[diss] Perustieteiden korkeakoulu / SCI

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Adoption of strategic goals : exploring the success of strategy implementation through organizational activities
(Helsinki University of Technology, 2007-07-16) Aaltonen, Petri; Department of Industrial Engineering and Management; Tuotantotalouden osasto; Laboratory of Work Psychology and Leadership; Työpsykologian ja johtamisen laboratorio
This study is about the success of strategy implementation. Implementation, the conceptual counterpart of strategy formulation, has been regarded as an extremely challenging area in management practice. Still, strategy implementation has received remarkably less attention in the strategic management literature. The existing implementation frameworks are mostly normative and rather limited. On the other hand, the strategy as practice research agenda has emerged to study strategy on the micro level, as a social phenomenon. Practice researchers have introduced an activity-based view on strategy which is concerned with the day-to-day activities of organizational life which relate to strategic outcomes. Still, there is a clear need to know more about these strategic activities: what are they like, and how are they related to strategic outcomes. This study explores the success of strategy implementation in terms of organizational activities, by focusing on two questions: how are strategic goals realized through organizational activities and how are strategic activities related to the success of strategic goal's adoption? The research questions are addressed empirically in a multiple case study setting, in which qualitative data from 101 interviews plus rich supplementary archival data are generated and analyzed with a grounded theory approach. The analysis produces a general strategic activity categorization consisting of 25 activities under five main activity categories of determining, communicating, controlling, organizing, and interacting with the environment. The activities divide into existing and desired ones, which further divide into enhancing and novel ones. The analysis reveals that successful adoption of a strategic goal is related to the existence of so-called necessary strategic activities, a moderate set of desired activities that enhance the existing ones, and an extensive repertoire of novel desired activities. In addition, the scope of the strategic goal's origin and its coherence with other elements of strategy is proposed to contribute to the adoption of the strategic goal. The study contributes to the strategy as practice discussion by taking the activity-based view seriously and showing in detail what the strategic activities are like and how they are linked to the success of strategy implementation. The research reveals that strategy implementation is a much more complicated, creative, communicative, and external-oriented phenomenon than the extant literature presents. Furthermore, this study adds to the very limited empirical research on how strategies are adopted and enacted on all organizational levels. The practical implications of the study concern critical evaluation of existing and desired activity patterns, as well as understanding the significance of the strategic goal's origin and the coherence of the strategic whole.
Analysing the Performance of Meso-level Care Systems Including Long and Short Term Services
(Aalto University, 2022) Halminen, Olli; Linna, Miika, Prof., University of Eastern Finland, Finland; Tuotantotalouden laitos; Department of Industrial Engineering and Management; Perustieteiden korkeakoulu; School of Science; Lillrank, Paul, Prof., University, Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, Finland
Different managerial logics are relevant when managing individual care organisations, networks of interrelated care organisations, or national health systems. Individual care organisations and national health systems are often referred to as the micro and macro levels of management,whereas the networks of different organisations as the meso-level. The regional social and health care reform currently taking place in Finland will further accentuate the role of the meso-level of management. Meso-level social and health care systems have, however, received less attention inregistry-based studies than micro and macro level systems. Also, the literature on social and health care management has not focused at length on meso-level managerial issues. This thesis applies a systems approach on social and health care management to shed light on themanagerially relevant mechanisms on the meso-level. The goal of this thesis is to create ananalytical framework of meso-level social and health care system and test its applicability when analysing these systems with national routinely collected registry data. As an empirical context, this thesis studies the Finnish meso-level care system for older people.A nationally collected data set includes social and health care use of over 300,000 individuals aged over 74 years, in 65 Finnish municipalities, and is complemented with sociodemographic background information, including marital status and income level. The sub-studies included in this thesis analyse diverse meso-level system mechanisms that take place in the meso-level caresystem. The synthesis part of the thesis gathers findings from the sub-studies to create, via inductive analysis, meso-level logics of management. The results imply that the meso-level system's manager must find a balance between the costs of individual long-term states and the use of short-term services. Coordination between organisations and homogenous criteria for care can reduce the need for urgent care and the over- and under-carethat stem from discrepancy between long-term need for care and services provided. A meso-level framework enables comprehensive analysis of both the patient and system level service use distribution. This analysis is especially relevant for the care system of older people, which concerns diverse actors and time scales for care processes. The detailed definition, establishment, and management of the analytical framework must, however, be established in collaboration with all the actors within the system. Additionally, similar meso-level mechanisms might be transferable from the care management context of older people to mental health services and child welfare services, and the generalisability of the results and frameworks to these contexts of care should be considered.
