Browsing by Department "Tieto- ja palvelutalouden laitos"

Now showing 1 - 20 of 438
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    Adapting image processing and clustering methods to productive efficiency analysis and benchmarking: A cross disciplinary approach
    (Aalto University, 2016) Dai, Xiaofeng; Kuosmanen, Timo, Professor, Aalto University, Finland; Tieto- ja palvelutalouden laitos; Department of Information and Service Economy; Management Science; Johtaminen; Kauppakorkeakoulu; School of Business
    This dissertation explores the interdisciplinary applications of computational methods in quantitative economics. Particularly, this thesis focuses on problems in productive efficiency analysis and benchmarking that are hardly approachable or solvable using conventional methods. In productive efficiency analysis, null or zero values are often produced due to the wrong skewness or low kurtosis of the inefficiency distribution as against the distributional assumption on the inefficiency term. This thesis uses the deconvolution technique, which is traditionally used in image processing for noise removal, to develop a fully non-parametric method for efficiency estimation. Publications 1 and 2 are devoted to this topic, with focus being laid on the cross-sectional case and panel case, respectively. Through Monte-Carlo simulations and empirical applications to Finnish electricity distribution network data and Finnish banking data, the results show that the Richardson-Lucy blind deconvolution method is insensitive to the distributio-nal assumptions, robust to the data noise levels and heteroscedasticity on efficiency estimation. In benchmarking, which could be the next step of productive efficiency analysis, the 'best practice' target may not perform under the same operational environment with the DMU under study. This would render the benchmarks impractical to follow and adversely affects the managers to make the correct decisions on performance improvement of a DMU. This dissertation proposes a clustering-based benchmarking framework in Publication 3. The empirical study on Finnish electricity distribution network reveals that the proposed framework novels not only in its consideration on the differences of the operational environment among DMUs, but also its extreme flexibility. We conducted a comparison analysis on the different combinations of the clustering and efficiency estimation techniques using computational simulations and empirical applications to Finnish electricity distribution network data, based on which Publication 4 specifies an efficient combination for benchmarking in energy regulation.  This dissertation endeavors to solve problems in quantitative economics using interdisciplinary approaches. The methods developed benefit this field and the way how we approach the problems open a new perspective.
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    Adapting to The Changing Landscape Of Online Media: Experiences, Challenges and Tactics Among Professional Content Producers and Media Companies
    (Aalto University, 2018) Pinjamaa, Noora; Rossi, Matti, Prof., Aalto University, Department of Information and Service Management, Finland; Cheshire, Coye, Prof., UC Berkeley School of Information, USA; Tieto- ja palvelutalouden laitos; Department of Information and Service Economy; Kauppakorkeakoulu; School of Business
    Digitalization and social media platforms have changed the way content is produced, distributed and shared online. Media companies and professional content producers have struggled to find a sustainable online business model and have experimented between for a fee and for free -models. Simultaneously, media audiences have been increasingly spending their time and consuming content on social media platforms. To content producers, social media platforms have primarily been an outlet for promoting their content, creating word-of-mouth, attracting an audience to a content producer's website and a place to build an online community around the content. Today however, social media platforms are playing an even more substantial role. ln this thesis, I investigate media organizations to map what is and has been done, by whom and why in the context of social media platforms in order to identify different adaptation tactics and to provide a rich description of the adaptation process. My focus is the actions of professional content producers and media companies as they experience how individuals are getting media content and information in several forms and through various online channels, not all of which are controlled by media companies. However as bloggers are a key actor in the social media sphere and a competitor of media companies, l also study these individual content producers. The insights gained from interviews with professional content producers, nethnography and participant observation are mapped through the lens of neo-institutional theory (Greenwood & Hinings, 1996) and are used to explain the experienced challenges and actions taken for preparing for the future and describe the implications of these actions for the media landscape. This research furthers knowledge on how intraorganizational dynamics identified within the analyzed companies and amongst the professional bloggers have had an enabling effect on the type of changes they have undergone. More specifically, through this mapping l describe whether these media companies and professional content producers have experienced convergent or radical change. This dissertation contributes to literature on organizational change as well as on social media platforms and media digitalization.
