Investigating brand equity of third-party service providers

Purpose: This research applies theory and techniques from the services and marketing literature to a supply chain context consisting of a shipper or seller, a customer or buyer, and a third-party logistics service provider (3PL) to investigate corporate brand equity resulting from service quality, customer satisfaction and customer loyalty towards the 3PL. Design/methodology/approach: A conceptual model was developed from the literature and tested with Finnish industrial firms using an online survey. Data were analysed using structural equation modelling to examine relationships among the four constructs. Findings: Hypothesised relationships among the four constructs in the conceptual model were supported however the relationship between loyalty and corporate brand equity was weak. Research limitations/implications: This investigatory research is based on a one country sample making transferability and generalisability to other countries difficult. Practical implications: The findings of this research should enable 3PL managers to determine service offerings that are most important to either shippers or customers, develop a service package using such offerings to satisfy needs, and thus build loyalty and corporate brand equity among both parties. Originality/value: This paper adds to our knowledge of these constructs in a supply chain context, particularly for 3PLs, and provides an interdisciplinary approach to research in the supply chain domain

Kotokaveri -toiminnan koulutuksen kehittäminen

Opinnäytetyön tarkoituksena oli kehittää kotokaveri -toiminnan koulutusta ja tavoitteena oli tuottaa toiminnalle koulutusmateriaali. Kotokaveri -toiminta on Jyväskylän maahanmuuttajapalveluiden organisoimaa toimintaa, jossa vapaaehtoisia koulutetaan maahanmuuttajien tukihenkilöiksi. Toiminta tukee maahanmuuttajien kotoutumista sekä kanssakäymistä kantaväestön kanssa. Uusi kotoutumislaki korostaa vuorovaikutuksen tärkeyttä maahanmuuttaja- ja valtaväestön välillä, mikä tekee opinnäytetyön aiheesta yhteiskunnallisesti ajankohtaisen. Koulutusmateriaalin laatimisen tarkoituksena oli tukea toiminnan jatkuvuutta ja koulutuksen toistettavuutta. Opinnäytetyön tilaaja oli Jyväskylän maahanmuuttajapalvelut. Koulutuksen kehittämisen ja koulutusmateriaalin kokoamisen keino oli osallistua kotokaveri –koulutukseen havainnoijina. Opinnäytetyö toteutettiin toiminnallisena työnä ja tutkimusmenetelmänä oli osallistuva havainnointi. Koulutusmateriaali toteutettiin PowerPoint-muodossa. Opinnäytetyön teoriapohja laadittiin koulutusmateriaalin tarpeet huomioiden. Opinnäytetyössä on lisäksi maahanmuuttajapalveluiden työntekijöille tietoa laadukkaan vapaaehtoistoiminnan koordinoimisesta sekä koulutuksen toteuttamisesta. Koulutusmateriaaliin sisällytettiin myös luovia ja toiminnallisia menetelmiä sekä havainnollistavaa materiaalia. Opinnäytetyössä huomioitiin aikaisemman aiheesta tehdyn opinnäytetyön kehittämisehdotuksia, joita olivat muun muassa koulutuksen tietopohjan syventäminen sekä kulttuurierojen ja kulttuurienvälisen viestinnän osuuden parantaminen. Opinnäytetyön tuloksena oli koulutusmateriaali, joka loi koulutukselle toistettavissa olevan rungon. Koulutusmateriaalia voi hyödyntää muissa kaupungeissa, joissa järjestetään tai ollaan käynnistämässä maahanmuuttajien tukihenkilötoimintaa. Jatkoehdotus opinnäytetyölle oli vapaaehtoisten kotokavereiden vertaistapaamisten käynnistäminen.The purpose of the thesis was to develop the training process of the Kotokaveri –program, and the objective was to produce training material for the program. The Kotokaveri -program is organized by the immigrant services of Jyväskylä. The purpose of the program is to train volunteers to be support persons for immigrants. The program helps immigrants to acculturate, and to communicate with the Finnish people. The new Immigrant Integration Act emphasizes the importance of interaction between an immigrant population and the dominant population, which means that the thesis addresses an issue of current social interest. The purpose of producing the material for the training was to secure its continuation and to make it easier to repeat each year. The thesis was assigned by the Immigrant Services of Jyväskylä. The means of developing and producing the material was to participate in the Kotokaveri –training as observers. The thesis was implemented as a functional thesis and the research method was participant observation. The material for the training was made in PowerPoint-format. The theoretical basis of the thesis was written considering the requirements of the training material. In addition, the employees of the Immigrant Services were provided with information about high-quality volunteer work and training for it. Various activating creative methods and visualizing elements were also added to the material. The thesis incorporated development suggestions that were made in a previously published thesis dealing with the same topic. These included deepening the knowledge base of the training and improving the intercultural communication section. The result of this thesis was a training material which includes a framework for training that can easily be replicated. This training material can be put to use in other cities that organize, or are about to start organizing support-person programs for immigrants. A further goal for the thesis was to start group meetings for volunteer peers.Kotokaveri -toiminnan koulutusmateriaali on PowerPoint-muodossa. Diat löytyvät opinnäytetyön liitteistä ja digitaalisessa muodossa sitä voi tiedustella opinnäytetyön tekijöiltä tai Jyväskylän maahanmuuttajapalveluilt