Analytically Structured History Approach Using a Relational Database - Essays on the Historical Embeddedness of Strategy Formulation
(Aalto University, 2020) Cheung, Zeerim; Tuotantotalouden laitos; Department of Industrial Engineering and Management; Institute of Strategy and Venturing; Perustieteiden korkeakoulu; School of Science; Gustafsson, Robin, Assoc. Prof., Aalto University, Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, Finland
With this dissertation, I present our analytically structured history approach using a relational database to study the historical embeddedness of strategy formulation. For more than 25 years, there have been repeated calls for more history in strategy and management research. However, the methodological divide between history and social scientific management research has been identified as the main barrier preventing the wider use of historical methods in strategy research. Management scholars tend to view historical research as descriptive, lacking theory, and methodologically opaque, whereas historians view management research's pursuit of generalizable theoretical contributions as ahistorical. I argue that our approach fulfils both the need for theoretical contribution required by strategy research and historical veracity required by historical research, thus bridging the methodological divide between the two fields. Our approach that is built around a relational database with extensive digitized archival sets has multiple methodological strengths. First, methodological transparency is established by linking all the coding steps to the original archival sources. Second, coding can be done and evaluated in real-time among multiple researchers. Third, the always available and searchable database will be highly efficient once the relatively laborious processes of digitizing the sources and setting up the database are complete. The three essays of the dissertation represent studies that utilize our analytically structured history approach using a relational database. In Essay 1, we focus on the initial emergence of a new organizational form globally by studying the two first for-profit stock exchanges in the world. This essay demonstrates how our approach supports a detailed comparison between two cases through comprehensive incident coding. We found that peer interaction contributes to the emergence of new organizational forms, particularly when new organizational forms are introduced by established organizations through organizational renewal. In Essay 2, the focus is on how the top management team of Post and Telecom Finland formulate its political strategies towards specific ends under different regulatory environments during the transformation of the telecommunications industry from 1981 to 1998. We were able to analyze multiple regulatory issues over an extended period of time under very different regulatory conditions and examine how the top management team's strategies varied with different regulatory issues. In Essay 3, my colleagues and I traced how the top management team of the fully state-owned Telecom Finland evaluated international venture opportunities starting from the first international venture in 1987 to 1998, when Telecom Finland was partly privatized. Our methodological approach enabled us to track the process of international strategy formulation as it unfolded and avoid survival and retrospective biases.
Antecedents and Outcomes of Partnering Abroad with Local Firms: Evidence from Cross-border Venture Capital
(Aalto University, 2017) Liu, Yu; Maula, Markku, Prof., Aalto University, Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, Finland; Tuotantotalouden laitos; Department of Industrial Engineering and Management; Institute of Strategy and Venturing; Perustieteiden korkeakoulu; School of Science; Maula, Markku, Prof., Aalto University, Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, Finland
Partnering with local firms in foreign markets has been a central strategy for firms to survive and thrive in international markets, and understanding the ways in which firms benefit from the status derived from their prior ties is a central issue in organizational and management studies. However, little is known about specific factors influencing a firm's local partnering decisions in foreign markets and particularly whether status, as a form of network resource, may assist firms in identifying and obtaining valuable local partners and thereafter reaching a high level of performance in foreign markets. In this dissertation, I address this gap through three separate studies. In the first essay, I empirically examine how uncertainty and experience influence a firm's choice to partner with local firms using a global sample of venture capital (VC) investments made during 1984-2011. I find that while venture-level uncertainty increases the need for partnering with local VC firms, experience in managing venture-level uncertainty reduces this need. By contrast, country-level uncertainty reduces the feasibility of partnering with local firms and decreases the need for it, whereas prior experience in the host country facilitates such partnering as a result of greater local knowledge, networks, and legitimacy. In the second essay, I study the transferability of a firm's home country status to foreign markets by focusing on the status of that firm's first local partners. Using a global sample of cross-border VC investments during 1994-2011, I find that status transfers to new markets through the mediating role of high status common partners. In the third essay, I examine how status at global and local levels affect firm performance in foreign markets differently and the contingencies of these performance effects related to a firm's position in the value chain and its focus on high technology ventures. Using an event history analysis of exit performance in cross-border VC investments in a global sample during 1996-2016, I find that global status lacks a significant performance effect but that local status has a positive performance effect in foreign markets, which is amplified in the upstream position of a value chain and weakened in high technology investments. This dissertation contributes to the literature on tie formation in interorganizational networks from the strategic needs perspective and from the social structural perspective. Moreover, it contributes to the international business literature on partnering with local firms and to the organizational status literature on both the transferability of status across social settings and the various advantages of status derived from embeddedness in different contexts. This dissertation also contributes to the extant literature on cross-border VC by investigating foreign VC firms' syndication behavior, interfirm networks, and performance in cross-border investments.
Awareness, institutional entrepreneurship, and contradictions in emerging technological fields
(Aalto-yliopiston teknillinen korkeakoulu, 2010) Gustafsson, Robin; Autio, Erkko, Prof.; Tuotantotalouden laitos; Department of Industrial Engineering and Management; Aalto-yliopiston teknillinen korkeakoulu; Maula, Markku, Prof.; Autio, Erkko, Prof.
Despite extensive research on the emergence of technological fields and industries, a comprehensive theoretical explanation of what enables or inhibits the emergence of these fields has yet to be developed. To this extent, previous research has been unable to offer satisfactory theoretical explanations of the emergence and socio-cognitive dynamics of novel technological fields. This thesis thus sets out to study the emergence of awareness and institutional entrepreneurship in novel technological fields, and the contradictions that result from emergence. As a more general contribution, the thesis aims at advancing understanding about emergence and socio-cognitive dynamics in novel technological fields. Towards this end, an institutional sociological approach to study the interplay between the micro and macro-level emergent properties in novel technological fields is outlined. This approach provides a theoretical and analytical foundation to study the central socio-cognitive dynamics that pattern the emergence of technological fields. The thesis thus sets out firstly, to identify the distinct stages, dynamics, and paths in technology field emergence, specifically focusing on the socio-cognitive micro and macro-level properties. Secondly, the thesis intends to advance a socio-cognitive analysis of the central elements that influence the emergence of institutional entrepreneurship and awareness in novel technological fields, and how agency and awareness are related. Thirdly, the thesis aims to determine how the institutional properties of the prevailing and emergent technological fields enable and constrain technology field emergence. Specifically, the focus is on understanding how institutional contradictions have an impact on the strategies available to institutional entrepreneurs and their ability to advance field emergence. To explore these avenues of research, a multiple exploratory case study on the emergence of four technological fields, functional foods, well-being technologies, electronic publishing and printing, and modular constructional steel, was carried out. The study takes a multi-level approach, focusing on field-level, organizational-level, and individual-level emergent phenomena and their relationship. National technology programs in Finland executed during 1995-2005 were chosen as the empirical contexts to study the socio-cognitive dynamics and the emergence of technological fields. Institutional contradictions were traced to their foundations in order to account for the challenges of institutional entrepreneurship and to trace the socio-cognitive base that the emergent field challenged. The empirical analysis shows how emergence is centrally dependent on the degree of institutional contradictions that arise between institutional carriers of the predominant field and the emergent field, and how strong these contradictions are perceived to be by the relevant actors. Depending on whether institutional contradictions are weak or strong they confront actors with different socio-cognitive dynamics. The distinction between strong and weak institutional contradictions helps to understand the different options and viable strategies for institutional work by institutional entrepreneurs. The thesis provides conceptual and methodological advances for studying the emergence of technological fields. To the practical end, the thesis provides a valuable understanding of the social and cognitive dynamics of emerging technological fields; these are useful for further directing innovation policy towards distinct contextual and institutional conditions.
