Factors affecting to managerial success of an inter-organizational strategic relationship

As the technological development and the change of the business environment are faster than ever, sustainable competitive advantage has become increasingly challenging to attain. To foster competitiveness many companies have formed strategic alliances. However, gaining expected value from the relationship has proved to be difficult. The issue appears to be in attaining the value rather than lacking the potential value. Hence, the motivation for this thesis and the primary objective of this study is to identify some of the key factors that influence the managerial success of an inter-organizational strategic relationship. To provide a solid picture of the factors affecting the managerial success of an inter-organizational strategic relationship there are three key theoretical areas that this thesis examines. Firstly, it appears to be important to understand why companies prefer collaboration in areas requiring knowledge exchange, secondly to identify the factors affecting the inter-organizational knowledge exchange, and thirdly to establish how such relationships can be managed. Hence, the literature part of this thesis examines the latest articles published in top management and strategic management journals regarding these three key theoretical areas. In addition, to support the creation of a holistic picture, the thesis introduces findings of a qualitative empirical study from the Finnish technology industry. The findings of the study suggest that there are at least five themes that are important for the success of a strategic relationship: 1.) Existence of a market need; 2.) Realistic ability to fulfill the need together; 3.) Willingness and commitment; 4.) Capability to implement the jointly agreed strategy; 5.) Continuous two way communication at all hierarchical levels.fi=Opinnäytetyö kokotekstinä PDF-muodossa.|en=Thesis fulltext in PDF format.|sv=Lärdomsprov tillgängligt som fulltext i PDF-format

Measuring new product and service portfolio advantage

The current study introduces the concept of new product and service portfolio (NPSP) advantage by creating and validating a three-dimensional measurement method that reflects novelty, meaningfulness and superiority – the three characteristics of NPSP advantage. Based on industry-wide homogeneous generalizable quantitative data from 108 manufacturing companies, the results indicate that these three characteristics of NPSP – novelty, meaningfulness and superiority – are distinct characteristics that together constitute NPSP advantage. This paper contributes to the literature on new product development, as its findings suggest that when measuring the concept of NPSP advantage, the three-dimensional construct that includes the three aforementioned characteristics has a better fit to the data than the unidimensional structure. Because it considers both new products and services, the current study offers an integrated approach to measure the desired innovation process outcome (NPSP advantage). In this way, this paper bridges the research on new product development with that on new service development.fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

Growth, profitability, and innovation performance of a firm : the enabling role of entrepreneurial orientation

