Currently, more and more Chinese tourists choose to have outbound tourism as a way to relax themselves from daily stressful work. The purchasing power of Chinese tourists is noticeable, so that they strongly boost local economy and promote the development of tourism industry. Consequently, an increasingly number of countries realize the great potential of Chinese tourists and take measures to attract Chinese tourists. Finnish government also make great efforts to attract more Chinese tourists, such as setting up more visa centers in China and strengthening the marketing of Finland from tourism perspective by launching many campaigns. Accordingly, this thesis is aimed to contribute to the branding of Finland as a destination to attract more Chinese tourists. The thesis has a very solid theoretical background. It is supported by numerous previous academic achievements and main schools of thoughts in its field, featured by relational network destination branding model, image forming agents’ theory, framework of destination competitiveness. Many related concepts have been mentioned under the three main ideas, structured by destination branding, destination image, destination competitiveness. From this perspective, the thesis exhibits the comprehensive understanding of past literatures and paves the way to the empirical study. The study applies to in-depth interviews to collect data. The interviewee can be classified as two groups. One is from the actual tourists, the other is from practitioners who work in Finnish tourism bureau and are responsible with marketing Finland as the destination. The common findings are expected to generate in the aspect of Chinese tourists and Finland as a destination. Since this thesis is abductive by nature, a new model of destination branding process is proposed to enrich the knowledge in this field. It acknowledges the great importance of Word- of-Mouth in the process of destination branding and connects destination competitiveness with destination branding. Moreover, the study figures out how the destination branding of Finland is conducted in China and examines the effect of current destination branding channels. Suggestions have been proposed in order to get an effective destination branding, represented by expanding the content of destination branding, building psychological link between Chinese tourists and Finland as destination, strengthening the cooperation with destination management organizations. This study has not only theoretical implication in destination branding research field, but also it offers practical and adaptable tools to improve the tourism development of Finland to Chinese tourists.

The purpose of this master’s thesis is to enter into the context of service sector internationalization in Finland by examining one Finnish multinational enterprise offering professional services for consulting and planning. The company under my examination is FCG Finnish Consulting Group Ltd. (FCG) and international operations of the company are mainly focused on international development consultancy sector. In the beginning of 2016 FCG established the new subsidiary in Singapore to offer the best Nordic and international expertise to a growing number of clients in Asian development consultancy markets. The Singapore office has been running in full effect since summer 2016 and it’s derived by Finnish and Chinese employees and managers. The Singapore office is meant to work as an Asian hub that allows FCG to work closely with already existing and future customers in Asia. The goal of this master’s thesis is to research the market position legitimacy of FCG in Asia. The study will focus on the processes that in the early phase of internationalization affect the FCG’s position in the Asian markets and how these processes eventually legitimize FCG to be reliable operator in the market and end up overcoming the entry barriers. The research represents the qualitative research tradition in international business studies. In this master’s thesis the empirical primary data was collected through two semi-structured interviews. The secondary data consists of written documents and reports forming the framework for FCG’s international business and international development consultancy industry. With the systematic qualitative analysis this research offer holistic picture about researched phenomenon. The competitive bidding process and especially high requirements for previous references from previous development projects were identified to be crucial element in achieving market position legitimacy. Primary networks between consultancy firm and international development financiers and international professionals working for the development projects appear to be central networks affecting market position legitimacy formation. Also secondary networks between competitors and local governmental actors in project target countries are identified to have role in legitimacy formation. Mutual trust between consultancy actor and international development financiers creates organizational legitimacy for consultancy firms in new markets and local presence and high quality works carried out in previous projects affect the legitimacy formation. The results of this research can be used in managing and coordinating internationalization processes in international development consultancy sector. The findings are useful for also other type businesses in which public and highly structured and regulated bidding processes determine the transactions.