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    Addressing CSR issues in supplier-buyer relationships: Agency theory perspective
    (2013) Boychenko, Maria; Department of Information and Service Economy; Tieto- ja palvelutalouden laitos; Kauppakorkeakoulu; School of Business
    Growing concern with environmental impact of the goods and services worldwide put organizations under the pressure to behave responsibly and take actions to minimize environmental footprint of their operations. Given the fact that organizations outsource their activities to third parties and the end product embodies the result of joint efforts of the whole supply chain, it is of great importance to ensure conformance to environmental requirements at each level of the supply chain. Specifically, this study is exploring methods and mechanisms used by buyers to ensure sufficient environmental performance of their suppliers. Relationship between buyer and supplier embodies principal agent relationships, where buyer is a principal and supplier is an agent, therefore, the agency theory was chosen as a central theoretical framework for this research. The goal of this study is to find efficient and effective supplier management mechanisms to address principal-agent problems arising within the context of corporate environmental responsibility. Specifically, this study aims to understand which type of contract behavior-based or outcome-based is more efficient at managing environmental aspects of buyer-supplier relationships. Through literature review and case studies, this thesis identifies mechanisms utilized to address agency theory problems and elaborates on their efficiency. In addition, key findings of this study provide important insights on the patterns of such mechanisms use with respect to company and industry characteristics.
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    The adoption of retail self-service checkout systems - An empirical study examining the link between intention to use and actual use
    (2013) Rinta-Kahila, Tapani; Department of Information and Service Economy; Tieto- ja palvelutalouden laitos; Kauppakorkeakoulu; School of Business
    Self-service technologies (SSTs) are becoming increasingly essential drivers of business success. A large-scale utilization tends to be a prerequisite for a successful information technology (IT) investment. This study investigates the determinants of technology adoption in the case of self-service checkouts (SCOs) in Finnish grocery stores. The objectives are to confirm the determinants of intention to use SCOs, examine the link between behavioral intention to use and actual use, and study how a contextual variable may act as a trigger that turns the intention into actual use. In addition, the influence of some relevant control variables is taken under scrutiny. The study builds itself on the technology acceptance theory (Davis, 1989) by formulating a research model to explain the acceptance of SCOs. The core TAM model is extended by adding some context-specific variables based on the current research setting and previous literature on technology adoption. Method of research is a large-scale empirical study in the form of a consumer survey. Nine research hypotheses are formulated and tested with a sample of 1534 survey responses collected with a longitudinal study. Collected data is analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) technique Mplus 6.1. The research hypotheses are supported and the link between intention to use and actual use is confirmed. Findings suggest that the contextual variable, perceived waiting time, strongly moderates the relationship between intention to use and actual use. While a consumer may have a high intention to use the technology, it is less likely to turn into actual use without a contextual trigger. Thus, such activation mechanisms should generally be taken into account when investing in technology. In addition, preference of cash payment option was negatively related to intention to use SCOs, which might be caused by the lack of cash payment option in the SCO systems used in the sites of this study. Prior experience of SCO usage has a significant effect on its adoption, so to maximize utilization retailers should find ways to get consumers to trial SCO systems for the first time.
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    Adoption of smartphones: iPhone. Research of adopting a mobile phone innovation from private consumers' viewpoint.
    (2012) Ekebom, Eero; Department of Information and Service Economy; Tieto- ja palvelutalouden laitos; Kauppakorkeakoulu; School of Economics
    PURPOSE OF THE STUDY The purpose of the research was to find out what affects the decision when people adopt or reject a new mobile phone innovation; an iPhone. The already existent research did not answer the question of motivators of adopting mobile phone innovations except for at the most on a very general level which makes the topic of the research fresh. In this research is widely used and discussed technology adoption models that are central to research in information systems science and which have been used as a basis for a large amount of scientific research. Also in this research are used models from behavioral science and social science such as the theory of reasoned action, theory of planned behavior and diffusion theory. These sciences in part aim to explain the motivators of human behavior and general adaptation behavior. The research was done from a consumer’s viewpoint. Since the consumer market is filling up with new smartphone innovations, the research topic is current and will be interesting at least in the near future as well as no end to the trend of new smartphones can yet be seen. iPhone was selected for the research as it has been the first product to introduce some specific qualities in a smartphone when entering the private consumers’ market. METHODS USED IN RESEARCH In the research qualitative analysis was used as a research method. Research data was obtained from respondents by individual interviews. Main theories used in the research were Diffusion theory, the Theory of reasoned action (TRA) and the Theory of planned behavior (TPB). RESULTS Research results reveal that a too high price can seriously impair the adoption possibilities of an innovation. By using Mill’s method of agreement it could be deduced that pricing of technology to be adopted has heavy relational weight as one of the motivators in making the technology adoption decision. As a result of this it could be argued that adoption could be speeded up by offering low-priced tying deals and leasing contracts through businesses for their employees.
