Authors: Aspara, Jaakko; Hietanen, Joel; Parviainen, Petri; Tikkanen, Henrikki (2008).Download file: 'An Exploratory Empirical Verification of Blue Ocean Strategies: Findings from Sales Strategy' Proceedings of the Eighth International Business Research (IBR) Conference, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 27-28 March, 2008.

Abstract

This paper reports on a study on sales management organization in a survey of CEOs and sales directors of Finnish companies across industries. The study investigates the role of totally new value creation mechanisms in a company’s sales strategy. Using value creation and strategic marketing as theoretical approaches, the survey finds that active strategic networking aiming at creating totally new a) network roles, b) value creation logics and c) benefits feeds into profitable growth among respondents. This is one of the first empirical verifications of so-called ‘blue ocean strategies’ globally.

Field of Research: Sales Strategy, Sales Management, Strategic Marketing, Value Creation, Business model transformation, Blue ocean strategy

Authors: Aspara, Jaakko; Pajunen, Kalle; Tikkanen, Henrikki; Tainio, Risto (2008).Download file: 'Explaining Sacrifice of Long-Term Investments for Short-Term Earnings: Spiral of Silence in Financial Markets' Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, 8-13 August 2008, Anaheim, California.

Abstract

Despite the increasingly observed tendency of company managers to sacrifice long-term value-maximizing investments to meet short-term earnings forecasts and the ostensible pressure by financial market in encouraging this tendency, earlier research has lacked a systemic perspective to the emergence of the pressure and its effects. Based on the spiral of silence theory, the authors provide a theoretical system-level explanation to the emergence of the pressure in the financial market and its effects on company managers. It is proposed that a dynamic, systemlevel, self-reinforcing process among the investing public may lead to a status quo in which the orientation of a minority of (institutional) investors and investment analysts towards short-term earnings, vociferously expressed in media and certain stock price and analyst reactions, is biasedly perceived as the orientation of the majority. This will further make company managers orient themselves excessively for the short-term – even if the silent majority of investors currently and/or inherently had quite long-term earnings/investment orientation.

Keywords: long-term vs. short-term, long-term investments, earnings management, institutional investors, individual investors, managerial myopia

Authors: Petri Parvinen, Antti Vassinen, Jaakko Aspara, Joel Hietanen, Henrikki Tikkanen (2008).Download file: 'Cognitive Consensus Enables the Weaving of a Net of Business Partners in the Boat Industry' Proceedings of the 23rd IMP Conference, Phuket, Thailand, 9-12 December, 2007.

Abstract

The aim of the study is to investigate the manageability of networks through business partnership building during industry discontinuity. The contribution is the proposition that a cognitive consensus about the likelihood of strategic nets being weaved is key to increasing the manageability of hitherto spontaneous and uncoordinated networks. This cognitive consensus is proposed to be driven by existence of a focal network actor, institutional discontinuities and business model transformation. We have studied the development of the Finnish boat industry in order to develop a framework for understanding the role of cognitive consensus in the manageability of networks. Research avenues for utilizing the boat industry to study this issue further are presented.

Authors: Aspara, Jaakko; Tikkanen, Henrikki; Järvensivu, Paavo and Pöntiskoski, Erik (2007).Download file: 'Exploration and Exploitation on Two Dimensions: Product/Technology and Customer/Market' EMAC 2007, 36th European Marketing Academy Conference, 22.-25.5.2007, Reykjavik, Iceland.

Abstract

It is increasingly viewed that in order to have sustained performance and success, firms should engage in two types of innovative activities: exploitation and exploration.