Balancing Acts - Managing Inter-Organizational Collaboration for Innovation
(Aalto University, 2015) Paananen, Harri; Irrmann, Olivier, Prof., Université Catholique de Lille, France; Tuotantotalouden laitos; Department of Industrial Engineering and Management; SimLab; Perustieteiden korkeakoulu; School of Science; Smeds, Riitta, Prof., Aalto University, Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, Finland
This study gives a holistic examination of the management of inter-organizational collaboration for innovation, from the macro level of innovation policy to the micro level of boundary-spanning management practice, while embedded in the meso level of managing diverse inter-organizational innovation consortia. The research context are the SHOK research consortia (Strategic Centres for Science, Technology and Innovation), which offer an intriguing site for studying inter-organizational collaboration. They aim to create breakthrough innovations, which can be transformed into growth in business life and wellbeing in society by pooling together the expertise and resources of companies, universities, and research institutions. It is of great importance to study how the collaboration of the different actors in these clusters can be managed for more efficiency, productivity, and ultimately, innovativeness. The study utilizes a combination of theoretical lenses, primarily those of paradox management and practice theory, to build upon the existing research around managing inter-organizational collaboration for innovation. It is built as a series of qualitative case studies, examining three layers within the Finnish SHOK innovation policy instrument: the macro level of the instrument itself, the meso layer of five case study research programs within one SHOK, and the micro layer of a single-case study of an exceptionally successful research program. The primary contributions of the dissertation are fourfold: First, it sheds light on how collaboration instruments in national innovation policy are designed with an overemphasis on structures while neglecting management practices, and calls for a balanced focus on both the DUI (doing, using, and interacting) and STI (science, technology, and innovation) modes of innovation. Second, it examines through comparative case studies what kind of paradoxical tensions are manifested in inter-organizational research programs, illustrates the role of proximity issues as antecedents of tensions, and underlines the prevalence of the learning-performing tension. Third, it illustrates how through "paradox management", a balanced, ambidextrous mode of leadership and organizing, inter-organizational collaboration can be pushed towards better innovative performance, while imbalanced approaches leaning towards either pole of a paradoxical tension will yield sub-optimal results. Fourth, it shows how balancing boundary-spanning practices can significantly contribute to the successful management of inter-organizational collaboration for innovation. The dissertation provides evidence on why and how a specific, conscious investment into the everyday practice of managing collaboration over organizational boundaries can pay high dividends.
Balancing exploratory and exploitative adaptation: Organizational and environmental dynamics
(Aalto University, 2012) Uotila, Juha; Maula, Markku; Keil, Thomas; Tuotantotalouden laitos; Department of Industrial Engineering and Management; Perustieteiden korkeakoulu; School of Science; Maula, Markku
Exploration and exploitation are considered the two key processes in organizational adaptation and strategic renewal, and balancing these two potentially conflicting forms of adaptive activity has been a central issue in the management literature. However, there is still considerable debate and lack of clarity regarding how exploration and exploitation should be balanced in organizations and how different contextual dynamics might influence the balance between the two processes. In this dissertation, I address this gap through four separate analyses, which are presented in the form of four independent essays. In the first essay, I empirically examine the exploration–exploitation tradeoff using a panelsample of S&P 500 corporations for the years 1989–2004. I find that relative exploration displays an inverted U-shaped relationship with the financial performance of the organization and that this relationship is positively moderated by industry technological dynamism. In the second essay, I examine exploration and exploitation as two components of organizational adaptability using a formal simulation model and find that environmental complexity and turbulence impose increasing demands on both exploratory and exploitative adaptation. In the third essay, I use a similar simulation model to examine how exploration and exploitation can be balanced over time. I find that either turbulence or complexity may generate a punctuated equilibrium pattern, whereas ambidexterity is the preferred mode in stable and simple or highly complex and highly turbulent environments. Finally, in the fourth essay, I apply the organizational search framework to technological standard setting under network effects. By modeling organizations as boundedly rational actors conducting coevolutionary technological search, I find that while coordination can be used to exploit high-quality technological solutions by driving their acceptance as de facto standards, it must be balanced with sufficient diversity to allow for the exploration of potentially superior solutions. This dissertation contributes to the organizational adaptation literature by empirically corroborating and theoretically extending key concepts in the literature on exploration and exploitation. I test and advance the exploration–exploitation theory by investigating the dynamics of the exploration–exploitation balance and the influence of contextual factors onthis balance. I also contribute to the standard setting literature by showing that when search dynamics are taken into account, an appropriate balance between exploration and exploitation is necessary for optimal social efficiency in such an interorganizational context.
