The first part will serve as a theoretical framework for the second part, which will productize the international services of the Tampere Chamber of Commerce. All information collected in this thesis can be used to further develop international services in the future.
INTRODUCTION
Background
Although the number of exporting companies is relatively small compared to the total number of Finnish companies, they accounted for more than 60% of the total turnover in 2004.
Tampere Chamber of Commerce and Industry
Objectives and aims
The qualitative method will be used to further understand the customers and to gather in-depth information. This means that the basic information on the internationalization of Finnish companies and the statistically robust data already exist and they are collected by reliable authorities.
Structure of the thesis
The people interviewed were strategically selected to represent key customer groups using the services in order to gain a comprehensive understanding of customer needs. It also describes why certain services are not developed further and some are omitted from the overall offer.
Definition of a service
Productization as a tool to develop services
Another typical problem for non-productized service is that there is no responsible person in the company. In a company, the services will probably not be developed if there is no one responsible for the development of the service.
Mapping and evaluation of the current service offering
If a service is not a strategic fit, it should not be included in the service palette or further developed. To support the evaluation process, all services should also be described from the customer's perspective.
Defining key components of a service
In addition to the content of the service, the process of the service must also be defined. In the planning method, all phases of the implementation will be placed in a diagram that describes their role in the process.
Standardizing a service
Standardization can be related to the form of data, its content or processing methods for example. This will reduce risk from the customer's perspective and increase service quality.
Pricing a service
Concretizing a service
Tracking, measurement and continuous development
The quality of a service is easier to measure when the actual outcome and production processes are separated. Usually complaints are signing problems in the service process or the training of the employees.
Finnish companies trading internationally
Especially within the service sector's exports, Finland is lagging behind other EU countries. The volume of service exports has tripled in the past ten years, and there are great expectations that the service industry will replace the declining export trade in goods.
Paths of internationalization and recognized success factors
Industrial companies are estimated to account for more than 80 percent of the full value of Finnish exports. Currently, service exports account for approximately one fifth of the value of all exports. It is recognized that the importance of direct exports diminishes as the size of the company grows.
This network operating model gives small and medium-sized companies that deliver components to finished goods the opportunity to be part of the supply of larger entities.
Challenges Finnish companies face in international trade
Here it is possible to conclude that the obstacles to trade can be knowledge-heavy, and these problems can be solved by increasing the company's internal skills and knowledge. Some of the trade barriers are more related to target market legislation and government-level choices. These trade barriers cannot be changed or tackled by increasing internal capabilities, but recognizing them and increasing the related knowledge is inevitable if a company aims for successful cross-border operations.
Among the most common trade barriers reported in a study by Team Finland are product regulations, problems related to customs procedures, taxes and IPR problems.
How are internationalizing companies supported currently?
This supports EK's statement in their study that one of the main challenges for Finnish companies is finding accurate and reliable target market information. One of the conclusions was that more personalized services are needed and a standardized service is not comprehensive enough to meet different needs. Currently approximately a quarter of the 1,700 members are active in international trade in the form of export sales.
Tampere Chamber of Commerce and Industry, 2015A) Many of the internationalization trends among the member companies have remained the same over the past five years, but some clear directions of development can also be recognized.
Export business and market interests in Pirkanmaa
This section will research the international trade activities in the Pirkanmaa region and the internationalization surveys that the Tampere Chamber of Commerce and Industry has previously implemented. In general, international business in the Pirkanmaa region is very similar to national figures. In the Pirkanmaa region, companies expect export business to grow in Sweden, Russia, Germany, Norway, China and the USA.
One of the good indicators of export business in Pirkanmaa is the statistics related to certificates of origin.
Topical issues in internationalization
Because certificate of origin is not required in community trade, it is likely that companies from Pirkanmaa export to more than 140 countries. In 2010, only 36 % of the respondents already had a strategy and two years later in 2012, more than half of the respondents had an internationalization strategy. About half of the companies plan to implement a target market mapping and recruit more employees in international trade-related positions.