Nowadays, the great importance of tourism and its impact on the wide range of aspects of progress and globalization, development and international relations promotion does not ask for argumentations. The responsibility of providing this impact lays on every company in the sector: in addition to making profit, enterprises are in charge of satisfying the customers. Furthermore, the key mean to reaching these goals is to be found in experiences that people are so keen on receiving. Consequently, companies representing the tourism industry must focus on creating the best possible experiences, which will ensure them satisfied visitors, who will be willing to return again, and again. Theoretically the discussion is supported by the experience economy theory, which performs as a solid base to investigate the phenomenon of customer satisfaction. However, since the topic is multifaceted and should be analyzed appropriately, the study refers also to such notions as service quality, marketing destination and brand. Additionally, the issues connected to cross-cultural differences cannot be omitted while considering a company that belongs to tourism industry, and therefore serves the international flow of customers. The study is devoted to the exploration of customer satisfaction in an entertainment park in Finland, with the focus on visitors from Russia. The goals and objectives of the research were possible to be realized by using interviews and observation as methods of the study. In total 16 groups of people (mostly families) participated in data collection. The questionnaire was structured around three main topics: expectations from holidays, experience in the Park and Finnish Lapland as a touristic destination, therefore enabled to form a detailed understanding of the four realms of the experience, service quality, destination brand and marketing. Thus, the data analysis allowed evaluating current customer satisfaction level in the organization and offering the recommendations for developing it in the future seasons. The study contributes to customer satisfaction, tourism and cross-cultural research. The results of this research demonstrate the complexity of the analyzed phenomenon and endeavor to present the relation and mutual influence of the simultaneously considered notions. Thus, four realms of experiences appear to have different importance for the interviewed audience and therefore influenced the overall satisfaction accordingly. Next, service quality was planned to be measured on the base of expectations, but the insufficient amount of them led to the conclusion that it is not possible to rely only on expectations in this case. However, the ones that were discovered should be carefully followed in the developing of the services and customer satisfaction in general, in the future. Lastly, the insights about the perception of Lapland and opinion of the brand retrieved from the target group, can be used for improving the destination facilities, infrastructure and overall image, as well as correcting the destination marketing strategy.

The purpose of this study is to examine the motivations of certain entrepreneurs who decide to become social entrepreneurs. There was a gap in the knowledge of how and why social entrepreneurship attracts entrepreneurs and why they choose to operate as social enterprises instead of operating as more traditional companies. Social entrepreneurship is relatively new phenomenon in the field of entrepreneurial research, even though many of its components have existed under a different name for decades. Social entrepreneurs have a mission to solve social problems and their top priority is not to generate as much profit as possible to the shareholders, unlike traditional companies. In Finland, the research on the phenomenon of social entrepreneurship is still in its infancy. Therefore, it was important to add new and valuable information to the existing literature on the topic. Empirical data of the study were collected by conducting five semi-structured individual interviews via VoIP service Skype. The interviewees were social entrepreneurs who all provided health care and social welfare related services. Based on the empirical findings, the main reason why entrepreneurs choose to become social entrepreneurs is their value system. The interviewees expressed their willingness to create social value, help people who are less fortunate, solve social problems in the society, and operate their businesses as morally and ethically as possible. The interviewees want to be open and transparent in their business operations and threat their employees with respect and care for their well-being. Personality traits can contribute to the entrepreneurial orientation as well. Scores in the values of self-transcend, self-enhancement and conservation are the most important determinants of the entrepreneurial orientation. High scores in the values of self-transcend and conservation heavily suggest social orientation whereas high score in the value self-enhancement would indicate traditional orientation. The empirical data suggests that the values do predict entrepreneurial orientation. Indications for high scores in self-transcend and conservation were apparent, while indications for high score in self-enhancement were not present.

Digitalization in the modern economy creates a productivity platform that is regarded by many experts and researchers as the 4th industrial revolution. The dramatic increase of the project management related software development, combined with the decreasing costs of these solutions, have spurred a remarkable interest in these digital PM-solutions reducing the gap between the theory and practice of project management. The selection process of a feasible digital project management solution can be a highly demanding task for any organization regardless of the field it operates in. The aim of this study is to define the concept of project management digitalization, but also to evaluate how project management work can be further developed and supported by digital project management solutions. This research has a qualitative nature, and it is a empiria driven inductive case study, supported by a literature review. As a part of the case study, project management experts within the Supply Chain Engineering (SCE) -unit of Nokia have been interviewed. The empirical case study consists of a current state analysis and requirement specification of project management in Nokia MN/BM/SCE, but also from a comprehensive feasibility study of three state-of-art digital project management solutions available in the markets: JIRA, HP PPM and MS POL. A digitalization proposal was given for the case company on how to proceed in the project management digitalization journey, and what commercial solutions need to be taken in use. These digital PM-solutions can support project planning, execution, monitoring and controlling, but also make projects more predictable and manageable in terms of schedule, costs and quality. This study is strongly tied to recent development trends in the web- and cloud-based Project Management Information Systems (PMIS) and Decisions Support Systems (DSS), that set the basis for defining the new concept of project management digitalization. Several theoretical and business managerial conclusions can be drawn based on this study, that support the project management digitalization pursues of various organizations. Thus, most of the conclusions and results of this study can be exploited in organizations operating in other industries as well, especially when the target is in initiating the project management digitalization journey.

