterminacy.Item Customer journey analyses in digital media: exploring the impact of cross-media exposure on customers' purchase decisions(Emerald, 2020-06) Klein, Jan F.; Zhang, Yuchi; Falk, Tomas; Aspara, Jaakko; Luo, Xueming; Department of Marketing; Santa Clara University; Temple University; Tilburg University; Hanken School of EconomicsPurpose: In the age of digital media, customers have access to vast digital information sources, within and outside a company's direct control. Yet managers lack a metric to capture customers' cross-media exposure and its ramifications for individual customer journeys. To solve this issue, this article introduces media entropy as a new metric for assessing cross-media exposure on the individual customer level and illustrates its effect on consumers' purchase decisions. Design/methodology/approach: Building on information and signalling theory, this study proposes the entropy of company-controlled and peer-driven media sources as a measure of cross-media exposure. A probit model analyses individual-level customer journey data across more than 25,000 digital and traditional media touchpoints. Findings: Cross-media exposure, measured as the entropy of information sources in a customer journey, drives purchase decisions. The positive effect is particularly pronounced for (1) digital (online) versus traditional (offline) media environments, (2) customers who currently do not own the brand and (3) brands that customers perceive as weak. Practical implications: The proposed metric of cross-media exposure can help managers understand customers' information structures in pre-purchase phases. Assessing the consequences of customers' cross-media exposure is especially relevant for service companies that seek to support customers' information search efforts. Marketing agencies, consultancies and platform providers also need actionable customer journey metrics, particularly in early stages of the journey. Originality/value: Service managers and marketers can integrate the media entropy metric into their marketing dashboards and use it to steer their investments in different media types. Researchers can include the metric in empirical models to explore customers' omni-channel journeys.Item The Dilemma of Service Productivity and Service Innovation: An Empirical Exploration in Financial Services(2018-05-01) Aspara, Jaakko; Klein, Jan F.; Luo, Xueming; Tikkanen, Henrikki; Department of Marketing; Temple University; Hanken School of Economics; Tilburg UniversityWe conduct a systematic exploratory investigation of the effects of firms’ existing service productivity on the success of their new service innovations. Although previous research extensively addresses service productivity and service innovation, this is the first empirical study that bridges the gap between these two research streams and examines the links between the two concepts. Based on a comprehensive data set of new service introductions in a financial services market over a 14-year period, we empirically explore the relationship between a firm’s existing service productivity and the firm’s success in introducing new services to the market. The results unveil a fundamental service productivity-service innovation dilemma: Being productive in existing services increases a firm’s willingness to innovate new services proactively but decreases the firm’s capabilities of bringing these services to the market successfully. We provide specific insights into the mechanism underlying the complex relationship between a firm’s productivity in existing services, its innovation proactivity, and its service innovation success. For managers, we not only unpack and elucidate this dilemma but also demonstrate that a focused customer scope and growth market conditions may enable firms to mitigate the dilemma and successfully pursue service productivity and service innovation simultaneously.Item Emergence and translations of management interests in corporate branding in the Finnish pulp and paper corporations : a study with an actor-network theory approach(Helsinki School of Economics, 2007) Aspara, Jaakko; Kauppakorkeakoulu; School of Business; Tikkanen, Henrikki, professorThe riddle of this Thesis is: How come the management of the Finnish pulp and paper (P&P) corporations became interested in corporate branding around the year 2000? By the Finnish P&P corporations, I refer particularly to the three large P&P corporations based in Finland in 2005: UPM-Kymmene, Stora Enso, and M-Real. By the management, I refer to managers of these corporations including the top managers, i.e. CEOs and executive board members, and even the members of the Boards of Directors. To marketing and branding research, the riddle concerning these P&P corporations, typical business-to-business (B2B) companies, is intriguing and even involves some paradoxes. First, if corporate branding is considered to relate to marketing to customers – as branding usually is – there is some paradoxical nature in the