Factors associated with cervical cancer screening participation among immigrants of Russian, Somali and Kurdish origin : a population-based study in Finland

Background: Previous studies revealed low participation in cervical cancer screening among immigrants compared with non-immigrants. Only a few studies about factors associated with immigrants' lower participation rates have been conducted in European countries that have universal access for all eligible women. Our study aimed to explore factors associated with cervical screening participation among women of Russian, Somali, and Kurdish origin in Finland. Methods: We used data from the Migrant Health and Well-being Survey, 2010-2012. Structured face-to-face interviews of groups of immigrants aged 25-60 yielded 620 responses concerning screening participation in the previous five years. Statistical analysis employed logistic regression. Results: The age-adjusted participation rates were as follows: among women of Russian origin 73.9% (95% CI 68.1-79.7), for Somalis 34.7% (95% CI 26.4-43.0), and for Kurds 61.3% (95% CI 55.0-67.7). Multiple logistic regressions showed that the most significant factor increasing the likelihood of screening participation among all groups was having had at least one gynecological check-up in the previous five years (Odds ratio [OR] = 6.54-26.2; p <0.001). Other factors were higher education (OR = 2.63; p = 0.014), being employed (OR = 4.31; p = 0.007), and having given birth (OR = 9.34; p= 0.014), among Kurds; and literacy in Finnish/Swedish (OR = 3.63; p = 0.003) among Russians. Conclusions: Our results demonstrate that women who refrain from using reproductive health services, those who are unemployed and less educated, as well as those with poor language proficiency, might need more information on the importance of screening participation. Primary and occupational healthcare services may have a significant role in informing immigrant women about this importance.Peer reviewe

Energy internet forums as acceleration phase transition intermediaries

Citizen users play important roles in the acceleration phase of energy transitions, during which small-scale renewable energy technologies (S-RET) become taken up more widely. From users’ perspective, turning the early, and typically slow, proliferation into a more rapid and widespread diffusion requires not only the adoption of S-RET but also the adaptation, adjustment, intermediation and advocacy of S-RETs. These activities become necessary because S-RET face a variety of market, institutional, cultural and environmental conditions in dif- ferent countries. New Internet-based energy communities have emerged and acted as key user-side transition intermediaries that catalyse these activities by qualifying market information, articulating demand and helping citizen users to reconfigure the standard technology to meet the specificities of different local contexts. In doing so, Internet communities foster an appreciatively critical discourse on technology. Such user intermediation is important in expanding the markets for S-RET beyond that of enthusiasts, environmentalists and other early adopters, to the early majority of adopters who demand more exposure, clearer information and less uncertainty about new technology options

Common Inflammation-Related Candidate Gene Variants and Acute Kidney Injury in 2647 Critically Ill Finnish Patients