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    Advances on axiomatic nonparametric approaches to productivity and efficiency analysis
    (Aalto University, 2014) Keshvari, Abolfazl; Department of Information and Service Economy; Tieto- ja palvelutalouden laitos; Kauppakorkeakoulu; School of Business; Kuosmanen, Timo, Professor, Aalto University, Department of Information and Service Economy, Finland; Korhonen, Pekka, Professor Emeritus, Aalto University, Department of Information and Service Economy, Finland
    This dissertation contains several important methodological results on nonparametric productivity and efficiency analysis. It spans both theoretically motivated and practically challenging topics in the planning, implementation, and interpretation of efficiency analysis. The dissertation consists of five articles, all of which contribute to the subject from closely related perspectives. Firstly, we study the connection between nonparametric nonconvex efficiency analysis and isotonic regression, and propose a mathematical programming approach for estimating multivariate isotonic regression. We also examine the estimation of non-convex frontier technologies in the presence and absence of stochastic noise. Secondly, we propose an enumeration technique for estimating the nonparametric nonconvex efficient frontiers under different returns to scale assumptions. Furthermore, we present an application of efficiency analysis to explore the changes in value added for a sample of Portuguese secondary schools over a four-year time period. A modified Malmquist index is proposed to measure how the value added evolves over time. We also study the linear relationship between the inputs and outputs of a nonparametric efficiency problem. We consider transformations that can be applied to inputs and outputs without disrupting the efficiency results. We use the concept of dominating cones to analyze the transformed problems. We focus on the selection of variables, and explain how this can impact the dominating cone. A discussion on using linear transformation for dealing with the curse of dimensionality is provided in the dissertation. Lastly, we build a transformation based on the Fourier-Motzkin elimination method, which permits the derivation of a single variable optimization problem from which efficiency scores could be estimated. We build the connection between the constraints of the transformed problem and the supporting hyperplanes of the production possibility set, and show that this transformation generates all the efficient and weakly supporting hyperplanes. Moreover, we show that the proposed transformation does not generate redundant constraints. Extensive numerical comparisons are done to show the performance of the proposed algorithm. 
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    Aesthetics, affect and user preference - Finding objective measures for subjective experiences
    (2013) Lipponen, Satu; Department of Information and Service Economy; Tieto- ja palvelutalouden laitos; Kauppakorkeakoulu; School of Business
    Objectives of the study The Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) field has long concentrated on easily measured variables such as effectiveness, adoption and ease of use to study technology usage. In order to study user preference in particular, the inclusion of more socio-cognitive variables such aesthetics and emotions is necessary. However, these subjective experiences are intrinsically harder to measure: using subjective measures like questionnaires give results that are colored by cognitive processing, whereas subjective evaluations are formed instantly after exposure. The objective is to find what the effect of aesthetics and emotions are to user preference, and to test whether eye movement could provide an objective measure to support and validate subjective measures. Academic background and methodology Based on previous literature and studies, a model predicting user preference is developed. For eye movement tracking, modern abstract and representative art are used as test material. It is hypothesized that user preference is predicted by aesthetics, fixations (static eye movement), valence, arousal and dominance (emotions). The direct effect of these variables as well as the mediating effect of emotions is studied. The direct effect is tested by regression analysis, and the results are used for modify the model accordingly. The results are verified by path analysis which is also used to test the mediation effect of emotions and group differences of abstract and representative images. Findings and conclusions The research hypotheses were mainly confirmed by the study. It was found that aesthetics, valence and arousal explain and predict preference. Only dominance did not significantly predict preference. Aesthetic and affect reactions are formed instantly after viewing an object, they are involuntary in nature and the effect of these rapid evaluations is long lasting. Measuring such swift decisions is challenging, but it was found that eye movement and fixations in particular predict preference. In practical terms, it means fixations can be used along with self-reported measures to corroborate subjective evaluations.
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    Aligning production-inventory strategy according to seasonality
    (2012) Kauppi, Sanni; Department of Information and Service Economy; Tieto- ja palvelutalouden laitos; Kauppakorkeakoulu; School of Economics
    Confectionery manufacturers struggle with increasing demands from customers; short delivery times, high service level and customization. The purpose of this study was to study how seasonality should be regarded in this fast-moving environment in the production-inventory strategies of companies. The objective was also to enhance knowledge and understanding of the effect of seasonality for production systems and the location of the order penetration point. Traditionally seasonality is seen as simply a demand pattern rather than a production environment, and it has been little discussed in demand management or operations management literature. However, companies seem to struggle with designing a single production-inventory strategy that would be effective both during high and low season. In the intention of filling a discovered research gap, seasonality was linked with production-inventory strategy theories to form a framework for production systems with seasonality. The framework consists of two parts: firstly, a review cycle between the seasons and secondly, a decision hierarchy for production-inventory strategies. The review cycle introduces a production-inventory strategy of a seasonally hybrid order penetration point, where the location of the main stocking point is varying between seasons. The decision hierarchy shows the relationships between the decision levels: OPP choice, capacity allocation and scheduling and control of the production line. The research methodology includes a literature review and a multi-method empirical case study of a confectionery manufacturer through interviews and numerical analysis of company data. The numerical data sources used were from the order row entries, production, delivery and warehousing records as well as information combined from the follow-up records of production batches in the information systems of the company. The most important finding from the study was the inevitable importance of the seasonality considerations to any company with seasonal demand. The developed framework serves as a tool for managers to include seasonality to their production-inventory decisions. It was also discovered that during the high peak of seasonality, flexibility tends to decrease in the supply chain and production of products, leaving less space for postponement. As to the actual seasonally dynamic order penetration point, it was found to have its potential and drawbacks, and questions are left for future researchers to solve regarding its usability in other production environments.
