Jaakko Apara

- Acting Professor and Senior Researcher at Helsinki School of Economics HSE, Department of Marketing and Management
- Visiting Scholar at New York University, Stern School of Business

Helsinki School of Economics HSE, Department of Marketing and Management, P.O. Box 1210, FI-00101 Helsinki, FINLAND

• This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
• www.hse.fi

Research:

I. The relationships between investments and firm profitable growth
Research questions:

1. What kind of investments do (internationalizing) firms make in today's global and knowledge-intensive business environment? [typology of investments in (intangible) processes? typology of investments in one-off actions]

2a. In what kind of (resource/capability) situations do firms invest in certain kinds of processes or one-off actions? [situation amidst the evolution of the business model]

2b. What kinds of and what levels of investments produce the best results (return-risk, growth, profitability) in what kind of situations?

3a. How do firms coordinate the raising of external capital with their investments in and processes of acquiring and transforming resources? [including the processes of selling one's products or knowledge; exploration-exploitation; offering to product markets vs. offering to financial markets]

3b. What kind of coordination produces the best results (return-risk, growth, profitability)?

Main methods:

- Survey studies targeted to managers of firm populations - Case studies (growth firms that have successfully coordinated their financing concept with their product market and R&D strategies)

II. The offering and selling of firms in the financial market

Research questions

1. How do investors' attitudes towards companies' product domains influence their willingness to invest in the companies' stocks?

2. How do investors' attitudes towards companies' brands influence their willingness to invest in the companies' stocks?

3. How can companies segment investors and position themselves in certain targeted segments in order to effectively and efficiently promote themselves as investment targets and raise capital?

Main method:

- Survey studies of individual investors - Interview studies of financial market professionals