Tämän tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli selvittää, millaisissa organisaation kriisitilanteissa suomalaiset yritykset ovat käyttäneet julkista anteeksipyyntöä tai brändiuudistusta maineen palauttamisen strategioina jouduttuaan negatiivisen julkisuuden tai arvostelun kohteeksi. Toipumisprosessien tutkiminen on tärkeää, sillä kriisin jälkeiset toimenpiteet vaikuttavat vahvasti yrityksen tulevaisuuden liiketoimintaan ja valmiuksiin vastata erilaisiin mediakohuihin ja mainekriiseihin. Tutkimuksessa tarkasteltiin kahta erilaista maineen palauttamisen strategiaa: yritysmaineen palauttamista virheen myöntämisen ja julkisen anteeksipyynnön keinoin sekä maineen palauttamista brändiuudistuksen keinoin. Aineiston keruun menetelmänä käytettiin dokumenttianalyysiä. Tutkimuksen tulokset osoittivat, että julkista anteeksipyyntöä on käytetty tilanteissa, joissa ominaista on ollut kriisin yllätyksellisyys, uhka organisaation toiminnalle ja jokin laukaiseva tekijä, joka on edellyttänyt välitöntä reagointia ja anteeksipyyntöä. Brändiuudistusta käytettäessä kriisin laukaisijana ei ole ollut niinkään yksittäinen teko tai sen paljastuminen sidosryhmille, vaan yrityksen tietyn toimintatavan nostaminen median välityksellä julkisuuteen. Lähes kaikki tutkittavat kriisit saivat alkunsa sosiaalisen median keskustelupalstoilta ja sen myötä viestintävälineiden uutisoinnista. Yritysten tulisi seurata näissä kanavissa käytävää keskustelua, sillä yleisön ja sidosryhmien mielipiteet yrityksestä heijastavat suoraan sen maineeseen.

Thesis (MTech (Mechanical Engineering))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2008 / Product innovation has transformed the minds of business people because of its ability to increase productivity. Other than increased productivity it also allows companies to extend the range of the available products to consumers as well as lowering the prices consumers have to pay. Product innovation if managed correctly will create wealth and reward risk-taking by means of technological development throughout organisational processes. SMEs fail to manage product innovation because they are unable to cope with pressures exerted by external factors as well as lack business management skills. This then impacts on the level of innovation that takes place in a company. A lack of innovation and sound leadership skills often leads to very little strategic vision in the company. This influences the commitment of the workforce and often causes the downfall of a company. Case study methodology was used to collect and analyze the data, which was drawn from an empirical study covering nine engineering companies which practices NPD (New Product Development). Observation, questionnaire and personal interviews were used to collect relevant data for analysis. In addition, the SPSS 14.0 was utilized in order to generate frequencies, tables, and in particular graphics, as the researcher believes that graphics are helpful and easy to make the analysis more understandable. The paper aims to investigate whether SMEEs in the Western Cape are using key NPD success factors to deal with the environmental uncertainties that disturb the management of NPD. The findings of the study indicated that the principles of key NPD success factors were found to be in place in the SMEEs in the Western Cape. All the managers who took part in the survey showed determination and commitment towards the success of their organizations. Those SMEEs proved that their existence was meant to satisfy the needs of their customers. Those managers also showed that they knew exactly what their customers needed. Employees in those organizations worked as a team and produced good quality products that satisfied their customers. Those organizations started small but grew with time as the needs of their customers continuously changed. The growth in those organizations was seen in the number of employees employed from time to time.

