Nowadays, hierarchical organizational structure, which has been created and dominated in 20th century, still remain widely used. The success of hierarchy in organizations in a period of time from 1960 to 2000 had been justified by such factors as: the relatively steady environment and preference of transparency and predictability over flexibility. However, in 21th century the business environment changed, therefore, the relevance of hierarchy becomes questionable. The given study provides a comparison between the hierarchical organizational structure and a modern holacratic structure. The research problem for this study is the lack of scientific and empirical data on how organizations can embrace the change in its structure and increase its vitality and adaptivity. The purpose of the current master’s thesis is to resolve the stated problem by investigating the organizational change of US-based company Zappos that was established in 1999 as a pioneer of online retail company and became a large corporation 10 years later. Following the process of expanding in 2013, the company switched from hierarchical organizational structure to the holacratic. The study is divided into three historical embedded cases in order to evaluate the reasons and outcomes of the organizational change. According to the research findings, the premises of Zappos organizational change was exceptional culture, orientation on long-term perspective and the influence of CEO visionary leadership. Additionally, the outcome of this study indicated that for large organizations that have hierarchical organizational structure the transformation to holacratic structure is too risky due to the complexity and long duration of shifting process. It has also been stated that emerging and scaling enterprises should have a holacratic structure in order to support the growth of adaptivity by eliminating the hierarchical ladder, distributing authority to all employees, while ensuring the encouragement of active involvement into company’s operations and strategic developments.

The purpose of this study is to empirically address the relationship between absorptive capacity and internationalization. Previous researchers have identified issues relating to firm’s lack of knowledge when handling international business. Absorptive capacity is the ability of firm to acquire, assimilate, transform and exploit external knowledge needed to solve such problems in firm’s internationalization. This research suggests that if a firm is able to measure its absorptive capacity, the result may improve the firm’s international business activities and performance. Reasons for absorptive capacity measurement suggested by this research is to enable firm to increase their level of internationalization by drawing from their international experiences, and to also have a better understanding of their business environment to gain new opportunities, achieve sustainable competitive advantage and to increase their survival rate in the fast growing global market. This study is in the form of a quantitative research focusing on Finnish companies conducting international operations. A structured questionnaire was used as the data collection process by using the key informant technique with a total of 98 respondent firms in Finland as at 2013. SPSS software was used to run the statistical analysis of the study to determine the correlations between the studied variables. Consistent with prior research, the results of the study support the notion that there is a significant relationship between absorptive capacity and firm internationalization. The study provides several implications to companies and their managers concerning firm international operations. The given results of the study illustrate that there is a need for managerial action that builds and supports organizational absorptive capacity to enable increased firm internationalization.

Currency wars are featured by competitive currency devaluations. Countries endeavor to reach the bottom of their currency prices in relation to other exchange rates. It becomes competitive when one country follows suit after another country and most of the time, the trading partner, has exacted a devaluation in their currencies. There are various negative effects that riddle the markets of the home economy and that of the foreign markets. Multinational corporations and also the local small and medium size enterprises are the most affected entities next to the citizenry. This study endeavors to provide an in-depth view on the particular situation that Japan has dealt with over decades. Due to the severe and constant deflationary pressure that started since the early 90s Japan has undertaken several policies to prop up the economy. A broad explanation is given about the ample topic of currency devaluation. This analysis stems from an economics topic such as monetary and fiscal policies. But the details explained are elemental to understand the implications of the international business in the core industries in the Japanese market. This is a qualitative research based on discourse analysis. The mode of analysis is particularly helpful in collecting and organizing the data with the most precise manner. Several interviews were recorded, coded and categorized accordingly. Data was collected through a time period spanning over 9 months. The results underlined a deficiency in the application of policies to help the Japanese economy. The various interventions exacted by the Bank of Japan have been rather short lived. The case of Japan still extends yonder as the new policies’ results application is yet to be seen. The currency devaluation that the authorities in Japan have applied have been of no avail. The economy is still lagging in the numbers. The industrial sectors of core production for the economy such as the automakers, electronics and banking have dealt with extreme situations under stark uncertainty. The case of Japan is but one situation that is replicated throughout other countries around the world. As one of the few extant research studies on currency devaluation undertaken via a qualitative approach based on discourse analysis, this study offers a very different angle. This analysis differs from usual research on this area which is quantitative and supported by other parallel research methods. This study follows a call on a more pragmatic understanding of what the situation has been for the particular case of Japan. Discourse analysis has allowed for a very hands-on experience into the very core of the international business by gathering the thoughts of the industry participants and that of the central bankers as well. This study aims at finding the link of government policy application and engineering and how that affects the operations in cross-border business making. Economic policy affects the entire country structure that allows for it to advance and prosper. That is why, this study has taken a particular aim at currency devaluation, as the operations beyond the political borders is what brings a corporation to become a globally sensible, sustainable, profitable and viable entity. Thus, their dealings are affected by how the exchange rate, stability and instability, is monitored and impacted by the governments.

