Antti Lönnqvist

The Measurement of Business Intelligence

Abstract Based on a literature review, this article identifies and assesses measurement approaches for two different purposes: determining the value of BI and managing the BI process within an organization.

Investigating the value and efficiency of intellectual capital

Purpose – This paper seeks to provide an empirical view of the present state of intellectual capital (IC) in Finnish companies. It also examines the relationship between the concepts value of IC and efficiency of IC.Design/methodology/approach – Calculated Intangible Value (CIV), which measures the monetary value of IC, and Value Added Intellectual Coefficient (VAICTM), which describes how a companys IC adds value to the company, were applied to approximately 20,000 companies per year during the period 2001‐2003 and studied using correlation analysis.Findings – Value and efficiency of IC are described in 11 industries in both SMEs and large companies. The theoretically unclear relationship between the value and efficiency of IC remains vague even after the empirical analysis. Calculating the value of IC in relative terms by dividing the value of a companys IC by the value of its tangible assets was found to be illustrative in comparing different industries.Research limitations/implications – The measure...

Performance measurement systems in the Finnish public sector

Purpose – This paper aims to identify the specific problems faced by the Finnish public sector organizations in designing and implementing performance measurement systems (PMS).Design/methodology/approach – An understanding of the problems is obtained by examining three case organizations in practice. In order to support the analysis of the empirical findings, a review of prior literature on the private and public sector PMSs is carried out.Findings – The design and implementation processes in the Finnish public sector organizations differ significantly from the way they are realized in industrial private sector companies. The four underlying reasons for problems in public sector organizations are the following: there are many stakeholders with conflicting needs; the end products and goals are undefined; there is a lack of property ownership and lacking management skills.Practical implications – By utilizing the results of the study, PMS design and implementation in the public sector can be carried out by...

USING INTELLECTUAL CAPITAL MANAGEMENT FOR FACILITATING ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE

Purpose – This paper aims to examine the role of intellectual capital (IC) management in an organizational change process. The purpose is to obtain new empirical findings and an enhanced understanding of the role of IC in an organizational change process is obtained.Design/methodology/approach – First, the existing literature on change management and IC management is reviewed. Then, empirical research is carried out in terms of an action research project on IC development processes in three case companies. These processes and their outcomes are evaluated using interviews.Findings – An IC model can be a useful tool for change management as it helps to ensure the alignment of the change content with the strategic goals of the organization.Research limitations/implications – The study is based on applying the Danish IC management model in Finnish companies. Different results might have been obtained if another IC management model had been used or the companies representing other countries and cultures had be...

Public service productivity: how to capture outputs?

Purpose – This paper aims to investigate the micro‐level (managerial) measurement of service productivity in the context of public services, in particular, the role of different output elements.Design/methodology/approach – Current knowledge on the issue is summarised based on the existing literature on service productivity and public sector performance. Measurement challenges and potential solutions are studied in four different services of the city of Helsinki, Finland.Findings – The case study demonstrates that complex service outputs can be divided into components (both tangible and intangible) that can be utilised in designing more sophisticated productivity measures. The findings add to the existing understanding about issues related to public service output definition.Research limitations/implications – This study provides knowledge to support the application of a disaggregated approach to service productivity measurement. However, more research is needed in order to fully utilise this approach in ...

Measuring the productivity impacts of new ways of working

Purpose – “New ways of working” refers to non‐traditional work practices, settings and locations with information and communication technologies (ICT) to supplement or replace traditional ways of working. They are being deployed in knowledge work context in order to increase employees working motivation, job satisfaction and productivity. However, these benefits are not self‐evident. This paper aims to examine the task of measuring the expected benefits.Design/methodology/approach – This paper synthesizes the existing literature on measurement of knowledge work productivity and identifies some key prerequisites and restrictions that should be taken into account when measuring the impacts of organizational change.Findings – The paper proposes a measurement approach for evaluating the impacts of a new ways of working initiative in a knowledge work context.Originality/value – Previous literature has focused on studying whether facilities and ICT solutions are appropriate from the viewpoint of an individual k...

The role on intellectual capital in non-profit elderly care organizations

Purpose – The starting‐point of this paper is the observation that, while intellectual capital (IC) management seems to be a potential approach for non‐profit elderly care organizations, there is a lack of empirical evidence on how it could actually be applied. This paper aims to add to knowledge of this issue.Design/methodology/approach – This is an exploratory, qualitative case study including three case organizations. The case descriptions and analysis are based on interviews with managers of the case organizations.Findings – The study describes which intangible resources are highlighted in the operations of non‐profit elderly care organizations, the existing practices regarding the management of IC factors and the IC needs of management in these organizations.Research limitations/implications – The study focuses on Finnish non‐profits. The operations of the third sector may vary across countries.Practical implications – The elderly care sector is facing big challenges due to the changing age structure...

How do investments in intellectual capital create profits

This paper aims to determine how investments in Intellectual Capital (IC) are transformed into profits. It is assumed that IC investments first increase the value of IC and the efficiency of using IC, which are then expected to lead to higher productivity and finally to profitability improvements. These relationships are studied by analysing correlations between the results of performance measures representing the above-mentioned factors. The data used comprises information from the financial statements of Finnish companies during the period 2001 and 2003. Overall 60,304 cases are included representing the 11 largest industries in Finland. The analysis is carried out on the level of the whole data set, in different industries and in both SMEs and large companies. The results provide empirical evidence to support some of the assumptions concerning the relationships between IC investments and profitability. However, contrary to expectations, the results showed no linear relationship between investments in IC and profitability.

Welfare service system productivity: the concept and its application

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to examine productivity at the level of a welfare service system. This approach aims at optimizing the performance of the whole system and to avoid sub-optimizing the production of individual services or organizations. The paper also aims to develop a definition for the concept of welfare service system productivity and demonstrate its applicability. Design/methodology/approach - First, a literature-based definition of welfare service system productivity is produced. This definition is applied empirically in a case service system. Empirical data were collected by interviewing a total of 17 managers either in the Social Service Department (City of Helsinki, Finland) or in external service provider organizations. Findings - The findings show that the system-level productivity concept is a challenging phenomenon in practice. The practitioners representing different parts of the system could not easily see things the same way. This study also shows that the concept can be applied as an analytical tool. The key benefit of lifting the level of analysis from organizational to system level is that new kinds of challenges and areas for improvement are revealed. Practical implications - Despite the conceptual nature of the paper, the purpose is to comprise a managerially relevant approach that helps to increase understanding about the issues affecting system-level productivity and to identify the potential for productivity improvements in a welfare service system (e.g. by locating productivity barriers). Originality/value - The existing literature on public sector productivity is mainly concentrated on individual organizations whereas system-level approach is given little attention.

Intellectual capital management in practice: assessment of implementation and outcomes

In recent decades, a huge variety of models for managing intellectual capital (IC) have been generated. However, understanding how IC management (ICM) models operate in practice and the issues that may be encountered when they are implemented remain a challenging issue. This is because there seems to be a significant gap between the enthusiastic development of ICM models in theory and the application of these models in companies. Therefore, more practically grounded research needs to be carried out. Reporting on action research projects and an interview study, this paper enriches the existing theoretical and framework-oriented IC literature by examining empirically the implementation of ICM projects and their outcomes in six Finnish companies. The findings of the paper include the challenges and success factors affecting the development of ICM projects, likewise the related outcomes and benefits. This provides useful insights for applying ICM to practice.