A Behavioral Theory Perspective on Acquisitions, Acquisition Performance, and Strategic Alternatives
(Aalto University, 2013) Kuusela, Pasi; Keil, Thomas, Prof., Aalto University, Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, Finland; Tuotantotalouden laitos; Department of Industrial Engineering and Management; Institute of Strategy; Perustieteiden korkeakoulu; School of Science; Maula, Markku, Prof., Aalto University, Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, Finland
Attention and performance aspirations are two focal concepts of the behavioral theory of the firm (BTOF), and extensive prior research has examined their role as antecedents of firm behavior. The effects of aspirations and attention on the relationship between firm behavior and performance outcomes are substantially less well understood. To address this gap, I study the performance implications of attention and performance relative to aspirations in the context of serial acquisitions. This dissertation consists of three essays that test central arguments derived from the framework of the BTOF by utilizing data on 2,502 acquisitions that were conducted by 87 large US information and communication technology (ICT) companies from 1990 to 2010. The first essay concentrates on the behavioral consequences of performance deviations by simultaneously studying firm engagement in two polar types of strategic actions: acquisitions and divestments. The findings of the first essay show that the effects of performance that is below aspired levels on behavioral outcomes are not identical in all contexts but differ based on the type of transaction. The second essay argues that attentional control exerted by top management and an organization's practice-based experience improve the organization's ability to perform complex information processing intensive tasks. The second essay studies this by examining the role of attentional control and prior activity specific experience in the influence of acquisitions on firm-level innovation performance. The findings of the second essay show that decision makers' specific attentional orientation toward exploration can help firms to overcome difficulties in acquiring large knowledge bases when the firm possess prior experience in large knowledge base acquisitions. Furthermore, the findings suggest that prior experience is necessary but not sufficient for capturing innovation benefits from technology acquisitions. The third essay examines the performance implications of acquisitions that are conducted under a specific attentional orientation or below aspired level of performance. The findings of the third essay show that when executing multiple acquisitions, decision makers' attention toward entrepreneurship improves firm performance. In addition, findings show that acquisitions that are conducted as a response to a performance shortfall tend to improve performance more than acquisitions that are conducted when the performance is at the aspired level.
Beyond the wall of contract text - Visualizing contracts to foster understanding and collaboration within and across organizations
(Aalto University, 2017) Passera, Stefania; Tuotantotalouden laitos; Department of Industrial Engineering and Management; Perustieteiden korkeakoulu; School of Science; Järvenpää, Eila, Prof., Aalto University, Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, Finland
In an increasingly networked world, contracts are the glue of business. Contracts are not only legal safeguarding instruments to limit parties' opportunism, as argued by transaction cost economics (TCE). They can be managerial tools to create shared understanding and cooperation among the cross-professional stakeholders who plan, negotiate, and implement contracts – within and across organizations. However, contract documents often do not work well for this purpose: they are long, complex, and hard to understand. As a result, costly misunderstandings arise, since contracts are not optimized for their everyday users: business and technical audiences. The proactive law approach stresses the importance of clear cross-professional communication through contracts to prevent legal problems and seek win-win opportunities. A practical manifestation of this principle is contract visualization – the use of diagrams, images, and visually structured layouts to make contracts more searchable, readable, and understandable. The aim of this study is to provide empirical understanding of the emerging concept and practice of contract visualization – by rigorously testing the propositions about its benefits, by exploring it as a practice unfolding in real life, and by identifying viable approaches for managers and legal counsel to engage with visualization. I chose a mixed methods approach to explore this emerging topic. The quantitative component of the research comprises three experiments, which show that visualized contracts support superior comprehension performance (speed, accuracy) and user preference, compared to informationally equivalent textual contracts. The qualitative component of the research – a single case study – explores how and why an operation and maintenance service sales team decided to employ visualization in their contracts: visualization was sought as a solution to cross-professional, inter-organizational and temporal knowledge gaps, as it allows information to be clarified and positively frames the emerging business relationship. Two conceptual studies exploring visualization approaches (design pattern libraries and automation) complement the empirical studies. The research contributes to the scarce and insufficiently rigorous empirical literature on contract visualization, and to the literature on the psychological effects of contracts and microdynamics of contracting. Theoretically, it suggests a theoretical shift from a TCE-view of contracts to a knowledge-based view of contracts, where the knowledge created and shared through contract documents is a source of competitive advantage. Moreover, it extends the application of cognitive load theory beyond the educational psychology field. The research also has practical implications for global business: visualization was found to especially improve contract comprehension among non-native speakers of English.