question why the management of B2B companies would become interested in corporate branding. On the one hand, it is a commonly held view that managers of B2B companies are usually not very interested in “branding”. So, why would the management of B2B companies become interested in “corporate branding”? On the other hand, managers of B2B companies have, arguably, always been interested in their companies’ reputation or image as suppliers. Since “corporate brand” appears fairly synonymous to “company reputation/image”, and if B2B companies have assumingly always been interested in that, why would the management of B2B companies suddenly become interested in “corporate branding”? Second, it can be recognized that ever since “corporate branding” was first explicitly discussed by researchers, corporate branding has been understood as being about managing and creating positive images of the company – not only in the minds of the customers, but in the minds of other stakeholders of the company, too. However, it seems unlikely that the managers of any company would become interested in “corporate branding” in order to e.g. make “all stakeholders hold a positive image of the company” in a vague and all-embracing way. Rather, it is likely that they become interested in certain management practices of corporate branding, as these are considered to serve certain specific interests related to certain stakeholders. Noting that the managers of the P&P corporations studied themselves seemed to largely consider the interest in corporate branding as having emerged inevitably, as a “natural continuance” of longer-term developments related to certain aspects, I set out to study how the management interest in corporate branding emerged in relation to those longer-term developments. The aspects were (1) shareholders, shareholder value, and share price; (2) differentiation in the market; (3) the selling of own products; (4) international expansion; and (5) environmental responsibility issues. The managers’ suggestions that the interest in corporate branding had, in a way, self-evidently emerged from developments related to these aspects made me think of them as taken-for-granted in relation to the interest in corporate branding. Further noting that the managers themselves seemed to consider the interest in corporate branding as having emerged particularly in relation to mergers and acquisitions (M&As) around the year 2000, I set out to study the emergence of the management interests also in relation to them. In studying the emergence of the management interest in corporate branding, I used an actor-network theory (ANT) approach. First of all, studying the riddle in relation to the takenfor- granted aspects corresponded to ANT, which emphasizes that researchers should start studying things from such points on where they were not yet taken for granted, or “blackboxed”. I chose to start from the situation concerning the Finnish P&P corporations in the early 1980s, when the aspects were less taken for granted. Also, I followed a general ANT tenet of “actors themselves make everything” in looking into what the practices of corporate branding were that the management of the Finnish P&P corporations became mainly interested in, and how they became interested in those practices. So, I abstained from defining myself what corporate branding would be in the case of the Finnish P&P corporations and their management, from interpreting certain management practices as corporate branding, and from arguing for certain benefits resulting from the interest in them. ANT called for me to trace and describe local and contingent histories of orderings whereby the management of the individual companies, the Finnish P&P corporations, had become interested in certain management practices of corporate branding. I based my ANT Description on interviews of managers and executives of the three major Finnish P&P corporations, of persons closely interacting with them, and of persons representing various other actors. The interviews, conducted during the year 2005, totalled 67 in number. Moreover, the Description was based on extensive source material and literature produced by the P&P corporations themselves and by third parties. All in all, the Description resulting from the use of an ANT approach helps to see how the concept of corporate branding did not merely diffuse as ready-made to the P&P corporations or due to certain structural forces. It helps to see how corporate branding got (socially) constructed or translated in the corporations, and especially: how the interest in corporate branding emerged in a historical process in relation to the black-boxing of certain aspects and how it ultimately emerged at certain moments in the histories of the companies – around the year 2000 and, further, at the specific instances of M&As around that time. Moreover, the Description helps to see how the management interest in corporate branding ultimately emerged not only in a temporal moment or simply as a