Browsing by Author "Salmi, Asta, professor"
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- Actors and institutions in the emergence of a new field : a study of the cholesterol-lowering functional foods market
School of Business | Doctoral dissertation (article-based)(2007) Ritvala, TiinaRapid scientific and technological progress has resulted in the blurring of traditional industry boundaries and in the emergence of new product markets and broader organisational fields. Despite recent scholarly interest in field emergence, there is still little knowledge on how new fields emerge at the intersection of established industries and on the multi-local nature of the phenomenon. The purpose of this study is to increase the understanding of the interaction between actors and institutions in field emergence at the intersection of established industries and spatial scales ranging from local to global. This will be accomplished by building mainly on the literature on institutional entrepreneurship and importing conceptual ideas from social network theory and international business research. The main research question this study aims to answer is “How do new fields emerge from the interaction between actors and institutions at the intersection of established industries and spatial scales?” The study explores the topic through the emergence of the cholesterol-lowering functional foods market during the last two decades. Cholesterol-lowering functional foods represent a science-based field between the food and pharmaceutical industries. The societal relevance of studying functional foods is high as their medicine-like effects challenge conventional institutions regarding regulation, norms and consumer awareness of the relationship between food and health. The primary source of data is 32 semi-structured in-depth interviews carried out in Finland and the U.S. between late 2004 and April 2007. The interviewees consist of managers of MNCs and smaller startups, top scientists in the field, national public health authorities and regulative authorities. Further, a limited amount of participant observation data and a collection of secondary data such as trade journals and patent data is used. Finally, a comparative data set on nanotechnology was used in two co-authored essays on field emergence. This doctoral thesis is divided into two parts. The summary part concentrates on the theoretical and methodological foundations, while the second part consists of four essays, each exploring field emergence through different conceptual lenses. In Essay 1 we investigate the role of micro level activities induced by scientists in the emergence of a spatial cluster. The key contribution of the essay is an analytical division of the various roles played by scientists in cluster formation from the perspective of institutional change. In Essay 2, we depict how depending on their network positions, specific individuals and organisations may act as brokers that span structural holes between previously unconnected industries and disciplines, and hence trigger the emergence of new cross-industry and cross-disciplinary networks and influence the emerging institutions of a new field. The contribution of the essay is to combine social network theory and the literature on institutional entrepreneurship. In Essay 3, we discuss how institutional entrepreneurs in science-based fields mediate between globally circulating discourses and local institutions and competencies. The contribution of the essay is to investigate agency across spatial scales in order to address the central weakness of the institutional entrepreneurship approach, namely that of the concentration on geographically distinct and delimited areas. In Essay 4, I examine the cross-border transferability of the cholesterol-lowering functional foods concept. By building on neoinstitutional theory and on the recent advancement in international business research, I propose a novel concept of industry institutional distance, which is able to consider industry-specific dynamics in emerging fields. In summary, this research deepens the existing understanding on field emergence as a multi-local phenomenon. The results of this thesis indicate the fundamental importance of individual and organisational agency in field emergence. Scientists, enabled by their network position, knowledge and legitimacy, were found to transmit knowledge and practices between disciplines, established industries, and spatial scales. Successful field emergence further necessitates the collective mobilisation of a wide group of field participants and the receptiveness of the institutional environment. The results suggest that the ability to see beyond the boundaries of disciplines and industries and to operate in different institutional environments is crucial in field emergence and in building new product markets. The thesis concludes with a model of field emergence at the intersection of industries, disciplines and spatial scales demonstrating the complexities of the emergence of a new science-based field - Company engagement with nongovernmental organizations from a corporate responsibility perspective