Blockchain Systems as Multi-sided Platforms
(Aalto University, 2021) Mattila, Juri; Seppälä, Timo, Assoc. Prof., Aalto University, Finland; Tuotantotalouden laitos; Department of Industrial Engineering and Management; Perustieteiden korkeakoulu; School of Science; Rajala, Risto, Prof., Aalto University, Finland
Ever since its discovery, blockchain technology has been heralded as a disruptive innovation for the digital economy. Today, more than a decade later, however, the digital society still seems largely untransformed by blockchain. Was the biggest hype phenomenon since the dot com bubble all just smoke and mirrors—or did something happen after all that we simply missed by looking in the wrong direction? The definition of ‘blockchain’ is a notoriously elusive one. Without a structured socio-economic delineation, perceiving and understanding the phenomenon’s effects on digitalization is difficult. To this end, this dissertation investigates whether permissionless blockchain systems could be delineated in a structured and comprehensive manner as digital multi-sided platforms. By applying a critical realist methodological approach, the dissertation explores public permissionless blockchain systems through a multitude of research methodologies, such as case studies and design science, and several focal perspectives, e.g. cost, governance and incentivization. Through the frameworks of multi-sided platform theory and transaction cost economics, the dissertation makes an effort to elucidate the platform characteristics and the transformative impact of blockchain systems to the digital platform economy and digitalization in general. The dissertation finds that permissionless blockchain systems can be coherently described as multi-sided platforms. Differing from conventional multi-sided platforms in multiple ways, blockchain systems provide an alternative method for deploying, growing and sustaining multi-sided platforms as ahierarchical peer-to-peer networks. Their eccentric growth dynamic enables a new kind of ‘fire-and-forget’ approach to platform deployment—but with the trade-off of higher operating costs and platform resource scarcity. Thus, blockchain systems should not be misconstrued as substitutes for conventional multi-sided platforms, or improved versions thereof. Instead, they seem to represent a limited example of a transition from the conventional service-structured business logic towards an even more all-encom- passing value co-creation and platform co-opetition perspective than what is facilitated bycontemporary multi-sided platforms. Contributing to the discussion on the transformative impact of blockchain systems, this dissertation concludes that a digital transformation has taken place in their wake over the past decade. However, this transformation seems largely misinterpreted due to poor choices of explanatory frameworks and overinflated expectations. Transcending the more popular perspectives rooted in decentralization, trust, and digital currency, this dissertation paints a picture of this transformation through a lens of platform deployment, vertical integration, and horizontal modularity. By systematically linking the blockchain phenomenon to the comprehensive socio-economic framework of digital multi-sided platforms, the dissertation enables better and more comprehensive exploration of this transformation.
The bottom-up agency in driving institutional change - A case study in a corporate environment
(Aalto University, 2021) Punkka, Timo; Vartiainen, Matti. Prof. emer., Aalto University, Finland; Tuotantotalouden laitos; Department of Industrial Engineering and Management; Perustieteiden korkeakoulu; School of Science; Rajala, Risto, Prof., Aalto University, Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, Finland
Agile development methods have moved into the mainstream. Agile development relies on short iterations and continuous adaptation to changing conditions. However, to fully benefit from these rapid development cycles, the rest of the organization should be aligned with this manner of thinking. Unfortunately, scaling agile thinking has been identified as challenging, particularly regarding how this magnitude of change can be driven in a bottom-up approach. This research concentrates on organizational change and specifically on how an individual bottom-up agency can initiate and drive even institutional change. The research utilized an abductive approach and continuously combined existing theories with empirical findings. The research consisted of three individual studies: The first study concentrated on the theoretical feasibility of utilizing the team-based organization model as an approach to help agile thinking unfold in an organization. For the second study, two-year action research was conducted to empirically test the approach in the case organization. The final study aimed at understanding the bottom-up transformation in retrospect. The data for the first and third study consists primarily of interviews utilizing different techniques. For the action research, the primary data-gathering methods consisted of various information systems of the case organization, workshop and meeting memos, and author's notes from direct and participatory observation. During the research, the author conducted a total of 18 individual interviews and one focus group interview. Based on the findings, this research states that it is possible to initiate a change of this magnitude through an individual bottom-up agency. The success of such an endeavor depends on finding solutions to organizational boundaries. The key differentiator in large-scale bottom-up transformation and its success concerns whether the actors can find ways to understand the constellation of institutional logics at play in different parts of the organization and can re-form the suggested change in order to legitimize the new state of affairs. Legitimization, in turn, is a pre-condition for institutional change. The main contribution of this research comprises a three-layer model for bottom-up institutional change. The findings strengthen the potential of using institutional logics as a theory for efforts to accelerate organizational change. In addition, this research provides empirical evidence for one possible route for unfolding agile thinking at the organizational level.
Boundary activities and readiness for change during change program initiation
(School of Science, 2012) Hoverfält, Päivi; Martinsuo, Miia; Tuotantotalouden laitos; Department of Industrial Engineering and Management; Perustieteiden korkeakoulu; School of Science; Artto, Karlos
Multi-project change programs have become increasingly common in both private and public sector organizations. The special characteristics of large and complex programs pose novel kinds of managerial challenges, which prior project management research has not adequately addressed. Furthermore, previous research has mainly viewed projects and other temporary organizations as isolated and independent entities, whereas programs that aim at large-scale change are in many ways embedded in their organizational context. This dissertation, positioned in the field of project and program management, examines the initiation and planning of change programs. The study explores the activities that the key actors of an emerging program employ in managing the program’s interaction with its organizational environment. Viewing programs as temporary organizations, the study adopts the concepts of organizational boundaries and boundary activities from organization theory and applies them to examine the connections between a change program and its parent organization. The research is conducted as an abductive case study of three large service sector organizations initiating significant change programs. The primary data consists of 58 interviews with people involved in program initiation. The findings show how an emerging change program is in constant interaction with its organizational context. The analysis reveals ten types of boundary activities that the key program actors employ to build, shape, cross and guard the program’s boundaries. The results suggest that active boundary management is associated with establishing readiness for change program implementation, and further propose that the different types of boundary activities contribute to the different aspects of this readiness. The findings specifically highlight the emerging change program’s need for autonomy. The study also brings to the fore contextual factors that are proposed as affecting the progress and the success of the early program stages. The study contributes to the theoretical understanding of how temporary organizations are initiated and how they interact with their context. The findings shed light into the logic of how the boundaries of a temporary organization are formed and how they evolve. The results also extend the concept of readiness for change using evidence from large-scale change programs. For organizations establishing change programs, the findings direct attention to the early program stages and particularly to the means of linking the emerging program to other organizational structures and activities.