natural continuity or a culmination of some developments – e.g. of those related to the taken-for-granted aspects. It shows how the interest emerged also in an interstice and place of confrontation, through some play of dominations and struggle of forces. It helps to see how the emergence of the interest in corporate branding was about a reversal of a relationship of forces, by showing how different managers came to have various interests in their world-mastering efforts but became themselves eventually somewhat mastered by corporate branding (and certain managers). It helps to see how a somewhat more unified management subject – with a common interest in corporate branding – got constructed, as common management practices of corporate branding would serve and translate the different interests of different managers. Finally, the Description helps to see how the power of certain managers and actors grew while certain management interests held, particularly, by certain other managers were suppressed or “Othered”. Although the whole ANT Description can be seen as serving to solve the riddle of how come the management of the Finnish P&P corporations became interested in corporate branding around the year 2000, I had as my research objective to make further, more concise findings and conclusions concerning the riddle of the study on the basis of the Description. This was mainly because I aimed to contribute primarily to marketing and branding research, which can be considered to be inclined towards the realist paradigm, pursuing fairly concise findings to specific research questions. Particularly, I asked (1) what were the main (immediate) management interests in/behind corporate branding in the Finnish P&P corporations?; (2) what were the management practices of corporate branding in which the management of the Finnish P&P corporations mainly became interested?; and (3) to what management practices of corporate branding were the (immediate) management interests in corporate branding “translated” in the Finnish P&P corporations? Furthermore, according to ANT authors’ interest in “Otherness”, I asked: (4) what management interests were Othered by the management practices of corporate branding in the Finnish P&P corporations? Finally, to summarize the historical developments, I also asked what “preconditions”, concerning the longer-term developments related to the taken-for-granted aspects, as well as the M&As around the year 2000, there were for corporate branding and how the management interests in corporate branding were related to them. As concise Findings of the Thesis, I summarize the preconditions for the management interest in corporate branding, the (immediate) management interests in/behind corporate branding, the management practices in which the management became interested in corporate branding, the translations of the management interests to the management practices, and the management interests potentially Othered by the management practices. Contributing to marketing and branding research, when it comes to management practices of corporate branding, I conclude that the management became integrally interested in various management practices which can be considered to relate to: (1) managing the brand hierarchy of the brand portfolio, (2) having corporate name dominance in association with product brands and units of the corporation, and (3) defining and communicating aspirational brand identity/image values. When it comes to the management interests in/behind corporate branding, I conclude that they concerned not only the management of relationships to customers but also the management of relationships to investors and investment analysts, of internal relationships to and between the corporation’s own employees and managers, and of relationships to potential employees. At large, corporate branding was also about marketing the corporation to investors and investment analysts and current and potential employees, not only to customers. In corporate branding, the management of relationships to customers, investors and analysts, to and between the company’s own employees and managers, and to potential employees became intertwined. Concerning marketing to investors and analysts, there were interests in increasing investor awareness of the corporation as a paper and board company, as well as in emphasizing the corporation’s brands, communicating a clear and focused portfolio of core products and businesses, and signalling renewal to analysts and investors. Concerning marketing to own employees and managers, there were interests in having employees identify themselves with and be proud of the corporation; committing managers to corporate strategies and goals; and having employees adopt a way of working with certain attitude, such as a proactive customerhelping attitude and environmentally and socially responsible attitude. Concerning marketing to potential employees, there was an interest in increasing their awareness of the corporation as an