Päivi Eriksson

Corporate Narratives of Information Society: Making Up the Mobile Consumer Subject

The purpose of the article is to study how corporate actors participate in the cultural construction of the Information Society. By means of a case study, the article explores how a multinational corporation is involved in forming consumer identities—making up the subjects of consumption—by shaping the interpretive repertoires and cultural practices that are available for consumers as members of the emerging information society. The article elaborates on the ways in which the corporation invokes a discourse of shareholder value in its visionary strategic narrative entitled Mobile Information Society, and how this discourse operates to mobilize consumer conduct in particular ways, by making up, framing and formatting the consumer as a mobile subject of the global economy. The article’s aim is to contribute to the empirical bases of policy debates about the roles and responsibilities of different market actors in the production of the information society.

Gender and Sources of Finance in Finnish SMEs: A Contextual View

The objective of this study is to investigate the impact of gender on the usage of different funding sources in a sample of Finnish SMEs. The aim is also to embed the results into the country-context, which is characterized by the long history of womens economic activity and bank-based capital markets. The funding patterns of women owned SMEs (WOS) and men owned SMEs (MOS) in the data are different: WOS are more likely to use additional equity investments by current owners as a funding source. They do so at least partly because of their positive attitudes towards this funding source. The results also contradict prior studies, which indicate that MOS have easier access to bank lending. Our results suggest that there are no gender-related differences in the use of bank debt. Also in contrast to prior studies, we find no differences in firm size or profitability between WOS and MOS. The results of our study both confirm and contradict the results of prior research and we suggest that this is due to the context-specific features of the Finnish labor market and the gender system as well as the bank-centered financial markets. Concerning the issues of gender and finance, policy makers and financial experts in any country should not uncritically rely on the research results arrived at in other countries.

New designs and software for cognitive causal mapping

Purpose – The papers first objective is to develop a new conceptual framework for categorizing and designing cognitive, specifically comparative, causal mapping (CCM) research by building upon the theory‐centred and participant‐centred perspectives. The second purpose is to enable the discerned study prototypes by introducing a new CCM software application, CMAP3.Design/methodology/approach – Building upon the distinction between theory‐centred (etic) and participant‐centred (emic) perspectives in social research, we first construct and apply a conceptual framework for analysing and categorising extant CCM studies in terms of their objectives and basic design. Next, after noting the important role and basic tasks in computerising causal mapping studies, we present a new CCM software application.Findings – The theory‐centred/participant‐centred perspectives define four causal mapping study prototypes, each with different goals, basic designs and methodological requirements. Noting the present lack of wide...

The growth strategies of women-controlled SMEs: a case study on Finnish software companies

This article addresses the issue of excellence through the analysis of the growth strategies and practices performed in women-controlled companies operating in a high-growth industrial context. Taking the strategy-as-practice perspective and drawing on qualitative and interpretative methodologies, the article examines how women owner-managers view themselves as strategy makers and how they describe their strategy practices as well as their growth strategies in relation to the rapidly growing Finnish software industry. The results show that in a high-growth industrial culture, the women owner-managers articulate growth as a taken-for-granted objective and as an unquestionable source of future success for their companies. Furthermore, the women owner-managers position themselves as experienced and competent leaders of various types of growth strategies.

Management of Innovation in Small Service Companies

The objective of our study is to explore how the innovation practice of a small service company can be identified and developed from the managerial point of view. The study is based on the intensive case study strategy utilizing observational and interview data. The analysis shows how a new theoretical approach (the practice approach) and a new methodological tool (the CODE-method) can be used in the study of innovation management. The results show that the innovation practice of the case company was based on five distinctive innovation processes initiated by different actors inside and outside of the company. Utilizing the full potential of these five processes would however require solving two problems: managing and organizing all five processes more efficiently and relaxing the CEO-centricity of the innovation practice.

How innovation systems in Finland and Alberta work: Lessons for policy and practice

Abstract Innovation enhances human prosperity and well-being and is considered a major driver of economic growth. Yet, the innovation process varies in different countries and regions. Understanding the ‘how’ can help both policy makers and practitioners to facilitate innovation. We contribute to such understanding by comparing the development of two small, contrasting innovation systems in Finland and Alberta, Canada in their historical, economic, and social contexts – a type of research that has been called for but is rare in the systemic innovation research. Instead of describing components and outcomes only but change over time in innovation systems, we capture how they work. This and the comparison of systems with different rates of innovation and change offer a more grounded basis for policy and practice recommendations than comparisons to an abstract ideal, and also reveal some implications for the notion of path dependence in innovation systems.

Ethnographic Field Notes and Reflexivity

Ethnographers have devoted a great deal of attention on the issues of writing the final product of ethnographic research, the ethnographic research report. The issues related to the process of writing ethnographic field notes, however, have received much less attention in methodological discussions. Emerson et al. (1995) point out that even after the discovery of ‘writing’ as a central practice of ethnographic research (Clifford & Marcus 1986, Van Maanen 1988), field notes remained as ‘invisible work’ in ethnographic literature. They argue that while many ethnographers are uneasy with the messy, unfinished, and personal character of their field notes, these have mostly remained private documents. Remaining private documents, the impact of field notes on research findings and results has also left unexplored.

Client-consultant interaction: the dynamics of and conflicts in value co-creation and co-destruction

The paper explores how value is co-created and co-destructed in the social interaction between consultants and clients. Prior research on management consultancy as service production has elaborated on the question of how value is co-created in the same context as this paper. However, how value is co-destructed has remained little studied. In this paper, a workshop facilitated by a consultant for a client is studied to conduct a micro-analysis of the dynamics and tensions of co-creation and co-destruction of value. In management consultant services, it is suggested that value and, more specifically, consultant-client relationships can be both co-created and co-destructed through the approach-avoidance motivation of the consultant and the client.

Phoenix rises from the ashes: creating and destructing value through reflection

This case study focuses on the creation and destruction of value from a reflexive perspective. More specifically, we examine how reflection reinterprets the meaning of the relationship between creation and destruction of value. The studys theoretical framework draws from discussions on the creation and destruction of value, while adding a new perspective based on retroactive sensemaking and purposeful reflection. The study data consist of personal interviews that were examined using qualitative content analysis. Our study shows how reflection can be a key dimension of value creation and destruction. In essence, it demonstrates how reflexive activity - performed by both the producer and the customer after the interactive co-creation and co-destruction phase - can reproduce a new understanding of their relationship.

Cultivating the wisdom of personnel through internal crowdsourcing

The paper focuses on internal crowdsourcing as a key mechanism through which human resources can be integrated into innovation processes. The theoretical part of the study outlines internal crowdsourcing as a form of co-creation and integrates this with a practice-based view of innovation. In our multiple case study, we examine participatory innovation practice and related activities in three large organisations. We collected data from three different groups of people representing the personnel of these organisations. The analysis was based on qualitative content analysis and comparison of the cases. In our study, we divided the co-creation process into three phases: 1) co-ideation; 2) co-evaluation; 3) co-upgrading/idea redevelopment. The analysis shows that each phase included a number of specific activities necessary to enhance both creativity and efficiency in the process. For innovative companies and their managers, the study offers practical insights into how they can cultivate the wisdom of their personnel.