School of Business | Doctoral dissertation (article-based)(2009) Kourula, ArnoOrganizations from a Corporate Responsibility Perspective Purpose – This doctoral dissertation examines the relationship between corporations and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). The key research question of the thesis is the following: Why and how do companies engage with nongovernmental organizations to demonstrate corporate responsibility in different institutional contexts? The most important motives for engaging with NGOs include gaining legitimacy and knowledge, managing risk, improving reputation and increasing operational efficiency. The thesis argues that companies need to understand NGO relations in a more comprehensive and strategic way, adopt a portfolio model to evaluate NGO engagement forms and strategies, improve the assessment of business and societal outcomes of engagement as well as understand the effect of national institutional and civil society base issues on NGO engagement. Company-NGO engagement should not be seen as the primary concern of all companies in the management of operations or investment decisions, but especially large multinational companies have a lot to gain from improved stakeholder management and corporate responsibility programs. Theories and methods – The summary part and the four articles of the thesis are grounded in concepts and theories from four related and intertwined academic literatures: those of international business, business and society, management, and civil society. One of the articles is a literature review and the other three are based on single or multiple case study methodologies. The summary of the thesis and the three case studies emphasize the corporate responsibility perspective. Article summaries – The thesis includes four articles: A) a systematic literature review of 88 articles published in the academic fields of business and society, international business, and management analyzes the current state of research on the company-NGO interface (Kourula & Laasonen, forthcoming 2010); B) a cross-national case study of a forest products company examines the importance of institutional context on NGO-corporate relations (Kourula, forthcoming 2010); C) a multiple case study categorizes the engagement of companies with NGOs into three corporate responsibility actions – philanthropy, integration and innovation – and examines the business and societal outcomes of engagement (Kourula & Halme, 2008); D) a longitudinal multiple case study examines the socially responsible purchasing strategies, organizational forms and tools that retail companies adopt in response to stakeholder pressure (Haltsonen, Kourula & Salmi, 2007). Key contributions – The thesis has two main contributions: bringing geographic and institutional context to company-NGO engagement research and developing and refining corporate responsibility frameworks. More specifically, key theoretical developments of the thesis and articles are 1) building of a comprehensive framework of company-NGO engagement, 2) development of a new concept (civil society distance), 3) evaluation of a classification of company-NGO engagement strategies (sponsorship, dialogue and partnership), 4) refinement, adaptation and empirical examination of corporate responsibility models (an international CR model, a classification of CR types into philanthropy, integration and innovation and a categorization of socially responsible purchasing strategies), 5) a hypothesis regarding the business and societal outcomes of NGO engagement, and 6) the presentation of theoretical propositions related to company-NGO engagement. - Critical approaches to global organizational restructuring : discursive struggles over legitimation and resistance
School of Business | Doctoral dissertation (article-based)(2010) Erkama, NiinaOrganizational restructuring has become an incessant state in contemporary organizations. National borders are no longer a limit to shaping organizational structures. On the contrary, different nations embody a variety of resources the exploitation of which has been facilitated by globalization. Global organizational restructuring is often seen as a positive driving force for synergies, strategic development, competitive advantage, better shareholder value, overall effectiveness and the birth of new production sites. However, the social and human implications resulting from reductions, downsizing, layoffs and change of production sites have serious consequence for many organizational members and for many societies. Although, among organizational scholars, there is a general awareness of the controversial nature of organizational restructurings, there is a lack of studies that accommodate both the critical approach to restructurings, and the managerial perspectives to restructurings through the pressure of globalization. The goal of this thesis is to adapt both of these perspectives by studying the discursive construction of global organizational restructuring in the dynamic ideological and discursive struggles in an organization and in the media. More particularly, the focus is on how discourses and rhetorical tactics work for the legitimation and resistance of the restructuring. This perspective is interesting firstly, because the notion of legitimacy is central to any organization as a means to attain and retain the support of its constituents, and secondly because it helps us to understand the popularity of restructurings and the form that globalization has taken through restructurings. This research is based on a longitudinal case study in a restructuring organization (Volvo Bus Corporation) and data collected from the newspaper media concerning other restructuring cases (Wärtsilä Diesel, Flextronics, Perlos, Leaf Group, Foxconn, UPM and Nokia). This study presents the ‘circle of legitimation’ that is created through discursive processes in the socio-material context of organization, and argues that this circle partly explains why legitimation of organizational restructuring is difficult to question. It shows how resistance could arise from the same resources as legitimation, but that the existing discourses, subject positions of the actors, and historical resources that support legitimation, make it more difficult for resistance to break through. This thesis also increases understanding of the role and power of different organizational members and the media in