employer. Concerning marketing to customers, the interests in long-term marketing, in particular, were strong, e.g. having customers perceive, consider the attractiveness of, and demand new kinds of offerings by the corporation, which would de-emphasize individual products and emphasize the corporation’s whole product range, supply reliability, services, and solutions. At the same time, interests in short-term marketing and sales, as well as even segmentation, were potentially Othered. At a more general level, I conclude that corporate branding in the Finnish P&P corporations is an instance of employing strategic corporate management practices where relationships to various stakeholders – not only e.g. customers – are managed simultaneously. Furthermore, I see corporate branding as an instance of marketing the corporation not only to customers but simultaneously to various stakeholders, including, for example, investors and analysts, and current and potential employees. I encourage managers to develop, experiment with, and implement more such strategies – with “corporate tenaciousness” and by providing right incentives to managers of different levels. When it comes to secondary contributions, contributing to general management and organization research concerning management power relations, I conclude that in corporate branding, the power of corporate communications and corporate marketing managers grew in managing day-to-day business with customers and in managing relationships to investors and internal relationships to and between employees and managers. The corporate communications and corporate marketing managers increased their influence, control, and power, reducing the power of e.g. mills, divisions, sales offices and their managers, as well as human resources managers. Moreover, corporate marketing and corporate communication managers largely combined their forces in speaking for corporate branding. Concerning the adoption of administrative innovations or fashionable management concepts/techniques, I conclude that their adoption in individual companies may occur in a matrix. This notion of a matrix stems from: (1) various individual management interests of different managers being served by a certain new individual management practice; (2) a certain individual management interest of certain managers being served by various new individual management practices, and (3) the management interests served by the new management practices being stronger than certain management interests Othered by the management practices. As an additional contribution, I conclude that one management practice of corporate branding in the Finnish P&P corporations, i.e. focusing promotion on one brand per product, was an instance of “decoupling”. Finally, as an additional contribution to Finnish P&P industry research, I conclude that the management interest in corporate branding related to the recognition of increasing importance of marketing, communication, and image-building; the urge to attract and satisfy investors and investment analysts; and the recognition of the increasing importance of motivating and attracting employeesItem For What It's Worth - Understanding Value Creation in Architectural Practice(2010) Grotenfelt, Daniela; Aspara, Jaakko; Arkkitehtuurin laitos; Insinööritieteiden korkeakoulu; School of Engineering; Siikala, Antti-MattiThe present situation of architecture is confused and puzzling and there is a clear dissatisfaction among architects, their clients and co-operators. The role of architects in the construction industry has changed drastically in the last decades and the responsibilities in projects are diminishing as new professionals (e.g. developer consultants) have taken over what was previously considered architects tasks. The general notion is that the appreciation towards the architect's work, among both the construction industry and the public at large, has diminished and as a result architect's receive lower fees for their work. The focus of the thesis has grown out of the concrete problems an architect encounters in his or her everyday practice. There is a need for a healthier and more successful approach towards the practice. Architects and clients alike should attain. A better and wider understanding of the practice, the opportunities it offers and what the professional competence constitutes. Architects are fairly knowledgeable about value in architecture and the products we create for our customers. The market economy around us however demands a customer-oriented approach, a focus on service, on added value and a focus on the customer's needs, wants and expectations. It calls for business-mindedness among architects, an understanding of business management, marketing and leadership, which is still widely seen as a "no-go". The only way forward however is to know how to convince the customer, without whom our designs would never, is realized. We need to learn how to sell, to understand the customer objectives and understand