Organisaation yrittäjämäisyyttä on tutkittu yli 30 vuotta. Vasta hiljattain tutkijat ovat kyseenalaistaneet yrittäjämäisyyden universaalin hyödyllisyyden. Sen sijaan, että yrittäjämäisyys parantaisi aina yrityksen suorituskykyä, sen on myös todettu lisäävän vaihtelua organisaation suorituskykymittareissa. Tämä väitöskirja esittelee neljä tutkimusartikkelia, joiden tulokset pohjautuvat suomalaisesta elintarviketeollisuudesta kerättyihin kysely-, haastattelu- ja taloustietokanta-aineistoihin lisätäkseen ymmärrystä siitä, ”mikä on yrittäjämäisen orientaation rooli yrityksen kasvun, kannattavuuden ja innovaatiosuorituskyvyn mahdollistajana”. Ensimmäinen artikkeli tutkii yrittäjämäisyyden ja kasvunopeuden välistä suhdetta sekä omaksumiskyvykkyyden ja taloudellisen pelivaran roolia tässä suhteessa. Toinen artikkeli esittelee kolme organisaatiotason mekanismia, joiden avulla lisääntyneen yrittäjämäisyyden ja korkean omaksumiskyvykkyyden yhteisvaikutus mahdollistaa paremman kannattavuuden. Kolmannessa ja neljännessä artikkelissa tarkastellaan tuote- ja palveluportfolion kilpailuetua ja sitä, kuinka yrittäjämäisyyden vaikutus kannattavuuteen kanavoituu erityisesti yrityksen innovaatiosuorituskyvyn kautta. Tulokset osoittavat, että yrittäjämäisyyden lisääntyminen voi vaikuttaa positiivisesti yrityksen kasvunopeuteen, mutta kasvupotentiaalin täysi hyödyntäminen vaatii organisaatiolta myös omaksumiskyvykkyyttä ja riittäviä taloudellisia resursseja. Lisäksi kasvanut yrittäjämäisyys ja suuri omaksumiskyvykkyys yhdessä näyttäisivät saavan aikaan mekanismeja, joiden avulla yritys voi parantaa kannattavuuttaan. Tuloksista käy myös ilmi, että yrittäjämäisyyden kannattavuushyödyt realisoituvat erityisesti tuote- ja palvelukehitysprosessien kautta. Tutkimuksen keskeisin löydös on, että yrittäjämäisyyden rooli ja optimaalinen taso vaihtelevat sen mukaan, mitä suorituskyvyn ulottuvuutta yritys pyrkii parantamaan.For more than 30 years, scholars have investigated the potential benefits of a firm-level entrepreneurial strategic posture, entrepreneurial orientation (EO). Recently, they have begun to question the alleged universally advantageous role of that posture and suggest that instead of directly improving firm performance, EO may increase variability in performance outcomes. Consisting of four research papers and utilizing a quantitative survey data set of 108 Finnish food manufacturing companies complemented with objective financial data and interview data, this dissertation seeks to contribute to the ongoing discussion on “what is the role of entrepreneurial orientation in improving the growth, profitability, and innovation performance of a firm?”. The first article investigates the relationship between EO and sales growth and the role of slack resources (SR) and absorptive capacity (ACAP) in overcoming the limitations of increased EO. The second article identifies three organizational micro-level mechanisms through which the interplay between increased EO and high ACAP externalizes and drives high profitability. As EO has been argued to drive firm performance, especially through its impact on innovation outcomes, the third article conceptualizes and validates a construct to measure the desired innovation process outcome—new product and service portfolio (NPSP) advantage—and the fourth article investigates EO’s impact on this outcome variable. The results suggest that firms seeking entrepreneurial growth benefit from high EO complemented with business development resources and capabilities such as financial SR and ACAP. Further, the findings suggest that increased EO together with high ACAP enable firms to activate micro-level mechanisms that deliver higher profitability and that the profitability driving potential of EO appears to manifest particularly through EO’s impact on innovation performance. As a conclusion, the role of EO appears to vary based on the strategic goals of the firm in question.fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

A Viewpoint to Customer Relationship Management in Non-Profit Context : case County Carlow Chamber of Commerce