Building a competitive regional innovation environment : the regional development platform method as a tool for regional innovation policy
(Helsinki University of Technology, 2004-04-23) Harmaakorpi, Vesa; Department of Industrial Engineering and Management; Tuotantotalouden osasto; HUT Lahti Center; Lahden keskus
The study focuses on building a regional innovation policy tool that takes into account the demands of the present techno-economic and socio-institutional paradigms. Regions are seen to be strongly dependent on their history. The competitiveness of a region is based on the regional resource configurations. In a turbulent world these resource configurations have to be renewed over time setting demands for regional dynamic capabilities. This study emphasises five regional dynamic capabilities: leadership capability, visionary capability, learning capability, networking capability and innovative capability. The study takes a holistic point of view in assessing the regional innovation environment. This environment is seen as a system of innovation networks and institutions located within a region, with regular and strong internal interaction that promotes innovativeness and is characterised by embeddedness. Innovations are increasingly seen to be the results of non-linear processes deeply embedded in normal social and economic activities. The non-linear and interactive nature of the innovation processes sets new demands for social cohesion in the regional innovation system. The new era is crying out for innovation policy tools that foster the visionary, leadership, networking and learning activities in the process of designing and implementing innovation policies and strategies. In this study a new tool for regional innovation policy – the Regional Development Platform Method – is designed and tested. The main aspects behind the creation of this innovation policy tool are: (i) understanding the effects of the changing techno-economic-paradigm on the regional innovation environment (ii) understanding the phenomena of regional path-dependency and agglomeration, (iii) avoiding regional lock-ins, (iv) defining competitive regional resource configurations, (v) creating multi-actor innovation networks to exploit the resource configurations, (vi) enhancing the absorptive capacity of the innovation networks, (vii) creating sufficiently creative social capital, (viii) promoting regional dynamic capabilities and (ix) understanding the multi-level governance environment in forming innovation policies and strategies. The Regional Development Platform Method is tested in the Lahti region in Finland. The experiences of the policy tool have been encouraging and it has crucially influenced the most recent strategies and programmes in the region.
Building Evidence for Cost-effectiveness of Self-management Interventions in Chronic Care - Acknowledging Context and Mechanisms
(Aalto University, 2015) Riippa, Iiris; Linna, Miika, Docent, Aalto University, Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, Finland; Tuotantotalouden laitos; Department of Industrial Engineering and Management; HEMA Institute; Perustieteiden korkeakoulu; School of Science; Lillrank, Paul, Prof., Aalto University, Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, Finland
Involving the chronically ill in the management of their own health is proposed to improve the cost-effectiveness of chronic care by improving health outcomes and diminishing the need and demand for care provided by professionals. Despite high expectations, empirical evidence of the cost-effectiveness of self-management remains scant. This may be due to the methodological challenges posed by the often complex nature of the self-management interventions and difficulty in operationalizing their outcomes. In this study, two empirical evaluations with distinct designs were applied to gain understanding of the methodological considerations related to the cost-effectiveness evaluation of chronic care self-management interventions. Realist evaluation approach was applied to acknowledge the contextual factors and the mechanisms that induce the economic and health outcomes of a self-management intervention. The findings of a retrospective cohort analysis with interviews showed that the present administrative and clinical data that is routinely collected in primary care does not reflect the mechanism of self-management interventions, that is, the improvement in patients' ability to manage their condition. A Finnish translation of Patient Activation Measure (PAM), a viable instrument for assessing the effectiveness of self-management interventions, was validated and used as a measure for effectiveness in the second part of this study. A quasi-experiment on the effectiveness and economic outcomes of a novel self-management intervention, an electronic patient portal, showed that providing chronically ill patients with access to their own health records and secured messaging with the care provider may increase patient activation at an acceptable cost to the health care provider, and therefore be cost-effective. More research is needed to validate the acceptable thresholds for investments in patient activation. The benefits of an electronic patient portal are dependent on the mechanisms that its functionalities generate, and on the contextual factors such as the characteristics of the patients and the health care professionals using it, the health care system that it is adopted in, and its implementation in the organization. The empirical evidence from the two studies showed that realist evaluation can complement the traditional outcome trials in the pursuit of accumulating knowledge on cost-effectiveness of complex health care interventions, such as self-management interventions.
Caring Connections - Compassionate mutuality in the organizational life of a nursing home
(Aalto University, 2012) Martela, Frank; Tuotantotalouden laitos; Department of Industrial Engineering and Management; Perustieteiden korkeakoulu; School of Science; Saarinen, Esa, Prof., Aalto Univ., Finland
Connections with others make up the fabric of daily life within organizations. Caregiving – understood broadly – takes place on a daily basis. Engagement in such caring situations has been found to be highly beneficial for both the caregiver and the cared-for. A nursing home is an especially good place to study caregiving. Accordingly, the data for this dissertation consists of semi-structured interviews with 26 nurses, five residents, and nine head nurses (altogether 27 hours, transcribed over 400 pages), as well as 13 days of participant observation. In addition, I presented my results to the research subjects in order to receive their feedback as a form of validation. The data was analyzed using a grounded theorizing approach. My first empirical finding is that in caring situations, both participants can choose to either be emotionally engaged or disengaged. This gives rise to four different types of caring situations: 1) Instrumental caretaking, in which some need is taken care of without either person being engaged in the situation, 2) unmet call for caring, in which the cared-for reaches out to form a connection with the caregiver who remains emotionally detached from the situation, 3) one-sided caregiving, in which the caregiver engages with the cared-for in a warm and tender way but the recipient of care remains disengaged, and 4) caring connection, in which both participants engage emotionally with each other, thus allowing for the formation of a reciprocal, high-quality connection between them. Focusing on caring connections in particular, I argue that they are composed of six elements that both participants need to display: mutual validation of the distinct worth of the other, being present in the now-moment, opening up towards the other, establishing a shared space, heightened flow of affectivity, and acts of caregiving and displays of gratitude. The connection between the participants is deep and operates to a significant degree through channels related to non-verbal attunement and sensitivities. This work also makes a few more theoretical contributions. In discussing the ways to improve the possibilities for caring connections, it employs insights from systems intelligence to come up with nine ways through which the nurse can increase the occurence of caring connections. Methodologically, the dissertation makes a contribution by taking a research approach strongly inspired by pragmatist philosophy, and applying it to research in social sciences. All in all, by emphasizing intersubjectivity and the active contribution of the cared for to the mutually generated encounter, this dissertation contributes equally to two different research traditions: firstly, organizational research and especially positive relationships at work, and secondly, nursing research and especially gerontological nursing.