how we can meet them. In a way it is about helping our clients and the construction industry to understand and believe in the superior value of our offering or the architecture. This thesis approaches these challenges with tools and methods familiar from marketing and value theory. It introduces the current situation, possible improvements, and sheds light on the opportunities architects have and could have in the present construction industry. The study focuses on the business-to-business market partly because it poses the biggest demand for change in the practice and partly because the business market is the largest and most important source of cash flow for architectural firms. The thesis does not solve the problems or present exact tools and methods on how to create and deliver value in architectural practice. Neither is it a textbook on architecture, entrepreneurship, marketing or any other subject. It is about the necessary mindset of the contemporary architect; ways of thinking, attitudes, skills and capabilities in identifying and resolving complex issues within unique client situations. It is about providing a new perspective on today's architectural practice.Item The future of banking services(Espoo: Aalto University, 2012) Aspara, Jaakko; Rajala, Risto; Tuunainen, Virpi Kristiina; Aalto Service Factory; School of Business; KauppakorkeakouluItem The impact of Janus fit brand extensions on perceived brand innovativeness(Elsevier Inc., 2024-06) Falana, Wuraola Oluwabukola; Aspara, Jaakko; Frösén, Johanna; Department of Marketing; Hanken School of EconomicsThis research addresses “Janus fit” brand extensions: extensions that are perceived to have both “fitting” and “unfitting” associations vis-a-vis the parent brand. One pre-experiment and three main experiments show that when a brand introduces a Janus fit brand extension, it is perceived to be more innovative than when it introduces either a traditional high fit extension or a low fit extension. The effects are mediated by surprise feelings. Specifically, the high brand innovativeness ratings obtained by the Janus fit extensions are explained by the fact that they elicit moderately high surprise feelings in consumers, instead of low surprise feelings (as high fit extensions) or excessively high surprise feelings (as low fit extensions). The Janus fit extensions can also be seen to evoke a “Eureka surprise experience”: an initial feeling of surprise, followed by a sudden realization that the brand extension after all makes sense for the brand in question.Item Magazine editors' roles in diffusion of new ideas(2004) Aspara, Jaakko; Mettovaara, Janne; Tuotantotalouden osasto; Teknillinen korkeakoulu; Helsinki University of Technology; Tikkanen, HenrikkiIn this thesis, new ideas are defined to comprise new consumption objects of many kinds, such as new products, services, experiences, and even lifestyles. The thesis begins with a review of existing theories related to culture production systems, mass media, consumer search, interpersonal influence, consumer market influencers, and diffusion of innovations, which are synthesized in a model about magazine editors' roles in diffusion of new ideas. The research problem is defined as: What is magazine editors' acting in roles of cultural gatekeepers and consumer market influencers like, when it comes to diffusion of new ideas? Ten propositions are given. Four research objectives are: (1) to gather evidence regarding the propositions, (2) to develop further propositions, (3) to illustrate the theoretical model with empirical instances, and (4) to provide a basis for conclusions with regard to using magazine editors in learning about new ideas and anticipating their diffusion. The basic research strategy was case study and three fairly new ideas were selected as cases. A few Finnish magazines had written about each new idea and thus got involved in their diffusion. Twelve in-depth interviews were conducted in six magazines with persons who had written the stories about the new ideas, as well as with the editors-in-chief of the magazines. In addition, complementary quantitative data were collected from the interviewees with a questionnaire. When it comes to their role as cultural gatekeepers, it was found that magazine editors receive a large amount of information about new ideas. From the information they select and process what is given exposure and thus disseminated to consumers. What editors select for exposure is influenced by factors such as their evaluations of what will interest and serve their readers; their own interests and likings; their interaction with colleagues; their perceptions of the content of other magazines, of how consumers' levels of awareness and adoption of new ideas are developing, and of producers' responses to other producers' new ideas; the nature of their relationships with the producers; and production-related aspects of making a magazine. When it comes to their role as consumer market influencers, it was found that