Miika Varis and Hannu Littunen
The purpose of this paper is to examine the information sourcing practices of small‐ to medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) associated with the development of different types of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the information sourcing practices of small‐ to medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) associated with the development of different types of innovation (product/process/market/organizational). The relationship between different types of innovation and firms' performance is also to be examined.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is based on a quantitative study of a sample of SMEs located in the Northern Savo region in Finland. The entrepreneurs completed a questionnaire pertaining to, for example, whether their firms had introduced novel innovations and what were the sources of information behind these innovations.
Findings
The introduction of novel product and market innovations appears to be associated with the use of more or less freely accessible information sources. The findings also indicate that the introduction of novel product, process and market innovations is positively associated with firms' growth. None of the types of innovation studied was found to have a positive relationship with firms' profitability.
Research limitations/implications
As the analysis was based on self‐reported data provided by the entrepreneurs of SMEs, the authors had to rely on their judgment regarding the novelty of the innovations they had introduced. Moreover, as the study was conducted in a single region with its idiosyncratic features, the generalizability of the findings to other regional contexts remains somewhat ambiguous.
Practical implications
The study suggests a need to re‐evaluate the innovation‐related services available to firms in the regional innovation system. The findings also imply the need for entrepreneurs and their firms to upgrade their competences in order to enhance their innovation and networking capabilities.
Originality/value
Relatively modest amounts of research have addressed the information sourcing practices of SMEs in relation to different types of innovation, both in terms of the object of change and the extent of change. The paper addresses this.
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Samuli Laato, Miika Tiainen, A.K.M. Najmul Islam and Matti Mäntymäki
Inscrutable machine learning (ML) models are part of increasingly many information systems. Understanding how these models behave, and what their output is based on, is a…
Abstract
Purpose
Inscrutable machine learning (ML) models are part of increasingly many information systems. Understanding how these models behave, and what their output is based on, is a challenge for developers let alone non-technical end users.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors investigate how AI systems and their decisions ought to be explained for end users through a systematic literature review.
Findings
The authors’ synthesis of the literature suggests that AI system communication for end users has five high-level goals: (1) understandability, (2) trustworthiness, (3) transparency, (4) controllability and (5) fairness. The authors identified several design recommendations, such as offering personalized and on-demand explanations and focusing on the explainability of key functionalities instead of aiming to explain the whole system. There exists multiple trade-offs in AI system explanations, and there is no single best solution that fits all cases.
Research limitations/implications
Based on the synthesis, the authors provide a design framework for explaining AI systems to end users. The study contributes to the work on AI governance by suggesting guidelines on how to make AI systems more understandable, fair, trustworthy, controllable and transparent.
Originality/value
This literature review brings together the literature on AI system communication and explainable AI (XAI) for end users. Building on previous academic literature on the topic, it provides synthesized insights, design recommendations and future research agenda.
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One common feature facing diverse health care organisations is a need to compare performance across geographical areas, institutions or individual practitioners. In all health…
Abstract
One common feature facing diverse health care organisations is a need to compare performance across geographical areas, institutions or individual practitioners. In all health care systems, comparative data help the central government formulate policies for distributing central grants, clinical education, public health, research and tackling disparities. Good comparative data also provides an important resource for decision-making by local managers and clinicians. Through the process usually known as benchmarking, institutions can explore which of their peers are performing best, and seek out detailed qualitative and quantitative information on the context and processes contributing to good performance. Benchmarking also helps local managers set targets and rewards, and permits local electorates pass judgment on their local governments. The central theme of this chapter is to describe how the national hospital benchmarking system (BMS) was implemented in Finland, focusing on the use of BMS for managerial purposes and its impact on hospital care.
Antti Peltokorpi, Miika Linna, Tomi Malmström, Paulus Torkki and Paul Martin Lillrank
The focused factory is one of the concepts that decision-makers have adopted for improving health care delivery. However, disorganized definitions of focus have led to findings…
Abstract
Purpose
The focused factory is one of the concepts that decision-makers have adopted for improving health care delivery. However, disorganized definitions of focus have led to findings that cannot be utilized systematically. The purpose of this paper is to discuss strategic options to focus health care operations.
Design/methodology/approach
First the literature on focus in health care is reviewed revealing conceptual challenges. Second, a definition of focus in terms of demand and requisite variety is defined, and the mechanisms of focus are explicated. A classification of five focus strategies that follow the original idea to reduce variety in products and markets is presented. Finally, the paper examines managerial possibilities linked to the focus strategies.
Findings
The paper proposes a framework of five customer-oriented focus strategies which aim at reducing variety in different characteristics of care pathways: population; urgency and severity; illnesses and symptoms; care practices and processes; and care outcomes.
Research limitations/implications
Empirical research is needed to evaluate the costs and benefits of the five strategies and about system-level effects of focused units on competition and coordination.
Practical implications
Focus is an enabling condition that needs to be exploited using specific demand and supply management practices. It is essential to understand how focus mechanisms differ between strategies, and to select focus that fits with organization’s strategy and key performance indicators.
Originality/value
Compared to previous more resource-oriented approaches, this study provides theoretically solid and practically relevant customer-oriented framework for focusing in health care.