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    Analysis of key factors for market expansion and sales increase - case company
    (2016) Zhao, Jing; Tieto- ja palvelutalouden laitos; Department of Information and Service Economy; Kauppakorkeakoulu; School of Business
    Objectives of the Study Along with the Chinese market growth and reforming, the Chinese consumers behaviors have changed as well. In order to follow the pace, many smaller and medium sized companies, which are interested entering or expanding market, have been studying this phenomenon. In particular, some of these companies struggle with their market access methods. Therefore, this thesis aims to solve case company's practical problem of expanding the market share and retain customers. The thesis results are collected through analyzing the factors and combing relevant theories. Ultimately, the thesis would draw a general results that can apply to similar cases. Academic background and methodology In this thesis, the author used three theories: 1) Supply Chain Management (SCM) framework, 2) Channel management and 3) 5 Port force analysis. The SCM framework analysis draws the overall blueprint for case company, including the external relationships among suppliers, distributors and customers; in addition, SCM framework indicates the impacts of different players towards case company. The channel management analysis comes into the core of the dilemma of case company - sales channel optimization. Combine the practical problems of case company, channel analysis introduces the selection method that can be implied on case company. The channel management also brings the potential risks and opportunities when choosing the channels. Last but not the least, the 5 port force analysis assists the theories to enrich the evidences of supporting. The methodology is conducted in qualitative methods. As for the data collection, the techniques include benchmarking interviews, individual interviews, and case studies. Findings and conclusions The findings and conclusions are divided into two parts: 1) findings and 2) contributions. The key findings are, competitiveness assessment is critical for profitability, business process should be leveled in terms of significance and right channel selection is critical for improving sales performance. As for theoretical contribution, this studies includes three different main theories along with the supporting studies to thoroughly analyze the case company, draw relevant conclusions and make a prototype for similar cases. As for the managerial implications, this studies draws separate suggestion plans from supply chain management and sales channel management perspective.
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    Analysis of the Finnish impact assessments of the 2015 sulphur regulations of marine fuels
    (2014) Koiranen, Tomi; Tieto- ja palvelutalouden laitos; Department of Information and Service Economy; Kauppakorkeakoulu; School of Business
    Under the new regulations effective 1st January 2015, the sulphur content of marine fuels will be restricted from the current 1.0 percent to 0.1 percent in the Sulphur Emission Control Area (SECA), which in Europe covers the Baltic Sea, the North Sea and the English Canal. The most commonly discussed alternatives to comply with the regulations, the use of a low-sulphur fuel (typically marine gas oil, MGO) and the use of sulphur scrubbers, cause signifi-cant additional costs for the maritime traffic, since the MGO is more expensive fuel and the investment costs of the scrubbers are substantial. The maritime transportation is extremely important for the Finnish foreign trade accounting for over 80 % of the transportation of the foreign trade. Moreover, Finland is geographically located in the furthermost bottom of the Baltic Sea, which means that all of the Finnish maritime traffic to and from overseas covers the whole distance of the regulated area. The additional costs arising from the new regula-tions have been assessed in three major Finnish impact assessments conducted in 2009, 2012 and 2013. The differences in the estimates of additional costs are considerable. The identifica-tion of the factors that induce differences in the estimates of additional costs and their pro-gression over time in these impact assessments is the subject of this study. The aim of the identification is to provide a basis for viewing the different estimates. The literature and previous research regarding regulatory impact assessments was discussed to develop the theoretical framework of this study and to position the Finnish impact assess-ments in the framework. The literature was also utilized in identifying the factors that may have effect on the estimates of the additional costs. Based on the identification of the possible factors, an analytic model to analyze, compare and view impact assessments was developed. The model was used to analyze the data of the study, which consists of the three Finnish im-pact assessments. The main results of the study are that the most significant factors to induce differences in the estimates are the alternatives of technological execution, the definition of baseline and the sources of information. The first factor concerns the consideration of scrubber technology in the calculations. The definition of baseline refers to different fuel qualities and shares of fuels used in the baseline scenario. The third factor is mostly related to the prices of the fuels, to which the estimates are highly sensitive. Also the progression over time was the most signifi-cant in the case of these three factors. The main theoretical contribution of this study is the developed analytic model to analyze, compare and view impact assessments. The model can be applied to analyze also other similar impact assessments.
