The impact of digitalization on the sustainability of firms operations: A case of Fazer in Finland
Loading...
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
School of Business |
Master's thesis
Unless otherwise stated, all rights belong to the author. You may download, display and print this publication for Your own personal use. Commercial use is prohibited.
Author
Date
2024
Department
Major/Subject
Mcode
Degree programme
mib
Language
en
Pages
121 + 1
Series
Abstract
In the thesis I study how the megatrend of digitalization impacts the operations of firms and whether digitalization makes operations more sustainable, and if so how. Concerning operations, I focus on studying the impact on three chosen key operations: production, finance, and marketing. I’m particularly interested in the corporate development point of view: How companies can use the megatrend of digitalization to improve their daily operations and the sustainability of their operations? Based on the earlier literature, I will build a theoretical framework that firms can utilize globally. After this, I will empirically test the framework in the context of a case firm Fazer. Using the created framework as a lens I research how digitalization impacts Fazer’s daily operations and their sustainability. I then compare the framework and the results of the case study. I discuss similarities and differences, and after this, I modify the original framework if needed. Megatrends of digitalization and sustainability are considered some of the most impactful megatrends of our time. Megatrends can be described as current ways of how things are changing globally. As megatrends greatly impact the global world and how firms operate, firms need to adapt accordingly. As firms need to keep up with the constantly changing business environment, the theme of the thesis is very topical. The relationship between sustainability and digitalization is also a rather hot topic in research, and how they impact each other has been studied relatively little. It is also important to study this in the Finnish context for Finnish firms to stay competitive in global and changing markets. Fazer was chosen as a case firm because it is a significant and leading Finnish company concentrating on consumer businesses. Fazer also has operations in over 40 countries and big market shares, especially in Nordic countries. The thesis answers two research questions: 1) How does digitalization impact firms’ operations? 2) Does digitalization make the operations of firms more sustainable and if so, how?Description
Thesis advisor
Kovesnikov, AlexeiLin, Chen
Keywords
megatrend, operation, digitalisation, sustainability, food business, consumer business
