Jari Jussila

Social media utilization in business-to-business relationships of technology industry firms

Even today, it is a fairly common argument in business-to-business companies, especially in traditional industrial companies, that social media is only useful in the business-to-consumer sector. The perceived challenges, opportunities and social media use cases in business-to-business sector have received little attention in the literature. Therefore, this paper focuses on bridging this gap with a survey of social media use cases, opportunities and challenges in industrial business-to-business companies. The study also examines the essential differences between business-to-consumer and business-to-business in these respects. The paper starts by defining social media and Web 2.0, and then characterizes social media in business, and social media in business-to-business. Finally, we present and analyze the results of our empirical survey of 125 business-to-business companies in the Finnish technology industry sector. This paper suggests that there is a significant gap between the perceived potential of social media and social media use with customers and partners in business-to-business companies, and identifies potentially effective ways to reduce the gap.

Social media use and potential in business-to-business companies' innovation

Social media use, potential and challenges in innovation have received little attention in literature, especially from the standpoint of the business-to-business sector. Therefore, this paper focuses on bridging this gap with a survey of social media use, potential and challenges, combined with a social media - focused innovation literature review of state-of-the-art. The study also studies the essential differences between business-to-consumer and business-to-business in the above respects. The paper starts by defining of social media and web 2.0, and then characterizes social media in business, social media in business-to-business sector and social media in business-to-business innovation. Finally we present and analyze the results of our empirical survey of 122 Finnish companies. This paper suggests that there is a significant gap between perceived potential of social media and social media use in innovation activity in business-to-business companies, recognizes potentially effective ways to reduce the gap, and clarifies the found differences between B2Bs and B2Cs.

Benefits of social media in business-to-business customer interface in innovation

The aim of this research is to explore social media and its benefits especially from business-to-business innovation and related customer interface perspective, and to create a more comprehensive picture of the possibilities of social media for the business-to-business sector. Business-to-business context was chosen because it is in many ways a very different environment for social media than business-to-consumer context, and is currently very little academically studied. A systematic literature review on B2B use of social media and achieved benefits in the inn ovation con text was performed to answer the questions above and achieve the research goals. The study clearly demonstrates that not merely B2Cs, as commonly believed, but also B2Bs can benefit from the use of social media in a variety of ways. Concerning the broader classes of innovation --related benefits, the reported benefits of social media use referred to increased customer focus and understanding, increased level of customer service, and decreased time-to-market. The study contributes to the existing social media --related literature, because there were no found earlier comprehensive academic studies on the use of social media in the innovation process in the context of B2B customer interface.

Visual Network Analysis of Twitter Data for Co-organizing Conferences: Case CMAD 2013

The aim of this research is to explore what kinds of insights information visualization of social media data can provide for co-organizing conferences. Our paper focuses on Twitter use before, during and after conference. We present a case study based on an conference of Community Manager Appreciation Day (CMAD 2013). With the process of data-driven visual network analysis, we used Twitter data to analyse the network of conference participants and the conferences discussion topics. We were able to identify e.g. influential conference participants, most interesting presentations and discussions, similarities between interests of the conference participants. Hence, several development and information needs of conference co-organization were derived from the information visualizations, which have implications for improving the planning and co-organizing of conferences, as well as for Twitter use in conference communication.

Social media based value creation and business models

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to create an organized picture of the current understanding of social media-based value creation and business models. Design/methodology/approach Following the process model presented by Fink (2005), a systematic literature review of academic journal articles published between 2005 and 2014 was conducted. The research was grounded on the theoretical foundations of service-dominant logic. Findings This study offers detailed descriptions and analyses of the major social media mechanisms affecting how value is created in social media-based value networks and the kinds of impact social media can have on present and future business models. Research limitations/implications The study is limited to academic research literature on business organizations, excluding all studies related to public and non-profit organizations. Practical implications Attention is given to developing an in-depth understanding of the functions and concrete value creation mechanisms of social media-based co-creation within the different organizational processes (e.g. in product and service development and customer services) and to updating the related practices and knowledge. Originality/value This study provides new insight into the challenges related to research models and frameworks commonly used for observing value creation, thus highlighting the need for further studies and updates.