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    Analysis of utilizing indoor geographic information
    (2016) Tuovinen, Pauliina; Tinnilä, Markku; Tieto- ja palvelutalouden laitos; Kauppakorkeakoulu; School of Business
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    Analytics and its requirements for data governance - an empirical research
    (2018) Ukkola, Kristian; Merikivi, Jani; Tieto- ja palvelutalouden laitos; Kauppakorkeakoulu; School of Business
    The objective of this research was to find out requirements that analytics sets for data governance and to evaluate how well the selected data governance model supported mapping these requirements. The research was an empirical study, which included semi-structured interviews that were used to collect evidence supporting equivalent knowledge areas in the selected data governance model. Analytics in the context of this research includes business analytics, data mining and web analytics. The theoretical background contains description of different levels on how organizations may utilize various types of analytics and what kind of skills they require. The purpose of this was to create a more comprehensive understanding about the level of the organizations analytical capabilities and what kind of requirements these create for the organizations data governance. Our findings suggest, that the selected data governance model of DMBOK2 from Data Management Association (DAMA) correspondent well against the requirements collected through interviews. Utilization of this model in the organisation would most likely result in positive outcomes in analytics capabilities. It was also recognized, that not all data can be perfect at all times, but rather it is a cost versus benefit analysis on where to focus available resources. The most important knowledge areas of this model recognized through interviews were Business Intelligence and Data Warehousing, Data Quality and Meta-data. However, these are dependent on the organization and other factors, meaning that selection of data governance model should be done case by case taking these factors in consideration.
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    Analyzing suitable revenue model of digital music platforms in China based on the assumption of paid-music
    (2014) Zhang, Yu; Tieto- ja palvelutalouden laitos; Department of Information and Service Economy; Kauppakorkeakoulu; School of Business
    Objectives of the study: As changes in the distribution channels of music, the online platforms become the most popular and most important channel around audiences all over the world. But in the meanwhile, pirated music on the Internet is a great threat for the licensed digital music services. Especially in China, due to the audience's lower willingness-to-pay and the rampant pirated music, music platforms are looking forward to some practical solutions. This research aims at exploring feasible revenue models with applicable features for Chinese digital music platforms. Academic background and methodology: At first, literature reviews contributed to build the research framework of this study, which included business model, revenue models used in digital music platforms, web 2.0, and the value-adding strategy. The empirical research was divided into two parts - business model evaluation of leading international music platforms and the China market study. The business model evaluation of selected case companies was based on the modified business model. And the case companies were selected following the four different types of revenue models. The second part of China market study was comprised of a SWOT analysis of local digital music industry and the consuming behavior of Chinese audience. Furthermore, the business model evaluation was regarded as benchmarking to highlight specific features that the foreign music platforms are using. The China market study was the ground of analyzing and reflecting beneficial characters for the local digital music platforms. Findings and conclusions: The essential finding of this research is that the artist-to-consumer model is the most suitable model for Chinese digital music platforms. Moreover, a three-sided platform should be developed to leverage the power of audience, advertiser, and celebrities and stars. Application of big data is helpful for music platforms not only at attracting more advertisers and music listeners, but also at encouraging the conversion rate. The value-adding services could combine online features and offline activities through fully leveraging celebrity effects.
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    Analyzing the Chinese online-to-offline business dynamics: Case: Alibaba Group's Alipay
    (2016) Jia, Minshu; Tieto- ja palvelutalouden laitos; Department of Information and Service Economy; Kauppakorkeakoulu; School of Business
    Research objectives As the rapid growing Chinese e-commerce market, the online-to-offline business dynamics gain more market power. However, this business dynamics approach lacks of theoretical framework support and detailed analysis. Therefore, this research study will start to analysis the overall condition of Chinese e-commerce industry. Along with the theoretical literatures, the framework is established to tackle business model, service process and the multi-sided platform effect. Lastly, an empirical case is chosen to detailed evaluate the platform dimensions, network effect, risks and opportunities. Data and methodology The research study is a qualitative research and descriptive analysis with some numeric indicating figures. By reviewing various literatures, the knowledge of creating an effective online business dynamics will be transferred to the empirical case. The case study helps to understand the Chinese online-to-offline business dynamics concretely. The data collected are mostly textual information from published reports, journals, and articles. The case company information are extracted from its official website and reliable Internet sources, such as Reuters, Bloomberg etc. Main findings and conclusion This research study produces four main findings. First, the Chinese e-commerce overview is presented to give readers a broad picture on current development status. Second, The Alibaba Group's business model is examined from four domains. Alibaba Group, as the platform provider, aims to provide high valued services for both buyers and sellers under secured environment. They focus on gaining market share with flexible yet prioritize critical resources in partner selection. Additionally, the service process analysis matrix illustrates Alipay is a fast routine process with value adding features. Alipay is not only a payment method, but also an integrated application for users to improve user experiences. Lastly, Alibaba and Alipay are both multi-sided platform, which involves users, merchants, platform provider and social media. The strong network effect is observed as a snowball effect. The risks and opportunities are addressed for Alibaba.
