Nina Helander

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT IN DIFFERENT TYPES OF STRATEGIC SME NETWORKS

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to bridge the knowledge management (KM) and strategic business network literatures from the viewpoint of SMEs.Design/methodology/approach – This paper presents a typology of KM and strategic business networks; thus the paper is based on a literature review and analysis.Findings – The paper provides a typology of the strategic SME network types and their key KM challenges based on a synthesis of existing literature.Research limitations/implications – It is suggested that longitudinal case studies of KM practices in strategic SME networks should be conducted. An empirical multi‐case study has already been started.Originality/value – The presented SME network typology can benefit SME managers facing networking and KM challenges. Besides, it is suggested that a common strategy should be developed for all types of networks to enable the creation of knowledge‐based competencies and capabilities.

Knowledge Management in Renewing Software Development Processes

In this paper, we aim to identify what kinds of knowledge management (KM) challenges are typical in the renewal of software development processes, and to propose solutions to the identified challenges. The research is a qualitative case study of a large software company renewing its software development processes towards reuse of software code, i.e. component-based-software-engineering (CBSE). The research is carried out from business and management points of view, not from the software engineering point of view.

Marketing challenges in the software component business

Software components are complex, technology-intensive products that require special competencies not only from the people who are developing the components, but also from the people who market and sell the components. Technical challenges and competencies have already been discussed rather extensively in literature in terms of software component engineering; however, somewhat surprisingly, the marketing aspects have not yet been the foci of current research. In this paper, we aim to fill from our own end the gap in research on how to market software components. The purpose of this paper is to increase our knowledge about the challenges related to marketing commercial software components and to make propositions as to how to overcome these challenges. As the pre-existing literature about marketing commercial software components is still rather non-existent, the present study has a strong empirical focus and follows inductive research methods.

Value Creation and Evolution of a Value Network: A Longitudinal Case Study on a Platform-as-a-Service Provider

Current research on cloud computing emphasizes the important role of Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) providers. However, little is known about how PaaS providers can offer value to the content providers and firms operating the platform. The findings demonstrate how a small PaaS provider in the cloud gaming market was able to develop a strong position in the value network by offering direct and indirect value to its partners. The findings also reveal how the firm developed its value network over fourteen years, from a complex network with several actors to a very simple value network which included only partners of prime importance.

Knowledge Sharing Barriers in Growing Software Companies

The software business is a fragmented business segment, where there are few big players, some medium-sized companies, and a large number of small companies. Many of these medium-sized and small companies have an aspiration to grow. However, getting a company onto a path of sustainable growth is not an easy task. Although some previous studies have argued that knowledge sharing can be one potential way to support growth, other studies suggest that knowledge sharing is, in fact, a highly challenging task, even a problem, for a growing company. By drawing on previous studies on knowledge sharing barriers and different growth paths in the context of software business, this paper aims to increase our understanding of the knowledge sharing challenges that software companies may face in different growth paths.

Adoption of Open Source Software and Software-as-a- Service Models in the Telecommunication Industry

A case research is carried out on adoption of open source software (OSS) and software-as-a-service (SaaS) in the telecommunication industry. The study was conducted to examine the types of software deployed as OSS and SaaS and the conditions of adopting OSS and SaaS. Findings of the case study indicate that industry-specific software is not developed as OSS or deployed in SaaS mode. Based on the findings, we also arrive at conclusion: Adoption is hindered by specificity of processes and technology interfaces.

Application for pre-processing and visualization of electrodermal activity wearable data

Using sensors to gather physiological data about users can provide valuable insights that are not available merely using traditional measures. Electrodermal activity (EDA) can act as an indicator for both physiological and psychological arousal. Measuring arousal has several application areas. For instance, prolonged and often recurring high arousal levels can indicate that a person is suffering from chronic stress. At the other extreme, for example, in elderly care constant low arousal levels can signal that the senior citizens are not getting enough activity and attention from the care personnel. In the context of events, measurement of arousal can indicate when the persons get excited and when they are more calm. This study presents a pilot study of EDA measurements conducted during a trade fair. Providing timely and meaningful information for a group of people being measured, however, requires pre-processing the data and creating visualizations that enable both individual and collective level sense-making of the results. The aim of this study was to develop a process and an open source application that can automatically pre-process large amounts of data from wearable sources, and create visualizations, to be used in events for immediate sense-making.

Knowledge Sharing and Knowledge Security in Finnish Companies

Knowledge management includes several aspects, which can sometimes be even contradictory when operationalized in the daily activities of an organization. In this study, we empirically explore the knowledge management activities that large and small and medium sized companies in Finland have. The focus is especially on sharing and securing knowledge. The theoretical background for the paper is in the broader frame of knowledge management literature, and especially the knowledge sharing and knowledge security viewpoints. The empirical study offers a view on the status of both knowledge sharing and knowledge security in companies of different sizes. The study is able to identify the main challenges in knowledge sharing among companies of different sizes. Furthermore, the areas of knowledge security that still need more careful attention and development actions among companies in their daily operations, are also identified.

Social Media Analytics Empowering Customer Experience Insight

The potential of social media in marketing communications is widely acknowledged, but in terms of making use of social media enabled analytics there are still uncovered possibilities for marketers. The focus of this paper is on analyzing the customers’ affective experiences appearing in the social media content. Through action design research, a framework that enables to analyze affective experiences from social media content is developed. The novelty of the framework is that it takes into account the different emotion families as well as the intensity of the affective experience, taking a one step further of the generally used sentiment analysis techniques in social media context. Through this kind of framework, the marketers are able to better catch even the weak emotional signals of the customers and to guide the customer to more valuable emotional path. This paper presents the developed framework and its pilot testing, carried out as part of a wider research process involving two research projects and researchers from three different universities.

Can e-government solutions enhance the work in municipalities?: empirical evidence from case lupapiste

Digitalization and increasing demand of e-government services are not changing only the way the citizens can use public services, but also the nature of work of many municipality employees. At best this kind of digitalization can offer added value in the form of enhancing the work of the municipality personnel. In this paper, we study the effects of adopting an e-government service on work in municipalities. Based on an empirical investigation of five municipalities we propose flow efficiency as a key metric to grasp the added value of digitalization of a public service, as it reveals the most valuable activities as well as the potential bottlenecks. Flow efficiency measurement gives therefore a better indicator to be used in e-government process development than e.g. simple throughput time especially when evaluating the effects of digitalization on knowledge work productivity.