Hanna Komulainen

Social networks in the initiation of a high-tech firm's internationalisation

Entering foreign markets is often challenging for small firms due to the limited resources available for internationalisation. Through social networks, firms can gain access to and mobilise external resources in order to aid the initiation of internationalisation. The present study is concerned with the initiation of the internationalisation in small high-technology firms. The paper develops an empirically grounded framework for understanding the roles a social network can play in the initiation of internationalisation. The framework acknowledges personal relationships as sources of critical information about foreign business opportunities and potential international business partners. Moreover, social relationships can open doors in international business. This study brings forward the very active role that the social network can play as a mediator in the small firms internationalisation. The mediation can provide the small firm publicity, contacts and legitimacy resulting in first international contacts and development of international business relationships.

Business model scenarios in mobile advertising

In connection with advances in wireless technology, mobile advertising (m-advertising) has been identified one of the most promising potential business areas. Even though it offers revenue-generating opportunities for a number of different actors, the possibilities have not been utilised or studied. The purpose of this paper is to explore what kind of business network could evolve around a novel m-advertising service. Using a scenario planning method, this study suggests four network models, each describing three elements, for example, the mobile service, the roles of the actors and the value-creating exchanges between them. This study also evaluates the scenarios by discussing their value creation potential.

Mobile advertising in the eyes of retailers and consumers - empirical evidence from a real-life experiment

The future of mobile advertising (m-advertising) is expected to rely on mobile devices, enthusiastic advertisers and consumers. However, current m- advertising literature has studied this phenomenon quite narrowly, focusing only on one perspective at a time. This empirically grounded paper aims to give a more multidimensional view on m-advertising, which simultaneously takes into account both retailers and consumers. It presents both qualitative and quantitative data collected from a real-life experiment of m-advertising. The empirical findings of this study describe the current challenges and possibilities in m-advertising. They indicate that the technological hype round m-advertising has overshadowed the other important element of m-ads: the content.

Explicating the market dimension in the study of digital innovation: a management framework for digital innovation

ABSTRACT Digital innovation is gaining momentum among academics and business practitioners. Featuring increasingly cross-industry and multi-actor innovation processes, digital innovation reveals the inherent technology bias in the dominant perspectives on innovation. This study aims to transfer the focus from technology-centred ideas of digital innovation to a more balanced concept in which digital innovation is conceptualised as a combination of multiple needs and solutions linked to various actors and their behaviours. The study builds on a longitudinal case study. The article contributes by providing a partial response to the explicit calls for strategic frameworks that capture the process of digital innovation. Furthermore, the article explicates the market dimension of digital innovation and extends the analysis of the market dimension from a limited view of customer information and user knowledge to further include needs, actions, and behaviours of market actors directly or indirectly using, complementing, or substituting the digital innovation and innovation process.