Buyer Perceived Service Quality in Industrial Networks

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Taking your Business to Russia. A Guidebook and Historical Overview for Entrepreneurs

As a growing market, Russia holds great economic interest and potential opportunities for international companies, especially Finnish SMEs. Due to their geographic proximity, Russia and Finland have a long history of established business and trade relations. Finland’s major economic institutions were formed during the period when the country was under Russian rule. Also, the two countries had bilateral trade relations for approximately forty years. Nowadays, Russia is acknowledged as one of Finland’s biggest trading partners and the most important direction for internationalisation of small and medium-sized Finnish companies. Finland has a strategic geopolitical position as a gateway between East and West; hence, there is great potential for the growth of trade, investment, technology transfer and other cooperation between Russian and Finnish businesses. The present book is a result of a long collaborative research project between the Hanken School of Economics, Finland, and St. Petersburg State University, Russia. The book is a response to two calls: one from Finnish business practitioners to develop practical guidelines on how to establish and operate small businesses in Russia and the other from the academe to conduct more research on Russia as a turbulent market with high potential for small entrepreneurial firms. What makes this book different from existing guide books on how to conduct business in Russia? First, it targets a very specific audience; namely, Finnish entrepreneurs and business practitioners who plan to establish their businesses in Russia or who already have companies operating there. We believe our target audience will benefit from this narrow focus as it addresses concrete problems typical for Finnish business people in Russia. We also hope that the results of our research will be employed for teaching purposes in business schools across Finland as, nowadays, many of them offer special courses on Russian business. Second, our research team comprises scholars from both Finland and Russia, which offers a dual perspective on this phenomenon. Third, the empirical part of this research is based on qualitative case studies, not on broad statistical analyses. This approach enabled us to go deeply into specific business cases and to perceive the challenges of running businesses in Russia through the eyes of entrepreneurs and managers

The case of coopetition in small- and medium-sized firms

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to elaborate on the management, sources, levels of strength and dynamics of inherent tension in coopetition between small- and medium-sized firms (SMEs). Design/methodology/approach – An embedded single-case design is applied in the study. Two manufacturing SMEs in coopetition are studied. The units of analysis are their past dyadic coopetition with other competitors, their present coopetition with each other and their view of possible dyadic coopetition with other partners in the future. Findings – This study addresses the call for more research on coopetition and tension dynamics. It gives longitudinal insight into the changes of a coopetitive relationship through the evolution of tension inherently present in the relationship. Furthermore, the results show that a partial separation of the cooperative and competitive dimensions enables entrepreneurs’ integration of a contradictory logic. The successful management of tension also relies on mechanisms for mutual value appropriation, which eventually enhances the ability to embrace contradictions. Originality/value – This study contributes to the limited knowledge on tension management by showing how partners in coopetition apply different tension management principles or combinations of principles due to how the tension in the relationship evolves. Furthermore, on a practical level, it introduces a mapping or configuration scheme to identify the sources and levels of strength of inherent tension, enhancing coopetition partners’ ability to monitor their relationship over time.peerReviewe

Cooperation with Competitors and Internationalization

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