The main objective of the paper was to support the customer relationship management (CRM) strategy development of the County Carlow Chamber of Commerce (CCCOC). The focus of the study was on assisting the case organisation to compile an extensive description of CRM. Moreover, the purpose of the study was to introduce ideas and recommendations to foster the CRM strategy. CCCOC is a non-profit organisation and at the beginning of the research the author found that CRM was not extensively researched in non-profit context. Therefore, discovering a viewpoint to the subject regarding not-for-profit organisations was decided to be a supplementary goal. Secondary sources such as latest business literature, journal articles and earlier researches were examined to build an extensive picture of CRM. To discover a non-profit viewpoint, thematic interview was selected to be the main research method. To enable the possibility to deliver benchmark value, the interviewees were selected by using purposive sampling. As a result, a Finnish organisation with a fairly similar mission to the case organisation and their client were interviewed. The observation data collected during the author’s final training session at CCCOC was also exploited. The primary research data was analysed and classified by using deductive analysis. The study found evidence to support the importance of customer centricity. The primary research data also revealed that understanding of value creation processes and meaning of efficient two-way communication are equally important in non-profit organisations. Moreover, the paper confirmed the applicability of several concepts such as portfolio management and documented complaints-handling. The study also found topics for future researches. The paper introduces a list of issues to consider regarding the CRM strategy development. The list includes suggestions such as modelling value creation processes, measuring customer retention and satisfaction, exploiting required technologies and acquiring essential competences. As a conclusion one may argue that the paper has managed to discover a non-profit viewpoint to CRM and to introduce ideas and recommendations as required.Opinnäytetyön päätarkoitus oli tuottaa tietoa asiakkuuksien johtamisesta case organisaation asiakkuusstrategian kehittämisen tueksi. Työn tavoitteena oli auttaa muodostamaan kattava kuva siitä, mitä asiakkuusajattelu yleisesti ottaen tarkoittaa sekä kerätä lista asioista, jotka tulisi ottaa huomioon strategiaa suunniteltaessa. Koska asiakkuuksien johtamista ei ole erityisen mittavasti tutkittu voittoa tavoittelemattomissa organisaatioissa, työn sivutuotteena oli tarkoitus tutkia myös asiakkuusajattelun hyödynnettävyyttä voittoa tavoittelemattomissa organisaatioissa yleisemmin. Kattavan kokonaiskuvan luomiseksi työ esittelee ajatuksia useista sekundaarisista lähteistä kuten aiemmista tieteellisistä julkaisuista, tutkimuksista ja kaupallisesta kirjallisuudesta. Voittoa tavoittelemattoman organisaation näkökulman esille saattamiseksi työssä on hyödynnetty teemahaastattelua. Benchmark- arvon mahdollistamiseksi haastateltavaksi valittiin suomalainen voittoa tavoittelematon organisaatio, jolla on hyvin samankaltainen tehtävä case organisaation kanssa. Myös haastatellun organisaation yhtä asiakasorganisaatiota haastateltiin. Opinnäytetyön kirjoittajan omia havaintoja case organisaatiosta on niin ikään käsitelty ja hyödynnetty. Primaari aineisto eli haastattelut ja havainnointimateriaali analysoitiin deduktiivisesti tarkoittaen sitä, että niiden yhtenevyyttä olemassa olevien teorioiden välillä vertailtiin. Analyysin johtopäätöksenä todettiin, että asiakaskeskeisyys on niin ikään erittäin tärkeää ei-kaupallisessa kontekstissa. Tutkimus osoitti myös, että arvontuotantoprosessien ymmärtäminen ja tehokas kaksisuuntainen kommunikointi on tärkeää. Näiden lisäksi työ havaitsi mm. asiakasportfoliojohtamisen käyttökelpoiseksi työkaluksi johtamistyössä. Työssä mainitaan myös mahdollisia aiheita tulevia tutkimuksia varten. Johtopäätöksissä opinnäytetyö esittelee listan suosituksista asiakkuusstrategian luomisen tueksi. Lista esittää mm. arvontuotantoprosessien mallintamista, asiakastyytyväisyyden sekä asiakassäilyvyyden mittaamista, tarvittavien teknologioiden hyödyntämistä sekä osaamistarpeiden kartoittamista. Työn voitanee katsoa onnistuneen tavoitteessaan tukea asiakkuusstrategian luomista sekä tarjoamaan näkökulman aiheeseen kosien voittoa tavoittelemattomia organisaatioita

The nonlinear relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and sales growth : The moderating effects of slack resources and absorptive capacity

The present study aims to advance the understanding of the complex and context-dependent relationship between entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and firm sales growth by investigating the linearity assumption and assessing the moderating role of financial slack resources and absorptive capacity in the mature industry context. Departing from some recent EO studies, the analysis based on a dataset of 86 companies operating in the food manufacturing industry suggests that EO has a nonlinear relationship with sales growth. Moreover, the results suggest that in companies with high levels of slack resources, an increase in EO from low to moderate levels accelerates sales growth; however, to capitalize onthe sales growth potential of high EO, a high absorptive capacity is also required. Thus, the present study demonstrates a nonlinear effect of EO on sales growth, and particularly from moderate to high levels of EO, the positive moderating effects of absorptive capacity and slack resources.fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

Strategic agility in innovation : Unpacking the interaction between entrepreneurial orientation and absorptive capacity by using practice theory