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a syndrome with high incidence among the critically ill. Because the clinical variables and currently used biomarkers have failed to predict the individual susceptibility to AKI, candidate gene variants for the trait have been studied. Studies about genetic predisposition to AKI have been mainly underpowered and of moderate quality. We report the association study of 27 genetic variants in a cohort of Finnish critically ill patients, focusing on the replication of associations detected with variants in genes related to inflammation, cell survival, or circulation. In this prospective, observational Finnish Acute Kidney Injury (FINNAKI) study, 2647 patients without chronic kidney disease were genotyped. We defined AKI according to Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) criteria. We compared severe AKI (Stages 2 and 3, n = 625) to controls (Stage 0, n = 1582). For genotyping we used iPLEX(TM) Assay (Agena Bioscience). We performed the association analyses with PLINK software, using an additive genetic model in logistic regression. Despite the numerous, although contradictory, studies about association between polymorphisms rs1800629 in TNFA and rs1800896 in IL10 and AKI, we found no association (odds ratios 1.06 (95% CI 0.89-1.28, p = 0.51) and 0.92 (95% CI 0.80-1.05, p = 0.20), respectively). Adjusting for confounders did not change the results. To conclude, we could not confirm the associations reported in previous studies in a cohort of critically ill patients.Peer reviewe

Consumers’ value co-creation in sharing economy: The role of social support, consumers’ ethical perceptions and relationship quality

The ancient phenomenon of ‘sharing’ has become mainstream, and transformed the traditional consumer behavior due to proliferation of online sharing economy platforms. Millions of people participate in popular sharing economy platforms (SEPs) such as Airbnb and Uber. Although sharing economy research has gained interest, yet a holistic model that explains the formation of consumer value co-creation intentions on such platforms remains absent. The purpose of this study is to develop a model of the antecedents of consumers value co-creation intentions at SEPs and evaluate it empirically. Building on social support theory, relationship quality theory, value co-creation and marketing ethics literature, we propose a theoretical model that explains the formation of consumers’ value co-creation intentions. Empirical data was collected from 342 Generation Y consumers and analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM). The results reveal that social support influences ethical perceptions, which further influences value co-creation. Ethical perceptions also influence consumers' trust, satisfaction and commitment with the SEP. However, trust and commitment do not influence value co-creation intentions. Our study contributes to the literature on sharing economy by providing a holistic model of the antecedents of consumers’ value co-creation intentions. We also detail theoretical and managerial implications

B2B brands on Twitter: Engaging users with a varying combination of social media content objectives, strategies, and tactics

YesThe objective of this research is to increase understanding about B2B company-led user engagement on social media content. Building on hierarchy-of-effects (HoE) theory, we explore how the world’s leading B2B companies use content objectives (why), strategies (how), and tactics (what) on Twitter. We first integrate B2B advertising and social media research on companies’ content objectives, strategies, and tactics. Then, using qualitative analyses, we examine the existence of objectives, strategies, and tactics in the most engaging tweets (N=365) of the worlds’ ten leading B2B brands, covering five industries, in 2017. Finally, we quantitatively examine how the use of diverse objectives and strategies differs between the most engaging tweets (N=318) and least engaging tweets (N=229) of the companies in 2018. The companies use objectives, strategies and tactics that relate to creating awareness, knowledge and trust, interest, and liking in the majority of their most and least engaging tweets, and express preference, conviction and purchase aspects much less. Differences exist in general, industry-wise, and company-wise. The study is a rare attempt to integrate the extant B2B advertising and social media research, and compare the most and least engaging B2B social media content

Heme oxygenase-1 repeat polymorphism in septic acute kidney injury

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a syndrome that frequently affects the critically ill. Recently, an increased number of dinucleotide repeats in the HMOX1 gene were reported to associate with development of AKI in cardiac surgery. We aimed to test the replicability of this finding in a Finnish cohort of critically ill septic patients. This multicenter study was part of the national FINNAKI study. We genotyped 300 patients with severe AKI (KDIGO 2 or 3) and 353 controls without AKI (KDIGO 0) for the guanine-thymine (GTn) repeat in the promoter region of the HMOX1 gene. The allele calling was based on the number of repeats, the cut off being 27 repeats in the S-L (short to long) classification, and 27 and 34 repeats for the S-M-L2 (short to medium to very long) classification. The plasma concentrations of heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) enzyme were measured on admission. The allele distribution in our patients was similar to that published previously, with peaks at 23 and 30 repeats. The S-allele increases AKI risk. An adjusted OR was 1.30 for each S-allele in an additive genetic model (95% CI 1.01-1.66; p = 0.041). Alleles with a repeat number greater than 34 were significantly associated with lower HO-1 concentration (p<0.001). In septic patients, we report an association between a short repeat in HMOX1 and AKI risk