Pekka Kess

Partnering motives and partner selection

Purpose – To study the motives for partnership in marketing channels and provide an empirical study on mutual selection between manufacturers and distributors.Design/methodology/approach – The data were collected mainly from the interviews which present the perspectives of both the Finnish manufacturers and Chinese distributors and agents.Findings – Based on the empirical study, the new finding is that task‐related and partner‐related dimensions in partner selection of international joint ventures also apply to distributor relationship. We argue that a distributor relationship is a product‐tied relationship, and product innovation can be used as an approach for performance improvement in distributor relationship.Research limitations/implications – The study consists of four case companies so the result cannot be of general application. Nevertheless, it provides valuable information for further utilization.Practical implications – The study provides empirical evidence of the motives of partnership and mutu...

Knowledge creation through a project review process in software production

Abstract The new era of ICT that can be seen as shorter time to market has created a stronger pressure on the software production. At the same time the fast growth of complexity and size of software have caused problems in quality, costs and schedule accuracy in software development. Traditionally, new methods and tools are considered to be a solution to these difficulties, but problems have not disappeared. A great problem has been and still is the inability of the organization to manage the software development process. The research carried out in a telecommunications company pays attention to the special characteristics of the software and the software process. In order to find proper solution for the case company the various methods of assessment and measurement were studied. The case itself produced a simple tested tool to improve the software process. A new approach to the review practice was created. The traditional way of making reviews in project work has been in finding errors in specifications, design, realization, integration, implementation and operations. The new approach is based on the view of sharing knowledge of the good practices in all phases of the project and creating a knowledge base of the organization in addition to the more conventional review objectives. The case showed measurable improvements in the software development process and also a creation and enhancement of the knowledge base of good practices in software development work.

Team roles in business process re-engineering

Abstract The paper aims to clarify the team roles and skills involved in business process re-engineering of five different manufacturing units in the electronics industry using case study approach. The research is focused on the team roles and the functional ability and the training needs of the 39 teams and 232 team members involved in BPR. The data collection was made through documents, interviews, questionnaires, group methods and observations. The research problem was stated as follows: Is there a suitable framework of team role classification to be used? What are the skills needed by the team in BPR? What is the role of the team leader in re-engineering? The first result was that the classification of team roles by Platt et al. (Teams – A Game to Develop Group Skills, Gower Press, London, 1988) is applicable with BPR teams. The other results include the finding that teams need such skills as teamwork, organising, finishing, meeting, project work, innovation, and resource investigation skills. Also the research shows that team leader should provide any of the skills needed if they are not present with the team itself.

Critical factors for an effective business value chain

– The purpose of this paper is to identify critical factors for effective business value chains in the electrical and electronic industries. This knowledge can benefit private firms as well as their supplier management and customer fulfillment, and public agencies for relevant policy initiatives., – The research methodology includes the survey development and the statistical analyses, especially the use of the Pearson correlation. Altogether, a total of 129 firms participated in this study, 97 companies from Hong Kong and 32 firms from Thailand. Included in this methodology are a pre‐test of a survey and follow‐up discussions with participating executives., – An effective business value chain essentially depends on good operational systems and management, and information and communication technology (ICT) linkages with both suppliers and customers. There are a total of five critical factors for effective business value chains. For example, an effective business value chain is influenced by how well production and delivery systems are managed. In addition, how well a manufacturer can manage its operation is influenced by customers with effective information and communication infrastructures., – The five identified factors can be used as a checklist for planning and/or monitoring the effectiveness of a business value chain. The findings also helps develop a new initiative to be undertaken by Thailands Department of Industrial Work when attempting to strengthen business value chains within various industrial clusters., – The findings underline the need to focus on data harmonization and to adapt ICT standards, such as Control Objectives for Information and related Technology COBIT and Projects in Controlled Environments PRINCE for data sharing and software development, to promote supplier audits when sustaining a business value chain.

Sustaining organisational innovation and learning through external knowledge

This research is on external knowledge or knowledge to be transferred from an external source. It focuses on identifying technical knowledge subjects for Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) operating in the automotive industry. Five considerably successful SMEs participated in the research. Top executives from these SMEs and staff from the Department of Industrial Promotion (DIP) under the Ministry of Industry, Thailand and Thailand Productivity Institute (TPI) took part in the interviews and discussions. Twenty external knowledge subjects transferred to participating SMEs over the span of three organisational life-cycle stages: start-up, growth and maturity. The aims of external knowledge are to minimise process variations, improve performance levels and sustain improvement in the three stages. In addition, it appears that gurus (as a transferring agent) are widely used during the start-up stage, while there are more roles from coaches and mentors when moving towards the maturity stage. The findings and interpretations are useful to SMEs and relevant public agencies. Finally, the limitations and shortcomings are discussed.

Improving the efficiency of verification and validation

The application of electronics and software technologies is spreading to new areas, because they offer new feature possibilities. Consequently, these technologies require more Validation and Verification (V&V) efforts, resulting in increased costs and slower time-to-market for new products. The ICT industry has been forced to significantly improve its V&V processes. In this study, major Scandinavian telecom companies have been interviewed to clarify the challenges of V&V, and to identify ways to tackle them. The management of traditional industrial sectors could use the experiences from the ICT sector as a benchmark, as they will face the same challenges.

In Search of Organisational Creativity: The Role of Knowledge Management

Contemporary management theories lead to systematic practices that appear to limit the creative capacity of any given organisation. Often there is a closed system paradigm, when in reality organisations are open systems. A desire to seek a rational way of operating is not necessarily negative, but gives priority to mechanisms and results over processes or contents. Drawing on practical experiences in architectural design within the construction industry, we point to approaches that inhibit the emergence of creativity in an organisation, and which can be harmful from the business point of view in the long run. It is suggested that one way to overcome these difficulties lies in improvements in knowledge management.

Business growth models: review of past 60 years

This study reviews growth configurations research published over the past 60 years. Numerous configuration models seek to clarify the management priorities in the early growth of companies. However, an extensive review is missing from the literature and the variability of attributes among the models leads to confusion. The study identifies 90 configuration studies, describes the common patterns and trends, and identifies well-covered areas and promising research challenges. This meta-analysis reveals increasing consensus on growth indicators, sharpening focus, increasing context and process specificity, and diversification. Future approaches are encouraged to provide context-specific empirical studies, and to open new viewpoints.

Manufacturing Process Capability and Specification Limits

In modern electronics, specifications for products have constantly been tightened due to performance competi- tion. The processes for product development and manufacturing have been developed to meet the tighter specifications and quality requirements. The development of test methods and measurement devices have not been as fast, and as a con- sequence, the relative impact of measurement errors has increased. Traditionally, the measurement inaccuracies have been compensated by tightening the acceptance limits. This study concentrates on analysing, through simulation, how compa- nies should minimise the failure costs by adjusting acceptance limits. The study shows, in contrast to the conventional thinking, that widening the acceptance limits makes business sense in some cases.

Maturity of verification and validation in ICT companies

This paper examines the maturity of Verification and Validation (V&V) activities in the different phases of a New Product Development (NPD) chain. A Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI)-based Verification-Validation Maturity Model (V2M2) is utilised for the analysis. In this study, the maturity of V&V activities is analysed based on interviews conducted in major Scandinavian telecom companies. The study highlights how the maturity of V&V in production is higher than in earlier NPD phases. The overall maturity of V&V activities is found to require significant improvement.