legitimizing and resisting organizational restructurings through discursive processes. The research explores the encounter between dominant (global) and alternative (local) discourses, and the transformation of discourses and the forces behind organizational restructurings in the long run. The thesis argues that in order to understand globalization and organizational restructurings there is a need to study discursive and rhetorical strategies that are used in discursive struggles to legitimate and challenge related decisions. This thesis consists of four Essays and a summary section that precedes them. The summary section provides a conclusion from all of the four studies. In Essay 1 the rhetorical legitimation strategies in a restructuring organization are explored. The main contribution of this paper is the identification of five rhetorical legitimation strategies that support local and global discourses. The study is based on interviews and documentary material from Volvo Bus Corporation. Essay 2 is a longitudinal study about organizational discursive struggles following a unit shutdown and a broader restructuring plan of Volvo Bus Corporation. This paper shows how the discourse of globalization and discourse of local capitalism were employed to justify and challenge the restructuring plans. I argue that although resistant groups are rarely able to reverse restructuring decisions, resistance can influence the evolution of shared discoursal themes, identity construction, employed discursive resources, and formulation of organizational ideology. Therefore, resistance has an important role in working organizational discourses towards mutual understanding, and finding ways to challenge the discourse of globalization on the local organizational level. Essay 3 focusses on the discursive legitimation struggles in the media relating to organizational restructuring. This Essay distinguishes four discursive struggles with ten subgroups and shows how legitimation and delegitimation strategies work in the concrete media discourse regarding organizational restructurings. The study is based on newspaper material relating to unit shutdowns in Wärtsilä Diesel, Flextronics, Perlos, Leaf Group, Foxconn, and UPM. Finally, in Essay 4 the role of the media in the framing of concepts is explored. This Essay illustrates, through four discursive tactics of framing, how the concept of national ownership was framed by journalist in the case of Nokia, and how this framing was justified. Moreover, it shows the historical and discursive turn-around of a neo-liberal discourse in Finland. - The development and performance of international new ventures : links between networks, entrepreneurial orientation, and firm performance
School of Business | Doctoral dissertation (article-based)(2013) Sepulveda, Fabian L.International New Ventures (INVs) are firms that from inception view the world as their marketplace. They are an extreme case of rapidly internationalizing companies that from inception seek resources, sell products, and pursue competitive advantages in multiple countries. The firms are characterized by significant resource shortages for which they rely on their networks. Despite a growing amount of INV literature, many important research areas about INVs and their networks have been overlooked. This doctoral thesis is an investigation into three such areas. The first is a study of how INV networks change with resource accumulation and firm development. The second is an inquiry about services INVs, their EO, and their performance. The third concentrates on how INVs attract network partners and strategic network resources, and how this impacts firm performance. The articles making up this dissertation collectively study links between INV resources, network development, Entrepreneurial Orientation (EO), and firm performance. The principal argument of this thesis is as follows. The development and performance of INVs are inextricably linked to their networks. The firms go to their networks to gain varying levels of resources and support that ranges from simple resource shortage alleviation to the development of strategic advantages. The accumulation and development of resources prompts changes to INV networks and influence the firm's growth, attractiveness, and performance. INVs have a strong EO that influences their network management and is affected by the intangibility of their offerings. The best performing INVs are those who have a strong EO, actively manage networks to satisfy their evolving needs, acquire strategic network resources, surround themselves with the most prominent business partners, and develop strong network attractiveness. On these bases, each of the four articles in this thesis makes a contribution to the preceding argument. This dissertation is among the first to empirically show that network attractiveness mediates the impact of strategic network resources on INV performance. It also shows that INV network resources become increasingly strategic with firm growth and that such growth influences INV attractiveness. The thesis empirically builds on a handful of studies that extend the Resource Based View (RBV) to network resources in order to evaluate their "strategicness" and impact on performance. Separately, it provides novel findings that the intangibility of an INV's services influences EO, and that a strong EO drives INVs to manage networks in a calculative manner. It informs INV entrepreneurs not only to rely on their networks for resource shortages alleviation but also to secure increasingly strategic resources and build network attractiveness. - Essays on strategy, the firm and its boundaries
