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Article
Publication date: 1 May 1989

Risto Tainio, Pekka Ollonqvist and Marja Korhonen

This article attempts to understand the dynamics of institutional management processes. This concept is defined here as managerial action vis‐a‐vis emerging political and…

Abstract

This article attempts to understand the dynamics of institutional management processes. This concept is defined here as managerial action vis‐a‐vis emerging political and infra‐structural conditions for business in the nation‐state arena. For this purpose the emerging patterns of relationships between business and politics in the Finnish forest sector are described and analysed. Our focus is on the impact of the four most societally loaded changes in political and infra‐structural conditions of the forest sector: its position in the core of the Finnish economy, the ownership of the key resources, the use of timber as the basic source of welfare, and the logging and transportation infrastructure. These changes become the key issues for the level of institutional management in the forest sector. They have remained significant over the studied long‐term period, but the efforts of their moulding have changed over time. These dynamics of institutional management are found to follow a cycle, divided in seven phases, coined as: (1) offensive confrontation, (2) operational co‐operation, (3) differentiation of institutional management, (4) exploitation of a core position, (5) justification of expansion and growth, (6) legitimation of decline, and (7) defensive confrontation. The authors provide examples and evidence of these changing patterns of institutional management, and offer a proposition about the underlying dynamics of the cycle.

Details

International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, vol. 9 no. 5/6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-333X

Article
Publication date: 9 March 2015

Marja-Leena Rönkkö and Jaana Lepistö

The aim of this paper is to reveal and investigate differences in how Finnish student teachers understand entrepreneurship education and how critical they are of it. The research…

1396

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this paper is to reveal and investigate differences in how Finnish student teachers understand entrepreneurship education and how critical they are of it. The research question is: what kind of critical understanding do student teachers reveal in their conception of entrepreneurship education?

Design/methodology/approach

A qualitative research approach termed content analysis was used to investigate student teacher’s conceptions. The data were collected from essays written by 257 student teachers at the University of Turku’s, Rauma teacher education department during 2010-2012.

Findings

The conception of entrepreneurship education is, in many ways, related to how much one already knows about entrepreneurship education or how one reacts to it. It seems that most student teachers’ conceptions of entrepreneurship are positive, but even those in favour of it, in principle, do not necessarily want to see entrepreneurship education included in the basic education curriculum. Nevertheless, they think that enterprising pedagogy is useful and that the way of thinking about teaching is inspiring. They also feel that both teacher education and basic education benefit from some kind of entrepreneurship component, but do not take entrepreneurship education for granted. On the basis of this study, it is proposed that teacher education should incorporate more teaching that supports critical thinking in all study modules.

Originality/value

The findings of this study illustrate that there is much more to do in teacher education and its curricula. Teaching situations and learning situations are always social situations and both learners and teachers have a vital role to play.

Details

Journal of Enterprising Communities: People and Places in the Global Economy, vol. 9 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1750-6204

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 16 March 2012

Antti Konttila, Marja Harjumaa, Salla Muuraiskangas, Mikko Jokela and Minna Isomursu

This article aims to explore the possibilities and use of a mobile technology‐supported audio annotation system that can be used for attaching free‐formatted audio annotations to…

Abstract

Purpose

This article aims to explore the possibilities and use of a mobile technology‐supported audio annotation system that can be used for attaching free‐formatted audio annotations to physical objects. The solution can help visually impaired people to identify objects and associate additional information with these objects.

Design/methodology/approach

A human‐centred design approach was adopted in the system's development and potential end‐users were involved in the development process. In order to evaluate the emerging use cases, as well as the usefulness and usability of the application, a qualitative field trial was conducted with ten visually impaired or blind users.

Findings

The findings show that visually impaired users learned to use the application easily and found it easy and robust to use. Most users responded positively towards the idea of tagging items with their own voice messages. Some users found the technology very useful and saw many possibilities for using it in the future. The most common targets for tagging were food items; however, some users had difficulties in integrating the solution with their everyday practices.

Originality/value

This paper presents an innovative mobile phone application with a touch and audio user interface. The actual use cases describe the everyday needs of visually impaired people and this information might be valuable to service providers and technology developers. Also, the experiences gained from these trials can be used when developing software for the visually impaired on other platforms.

Details

Journal of Assistive Technologies, vol. 6 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1754-9450

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 26 March 2018

Jukka Ojasalo and Katri Ojasalo

The purpose of this study is to develop a service logic oriented framework for business model development. “Service logic” covers the basic principles of the three contemporary…

15090

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to develop a service logic oriented framework for business model development. “Service logic” covers the basic principles of the three contemporary customer value focused business logics: service-dominant logic, service logic and customer-dominant logic.

Design/methodology/approach

This study is based on an empirical qualitative research and deployed the focus group method. The data are generated in a series of interactive co-creative focus group workshops involving both practitioners and academics.

Findings

As the outcome, a new tool was developed, called Service Logic Business Model Canvas. The new canvas is a modified version of the original Business Model Canvas (Osterwalder and Pigneur, 2010).

Research limitations/implications

This study adopts service logic in business model thinking and increases knowledge on how to keep the customer needs in the centre of business model development.

Practical implications

The developed canvas makes the theory of service-dominant logic tangible and easily applicable in practice. It enables service innovation truly based on customer value by ensuring that the customer is in the centre of all the elements of a business model. It can function both as a rapid prototype of a new business model and as a communication tool that quickly illustrates the company’s current business model. It can also help in creating a customer-centred business culture. It is designed to be applied to each customer profile separately, thus enabling a deeper understanding of the customer logic of each relevant profile.

Originality/value

Earlier business model frameworks tend to be provider-centric and goods-dominant, and require further development and adaptation to service logic. This study adopts service logic in business model thinking. It embeds the true and deep customer understanding and customer value in each element of the business model, and contributes to both business model and service-dominant logic literature.

Details

Journal of Research in Marketing and Entrepreneurship, vol. 20 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1471-5201

Keywords

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