magazine editors usually act as opinion leaders within their domains of specialization and also demonstrate fairly high level of general market mavenism. However, it was also found that they are not necessarily very strong adopters or communicative adopters. A managerial implication of the results is that magazine editors can be recognized as a source of valuable information about new ideas. A consumer trend researcher can use the information in finding out what kinds of new ideas are emerging and in anticipating how they will diffuse among consumers, with agility and good cost-benefit ratio of research. Another implication is that persons with extensive experience of magazine editor work can be recognized as potentially very competent prospects for an R&D organization to recruit to work on identifying and evaluating new ideas, as consumer trend researchers.Item Messut kuluttajia osallistavan markkinakulttuurin fasilitaattorina: messukokemuksen rakentuminen Venemessuilla(Helsinki: Helsingin kauppakorkeakoulu, 2008) Virkkula, Susanna; Ahola, Eeva-Katri; Moisander, Johanna; Aspara, Jaakko; Tikkanen, Henrikki; School of Business; KauppakorkeakouluItem Revisiting the paradox of whether retail buyers behave more like consumers or industrial purchasers: the case of price discounts(SPRINGER, 2022-09) Isojärvi, Jyrki; Aspara, Jaakko; Movarrei, Reza; Department of Information and Service Management; Aalto University Executive Education; Hanken School of EconomicsA long-lasting debate in marketing literature is whether retail buyers who purchase consumer products behave like consumers or like industrial purchasing managers. We address this question empirically, by focusing on retail buyers’ behavioral responses to price discounts. Cooperating with a national wholesaler of drugstore products, we conduct a field experiment on the wholesaler’s product ordering platform. We expose the retail buyers (n = 780) to a new product offer that either includes a price discount or not. Simultaneously, we vary peripheral cues included in the offer (package color and organic claim). The results support the “industrial buyer resemblance” argument: The price discount decreases the retail buyers’ purchase likelihood, and there is no significant interaction effect between the price discount and the peripheral cues. An additional qualitative study reveals that retail buyers speculate on the motivations behind the price discount, which elicits suspicions about the product’s quality and resale potential.Item Strategian tutkimus non profit -organisaation varainkeruun mahdollistamiseksi lahjoitustoiminnan kautta(2015-05-12) Tarvainen, Tuomo; Aspara, Jaakko; Kemian tekniikan korkeakoulu; Parvinen, PetriSuomalaisessa hyväntekeväisyyskulttuurissa on ollut menestyviä hyväntekeväisyysorganisaatioita vuosikymmeniä. Synnytys- ja naistentautiopin tutkimussäätiö tilasi tämän tutkimuksen rakentaakseen lahjoitustoiminnan avulla toimivan varainkeruuhankkeen tukemaan ja kehittämään tutkimus- ja koulutustoimintaansa. Tässä työssä tutkitaan strategiaa varainkeruun mahdollistamiseksi lahjoitustoiminnan kautta suomalaiselle terveydenhuoltoalan yleishyödylliselle säätiölle. Säätiöllä on vuosikymmenien toimintahistoria Suomessa, ja tässä työssä pyritään löytämään keinoja kaupallistaa toiminta varainkeruuta varten. Tutkimuksessa käydään läpi eri markkinoinnin teorioita, joiden avulla pyritään antamaan säätiölle toimintaehdotuksia varainkeruun mahdollistamiseksi. Tätä varten on teetetty pohjatiedoksi säätiön ja muille alan huippuasiantuntijoille kysely, jonka avulla on voitu selvittää strategiatyön lähtökohtia. Tutkimusosuudessa suoritettiin markkinatutkimus (100 kappaleen otos), jonka vastaukset kerättiin HYKS Kätilöopiston sairaalan potilailta kyselylomakkeiden avulla. Tuloksia tutkittiin pääasiassa varianssi- (ANOVA) ja korrelaatioanalyyseillä SPSS-ohjelmistolla. Näin pyrittiin saada selville lisätietoja lahjoitusmarkkinoista Suomessa säätiön toimialan näkökulmasta. Vastauksien analyysin avulla pystyttiin antamaan tilaajasäätiölle ehdotuksia strategian toteuttamiseksi. Aikaisempaa, vastaavaa tutkimusta ei Suomesta löytynyt, joten vertailuja aikaisempiin tutkimuksiin ei juuri voitu tehdä. Tämän markkinatutkimuksen perusteella muodostettiin säätiön varainkeruutoiminnalle segmentointi- ja brändistrategiaehdotukset. Todettiin, että säätiön kannattaa laajentaa brändinsä tukemaan kahta suurta kokonaisuutta: perheiden terveyden tukemista ja naisten terveyden tukemista. Säätiön varainkeruutoiminnnan brändillä on suuri vaikutus lahjoittajan motivaatioon. Herkkä non profit -ala vahvistaa ilmiötä. Markkinaorientoituneisuuden keinoin varainkeruuorganisaation toiminta tulee olla hyvin suunniteltua ja tarjooman tulee olla kohdennettu tarkasti oikeisiin segmentteihin. Todettiin myös, että säätiöllä on hyvät mahdollisuudet onnistua varainkeruussa.Item Strategic marketing of value in global business-to-business markets to enhance existing customer relationships(2007) Väisänen, Jani; Aspara, Jaakko; Tuotantotalouden osasto; Teknillinen korkeakoulu; Helsinki University of Technology; Lamberg, Juha-AnttiDuring recent years the case company has experienced problems in introducing its new offering and new ways to provide value for its customers. With the new offering, the company's target is to enhance its existing customer relationships for greater revenues. Thus, the research problem of this study is "How can a manufacturing company enhance its existing customer relationships by selling the customers a value-innovative offering?" The research problem is divided into three research questions:. 