From walls to experience – servitization of workplaces

Purpose: New ways of working challenge workplace management: increasing mobility and diminishing organizational boundaries require re-evaluation of both workplace design and service delivery. However, structures and processes of workplace management are still traditional, and managers, together with outsourced facility service providers, often do not succeed at fulfilling the needs of mobile employees. The aforementioned changes stimulate discussions in many areas in both industry and academy. Nevertheless, workplace literature from business perspective seems to be scarce. In this paper, the focus is on workplace service offering for mobile knowledge workers. This paper aims to study the current state of workplace servitization. To answer this, the authors identify value offering elements that are used in office business market to deliver workplace as a service. Design/methodology/approach: This study follows multiple case study methodology including five case studies. Primary data were collected through interviews with workplace service providers. Secondary data included observations and publicly available data. The authors took business model design approach to study selected business offerings. Findings: The results indicate that workplace business models include elements of servitization on various levels. Physical space is no longer the central offering in the office business; instead, it acts as a component on which the service portfolio is built. The highest value from workplace comes from experience-related service offerings. Originality/value: Academically, research contributes to the workplace management studies by providing servitization perspective to a topic previously approached with a more technical and psychological point of view. This study can also support service providers and customer organizations in their quest to make service provision more flexible and experience-oriented.Peer reviewe

GHG emissions reduction through urban planners' improved control over earthworks : A case study in Finland

Most climate change mitigation schemes in urban planning concentrate on reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the distant future by altering the urban form and encouraging more sustainable behaviour. However, to reach climate change mitigation targets, a more immediate reduction in GHG emissions is also needed as well as a reduction in GHG emissions in other fields. This article evaluates the important role of earthworks in the prompt and substantial reduction required for GHG emissions. The research includes a single case study and three focus group interviews. The results of the case study reveal the magnitude of possible emission reductions through urban planners' control over earthworks, whereas the findings of the focus groups shed light on the relevance of the findings beyond the single case. Three urban planning solutions were implemented in the case area to reduce GHG emissions from earth construction, resulting in the saving of 2360 tonnes of CO2 emissions. Notable savings were also achieved in other emission categories. Such a successful management of rock and soil material flows requires a strong vision from the urban planner, cooperation among many different actors, and smart decisions in multiple planning phases. Furthermore, numerical data is needed to confirm the environmental benefits if the coordination of earthworks is to be widely included in regional climate change mitigation strategies.Peer reviewe

Palvelu korvaa tilan (PATI)

This document summarizes the results of a three-year PATI (Palvelu korvaa tilan) project. The project was a joint collaboration effort between industrial partners ISS Palvelut Oy, Senaatti kiinteistöt Oy, and Telia Company Oyj and research institutions Aalto University and Tampere University of Technology. The project was financed through Business Finland research funding tool. PATI project concentrated on two research streams: 1. understanding the mobile worker 2. understanding the service provision. In the first stream, PATI research team concentrated in understanding the knowledge worker better. As a result, extended user profiles and waste points of mobile work were identified. The user experience and its measurement were studied as well. In the second research stream, new research clusters were identified as well as new business models for a smart digital workplace service. As a main result, WorkCoach service concept has been developed during the project. The aim of the new service is to improve employee wellbeing, productivity, and overall workplace experience by providing targeted on-demand services. This document is composed by following human-centred design process. Main results are shortly introduced in the chapters and links to academic readings are provided after