Another observation is that companies employing more than fifty employees do not find external financing for international processes current or worrying, while more than half of the small companies find external financing current.
Evaluation of capabilities in executing the topical issues
Although risk management is seen in the top five of the weakest capabilities when looking at the sample of all companies, it appears that it is actually more serious of a weakness for smaller companies, and the capabilities are seen as more adequate as the size of the company is growing. Here you can see a clear tendency for the opportunities to obtain external financing to improve as the size of the company grows. All companies in each size category find that they have good or sufficient capabilities with their products, production capacity and price-related issues.
It is noticeable that as the size of the company increases, the self-confidence related to the capabilities is also much higher.
Mapping current services offering
The production process begins by defining all the current international services offered by the Tampere Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Structuring international services offering
Team Tampere started as a joint venture between the City of Tampere and the Tampere Chamber of Commerce. After the joint venture is complete, Team Tampere will be linked to the service offerings of the Tampere Chamber of Commerce. The Tampere Chamber of Commerce wants to keep Team Tampere as part of its service offering.
The current service offer of Team Tampere partially overlaps with the service offer of the Tampere Chamber of Commerce.
Research methodology
Currently, seminars and round table events are offered under the Tampere Chamber of Commerce brand for free and by Team Tampere usually for a fee, but sometimes also for free. All the interviewed companies are already members of the Tampere Chamber of Commerce, and they are all strategically selected from the Tampere Chamber of Commerce's customer database. (Table 1) The selected companies all operate in different industries and they are from many different stages of internationalization. A principle for the selection was to choose companies that have recently become members of the Chamber of Commerce, but also older members.
All companies are active in export and have growth objectives for the future, particularly in the export trade.
Interviewing potential and existing customers for better understanding . 38
- Theme 2: Is Tampere Chamber of Commerce and Industry the right
- Theme 3: Deepening findings from the internationalization
- Theme 4: Mapping content of services
- Theme 5: Discussing the networking aspect
- Theme 6: Technical implementation of events
- Theme 7: Ideas and suggestions for future
The person sharing the target market information must live in the target market in order to be credible. In many of the Tampere suggestions CCI was seen as an intermediary that brings together companies interested in the same topic. It is very likely that the importance of wide area networks will increase in the future.
In addition to networking, the use of the networks also emerged strongly in the interviews.
Further developing the International breakfast
- Defining key components of international breakfast
- Defining services process by using the blueprinting method
After the content of the breakfast is defined, the practical back office will take place. To attract more people, the breakfast could take place in different places, which would provide added value. Here, some improvement proposals will be introduced to modify the structure and content of the breakfast to better meet customer expectations.
This means that the same tools and methods in organizing the breakfast can be used with many breakfasts organized.
Suggesting a new concept of internationalization mentoring
The expertise that the Tampere Chamber of Commerce brings is the expertise in matching suitable mentors and actors and the suitable base for this network. Based on the interviews, the Tampere Chamber of Commerce is seen as a natural organization to offer internationalization services. Since the networks are one of the main reasons for being a member of the Tampere Chamber of Commerce, it seems like a natural move to offer services based on leveraging networks.
If the companies participating in the internationalization mentoring need to engage further in the Tampere Chamber of Commerce, joint events can be organized for members belonging to the network.
Further simplifying the entity of international services
- Entity from the client perspective
- Entity from a company perspective
The very basic difference may be that the services that are free of charge are only under the Tampere Chamber of Commerce brand because they are seen as services included in the membership fee. Companies that only use the services in the first module are not necessarily very committed to using the international services offered and are probably not very aware of the current offer. In this model, even operators with a lot of experience in this field can connect with the Tampere Chamber of Commerce in the form of mentoring.
Most of the customer needs recognized in this thesis, which currently have no counterpart in the service offering, are already being developed by the Central Chamber of Commerce.
Topics to be discussed in the interview
Suggestion for a handout program in International Breakfast