1.How should a new value-innovative offering be introduced by and through a company's organization?. 2.Which factors affect the success of the introduction of a new value-innovative offering?. 3.Why companies can experience problems when introducing a value-innovative offering?. The research problem is approached by using the multiple case study method. In the literature review relevant literature is presented and as a result of it a research framework is constructed. The framework is utilized throughout the case studies to point out the areas which are relevant for this study. In the empirical part of this study four case studies are carried out. Based on the findings of the case studies, the company is encouraged to take four major actions. The company should (1) involve sales managers in the implementation, (2) reshape its implementation strategy, (3) improve its prospecting process and (4) fine tune its sales strategy. The study suggests that more research is needed in areas related to customer relationships. First there should be a model for quantification of the value of a customer relationship. Second it should be studied how business units could be controlled so that corporate level goals are realized. Third, the utilization of key account managers to enhance customer relationships should be studied. Fourth, the provider's ways to enhance customer's adoption of new products should be explored.Item Transparent structured products for retail investors(Elsevier Science B.V., 2022-10) Kallio, Markku; Halme, Merja; Hardoroudi, Nasim Dehghan; Aspara, Jaakko; Department of Information and Service ManagementStructured investment products (SPs) are derivative securities whose return is contingent on the return of their underlying assets, such as a certain stock market index. SPs have been criticized for being complex and costly on the inside, while attracting retail investors with emotionally appealing promises, on the surface, to provide tempting yields and protection for the capital invested. To circumvent such criticism, we consider transparent SPs (TSPs), which simply offer a lower and upper limit on annual return (after costs and fees) as well a transparent rule defining the return based on the return of the underlying asset. We study TSPs using both empirical and theoretical approaches. An empirical survey of real investors with best-worst scaling as well as theoretical analyses based on utility theory and multi-stage stochastic programming (MSSP) show that moderately priced TSPs are competitive in comparison with other investment products, such as index funds. Furthermore, retail investors actually exhibit substantial preference for TSPs with partial capital guarantees, over and above SPs with the superficially tempting, full capital guarantees. A theoretical, MSSP-based analysis similarly confirms that including TSPs in an investment portfolio can yield substantial gains in certainty equivalent annual return. The results further indicate that perceived gains from TSPs are sensitive to costs, market imperfections, and interest rates, as well as private preferences and stock market expectations of retail investors. This demonstrates how MSSP can be applied to financial engineering for successful implementation of TSPs in future financial markets.Item What Gets Measured Gets Done : Can Self-Tracking Technologies Enhance Advice Compliance?(SAGE PUBLICATIONS, 2020-08-01) Wittkowski, Kristina; Klein, Jan F.; Falk, Tomas; Schepers, Jeroen J.L.; Aspara, Jaakko; Bergner, Kai N.; Department of Marketing; Eindhoven University of Technology; GfK Group; Tilburg University; Hanken School of EconomicsSelf-tracking technologies (STTs) in the form of smart devices and mobile applications enable consumers to monitor, analyze, and interpret personal performance data on health and physical or financial well-being. As a result of self-tracking, consumers are not only expected to check their personal performance more actively but also to implement service professionals’ advice to improve their well-being more accurately. Despite the growing popularity of STTs, empirical evidence on the extent to which STT use enhances advice compliance remains scant. A field experiment with 538 participants in a health-care setting suggests that STT use does not increase advice compliance per se. Rather, the effectiveness of STTs depends on consumers’ self-efficacy. For consumers low in self-efficacy, STT use can even undermine advice compliance. A lab experiment with 831 participants replicates and generalizes the findings to a nonmedical professional service (i.e., fitness training). As assessments of self-efficacy might be difficult in practice, service providers in health care can use consumers’ body mass index as an easy-to-measure proxy to predict STT effectiveness. Finally, the lab experiment also identifies perceived empowerment and personalization as psychological mechanisms mediating the influence of STT use on advice compliance.Item Where product design meets investor behavior : how do individual investors' evaluations of companies' product design influence their investment decisions?