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    Application of service modularity in consulting industry
    (2011) Ovtchinnikova, Anastassia; Department of Information and Service Economy; Tieto- ja palvelutalouden laitos; Kauppakorkeakoulu; School of Economics
    Service modularity is gaining ground, as companies move away from simply offering traditional products to offering more services. Modularity offers a compromise and ability to combine customization and standardization in order to develop services more efficiently for the end customer. However, until now there has been limited research in the field of service modularity, mainly because of the heterogeneity of services, role of people in service personalization and customization and the nature of services as both products and processes. Therefore, there is a need to provide a more systematic point of analysis of modularity and customization in the pure service industry. The objectives of this research is to revise the framework on combining modularity and customization proposed by Bask et al. (2011) by developing own measurement criteria for modularity and customization and applying it to the pure service industry. The framework is revised by looking from both service offering and service production perspective. Case study is chosen as the principal research strategy for empirical part of this study. Three consulting companies from different areas (IT, management and strategy) within the consulting industry were selected as case companies. Semi-structured interviews were used as the primary method to collect data and questions were pre-defined beforehand. According to the responses provided each company was placed within the revised framework. The results of this study reveal that the revised framework is applicable in context of services. By developing and adding the measurement instrument with a well-defined scale the framework becomes more integrated and cohesive. According to the results each of the interviewed company fell into different quadrant within the revised framework and its position did not change significantly if looking from the service offering or service production perspective. IT and strategy consulting are seen as the brunches of consulting that moved the most towards modularization. Many companies can utilize this revised framework internally to evaluate their own strategy or/and benchmark against their competition in the market.
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    Apteekkipalveluiden kehittäminen: Case Suomen Apteekkariliitto
    (2012) Salonen, Jaana; Department of Information and Service Economy; Tieto- ja palvelutalouden laitos; Kauppakorkeakoulu; School of Business
    Apteekkipalveluiden kehittäminen: Case Suomen Apteekkariliitto
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    ”Arvaa ja korjaa” – IT –hallintotavan muodostaminen ja sen merkitys fuusion jälkeisen IT –integraation onnistumisessa
    (2011) Hyppönen, Kasper; Department of Information and Service Economy; Tieto- ja palvelutalouden laitos; Kauppakorkeakoulu; School of Economics
    IT –hallintotapa on käsitteenä sekä akateemisessa keskustelussa, että IT –alan ammattilaisten keskuudessa jokseenkin määrittelemätön ja monimuotoinen käsite. Akateemisessa keskustelussa käsite on alkanut saada jollain tapaa yhteneväisen muodon vasta hiljattain, mutta siitä huolimatta mitään yhteisesti hyväksyttyä IT –hallintotavan määritelmää ei ole olemassa. Asianmukaisen ja toimivan IT –hallintotavan merkitys – toisaalta IT –toiminnan kyvyssä luoda arvoa sen organisaatiolle, ja toisaalta yleisten vastuu– ja hallintotapojen (engl. governance) tärkeyden noustessa esiin – on korostunut entisestään, kun organisaatioiden kilpailukyky on yhä enenevässä määrin riippuvainen erilaisista tietojärjestelmäratkaisuista. Fuusio, sekä erityisesti fuusion jälkeinen IT –integraatio on puolestaan organisaatiolle kriittinen muutoksen ja uudistumisen prosessi, jota on akateemisessa keskustelussa käsitelty verrattain vähän. Asianmukaisen IT –hallintotavan muodostaminen on eritoten fuusioituvan organisaation IT –toiminnan tavoitteiden saavuttamisen, sekä tähän liittyvien päätöksentekorakenteiden toimivuuden kannalta kriittinen tehtävä. Tämän tutkimuksen tarkoituksena on luoda ymmärrystä IT –hallintotavan muodostamisen keskeisistä tekijöistä