Knowledge Security Risk Management in Contemporary Companies -- Toward a Proactive Approach

Although emerging organizational knowledge systems, such as social media, are widely researched, related knowledge security risks have received less attention. Traditional information security management models tend to concentrate on the technological viewpoint to secure existing information assets. However, the use of contemporary approaches for knowledge creation and sharing offer new important possibilities for making use of internal and external knowledge. Simultaneously, their implementation involves changes in technologies, as well as a change in work processes and communications. Hence, knowledge security risk management should be developed from the current focus on relatively static containers and information assets toward more proactive management of the potential future risks of knowledge sharing. This paper introduces a proactive process for managing knowledge security risks and reports experiences of its use by professionals with experience in various topics of information and knowledge security.

Value Creation in Business-To-Business Crowd Sourcing

In knowledge society the utilization of social media as a communication channel between people, groups and even companies is increasing. Current innovation and social media research has already shown the potential of crowdsourcing in the business-to-consumer (B2C) markets. The authors argue in this paper, however, that crowdsourcing has a great and yet partly undiscovered potential also in the context of business-to-business (B2B) markets. In order to get the full potential, a more detailed understanding of the logic of value creation in crowdsourcing activities between multiple stakeholders in B2B context is needed. This paper presents an exploratory study that is carried out as an empirical netnography-based multiple case study. The study opens up potential future research avenues by starting the discussion of value creation logic in B2B crowdsourcing. Practical implications are created through cases revealing what kind of value companies have already been able to gain from crowdsourcing in B2B context.

Social Media Use and Potential in Business-to-Business Companies’ Innovation

The use, potential and challenges of social media in innovation have received little attention in the literature, especially from the standpoint of the business-to-business sector. Therefore, this paper focuses on bridging this gap. The purpose of this paper is to study the use and potential of social media in the innovation context, especially from the perspective of business-to-business companies. The paper starts by defining of social media and Web 2.0, and then characterizes social media in business, social media in the business-to-business sector and social media in the business-to-business innovation process. The paper also studies the essential differences between business-to-consumer and business-to-business in the given respects. Finally the authors present and analyze the results of their empirical survey of 110 respondents from Finnish companies. The results suggest that there is a significant gap between the perceived extensive potential of social media and current social media use in innovation in business-to-business companies. They have also identified potentially effective ways to reduce the gap, and clarify the found differences between B2B’s and B2C’s.

Towards a Business-Driven Process Model for Knowledge Security Risk Management: Making Sense of Knowledge Risks

The purpose of this paper is to introduce a model to manage knowledge security risks in organizations. Knowledge security risk management is a sensemaking process that should be carried out by managers, and the proposed model works as a tool for the sensemaking process. The model is illustrated with an analytical case example. The process model helps to identify knowledge security risks and provides a comprehensive approach to evaluating and balancing the costs and benefits of knowledge sharing and knowledge risk management. The paper addresses calls for research on the emerging topic of knowledge security and the important topic of new knowledge sharing tools from the combined perspectives of business benefits and risk management. The results presented in this paper are preliminary and conceptual, and further research on the topic is suggested. The process model proposed in this paper can be a valuable tool for practitioners aiming to develop knowledge sharing practices in companies, and at the same time need to consider the security of knowledge.

Innovation-related benefits of social media in Business-to-Business customer relationships

The aim of this research is to explore social media and its benefits and impacts especially from Business-to-Business B2B innovation and customer interface perspective, and to create a more comprehensive picture of the possibilities of the social media for the B2B sector. The B2B context is in many ways a very different environment for social media than Business-to-Consumer B2C context, and is still very little academically studied. A systematic literature review on B2B use of social media and achieved benefits and impacts in the innovation context was performed to answer the questions above and achieve the research goals. The study clearly demonstrates that not merely B2Cs, as commonly believed, but also B2Bs can benefit from involving customers in innovation by social media in a variety of ways. The reported benefits of social media use referred broadly to increased customer focus and understanding, increased level of customer service and decreased time-to-market.