(University of Art and Design, 2009) Aspara, Jaakko; Muotoilun laitos; Department of Design; Taiteiden ja suunnittelun korkeakoulu; School of Arts, Design and Architecture; Koskinen, IlpoDesign management research has increasingly advocated strategic perspectives to product design. However, one important, strategic business aspect has been rather completely ignored in extant research. That is, the role and behavior of investors in respect to a company’s product design. The purpose of this dissertation is to address this research gap by examining, in particular, the following research question: How do investors’ subjective perceptions and evaluations of a company’s product design influence their investment decisions towards the company’s stock? My theory and hypothesis development concerning the underlying psychological and behavioral mechanisms are based on (social) psychological theories of personal relevance and involvement, identification and self-expression, and affect – as related to products and product design. The theory development is also supported by recent notions from behavioral finance research on investor behavior. The focus is on individual/ private investors, who actively invest in the stock market (rather than institutional or professional investors). In order to test a set of hypotheses developed, I conducted three studies by gathering quantitative (survey) data on investors who are active investors in the Finnish stock market. Two of the studies involved a correlational survey dataset (n approx.300), analyzed with causal (path) modeling. The third study was a conventional randomized experiment (n approx.190). As to the results of the dissertation, my theoretical analysis and empirical evidence reveal two important, product design -related factors that influence investors’ willingness and decisions to invest in companies’ stocks. The first factor is (1) the personal relevance or importance that an investor attaches to “life domains” that the company’s products represent or support. Such life domains can be various activities or areas of interests (e.g., road traveling, gardening, sport) – or more abstract themes or ideas (e.g., healthcare, mobility, environment-protection). The second factor is (2) the investor’s overall affect or liking for a company’s product design. This factor reflects the degree to which the investor perceives the company’s products to be pleasant, attractive, good, and likeable overall. The results show, first of all, how these two product design -related factors have positive effect on an investor’s optimism about the company’s financial returns and negative effect on the consideration that he/she gives to alternative investment targets. Moreover, the results suggest that the two factors also contribute to investors’ investment decisions beyond the financial returns expected from companies. Indeed, the two product design factors are found to have positive effect on investors’ determination to invest in the focal company rather than in other companies that have approximately similar expected financial returns. And even further: the factors are found to elicit preparedness to invest in the company with lower financial returns expected from the company than from other companies (i.e., by easing up on financial return requirements on the company). In sum, the findings suggest that the more personally relevant a company’s product domain is to an investor – and/or the more overall liking the investor has for the company’s product design – the greater is the investor’s willingness to invest in the company. The results considerably extend the design management notion of the strategic benefits that a company can enjoy from designing pleasurable and personally meaningful products – especially by showing that product design will not only create strategic distinction for the company in the product markets, but also in the stock markets. In so doing, the present findings have implications for (design) management practice when it comes to attracting investments (especially from investors who are appealed by the company’s product design) as well as creating hybrid business models (that take into account, already at the outset, certain investors’ potential fondness of the company’s current or future product design).