School of Business | Doctoral dissertation (article-based)(2013) Paukku, MarkusThis essay-based dissertation focuses on firm strategy and firm boundaries. The study addresses a clear research gap identified by scholars who note that the field of strategy lacks of a comprehensive theory of the firm – despite firms being the primary unit of interest. However, as the rich field of strategy is composed of many divergent generations of perspectives, each with their underlying assumptions, the study of boundaries requires a full treatment drawing on each lens. Thus, the thesis asks, what can strategy research tell us about firm boundaries, and, in doing so, tell us about strategy itself. Therefore, the thesis approaches and explores boundaries in strategy from the four distinct perspectives – the classical, processual, evolutionary and systemic strategy perspectives as defined by Whittington (2001). By conducting three longitudinal case studies of multiple firms and a vast literature study the thesis is in a position to comment on boundaries as they are addressed in strategy research. The dissertation consists of four standalone essays prefaced by an introductory chapter. The first section introduces and problematizes the concept of boundaries from the four strategy perspectives within which it is framed. Finally the overarching phenomenological philosophical underpinnings are discussed together with the methodological approaches. The second section presents the standalone essays each contributing towards the whole, independent of each other. The first essay, takes an evolutionary perspective to investigate a multiple case study of strategy in the face of external selection as firms respond to an emerging market. The second essay, takes a classical perspective, and follows a multinational corporation's (MNC) technology strategy as it forms dyadic alliances in an increasingly ecosystem based industry. The third essay with its processual perspective, analyzes MNCs' alliancing strategies as they emerge over time and are reflected in the firms' corporate international strategies. The fourth essay examines the systemic assumptions of the strategy field itself. The review of the literature finds that the management field is largely ill equipped for the study of outliers and idiosyncratic data outside the boundaries and perspectives of extant models. The study's explicit recognition of the diverse research traditions and assumptions allows for a holistic understanding of firm boundaries and strategy. Each standalone essay, together with the introductory chapter, offers suggestions for future research and managerial implications. Indeed, the different strategy perspectives adopted by scholars and managers alike shape the way we understand firms and their boundaries, both in theory and in practice. - Outcomes of learning through international joint ventures for local parent firms : evidence from Russia
School of Business | Doctoral dissertation (monograph)(2010) Jormanainen, IrinaIt has been long recognized that joint ventures (JVs) provide parent firms with an excellent opportunity for learning. This phenomenon is particularly interesting in transition economies, such as Russia, where local governments have promoted the establishment of JVs due to a belief that local firms can benefit from acquisition of foreign firms’ technological and managerial knowledge. However, the JV literature to date lacks empirical evidence of performance implications of learning through a JV for local parent firms in transition economies. Rather, it mainly concentrates on understanding learning outcomes at the JV level. Moreover, the comprehensive empirical tools allowing the full range of these implications to be captured are still underdeveloped. Thus, this thesis fills this gap and examines the performance implications for Russian firms of learning through Russian-Western manufacturing JVs. Furthermore, the study draws on insights from the innovation and strategy literature to develop comprehensive measurements of JV learning at the parent level and assess the influence of learning through JVs on the upgrading of technological and managerial capabilities of Russian parent firms, as well as on their modernization, restructuring and long-term competitiveness. The complex nature of the research issue and the practical obstacles associated with undertaking research in Russia has called for the development of a novel methodological design. Hence, mixed methods combining a pilot survey with a multiple case study approach have been used to acquire reliable and rich empirical evidence. The survey was implemented at the first stage of data collection and was followed by an in-depth investigation of three manufacturing Russian JV parent firms from the aircraft engine building, automotive and auto component sectors. The research found that, although upgrading took place in all functional areas of technological capabilities as well as managerial capabilities, Russian parent firms upgraded production process and investment capabilities to the largest extent, which is also perceived as the most important outcome from learning through JVs. Moreover, this upgrading permits the speeding up the process of modernization and strategic large-scale restructuring of Russian parent firms, and the achievement of sustainable competitive advantage within Russian and Commonwealth of Independent States markets. A further important finding of the study is that the beneficial application of JV knowledge in Russian parent firms is strongly inhibited by the presence of organizational inertia, rigid organizational structure and underdeveloped knowledge management mechanisms. Moreover, external factors associated with inefficient functioning of Russian System of Innovation that fail to support innovative activities of local firms seriously constrain the extent of positive outcomes from JV learning for Russian parent firms.