Petra Pekkanen

Estimating the business potential for operators in a local food supply chain

Purpose Estimating the business potential for local food intermediary businesses, like wholesales and retailing, can be extremely difficult. The purpose of this paper is to present an approach at finding out the possibilities of estimating the business potential of a business idea in advance. Design/methodology/approach In the approach, a model is built based on two data sources. Statistical data on the food expenditure of households and average division of the revenues and margins of the local food supply chain are divided to production, intermediate level (wholesales/distribution) and retailing stages. To estimate the regional local food business potential as a whole, the market share estimations have been made by local food experts. Findings The approach was tested and utilized in evaluating the feasibility of a local food wholesale business in South-East Finland. It produced a credible overview of the business potential and pinpointed the challenges of the local food wholesales. The study indicated also that expressing the feasibility in terms of the required market share for employee count is an easy-to-understand way to depict the feasibility of a business. Research limitations/implications The model gives indicative, industry average-based results: the results of the model should be refined with analyses on the particular business model, especially its cost efficiency and other competitive parameters compared to more traditional way of doing business. Practical implications The model helps local food entrepreneurs and firms as well as their financiers to get a realistic picture of the business potential and the economic feasibility of the targeted business. Originality/value The study introduces a novel approach combining quantitative data and expert evaluation for evaluating the market potential and economic prerequisites of a regional food supply chain operator.

Timeframe Alarm System: Designing a Practical Tool for Caseflow Management

A major challenge in effective caseflow management in courts is the low level of acceptance concerning the established timeframes and only modest compliance toward them. This article introduces a practical tool for improving caseflow management, called the “timeframe alarm system.” The tool has been designed to improve managerial and work planning actions in courts and to help bring timeframes as a more integral part of everyday court operations. The tool is designed in an improvement project in a Finnish court. The aim of the project has been to combine the expertise of judiciary and operations management scholars. The article introduces the main features of the tool and the tool design process, as well as analysis concerning the functionality and usability of the tool.

Applying the operations management – approach to reduce process delays in justice courts

The paper focuses on finding the special characteristics of court processes that need to be considered when applying operations management (OM) concepts in courts. The evidence presented in this paper is based on six action research projects implemented in the Finnish courts where the researchers had a double role, the role of a researcher and the role of a process consultant. The findings of the research indicate that the factors causing delay problems can be divided into two parts: delays can be caused by the unique nature and characteristics of court processes, or the way of working in the court houses. The study also introduces OM-applications implemented in the courts and the achieved results in two case organisations.

What Causes Prolonged Lead-Times in Courts of Law?

The paper highlights the challenges in process performance issues in large public sector professional organizations. Factors causing process inefficiencies and prolonged lead-times in two Finnish Courts of Law are introduced and analyzed.