erityisesti fuusiota seuraavassa integraatiovaiheessa. Tätä kautta pyritään vastaamaan kysymyksiin siitä, mitä tekijöitä tulisi IT –hallintotapaa suunniteltaessa ottaa huomioon ja miten IT –hallintotapa tulisi muodostaa, sekä toisaalta miten fuusion jälkeinen integraatiovaihe tulisi huomioida IT –hallintotavan muodostamisessa. Tutkimuksen päätavoite on muodostaa empiirisesti validi viitekehysmalli IT –hallintotavan muodostamisesta fuusion jälkeiseen integraatiovaiheeseen, jota olisi mahdollista soveltaa mahdollisimman laajasti erilaisista tilannetekijöistä riippumatta. Tutkimus on osa SimLabin fuusion jälkeisen IT –integraation tutkimushanketta, ja se tehdään tapaustutkimuksena Aalto-yliopiston kolmen koulun, Helsingin kauppakorkeakoulun, Teknillisen korkeakoulun, sekä Taideteollisen korkeakoulun IT –toimintojen fuusiosta vuosien 2007-2010 aikana. Kvalitatiivinen tutkimusaineisto on kerätty haastattelemalla tapauskohteen henkilöstöä monipuolisesti eri organisaatioista ja niiden eri tasoilta. Lisäksi aineistoa on kerätty dokumenttien muodossa eri lähteistä. Tutkimuksen keskeinen tulos on konseptuaalinen viitekehysmalli IT –hallintotavan muodostamiseksi, sekä IT –integraatioon liittyvän fuusiokontekstin tunnistamiseksi. Mallin teoreettinen arvo perustuu sen yleistettävyyteen ja holistisuuteen, jolloin sitä voidaan käyttää IT –hallintotavan vuorovaikutus– ja päätöksentekorakenteiden analysoimiseen erilaisista tilannetekijöistä riippumatta. Tutkimuksen käytännön kontribuutio perustuu vahvasti myös kyseiseen konseptuaaliseen malliin, jonka avulla IT –hallintotapaa suunniteltaessa voidaan yksittäisten hallintomekanismien suunnittelun sijaan huomio kohdistaa hallintotavan kokonaisuuden kannalta keskeisiin rakennetyyppeihin ja niiden dynamiikkaan.
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    Asiakaskokemuksen johtaminen - organisatoriset kyvykkyydet analytiikan näkökulmasta
    (2016) Laine, Leea; Tieto- ja palvelutalouden laitos; Department of Information and Service Economy; Kauppakorkeakoulu; School of Business
    Tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli tarkastella organisatorisia kyvykkyyksiä, joita tarvitaan asiakasymmärrykseen perustuvassa asiakaskokemuksen johtamisessa. Tutkimus keskittyi ymmärtämään erityisesti organisatoristen kyvykkyyksien ja osaamisen kehittämistä sekä käytettävissä olevan asiakastiedon ja teknologioiden merkitystä osana asiakaskokemuksen johtamista ja asiakaskohtaamisten hallintaa. Tutkimuksen kantavana teemana toimi asiakaskokemuksen johtaminen analytiikan ja asiakastiedon avulla. Tutkimus toteutettiin kohdeyritykselle ja sen konkreettisena tutkimuksellisena tavoitteena oli löytää yli organisaatiorajojen toimivat skaalautuvat ratkaisut ja ehdotukset kyvykkyyksien varmistamiseksi tulevaisuuden tarpeisiin asiakaskokemuksen johtamisessa. Tutkimuksen akateeminen tausta ja kirjallisuus perustuivat poikkitieteellisiin lähteisiin. Tutkimusaihetta lähestyttiin tavoitteellisen asiakaskokemuksen johtamisen teorian, ulkoisten vaikuttavien muutostrendien, organisaatiolta vaadittavien kyvykkyyksien sekä analytiikan näkökulmasta. Organisatorisiin kyvykkyyksiin tutustuttiin tarkemmin organisaation, asiakasymmärryksen ja asiakastiedon sekä teknologisten kyvykkyyksiin liittyvien teorioiden kautta. Näiden perusteella laadittiin viitekehys, jonka pohjalta toteutettiin empiirinen tutkimus. Tutkimus toteutettiin kohdeyritykselle kvalitatiivisena tapaustutkimuksena. Tiedonkeruumenetelmänä käytettiin teemahaastatteluja, jotka tehtiin kohdeyrityksen organisaatioissa henkilö- ja ryhmähaastatteluina. Tutkimuksen tuloksina tunnistettiin viitekehyksen mukaisten organisatoristen kyvykkyyksien nykytila, haasteet ja tavoitetila kohdeyrityksessä sekä laadittiin näiden perusteella maturiteettimalli asiakaskokemuksen johtamisen kyvykkyyksien kehittämiseksi. Tutkimustuloksia peilattiin teoreettiseen taustaan ja löydöksinä tunnistettiin, että asiakaskokemuksen johtaminen edellyttää organisaatioilta ensisijaisesti organisaatiokulttuurin ja johtamismallien muutosta. Toisena asiakaskokemuksen johtamisen lähtökohtana oli tiedolla johtaminen, joka edellyttää asiakkaaseen liitetyn tiedon kokonaisvaltaista ymmärtämistä sekä analysointia asiakaskohtaamisten johtamiseksi. Teknologiset kyvykkyydet nähtiin mahdollistajana tai resursseina, joita käytetään asiakaskokemuksen johtamisessa.