Oulu, is currently branded the capital of Northern Scandinavia is a city of approximately 200 000 people and holds as of 2014, 4600 international residents. While that is a small amount of people in comparison to the population Oulu is still opening to have more tourists and foreign residence to consider it as a place of visiting and residing. This brings about the branding of the city as mentioned in the beginning of the paragraph. This thesis aims to investigate the reasons why ethnic-minorities in Oulu, Finland decide to become self-employed/ entrepreneurs. It also aims to look at different aspects of the business which include how the business was funded, the assistance of family in starting the business, the availability of social capital and to find out the composition of their employees. The use of qualitative methods will be used for research with the use of one-on-one, face-to-face interviews which include 6 entrepreneurs who have started up a business in Oulu, Finland.

Transnational entrepreneurship is a process by which individuals pursue entrepreneurial objectives between two countries they are socially embedded in, by leveraging resources in their possession across both societies in ways which most effectively suit the enterprises. At the turn of the century the wave of globalization has swept through every corner of the world, people moving countries in search of employment opportunities or other reasons such as education. Through these life experiences individuals experience new cultures, society and acquire new knowledge. In turn entrepreneurial minded individuals start business on the interface of their home and host countries by leveraging resources available to them on both ends. In this thesis transnational entrepreneurship in Nigeria is studied to understand its influence on business creation and its economic impacts within a developing country. The perspective of transnational entrepreneurship in a developing African country is the focal point. Taking into consideration the lack of study of transnational entrepreneurship from a developed country to a developing African country. Therefore, Nigeria is chosen as an ideal country to investigate considering the size of its economy and position within the African continent. Therefore, three Nigerian transnational entrepreneurs’ activities are studied to tackle the research problem. According to the findings of this study. The motivation of transnational entrepreneurs to operate in Nigeria is their intention to influence the level of the country’s economic development. The resources transnational entrepreneurs possess sets them out based on their understanding of two environments and ability to align their activities to avoid institutional challenges as well as maximizing potential. Secondly, the possession of advance educational background and exposure to highly skilled network within industries aids the successful creation of such businesses which in turn open a channel for local community to tap into international networks.

This research is analyzing alternative value configurations for 5G Micro Operators (uO) in Factory of Future (FoF) context. For this aim, emerging business opportunities for uOs in the context of FoF explored through novel combination of heretofore-separate FoF’s needs and underemployed resources focusing on the data. Since the FoF is Internet of Things (IoT) enabled context, the identified resources and needs have been categorized based on 4C layers of Internet Business Model aiming at easier and more structured analyze of Internet-based Business Models. The research question has been answered through covering abovementioned aspects. This thesis offers extensive theoretical understanding on business models, business opportunities, value configuration, Factory of Future, Industry 4.0 and 5G, which has enabled the author to collect a high quality dataset. An inductive research approach with undertaking the qualitative single case study research strategy within an exploratory type of research have been chosen. The primary data collected through Micro Operator Factory Workshop that was held at April 2018 with ten participants including researchers from uO5G project side, experts from factory side and the factories’ head of research strategy department that came together and discussed impressively about FoF. In order to enhance the qualitative rigor, the Gioia methodology as a systemic approach and analytical logic for linking data to proposition and develop new persuasive concept has been applied. As a result of data analyses, the author uncovered eleven themes from identified FoF’s needs and resources. Next, the findings sub-grouped based on the 4C layers (Connection, Content, Context and Commerce) of Internet Business Model to answer first research sub-question. Besides, the research proposed emerging business opportunities as alternative value configurations for uO in context of the case company as FoF including Product Business, Component Business, Platform Business and Supplementary Business to answer second research sub-question. The author also proposed a Mixed type of business for uO as a new concept. Additionally, author has modified the theoretical framework of resource configuration in a digitally enabled world (data as resource in this study) presented by Amit& Han (2017) and customized it based on context requirements and has completed it with adding the 4C layers Internet Business Model distribution alongside emerging business opportunities for uOs in FoF context. The key result of the paper indicates that there are considerable potential business opportunities for new players like uOs within FoF context. The uOs through novel combination of context related needs and resources are able to propose their value alternatively according to business opportunities. The findings considerably contributes the existing literature from various aspects and can be utilized broadly by industrial managers. Overall, this study offers a comprehensive description of the under-investigated topic through providing appropriately defined theoretical foundation, reliable data analysis and well-argued conclusion.

