Product Strategies of Finnish Photovoltaic Technology Manufacturers for Africa

The study reviews the type of product strategies used by Finnish photovoltaic technology manufacturers for Africa. This development examines three dimensions under product strategies: product platforms, product lines and individual products. It also addresses the issues related to product standardization and adaptation as to how it is implemented for the African market, and thus lay emphasis on three alternatives: localized, modified and standardized product strategies. The theoretical framework is constructed by analyzing the existing theoretical approaches. The framework is adapted from Gabrielsson (2004) and in this, there is the discussion of the economic environment, corporate strategy, firm’s resources and decision making amongst others, assumptions were created which were verified in the empirical part of the studies using the case study approach of which two firms were interviewed. It was discovered that unlike the use of discarded or obsolete technology in some fields, photovoltaic technology in use by Finnish firms doing business in Africa is the same to the one used in their domestic market as well as globally. The research intends to contribute greatly to the poll of research connected to the African market as well as create interest in specialized fields like the energy markets. The research concludes by drawing attention to possible managerial implications and future research in photovoltaic field for the African market.fi=Opinnäytetyö kokotekstinä PDF-muodossa.|en=Thesis fulltext in PDF format.|sv=Lärdomsprov tillgängligt som fulltext i PDF-format

Product configuration for photovoltaic systems in developing countries

Demand and supply of electricity have always been problematic in developing economies. Poor infrastructure because of weak government policies has compounded the problem thus making it difficult for businesses to operate uninterrupted. As a result, households and businesses have no choice than to take matters in their own hands. The paper uses Ghana (a West African country) as the focus of study. The main objective is to develop various solar photovoltaic (solar PV) configurations for households and businesses in developing economies. The proposed research question is set as, ‘how can product configuration support reduction and improvement of the energy predicament in developing economies?’ The possibilities include standalone, backup or hybrid systems with a focus on off grid solutions. As a limitation, this paper confines its choices to backup systems because of the current distribution of electricity in Ghana. The empirical background provides insight into existing energy condition and the renewable energy plans in Ghana [6,11,17,18]. The method applied in this paper includes focus group study and a survey. The focus group session utilized some African students living in Finland while the main survey utilized a sample frame in Ghana to arrive at the desired conclusion. Some 102 respondents answered questionnaire via Google Form. From the outcome, the most common areas of use for solar PV included lighting, some household and office appliances with varied configurations. The study confirms the inadequate supply of electricity in Ghana and proposed solar PV systems as a viable alternative.fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

Data-driven sustainable supply chain through centralized logistics network : Case study in a Finnish pharmaceutical distributor company

Logistics processes are in the core of transportation, providing a structure for distributing products on an international scale. This research was conducted as a commissioned research for a Finnish pharmaceutical wholesaler. In wholesale, logistics process is an important part of the core competencies and optimizing this process can provide significant competitive advantages. The objective of this research study was to investigate the causes of supply chain fragmentations and the ways to mitigate these effects. The central concepts are used as sustainable logistics process that minimizes carbon dioxide (CO2) emission, offers supply chain visibility, lean distribution channel, offers discrete event simulation and supply chain modelling. The empirical research employs a mixed research method consisting of both qualitative and quantitative data. Quantitative data is collected from the inbound deliveries of a Finnish pharmaceutical case company and qualitative data is gathered from a questionnaire survey within the case company. This study investigated the current inbound processes of the case company and compared to the developed model of the centralized pipeline system. The objective of this study was to investigate how a centralized logistic system minimizes travel cost to support environmental damage and can provide benefits to the inbound process of the case company. The research results indicated that a centralized pipeline system can provide improved information flow, higher freight capacity and reduced CO2 emissions to support environmental friendly and sustainable supply chain and logistics processes.© 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

Optimal maintenance for a waste-to-energy plant using DEMATEL : A case study

Waste-to-energy (WtE) plants are complex systems that requiring different types of maintenance to be reliable and available in functionality. The inadequacies of WtE plant lifetime maintenance may increase the production costs and negatively affect the competitiveness and the availability of WtE plants. To keep the efficiency of all the plant systems high and operating as expected during their lifetime, it is important to maintain them. This study focuses on the maintenance of WtE plants by analyzing the operating procedures at a case company. In the study, a multi-criterion decision-making method (MCDM) named Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) is used to evaluate the weight and rank of twelve identified criteria for spare parts of the case WtE company. The empirical part of this study consists of a qualitative study, where data were collected from an open-ended questionnaire survey and case company data from existing documents. The respondents' rate from the questionnaire survey was 20%. Key findings from the study show that human, economic, equipment and tool related, management, and environmental factors have an important impact on the effectiveness of the maintenance and availability of the WtE plant. The study also shows that quality, lead time, price, and the severity of spare part failure are the key criteria to consider when selecting spare parts for the WtE plant. The study recommends several initiatives to improve the availability of WtE plant and spare parts which will help to reduce the costs of maintenance as well as mitigate the risks related to the maintenance.© The Author(s) 2023. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

Collaboration towards value creation for end-of-life solar photovoltaic panel in Ghana

This paper identifies value creation strategies and the role of stakeholders in advancing sustainable practices for end-of-life (henceforth EOL) solar photovoltaic panels (solar PV) in Ghana. This is preceded by an overview of the global outlook of sustainable practices for EOL solar PV as well as how these can be promoted in a developing country like Ghana. The framework discusses and promotes efficient collaboration towards value creation by stakeholders in advancing sustainable practices for end-of-life solar PV in Ghana. The methodology centers on an integrative review aimed at identifying the different aspects leading to a value creation framework for EOL solar PV. The paper discusses a hybrid public-private partnership (HPPP), which includes the types of synergy between different actors as well as their clear roles. The core options available to government, businesses and end-users in the value creation includes the provision of a technical solution, improved logistics and innovative business opportunities. The aforementioned options will achieve reduction, reuse, repair and/or recycling, targeted at promoting a unique collaboration between all relevant stakeholders. Furthermore, such options present an opportunity to promote awareness utilizing education in sustainability, thus promoting the need for extending the useful lifecycle of the products.© 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

End of life analysis of solar photovoltaic panel : roadmap for developing economies

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to propose a conceptual framework for handling end of life (henceforth EoL) scenarios of solar photovoltaic (solar PV) panels, which includes different options available to businesses and end-users, as well as promoting the collaboration between government and all relevant stakeholders. Design/methodology/approach This paper adopts purposeful sampling, secondary data and content analysis to develop an appropriate conceptual framework that helps to create awareness of the appropriate options for dealing with the EoL cases of solar PV panels. Findings From the data analysis, it is revealed that reuse, repair and recycling of solar PV panels can ensure value creation, public-private partnership and a solution for education in sustainability, and thus, prolonging the useful life cycle of the products. Research limitations/implications This paper limits the analysis on developing economies and the use of selected literature based on the recycling of solar PV panels. Originality/value This paper is an initial attempt to create an awareness by identifying, analyzing and educating the stakeholders to handle appropriately any EoL scenario of solar PV panels.© Emmanuel Ndzibah, Giovanna Andrea Pinilla-De La Cruz and Ahm shamsuzzoha. Published by Emerald Publishing Limited. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcodefi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

Marketing mechanisms for photovoltaic technology in developing countries : case Ghana

fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed