08. Raportit ja kirjat / Reports and Books

Permanent URI for this community

https://aaltodoc.aalto.fi/handle/123456789/6
Yliopiston yksiköissä toteutettujen hankkeiden väli- ja loppuraportteja sekä tieteellisiä kirjoja / Interim and final reports from projects carried out within the university's units, also scientific books

Browse

Browsing 08. Raportit ja kirjat / Reports and Books by Degree programme/Major subject "management"

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Gaining more Value of Customer Relationships in the Digital Business Environment
    (Aalto University Executive Education (Aalto EE), 2016) Kukkonen, Elina; Salo, Jari, Professor, Oulu Business School, Finland; Aalto EE; Aalto University Executive Education; Kauppakorkeakoulu; School of Business; Tikkanen, Henrikki, Professor, Aalto University, Finland
    Digital business environment has amble of unexplored opportunities to engage with customers and to enhance future business. However, today customers are ever more networked online, and hold the power over consumption decisions not only on themselves but on many others. Existing customers can be valuable for the company from various perspectives. Thus, the thesis explores the value formation and management of customer relationships in online environment, from the perspective of the customer and the firm. The focus of the study is on exploiting research, data and analytics for customer value enhancement of the existing customer base. The thesis investigates the principles of Customer Value Management (CVM) in the online environment as means of gaining more value for the company from existing customer relationships. The focus is on exploring the value creation of customer relationships primarily from the perspective of the firm, but in terms of customer experience management, the study acknowledges also the value perceived by the customer in online relationships. As its primary contribution, the research deepens understanding of the key components of an appealing customer experience in the online news channel context that builds loyalty. Second, the study broadens the customer management perspective from the value of transactions for the company to recognizing other value outcomes of enhanced customer engagement. Third, the study presents an applicable value measurement model for customer relationship management in the online news channel context. The thesis comprises of three separate studies, Essays 1, 2 and 3 targeted to academic journals. Through a case study on essay 1, critical attributes for superior online customer experience in news channel context are identified. Essay 2 probes into identifying the components of customer engagement value and the associated metrics for measuring customer engagement. The third essay investigates how an online news channel can measure and manage customer value. The case company of the thesis is an online news channel publishing business news with a business focus on subscription sales as well as on advertising sales. The data for the thesis was gathered through face-to-face interviews (n=10) in the primary target group of the case company, through two web surveys (n=212 and n= 180) and through visiting data of 44 414 registered customers.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Interactions between non-profit finance, governance and investment style
    (Aalto University, 2016) Ahdekivi, Eeva; Aalto EE; Aalto University Executive Education - Aalto EE; Kauppakorkeakoulu; School of Business
    This book studies the economic and investment behavior of foundations, as well as the general environment of non-profit governance and of equity investments by non-profit foundations. The book is structured as follows. The Introduction presents the rationale for non-profits, some basic characteristics of non-profits and especially of foundations, and compares the economic motivation of non-profit foundations with that of for-profit companies. Essay 1 examines the root causes of governance choices in foundations, and the consequences of such governance choices. Essay 2 empirically investigates the equity portfolios of foundation investors and confirms typical characteristics of foundations as investors. The governance in foundations, a wealth-endowed subset of nonprofits, differs fundamentally from the governance principles of for-profit corporates on three dimensions: (1) foundations do not have legal owners who could exert external control over the foundation; (2) without universal measures, such as profitability or stock market valuation, the efficient economic behavior of foundations is difficult to assess; and (3) most foundations are established to exist in perpetuity and are not subjected to any market for control. Thus, Essay 1 focuses on the following questions. Firstly, (1) which foundation-specific characteristics explain the accumulation of power at the board level in the governance of foundations? A sample of 891 foundations in Finland is empirically investigated using data on the foundations’ detailed rules, financials, and other characteristics. A new index measure for the concentration of control in foundations is constructed. Secondly, (2), the first Essay examines whether governance choices may have any consequences on foundations’ grant-making or other charitable spending. One of the possible drivers for governance choices include a foundation’s financiers. In absence of owners, the regular financiers such as donors, customers or the public sector may exert power over how the foundation is administered. In order to investigate the effect of financing, Essay 1 classifies sample foundations into four categories, based on their main source of finance. The empirical results suggest that a foundation’s source of finance is associated with the concentration of decision powers. Foundations that have to regularly approach outside sources of finance–donors, public sector or customers– show less concentration of power on the board level than foundations that can finance their missions with capital income from an endowment. We also find that foundations with a less concentrated governance model spend more on charitable operations than foundations with concentrated governance. However, in grantmaking foundations this association does not emerge: governance is not related to the level of grantmaking. In our second Essay, we argue for the need to understand the investment behaviour of various investor types, and present empirical evidence of non-profits’ equity investment style, based on data on portfolios of listed equity owned by 530 foundations during the years 2000-2013. Overall, foundations are active risk-takers: they can carry concentrated equity risk by not diversifying their portfolios towards the industry breakdown of the general market index. Foundations are shown to be infrequent traders, with relatively low equity portfolio turnover. If they decide to own a stock for longer than one year, they remain owner for 3.6 years on average (in the 13-year sample period). In addition, the majority of their single shareholdings stay intact from year to year. Foundations do not adjust their positions frequently. Foundation age and size are related to the equity allocation of foundations’ portfolios: older and larger foundations diversify more along the lines of the market index breakdown. We also find that older foundations trade less frequently than younger ones. Essays in this book present new insights into non-profit economic behavior. Concerning governance, Essay 1 suggests a measure (Foundation Governance Index) and a determinant (the source of finance of a foundation) for governance in non-profits. Concerning investments, Essay 2 confirms empirically that non-profits have a distinct equity investment style.