The phenomenon that imitators may profit more from the innovation than the innovating enterprise has attracted attention from scholars and practitioners. As important means to enhance the ability of innovators to capture the value created by their innovations and to profit more from their innovations, appropriability mechanisms are used to protect innovations and impede imitators. Although it has been perceived that the use of appropriability mechanisms varies across industries and changes with times, few studies have examined the changes in the use of certain appropriability mechanisms at the industry level. This study seeks to enhance the understanding of the dynamic use of appropriability mechanisms by delineating how the use of certain appropriability mechanisms changes in different industries and across industries. To this end, data from two Community Innovation Surveys with twelve-year time interval is analyzed by employing IBM SPSS Statistics 24 software to produce industry-specific and cross-industry descriptive statistics and correlation results. The main finding is that industries share some similarities regarding the dynamic use of appropriability mechanism, but the detailed changes in the use of each appropriability mechanism differ greatly from industry to industry. For example, nearly all industries enhanced the use of each appropriability mechanism as time went by. However, the degree of enhancement, which can be reflected by relative rank of each appropriability mechanism, is quite different among industries. This finding is consistent with previous literature suggesting that the use of appropriability mechanisms is changing with the evolution of enterprises and industries. We also found that certain appropriability mechanisms are used combinedly and that the previous use of patent, copyright, and registered design is positively and significantly correlated with the use of specific appropriability mechanisms after years. It can be inferred that the use of appropriability mechanisms is not alone and is not a one-off. This study contributes to the existing knowledge mainly by stressing the dynamics exist in the use of appropriability mechanisms, and by viewing the dynamic use of appropriability mechanisms at the industry level.

This study was conducted to look at the impact of Multinational Enterprises (MNE’s) and their Role in Economic Development as in the case of the Gambia and specifically the telecommunication sector. Results of the study show that contribution by the Multinational Enterprises (MNE’s) in economic development of the country goes beyond enhancing the level of competition. The Gambia Telecommunication sector had got a robust way of partnership between competing companies which has gone a long way in increasing the productivity of the telecom companies’ service delivery, fast innovation, adapting newer technologies in order to stay relevant in the competition. Multinational Enterprises (MNE’s)as are a huge development partner to the Gambia government as a matter of fact it makes them a reality that will stay within the country for a foreseeable future as means to complement government efforts whiles the environment remain conducive. We are in the generation where countries that have been taken advantage of to start working on improving the way they do business for the rapid economic development and the faster they do it the better it is. The world have globalized and investors have no barriers to where they will invest as far as there are business opportunities and for that reason multination companies have penetrated across the globe and developing markets has been a concentration for those companies in recent times and the Gambia is not an exception. This would lead them into further grazing their way into the inner workings of weak governments and increase their socio-politico-cultural influences. However, the growing trend of the of multinational companies shouldn’t be given a blind eye as they have both positive and negative impacts in those developing economies. Instead policies have to be put into place to better utilize them as those developing countries sees them. Foreign capital is one amongst the first catalyst of encouraging development. The influence of Multinational Enterprises (MNE’s has always been a topic of discussion in Africa especially to the Gambia because of the role they play in economic development of those countries. Developing nations need to grow more indigenous ventures that can compete on a worldwide scale, in a market loaded with many foreign players. This is impossible if local businesses are considered infant ventures and given subsidies so they could play safe, rather they ought to be compelled to reveal the best of them, which would empower them to build their ability. Less developed nations should concentrate inside and enhance fundamental zones, to better go up against multinationals and keep them from commanding the market. This can only be done if they are made to come to economies of scale and plan on operating on a global scale, rather within the confines of a few local markets.

