Mari Juntunen

Co‐creating corporate brands in start‐ups

Purpose – The purpose of the paper is twofold: first, to examine how managers and employees in start‐ups understand and define a corporate brand; and second, to reveal how corporate brand co‐creation with different stakeholders is executed in companies in their start‐up phase.Design/methodology/approach – The data are gathered via a multiple case study from the managers and employees of three start‐ups that operate in the software business.Findings – Corporate brand has both internal and external aspects. Corporate brand co‐creation is a process that begins with the stakeholders inventing the corporate name before the company is established, and continues at the start‐up phase by developing the new corporate name, updating the logo and communications material, and developing the product and business. The events and stakeholders in each of the above mentioned sub‐processes are also revealed.Research limitations/implications – The small number of interviews from a specific context limits the statistical gen...

Impact of service quality, image and relational aspects on satisfaction and loyalty in logistics outsourcing relationships

This paper examines the links between service quality, customer satisfaction and loyalty in logistics outsourcing relationships. Besides service quality, also the moderating role of inter-firm relationships and service provider’s image are examined. A theoretical model is developed and tested with structural equation modelling using survey data from industrial companies in Finland. It is shown that perceived service quality influences the customer’s satisfaction which again affects loyalty. Inter-firm relationships and service provider’s image affect loyalty directly and indirectly through satisfaction.

Outsourcing strategies of the security sector through acquisition procedures

Purpose – The aim of this research is to reveal the security‐related outsourcing strategies of the public sector and the military and the relevant logistics outcomes by examining buying tactics.Design/methodology/approach – A tentative model was devised from theoretical literature of how buyers use their negotiating power and relationships to achieve improved service quality and/or unit‐cost reductions. The model was tested using survey data from 149 respondents from the Finnish Defence Forces, and the public sector and industrial firms in Finland via structural equation modelling analysis.Findings – Contrary to the approach of classic economics, where negotiating power correlates with direct costs, the findings indicate that negotiating power and relationships do not affect direct costs in the public sector and military contexts, but rather that negotiating power and relationships correlate with an improved service level, which consequently decreases the indirect logistics costs.Research limitations/impl...

Protecting Finnish Defence Security: A Logistics Challenge

This study examines how Finland can secure efficient logistics for the use of their military forces. In doing so, it examines how logistics service providers (LSPs) in countries with higher cost structures can maintain their profitability when competing against transport companies in countries with lower cost structures. The empirical data was gathered from Finnish LSPs in 2008. The survey resulted in 460 acceptable responses. The research models were tested with structural equation modelling (SEM). The results suggest that LSPs can not increase their profits with their negotiation power. However, a positive image of the industry seems to facilitate profitability. In addition, contracts seem to facilitate the profitability of the LSPs, but only if those are accurate and updated. As a conclusion, in addition to negotiation power and contracts, the image of the industry is found to be important as well when LSPs want to increase their profits.

External economies and confidence: a way to reduce logistics costs

The purpose of this paper is to study how external economies and confidence affect logistics costs. To do so, first the influence of relationship-specific investments on external economies is examined, followed by the effect of relationships and brand identity on confidence. A conceptual model is developed and tested with structural equation modelling using empirical data from Finnish industrial companies in 2008. The results show that relationship-specific investments are a key component of external economies, and external economies and confidence explain decreasing logistics costs. A model is developed to illustrate the way in which external economies and confidence explain decreasing logistics costs. From a managerial point of view, the study suggests that logistics service providers should consider relationship-specific investments to develop external economies and also confidence so that they can provide decreasing logistics costs to their customers.

Interpretative narrative process research approach to corporate renaming

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe company renaming as a process among small firms, including the events and actors in and the reasons for company renaming. Design/methodology/approach – The study presents an interpretative narrative process research approach. The empirical part is conducted as an instrumental multiple case study of six cases. Findings – Company renaming is a long-lasting, complex, iterative and management-centric process among small firms. The process consists of six main events that are conducted more or less simultaneously but which need to be further divided into sub-events in order to reveal their order. The reasons for renaming are that the current company name is difficult to use or it is less known than the name of the companys well-known product among stakeholders. Research limitations/implications – The existing research on branding from the viewpoint of organisational change has been scarce. The study suggests that also other reasons than change in the organisa...

Investigating brand equity of third-party service providers

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to apply 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 finding...

Latent classes of service quality, logistics costs and loyalty

In this paper, we create a research model addressing the antecedents of loyalty: service quality and cost reductions. The data was collected from Finnish industrial companies, buyers of the logistics service providers services in the B2B domain. We found that service performance influences loyalty, but establishing a cost performance-loyalty influence is more problematic. We suggest that buyer heterogeneity gives rise to an insignificant relationship between cost performance and loyalty. Hence, we have extended our work with finite mixture structural equation modelling to reveal latent groups and their background factors: perhaps for the first time in the domain of logistics research. The paper provides new insight into the opportunities for customer analysis and segmentation, with powerful, up-to-date methods that are gaining a growing reputation within the research community. We found two latent loyalty classes, and in addition, as traditional customer segmentation seems to be insufficient, we suggest factors which explain latent behavioural classes.

A CASE STUDY ON THE ROLE OF THE FINNISH DEFENCE FORCES IN THE TRANSPORT SECTOR

Abstract The purpose of this research is to study the significance of buyers for the transport sector, and in this particular case, the role of the Finnish Defence Forces. The theoretical model is tested with survey data (N = 460) collected from Finnish transport operators that do business with the Finnish Defence Forces. The data is analysed using structural equation modelling. Analyses reveal that the military forces are an important actor in the transport sector in Finland. Firstly, the military forces buy a lot of logistics services and secondly, the military forces train a significant amount of what are considered skilful truck drivers. Furthermore, seeing as there are some elements of economic protectionism in the military forces’ buying behaviour, the military forces are an excellent context in which to study loyalty and partnership in business relationships. The military forces can, for instance, improve operator satisfaction with the transport sector and help domestic hauliers compete against cabotage operations, and in doing so, also improve the military forces’ capability to maintain security of supply.

Degree of standardisation, agility and supply chain performance

The inflexibility of a supply chain can be costly to companies and may additionally impair their ability to serve customers to their satisfaction. This paper studies possibilities to improve performance in the supply chain with higher degree of standardisation and agility. The aim is to examine how standardisation leads to agility and how agility consequently leads to better performance of the company. The data consist of 149 responses. Respondents were from military forces, the public sector and private businesses. Thus, there are important practical implications for logistics managers in volatile business environments of today.