CEO Selection and CEO-firm Fit
(Aalto University, 2020) Maheshwaree, Pardeep; Tuotantotalouden laitos; Department of Industrial Engineering and Management; Perustieteiden korkeakoulu; School of Science; Schmidt, Jens, Prof., Aalto University, Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, Finland
The upper-echelon framework posits that a match between CEO characteristics and firm's leadership requirements (CEO-firm fit) is beneficial for firm performance. However, we have limited understanding on three key issues related to CEO-firm fit. First, how does the CEO-firm fit come about? That is, how do boards establish leadership needs of the firm in foreseeable future (CEO search criteria). Second, how boards ascertain whether the potential CEO candidates' skills match the search criteria. Third, how does the CEO-firm fit evolve over time. Specifically, what are the CEO characteristics which differentiate CEOs in their ability to adapt over time. Broadly, the dissertation focuses on how boards through their CEO selection decision achieve, and CEOs, mainly though their skills maintain, CEO-firm fit over time.In the first essay, I draw upon the dynamic managerial capabilities framework which suggests that CEOs differ in their ability to deal with a changing environmental context. In a sample of 3,482 CEOs, I find evidence that CEOs differ in their capacity to respond to changing environment and this adaptive capacity is rooted in their prior experience. Specifically, greater the breadth of CEO's prior work experience higher the CEO's adaptive capacity. It contributes to dynamic managerial capabilities literature by empirically validating its presence at the CEO level. Second essay focuses on how boards ascertain whether the potential CEO candidate(s) match the CEO selection criteria. Specifically, I theorize that boards use their professional networks to obtain information about external CEO candidates to ensure that CEO profile matches the selection criteria. In a sample of 410 external CEO appointments I find that likelihood of selecting candidate with whom board has a connection is very large. It contributes to CEO succession literature by showing that directors can use professional network as a mechanism to address the information asymmetry problem encountered during CEO selection. Third essay argues that the degree of uncertainty about the strategic direction of a company is associated with observable CEO selection choices. When a company faces considerable uncertainty at the time of CEO selection, boards are likely to be ambivalent about which CEO characteristics to look for in a new CEO. Consequently, boards' CEO selection decisions are likely to be driven by the criteria of flexibility, ability to monitor CEO and ease of reversibility. These reflect in selection choices of interim CEO and CEO non-duality and result in shorter CEO tenure. Empirically, I find evidence of increased likelihood of selecting an interim CEO and shorter CEO tenure when selected at the time of higher strategic uncertainty. It contributes to CEO succession literature by highlighting the information availability constraints boards may face while selecting a new CEO which can make the possibility of achieving CEO-firm match during succession difficult.
Champion, citizen, cynic? : social positions in the strategy process
(Helsinki University of Technology, 2003-02-07) Mantere, Saku; Department of Industrial Engineering and Management; Tuotantotalouden osasto; Laboratory of Work Psychology and Leadership; Työpsykologian ja johtamisen laboratorio
This study is focused on the social positions of individual organizational members in organizational strategy processes. Strategy is a social practice existent in a wide variety of different organizations, influencing, either directly or indirectly, a large number of organizational members. Strategy research has, however, largely neglected the individuals, whose actions and practices make up the strategy process, concentrating on organizations as seemingly homogenous entities. There is even less research exploring the contributions of middle managers and employees acting as strategic agents. The objective of this study is to understand and illuminate the variety of social positions assumed by organizational members from the CEO to the operative employee level in organizational strategy processes. The research is built around a set of 301 qualitative interview texts from 12 organizations. The interviewees are treated as knowledgeable agents capable of reflecting their social positions and roles in the strategy process. The data is analyzed in a grounded theory -setting. The data analysis consists of three 'encounters' with the interview texts. In the first encounter, a three-dimensional schema is created for analyzing the social positions. In the second encounter, 20 social positions are identified and explored under the categories of champion, citizen and cynic. In the third encounter, the 20 positions are divided into three performance categories: role-players, role-seekers and bystanders. Roles performed and reasons for not performing a desired role are traced and discussed. The research contributes to strategy research a viewpoint on the role that the social practice of strategy plays in the work of various organizational members. Through the exposition of social positions and performance categories, it deepens the understanding on why strategies succeed or fail in being enacted by individual organizational members. Furthermore, it allows a large group of organizational members to use voice in the discussion on strategy. The practical contribution of the research is associated with such issues as the communication of strategy, participation in the strategy process, as well as dissent and cynicism in the strategy process.
Change in organization - emerging situations, character and praxis
(Aalto-yliopiston teknillinen korkeakoulu, 2010) Keränen, Tapio; Lamberg, Juha-Antti, Prof.; Tuotantotalouden laitos; Department of Industrial Engineering and Management; Aalto-yliopiston teknillinen korkeakoulu; Artto, Karlos, Prof.
