Arto Sorsimo and Jaakko Heinonen
This paper aims to simulate a punch shear test of partly consolidated ice ridge keel by using a three-dimensional discrete element method. The authors model the contact forces…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to simulate a punch shear test of partly consolidated ice ridge keel by using a three-dimensional discrete element method. The authors model the contact forces between discrete ice blocks with Hertz–Mindlin contact model. For freeze bonds between the ice blocks, the authors apply classical linear cohesion model with few modifications. Based on punch shear test simulations, the authors are able to determine the main characteristics of an ice ridge from the material parameters of the ice and freeze bonds.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors introduced a discrete model for ice that can be used for modelling of ice ridges. The authors started with short introduction to current status with ice ridge modelling. Then they introduced the model, which comprises Hertz–Mindlin contact model and freeze bond model with linear cohesion and softening. Finally, the authors presented the numerical results obtained using EDEM is commercial Discrete Element Modeling software (EDEM) and analysed the results.
Findings
The Hertz–Mindlin model with cohesive freeze bonds and linear softening is a reasonable model for ice rubble. It is trivial that the ice blocks within the ice ridge are not spherical particles, but according to results, the representation of ice blocks as spheres gave promising results. The simulation results provide information on how the properties of freeze bond affect the results of punch shear test. Thus, the simulation results can be used to approximate the freeze bonds properties within an ice ridge when experimental data are available.
Research limitations/implications
As the exact properties of ice rubble are unknown, more research is required both in experimental and theoretical fields of ice rubble mechanics.
Originality/value
Based on this numerical study, the authors are able to determine the main characteristics of an ice ridge from material parameters of ice and freeze bonds. Furthermore, the authors conclude that the model creates a promising basis for further development in other applications within ice mechanics.
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Reza Movarrei, Sara Rezaee Vessal, Saeedeh Rezaee Vessal and Jaakko Aspara
In the COVID-19 pandemic, consumers increasingly opt for, or are forced to, use home delivery services. The authors study retailers' decisions regarding “delivery mode”, which is…
Abstract
Purpose
In the COVID-19 pandemic, consumers increasingly opt for, or are forced to, use home delivery services. The authors study retailers' decisions regarding “delivery mode”, which is about outsourcing (vs. insourcing) the delivery service to a traditional delivery company or an unbranded carrier and its effects on consumers' perceived overall quality, perceived hygienic quality, and subsequently, willingness to stay with the firm beyond the pandemic.
Design/methodology/approach
A pre-test, an experiment and a post-test were conducted with participants from the UK (Total N = 380).
Findings
The results of this study show that (1) in a pandemic, perceived hygienic quality overshadows perceived service quality as a key determinant of consumers' choices, and (2) while consumers have a relatively negative view of the hygienic level of unbranded carriers, they do not differentiate between traditional delivery carriers and retailer-branded carriers. Thus, they are equally interested in using the services of the latter ones.
Originality/value
This study shows that during a health crisis, consumers change their hierarchy of motivations to reflect the new protection motivations. The authors usher perceived hygienic quality as a variable that should be seriously considered as both a tactical and a strategic variable affecting the attractiveness of alternative home delivery methods and consumers' intentions to continue using them after the pandemic.
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Jaakko Siltaloppi and Suvi Nenonen
Research on value co‐creation has gained ground rapidly but remained at a very theoretical level. Thus, it has provided relatively little insight into the nature of individual…
Abstract
Purpose
Research on value co‐creation has gained ground rapidly but remained at a very theoretical level. Thus, it has provided relatively little insight into the nature of individual processes of service provision/value creation, and how firms interact with their customers and contribute to their value creation processes. On this basis, the purpose of this paper is to identify and elaborate possible roles firms and their customers enact in the service provision/value creation process.
Design/methodology/approach
The research utilizes a multiple case study approach building primarily on qualitative interview data from eight service concepts in the Finnish residential real estate industry.