Consumption is a process of consumers selecting and using goods and services. It is influenced by external elements such as cultural, social and economic factors, but also a consumer’s own internal preferences, values and motivation. In the past decades, rapidly accelerated globalization and technological evolvements, among other major changes in societies, have developed the overall consumer behavior. In this thesis consumption is considered especially from the point of view of fashion. The thesis examines the attitudes and meanings consumers have towards fashion and how the developing digitalization effects on their fashion experience. In this thesis, fashion consuming is pictured as an ongoing process which is triggered by all the time developing new trends. The fashion experience is seen highly affected by digital solutions. As a theoretical framework, there is used a modified version of EKB decision model. The empirical research of this thesis is conducted with a qualitative research method and all together seven Finnish consumers were interviewed. Fashion has evolved along consumption and today it takes a large portion of the topic. Fashion is more than just a clothing as it represents a sociological phenomenon which concerns several consumers. Over the last centuries and decades fashion has transformed from slowly changing dresses into fast phased garments. From today’s fashion types, fast fashion stands as the most purchased one, however, due to its bad quality and unethicality, it is also the most unvalued. The meaning of fashion depends on the interest consumers have towards it. In this thesis, three types of fashion consumers were considered; 1) fashion forerunners, 2) fashion followers and 3) consumers with no interest in fashion. In the research all the mentioned fashion consumers are represented. The major differences between these fashion consumers were the extent fashion was followed and the frequency new clothing was purchased. Digitalization is a big part of fashion consumers’ everyday lives. Online shopping has become beside the traditional brick-and-mortar shopping, and it has grown its popularity. The most valued benefit of online shopping is convenience, whereas brick-and-mortar stores offer face-to-face service and physicality. Digitalization overall has changed the fashion shopping experience but it also effects on consumers’ way to follow fashion, which has turned into more social media centered.

The university role in society and economy is currently shifting from mere education and science to applied research and academic entrepreneurship. Highly competitive universities tend to signal about their entrepreneurial orientation by increasing rate of commercialization of the researches, technologies and inventions created by scholars within the institution. Nevertheless, despite this trend being very powerful nowadays, there are multiple hurdles in a way to successful commercialization. Certain criteria are required to transfer research or technology from university to industry which can be categorized in individual/inventor, institutional, technology and market perspectives. This research is mainly concentrated on studying commercialization of science based technological inventions from the market or business model perspectives. It also suggests that business model could be used by academic entrepreneurs and technology transfer offices as an effective tool to evaluate business opportunity created by the invention and endeavors to prove this suggestion on practice. In addition, this thesis reviews academic literature and provides in-depth view on following topics: university research commercialization and academic entrepreneurship, business model and business opportunity to build theoretical background for further analysis. The empirical part of the research was carried out on the ground of real case of commercialization project conducted within University of Oulu aiming to commercialize 3D solid-state laser scanner and create a university spin-off with this technology as main asset. The study follows qualitative approach based on action research. Selected method is especially beneficial in analyzing data collected during multiple meetings and discussions of project team in a period spanning around six months. The findings of the research revealed that examining the commercialization opportunity of science based technological invention is not an easy task — the evaluation process can be time consuming and requires comprehensive market research on each business opportunity. Proposed business model framework can be used to evaluate and, thus, identify most promising commercialization opportunities created by university based technologies, but under certain conditions. First, important market information on each application area should be available, so researchers should engage themselves into active information search from early stages. Second, real data from potential customers is required especially in case of emerging industry domains in order to answer the main questions making the evaluation process by academic entrepreneur possible — can the opportunity be considered as feasible and desirable. Addressing these queries carries predictive and very subjective nature, but positive assessment enables decision making, thus, being extremely important in entrepreneurship.