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    Assessing changes for implementing Manufacturing Execution Systems. Case: The Switch Model Factory
    (2012) Wu, Xiaoxuan; Department of Information and Service Economy; Tieto- ja palvelutalouden laitos; Kauppakorkeakoulu; School of Business
    Objectives of the Study The goal of the research is to design a method to assess the scope and the extent of change for implementing Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES). On the one hand, the study has elicited a set of business requirements to delineate the scope of implementation. On the other hand, the study has assessed the extent of change within the scope by detecting the inertness that the management should resolve in a social-technical system that comprises the organization, new technology and legacy enterprise information system. Academic background and methodology Change takes place in the work system of a company when implementing MES. Before planning any change, the management should assess the change based on the business requirements of a new work system, in which MES come into use. Clearly identified requirements enable the management to plan and direct the change process to ensure a success MES implementation. However, failure rate of implementing new Information System is high in practice. Researchers have ascribed various failures of IS implementation to the vagueness of requirements. Early before planning implementation in detail, the management should first determine what requirements are essential for realizing the business value of a new information technology. This study assessed the scope of change through requirements elicitation with Critical Success Chain (CSC) method. The study has adapted and operationalized the CSC method in a single case, to demonstrate the method. The case has shown the efficacy and applicability of the method. Further, the study has developed the general CSC method by incorporating a diagnostic guideline to assess the extent of a technochange. Findings and conclusions The research has described and framed the problem of assessing changes for implementing MES as requirements elicitation and inertness identifying. Then the study developed a method combining the CSC and Sarker's Guideline. Moreover, the study has found that MES implementation had better go injunction with manufacturing operation improvement. At last, the demonstrational case is able to show that MES implementation focus could have diverge on different products in a company's product portfolio.
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    Assessing supply chain collaboration, firm capabilities and performance: An empirical study of third-party logistics industry in Finland
    (2015) Chen, Leifu; Tieto- ja palvelutalouden laitos; Department of Information and Service Economy; Kauppakorkeakoulu; School of Business
    Research objectives: The study aims to develop a theoretical model and validate its corresponding hypotheses to identify and explain the relationship among supply chain collaboration (SCC), firm capabilities and performance based on resourced-based view and its extension version (relational view and extended resource-based view) in the context of Finnish third-party logistics industry. Data and Methodology: Research data were obtained from an online survey, which was developed by the researchers of Logistics Department, Aalto University School of Business. The research procedures follow the typical quantitative empirical research procedure, including data collection, missing data analysis and imputation, statistical description, analysis of variance (ANOVA), exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM). Main findings and conclusions: First, the results of EFA indicated the groups of survey items are expected as our questionnaire design. We also found that the effect of firm size on most of these constructs are insignificant. Second, a five-factor model was confirmed through the assessment of convergent validity, discriminant validity and reliability. Third, a CFA was conducted to examine the discrepancies between the proposed model and the measurement model by various fit statistics. The proposed model was strongly supported by assessing the validity and reliability of the measurement model. Fourth, a SEM approach was applied to assess the fit of a structural model and validate the hypothesized relationships. The good fit indices indicated that the structural model was adequately supported. Furthermore, the empirical results supported the claim that 1) SCC increases the logistics service capability and innovation capability; 2) better logistics service capability leads to better innovation capability; 3) better operational performance could be achieved by developing innovation capability; 4) operational performance is positively linked to financial performance. Discussions: The findings are consistent with previous studies and the theoretical propositions of the research are largely confirmed the survey responses collected from Finland's 3PL providers. The theoretical contribution is the development of a comprehensive conceptual model. In terms of practical application, the results of empirical evidences presented in this study not only advance the understanding of SCC, but also provide an instructive guidance. At last, we discussed the limitations of this study, particularly, the data collection method, and gave the suggestions in the future research to remedy these limitations.