Thesis (MTech (Business Administration (Entrepreneurship)))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2017. / Although SMEs are aware of project management, it seems that a vast majority of firms are not actually well-informed about what project management is, and therefore, might not even be adhering to project management principles. Hence, the main objective of this study was to determine the extent to which SMEs (involved in construction, events and information technology and located in the Cape Metropolitan area in South Africa) apply project management principles. This study used a mixed method approach (both qualitative and quantitative) and various relevant instruments to collect and analyse data. A total of 223 questionnaires were administered to employees working in conjunction with a project management department, and five face-to-face interviews were conducted with owner-managers of selected SMEs. The statistical package for social science (SPSS) was used to analyse the quantitative data with results presented in a tabulated format; content analysis was used to transcribe qualitative data and categorise this data into themes. The study found that the project management sector is still predominately male-dominated, and project teams are not selected on the basis of experience. Furthermore, those who lack experiences are not trained. The nature of work done, company understaffing, time and financial constraints and poor team dynamics were all cited as factors affecting the application of project management principles within SMEs. Several recommendations emerged from the findings. First, it was recommended that women be empowered as active participants in project management, thereby reducing the evident gender imbalance; training and development should regularly be conducted to fully equip employees with vital skills and competencies. This will more strongly ensure that clients are satisfied with quality outcome and thereby establish a good reputation for SMEs. Project managers should create contingency plans for potential challenges. Additionally, the project manager should ensure that by virtue of the company being understaffed, specific roles and responsibilities of individuals should be clearly delineated, clearly communicated and clearly understood. Alternatively, the company may employ more personnel for particular projects, or independent contractors could be hired to assist. Moreover, time constraints can be eradicated by establishing timelines through the Gantt chart and measuring milestones. Finance and other resources should be allocated economically with and ongoing budget-cost analysis for monitoring expenditure. It was also deemed advisable that project managers send their teams for wellness training to avoid negative team dynamics, and as for labour unrest, senior managers should engage proactively with unions and delegates.

M.Com. (Business Management) / The global economy has over the past decades undergone radical changes. The South African economy has not been immune to the changes taking place globally. The pressures on competitiveness add urgency to the search for greater effectiveness. Most managers know that few decisions, such as operational strategy, problem solving and performing core competencies are more critical decisions than the selection of the customers to be served. In today's competitive world, successful outsourcing is a powerful tool for organizations of different sizes to be cost-efficient, increase flexibility, services and productivity, to focus on core competencies and rely on outsourcing vendors/partners to supply the non-competencies, to gain monetary benefits, add value and gain competitive advantage over rivals. Therefore outsourcing Is one of many business tools that may also be available and applicable to small businesses to gain a competitive advantage over rivals. The primary motivation for this study stems from the relevancy of outsourcing as a management tool, and whether outsourcing could also be applied in small business management, and hence this study attempts to examine the possible merits for small businesses to consider outsourcing as a management tool. Further, the researcher hopes to show in this study the principles on which good outsourcing decisions may be taken to benefit the small businesses and the Involved parties in the outsourcing arrangement. Hence the primary objective of the study is to determine the merits of the small business sector to utilise outsourcing as a business tool, and the supporting secondary objectives are to research the concept of outsourcing: to explain the rationale in outsourcing and all its manifestations, to research the concept of the small business sector, its major needs, challenges and threats, and to deduce from the results achieved In the above mentioned areas, possible merits for small businesses to consider outsourcing as a management tool.

M.B.A. / The focus on small and medium sized enterprises in South Africa stems from the recognition throughout the world of the importance of small business to a nation's economy, particularly through their creation of additional employment opportunities. The slow growth in employment in the South African economy has accelerated the need for emerging entrepreneurs to play a stronger role in job creation, income generation and growth. These enterprises accounted for about 60% of total employment in 1997. The adoption of sound corporate governance practises is very significant for the continued success of small and medium enterprises. Enterprises must place a lot of emphasis on corporate governance in order to survive in the economy. Corporate governance is seen as enhancing return on capital through increased accountability. Corporate governance is good to have and also good for the continued success of an enterprise. The benefits to be derived from the adoption of sound corporate practises and conduct more than outweigh the costs of implementation. Good governance leads to competitive advantage in the market place, improved efficiency and effectiveness, increased shareholder value and increased market value. To determine the requirements that emerging entrepreneurs need to comply with in order to improve productivity, efficiency and credibility, a research study was conducted to investigate the perceptions and attitudes of the entrepreneurs towards corporate governance. In addition, the study also focused on the benefits to be derived by emerging entrepreneurs from the introduction of corporate governance and the suitable effectiveness criteria for corporate governance within emerging entrepreneurs. The research was limited to 40 small and medium sized enterprises within the Gauteng area, which is one of the 9 provinces in South Africa. The responses indicated that a majority of the entrepreneurs are ignorant of the subject of corporate governance. The ii few entrepreneurs who are familiar with corporate governance had different views or attitudes on the subject. The majority of the respondents, who responded positively, believe that there are a lot of benefits to be derived from the introduction of corporate governance within their enterprises. It is also interesting to note that some of the entrepreneurs who stated that they were ignorant of the subject of corporate governance have in fact implemented some of the recommendations as set out in the Code of corporate practises and conduct.