This study intends to unpack the interaction effect between entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and absorptive capacity (ACAP) by analyzing the organizational micropractices of six highly profitable companies to identify three practices and nine micropractices that drive the positive profit outcomes from EO and ACAP. To identify 6 cases, the present study used K-means cluster analysis with a generalizable quantitative dataset in which the interaction between EO and ACAP was found to be associated with high profitability. The 6 cases were selected to unpack the interaction between EO and ACAP to capture this interaction at the microlevel. For this task, we used 31 interviews and practice theory as theoretico-methological perspective. The study contributes by identifying three practices – namely, (1) proactive idea generation, (2) value-driven product development, and (3) market-driven product commercialization – and nine micropractices. These practices shape what we define as strategic agility in innovation.©2020 Elsevier. This manuscript version is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial–NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY–NC–ND 4.0) license, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

Risk of COVID-19 after natural infection or vaccinationResearch in context

Summary: Background: While vaccines have established utility against COVID-19, phase 3 efficacy studies have generally not comprehensively evaluated protection provided by previous infection or hybrid immunity (previous infection plus vaccination). Individual patient data from US government-supported harmonized vaccine trials provide an unprecedented sample population to address this issue. We characterized the protective efficacy of previous SARS-CoV-2 infection and hybrid immunity against COVID-19 early in the pandemic over three-to six-month follow-up and compared with vaccine-associated protection. Methods: In this post-hoc cross-protocol analysis of the Moderna, AstraZeneca, Janssen, and Novavax COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials, we allocated participants into four groups based on previous-infection status at enrolment and treatment: no previous infection/placebo; previous infection/placebo; no previous infection/vaccine; and previous infection/vaccine. The main outcome was RT-PCR-confirmed COVID-19 >7–15 days (per original protocols) after final study injection. We calculated crude and adjusted efficacy measures. Findings: Previous infection/placebo participants had a 92% decreased risk of future COVID-19 compared to no previous infection/placebo participants (overall hazard ratio [HR] ratio: 0.08; 95% CI: 0.05–0.13). Among single-dose Janssen participants, hybrid immunity conferred greater protection than vaccine alone (HR: 0.03; 95% CI: 0.01–0.10). Too few infections were observed to draw statistical inferences comparing hybrid immunity to vaccine alone for other trials. Vaccination, previous infection, and hybrid immunity all provided near-complete protection against severe disease. Interpretation: Previous infection, any hybrid immunity, and two-dose vaccination all provided substantial protection against symptomatic and severe COVID-19 through the early Delta period. Thus, as a surrogate for natural infection, vaccination remains the safest approach to protection. Funding: National Institutes of Health

Risk of COVID-19 after natural infection or vaccinationResearch in context

Background: While vaccines have established utility against COVID-19, phase 3 efficacy studies have generally not comprehensively evaluated protection provided by previous infection or hybrid immunity (previous infection plus vaccination). Individual patient data from US government-supported harmonized vaccine trials provide an unprecedented sample population to address this issue. We characterized the protective efficacy of previous SARS-CoV-2 infection and hybrid immunity against COVID-19 early in the pandemic over three-to six-month follow-up and compared with vaccine-associated protection. Methods: In this post-hoc cross-protocol analysis of the Moderna, AstraZeneca, Janssen, and Novavax COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials, we allocated participants into four groups based on previous-infection status at enrolment and treatment: no previous infection/placebo; previous infection/placebo; no previous infection/vaccine; and previous infection/vaccine. The main outcome was RT-PCR-confirmed COVID-19 >7–15 days (per original protocols) after final study injection. We calculated crude and adjusted efficacy measures. Findings: Previous infection/placebo participants had a 92% decreased risk of future COVID-19 compared to no previous infection/placebo participants (overall hazard ratio [HR] ratio: 0.08; 95% CI: 0.05–0.13). Among single-dose Janssen participants, hybrid immunity conferred greater protection than vaccine alone (HR: 0.03; 95% CI: 0.01–0.10). Too few infections were observed to draw statistical inferences comparing hybrid immunity to vaccine alone for other trials. Vaccination, previous infection, and hybrid immunity all provided near-complete protection against severe disease. Interpretation: Previous infection, any hybrid immunity, and two-dose vaccination all provided substantial protection against symptomatic and severe COVID-19 through the early Delta period. Thus, as a surrogate for natural infection, vaccination remains the safest approach to protection. Funding: National Institutes of Health