Findings
The research reveals three roles of the firm based on the extent to which firms engage in service provision/value creation processes with their customers. At one extreme, the output of the firms acts as a resource, which is transformed into an outcome and used by the customers. At the other, firms and customers jointly co‐create value, with the firm coordinating the whole offering for the customer. In between, firms transform their resources into relatively standardized outcomes, which customers use in their value creation processes.
Research limitations/implications
The results contribute to the understanding of service provision by categorizing firm‐customer interaction into differing configurations of roles. This reinforces the notion that the depth of interaction affects the extent to which value is co‐created between the firm and customer; different services having different configurations of roles which shape the interaction. Limited to eight service cases, the results only exemplify aggregate role configurations. Moreover, by focusing only on the perspectives of firm representatives, the results do not allow a closer analysis on customer‐specific roles in the value creation process.
Originality/value
This research presents an empirical analysis and interpretation of the service co‐production/value co‐creation process, complementing the extensive theoretical research on the topic. Particularly, the results display different depths of interaction between firms and their customers in co‐producing and co‐creating value, which suggests that it is not necessarily meaningful to consider everything co‐creation from an empirical perspective.
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The purpose of this paper is to record the author’s personal reflections on his career as a marketing scholar.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to record the author’s personal reflections on his career as a marketing scholar.
Design/methodology/approach
Personal reflections in an autobiographical approach.
Findings
The author’s career as student, teacher and scholar is described in some detail.
Originality/value
The paper records events and memories that might otherwise be forgotten. No other such account has been published of Christian Grönroos’s career.
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Karlos Artto and Jaakko Kujala
The purpose of this paper is to introduce project business as a research field. The project business view in this paper puts focus on the management of firms and their businesses…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to introduce project business as a research field. The project business view in this paper puts focus on the management of firms and their businesses, and this way the paper complements the existing project‐centric view of the role of projects and their management in various business contexts.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper proposes a conceptual framework for project business and identify relevant research areas and themes. These research areas and themes are derived by using the knowledge and experience obtained from scientific project business research conducted in Finland since the early 1990s.
Findings
This paper describes project business as a research field by introducing a project business framework and the four major research areas inherent in the framework: management of a project, management of a project‐based firm, management of a project network, and management of a business network. It also suggests specific research areas and themes within the framework that are relevant and contribute to new knowledge in the project business field.
Practical/implications
The project business framework described in this paper, including the suggested research areas and themes, is important in focusing research and for development of practical application of project‐based business activities in firms and in public organizations.
Originality/value
The paper reveals avenues that lead towards the development of a new body of knowledge for project business that focuses on managing both firms and projects effectively in their networked business environments.
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Karlos Artto, Kirsi Eloranta and Jaakko Kujala
This paper seeks to address the risks for a main contractor firm's project business that arise from subcontractors' inter‐organizational relationships in complex‐ and…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper seeks to address the risks for a main contractor firm's project business that arise from subcontractors' inter‐organizational relationships in complex‐ and dynamic‐project networks.
Design/methodology/approach
Existing project risk management research neglects the management of such relational risks in networks. This paper discusses this un‐researched area by analyzing triads representing sub‐networks of three actors in a larger network. The empirical study employed several semi‐structured interviews in two global contractor organizations. Critical incidents identified in triadic settings were used to explain the logic of how risks arose from subcontractors' inter‐organizational relationships.
Findings
This paper identifies four categories of risk sources characterized by subcontractors' inter‐organizational relationships. The four risk source categories are based on subcontractors' relationships with other subcontractors, the contractor's competitor the contractor's client and non‐business actors (e.g. a local authority or regulatory body).
Research limitations/implications
The empirical study emphasizes the dynamic nature of the risks that business relationships cause in the main contractor's current and future projects and business. Furthermore, the empirical analysis suggests that the risks arising from subcontractors' relationships have an impact on two different layers: the temporary project network layer and the permanent business network layer. The impacts of risk on the temporary project network layer relate to specific sales and delivery projects, whereas the impacts of risk on the permanent business network layer relate often to changes in the network position of the business players.
Originality/value
This paper suggests a novel risk management approach, where risks and opportunities arising from subcontractors' relationships are actively taken into account in subcontractor management.