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Milla Laisi, Miika Mäkitalo and Olli‐Pekka Hilmola
The purpose of this paper is to understand the main market entry barriers confronted by the new operators in liberalized railway freight market (Poland and Sweden), as well as to…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to understand the main market entry barriers confronted by the new operators in liberalized railway freight market (Poland and Sweden), as well as to analyze the inaugurating market of Finland.
Design/methodology/approach
Swedish and Polish markets were scrutinized utilizing qualitative case study, implemented through semi‐structured theme interviews. Among primary observations, numerous second‐hand sources were used to gain triangulation. Research was conducted during early 2009. The Finnish material was collected with Delphi technique‐based questionnaires in 2005.
Findings
The main findings support previous studies arguing that the main barriers to entry are rolling stock acquisition, needed investments and bureaucracy. In Sweden, companies were start‐ups established on the grounds of the incumbent. The Polish market obtained new operators via vertical integration with a significant competitive presence of a governmental operator. Inaugurating Finnish market is identified as a combination of these two. Therefore, it is easier to understand why new entrants are not operating in the Finnish market.
Originality/value
The research contributes novel, first‐hand data to the subject, which earlier have been studied mostly via second‐hand data and literature analyses.
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Innovations are argued to be one of the main sources of sustainable competitive advantage. This study presents a model for creating ideas and formulating them into strategic…
Abstract
Innovations are argued to be one of the main sources of sustainable competitive advantage. This study presents a model for creating ideas and formulating them into strategic alternatives for an enterprise. Value‐focused thinking, including clearly defining and structuring the fundamental values of an enterprise in terms of objectives and using those objectives to guide and integrate decision making, offered the main line for the model. The model clarifies the information about the factors impacting on the situation under study and stimulates thought and communication within the group participating in planning. An application of the model was constructed and applied to a small enterprise involved in agriculture, forestry and subsidiary business.
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Miika Mäkitalo and Olli‐Pekka Hilmola
The entire sector of railway transport is in a state of flux in Europe as deregulation and structural changes are affecting the traditional transport mode. Even though the aim has…
Abstract
Purpose
The entire sector of railway transport is in a state of flux in Europe as deregulation and structural changes are affecting the traditional transport mode. Even though the aim has been to increase railway freight competition, markets have changed only slightly, and the market shares of incumbent railway companies are remaining high. Some EU countries have not attracted any new entrants, which is also the current situation in Finland. This paper aims to assess how the Finnish railway freight competition develops and to analyze different views on railway transport policy.
Design/methodology/approach
This research work analyses a Delphi questionnaire directed at 52 Finnish experts in this branch. Responses on the questionnaire were gathered during year 2005 (competition in Finland in railway freight started 2007) within two rounds with appropriate amount of response rate. Respondents were from the public and private sectors, actors working closely with railway transports and logistics. With an expert profiling matrix, three different railway transport policy viewpoint groups are identified, and character descriptions for these are constructed.
Findings
Based on a qualitative expert profiling analysis, it is argued that there exist three different argument types in Finnish railway transport policy. The authors have constructed character descriptions for each group based on material collected by the Delphi technique. They conclude that the policy definitions have followed the views of the moderate group and the realization of the deregulation process has been slow, even though a great amount of competition was expected.
Research limitations/implications
The research work is limited to the Finnish railway freight transport market, where development of competition on rails has been sluggish. To further confirm the used methodology, and the identified railway freight competition policy group types, the research work should be repeated in some other country, and particularly in an environment where competition has shown activity immediately after deregulation.
Originality/value
The research represents methodology to foresee the future development of deregulated industries, and especially in the transportation sector. The paper's approach can be used to divide stakeholders into groups and to make policy analysis. The problem with to‐be‐deregulated industry is often lack of competition, new actors and governmental actions, and therefore the used Delphi technique offers potential to gather empirical material before any activity has actually started in the observed industry.
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Jutta Haider, Veronica Johansson and Björn Hammarfelt
The article introduces selected theoretical approaches to time and temporality relevant to the field of library and information science, and it briefly introduces the papers…
Abstract
Purpose
The article introduces selected theoretical approaches to time and temporality relevant to the field of library and information science, and it briefly introduces the papers gathered in this special issue. A number of issues that could potentially be followed in future research are presented.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors review a selection of theoretical and empirical approaches to the study of time that originate in or are of particular relevance to library and information science. Four main themes are identified: (1) information as object in temporal perspectives; (2) time and information as tools of power and control; (3) time in society; and (4) experiencing and practicing time.
Findings
The paper advocates a thorough engagement with how time and temporality shape notions of information more broadly. This includes, for example, paying attention to how various dimensions of the late-modern time regime of acceleration feed into the ways in which information is operationalised, how information work is commodified, and how hierarchies of information are established; paying attention to the changing temporal dynamics that networked information systems imply for our understanding of documents or of memory institutions; or how external events such as social and natural crises quickly alter modes, speed, and forms of data production and use, in areas as diverse as information practices, policy, management, representation, and organisation, amongst others.
Originality/value
By foregrounding temporal perspectives in library and information science, the authors advocate dialogue with important perspectives on time that come from other fields. Rather than just including such perspectives in library and information science, however, the authors find that the focus on information and documents that the library and information science field contributes has great potential to advance the understanding of how notions and experiences of time shape late-modern societies and individuals.