The purpose of this study is to analyze how change is constructed by local actions and interactions of an organization. Drawing on critical realism and assuming organizational change to be a practical and social performance, a mediating entity - organizational character - is postulated to account for relationship between structure, agency, and action. The empirical study addresses local transformation and organizational character through analyzing events that are related to the development of service business in the context of a large energy company. In the empirical study, the organizational character in context consists of prudence, and of the pursuit of technical excellence and operational efficiency. Prudence is an action disposition in context when encountering new situations. The pursuit of technical excellence was a result of the past construction era. The pursuit of operational efficiency is a typical characteristic in an industry context. Three modes of praxis were identified: the habitual mode of praxis consists of fragmentizing and ensuring, and is aimed at operational efficiency for maintaining the organization; the transformative mode is directed toward the future and consists of envisioning the future and searching for new alternatives; and the contingent mode entails judgments to cope with current problems in the present and is characterized by improvisation. The integration of the relationships identified in the empirical study results in a model of local change. The local changes continuously and recursively construct outcomes of praxis that result in new configurations. In emerging and evolving situations new actions become necessary. Human agents engage in creative and transformative actions that are affected by the organizational character. Organizational character, in the context of this study, overshadows creative and transformative capacities of human agents but does not prevent local changes to the context. With regard to the practical outcomes of the study, a suggestion for the management of organizational change is that attention must be paid to internalized action dispositions in which the organization, human agents, and social consciousness about context and action, are intertwined.
Changes in private healthcare supply, demand, and service utilisation during the COVID-19 pandemic
(Aalto University, 2024) Niemenoja, Oskar; Lillrank, Paul, Prof. Emer., Aalto University, Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, Finland; Taimela, Simo, Docent, University of Helsinki, Finland; Bono, Petri, Docent, University of Helsinki, Finland; Tuotantotalouden laitos; Department of Industrial Engineering and Management; Perustieteiden korkeakoulu; School of Science; Saarinen, Lauri, Asst. Prof., Aalto University, Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, Finland
Pandemics have wide-reaching effects on health service utilisation and diagnostic activity. Health service usage declined markedly during the COVID-19 pandemic across most diagnosis classes, especially those unrelated to the pandemic directly. These changes may potentially introduce pressure on the healthcare system in the future. This thesis analyses how the Finnish private healthcare service utilisation, diagnostic activity, and booking patterns were affected between January 2020 and June 2022 during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study had access to a novel, comprehensive dataset on weekly Finnish private healthcare usage collected from routine electronic medical record data spanning the wide range of health service usage and diagnostic activity. Data from before the COVID-19 pandemic enabled us to create an estimate on the health service utilisation in the hypothetical case without the effect of the pandemic, which was compared to observed time series data. Of the three manuscripts that make up this thesis, one studied nationwide service utilisation, while two focused on the capital region of Uusimaa. The manuscripts covered data from 833 444, 632 466 and 900 572 patients, respectively. We estimated that service utilisation rates for private healthcare usage decreased by one-fourth across different diagnosis classes during the early pandemic. Only some diagnosis classes recovered to pre-pandemic utilisation levels towards the end of the observation period, while some remained at permanently reduced levels. Upper respiratory system-related diseases displayed a notable increase in diagnostic activity during the initial weeks of the pandemic, as well as late in the observation period. We postulate that the decrease in service utilisation was driven by a decrease in service demand, to which supply reacted. Cancellations were a contributing factor to this decrease only during the first weeks of the pandemic, after which disengagement from within the services was passive. Digital services offered a rapidly scaleable service channel to regulate access to healthcare services. We highlight the importance of healthcare providers and policymakers collecting and utilising high-quality, up-to-date data when managing systemic healthcare utilisation shocks such as pandemics.
China as an opportunity and a challenge for Western service providers
(Aalto University, 2015) Bao, Sen; Toivonen, Marja, Prof.,VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, Finland; Tuotantotalouden laitos; Department of Industrial Engineering and Management; Perustieteiden korkeakoulu; School of Science; Järvenpää, Eila, Prof., Aalto University, Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, Finland
Services represent a large and growing share of the global economy, and the internationalization of services is increasingly important in the globalization process of production, distribution and innovation. Business activities between the West and the East are a crucial part of this process. China, as a huge emerging market, attracts more and more Western service providers. This dissertation examines specificities and new phenomena of business-to-business (B2B) services in China. It investigates the opportunities and challenges that Western service providers meet in this country, characterized by a mix of Confucian culture and centralized socio-political system. The dissertation explores both specific sectors and topical issues. Regarding the former, it focuses on industrial services and knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS). Regarding the latter, it analyzes the development of creative industries and sustainability efforts in China. The interaction between the West and the East is studied in the light of experience of Nordic companies conducting business in China or entering this market. Qualitative case studies have been used to gain understanding on service business in China. Five manufacturing and three KIBS companies from Finland and Sweden participated in the study. Primary data were mainly collected via the interviews of service providers, their partners and customers, and experts. Governmental and company documents have been used as supplementary data. The theoretical reviews include topical phenomena of the service economy, internationalization of services and cultural differences. The results indicate that the emphasis on human relationships ("guanxi") as a central element of the Chinese culture still impacts on customer behavior, even though there is a variety according to regions and the ownership of companies. Service culture in a tacit form is involved in the philosophical heritage, but services as offerings are gaining ground only gradually. The appreciation of tangibles over pure services has been a traditional phenomenon. In industrial services, spare parts and integrated product-service solutions are popular because tangible elements are delivered. In the KIBS business, there are multiple roles for the Western service providers: a KIBS company can act as an integrator, a concept developer, or a multi-stage actor in the value chain. Creative industries are growing rapidly in China and provide business possibilities for Western companies – a case example in this research is 3D solutions for digital media. Also the Chinese sustainability policy is an opportunity: the participation of Western technological KIBS in the huge eco-city projects illustrates it.

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