MANAGEMENT OF EMERGING STRATEGIC ISSUES
A RESEARCH PLAN SUBMITTED TO THE NATIONAL TECHNOLOGY AGENCY TEKES
PROJECT COORDINATOR:
HELSINKI UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY
PROFESSOR TOMI LAAMANEN
Department of Industrial Engineering and Management
Helsinki University of Technology
P.O. Box 5500, FIN-02015 TKK, Finland
Email: Tomi.Laamanen@tkk.fi
PROFESSOR MARKKU MAULA
Department of Industrial Engineering and Management
Helsinki University of Technology
P.O. Box 5500, FIN-02015 TKK, Finland
Email: Markku.Maula@tkk.fi
DR. MATTI KEIJOLA
Department of Industrial Engineering and Management
Helsinki University of Technology
P.O.Box 5500, 02105 TKK, Finland
Email: Matti.Keijola@tkk.fi
PARTICIPATING COMPANIES
Nokia Oyj
SanomaWSOY Oyj
Vaisala Oyj
Suomen Posti Oyj
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The scope and number of strategic business issues faced today by Finnish companies striving
to operate and be successful internationally has increased with the increasing pace and
complexity of the increasingly international business environment.
This research plan proposes a project that aims at contributing to the practices of technologybased firms for managing emerging strategic issues - be they threats or opportunities. The
proposed project is a continuation of a two-year long corporate-funded research project that
focused on the strategic issue management practices of a leading Finnish technology-based
corporation, Nokia Oyj’s Corporate Strategy unit. In this feasibility phase, a detailed
understanding emerged on what are Nokia’s and some of the other world leading technologybased large firms’ best practices in the area strategic issue management (IBM, HP, and GE).
Companies have varying ways of identifying and dealing with their most critical strategic
questions. This process is, however, typically an emergent one, not necessarily optimally
structured to enable the effective identification of the most critical questions and the
appropriate allocation of top management attention and corporate intelligence support to
answer the identified strategic questions. The proposed research project is positioned to (1)
deepen the knowledge gained from the pre-project phase, (2) contrast it to the experiences of
other companies, (3) develop practices that would be applicable for both large and small
technology-based firms for managing their businesses so that they would be able to benefit
optimally from emerging opportunities and be prepared to counter emerging threats, and (4)
leverage these practices to all the participating Finnish firms.
The research theme is at the forefront of management research. At the moment, other
researchers focusing on similar topics are around 1 to 2 years behind in understanding the
dynamism of how emerging strategic issues should be dealt with inside firms. Thus, in addition
to the practical contribution, also the academic contribution of this research project can be
expected to be novel. The empirical analyses of our research project include (1) companyspecific strategic issue management system development (Nokia, SanomaWSOY, Posti), (2) an
in-depth analysis of an emerging strategic issue (Vaisala and Posti) and (3) a survey of the
broader strategic issue management practices of Finnish technology-based firms. The main
research questions to be answered include: What is the state of art in dynamic strategy
formation in companies? What are the best practices? What improvements can be considered?
How to institutionalize them? What results to expect?. The results of the project will include
new knowledge and improved practices for Finnish companies to manage their strategy work,
thereby increasing their success and viability in dynamic global markets.
In nutshell, the proposed project builds on a pre-project feasibility study already financed by
and conducted with Nokia. The project will be based on in-depth case studies involving three
major Finnish industrial corporations as well as on benchmarking sessions with major
international companies (Shell and 3M). Additionally, considerations relevant and applicable to
smaller, growth companies will be addressed. The project will thus have a rare access to a
unique set of real corporate data of sensitive and confidential nature. The proposed project is
planned to last for two years and will be carried out by the Institute of Strategy and
International Business together with staff from the participating companies.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1
INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................................... 1
2
PROJECT MOTIVATION ....................................................................................................................... 2
3
BACKGROUND RESEARCH ................................................................................................................. 3
4
THE MESI PROJECT ............................................................................................................................... 4
4.1
4.2
4.3
4.4
4.5
4.6
5
RESEARCH QUESTIONS ........................................................................................................................ 4
RESEARCH DESIGN .............................................................................................................................. 4
WORK PACKAGES (WP) ...................................................................................................................... 5
4.3.1 Work Package 1 Project Management .................................................................................... 5
4.3.2 Work Package 2 Company Case Studies ................................................................................. 5
4.3.3 Work Package 3 Benchmarking............................................................................................... 5
4.3.4 Work Package 4 Growth Company Considerations ............................................................... 6
4.3.5 Work Package 5 Integration .................................................................................................... 6
PROJECT ORGANIZATION, RESOURCES ............................................................................................... 6
PROJECT SCHEDULE ............................................................................................................................ 7
BUDGET ..................................................................................... ERROR! BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED.
REFERENCES ........................................................................................................................................... 8
APPENDIX 1, THE CONCEPT OF THE STRATEGIC AGENDA ........................................................... 10
APPENDIX 2 LIST OF RESEARCH QUESTIONS .................................................................................... 12
APPENDIX 3, WP 2, CASE STUDIES ............................................................................................................ 13
METHODOLOGY .......................................................................................................................................... 14
CONTRIBUTION ........................................................................................................................................... 14
DELIVERABLES AND DISSEMINATION ......................................................................................................... 14
APPENDIX 4, WP 3, BENCHMARKING ...................................................................................................... 15
METHODOLOGY .......................................................................................................................................... 15
CONTRIBUTION ........................................................................................................................................... 15
DELIVERABLES AND DISSEMINATION ......................................................................................................... 15
APPENDIX 5, WP 4, GROWTH COMPANY CONSIDERATIONS ......................................................... 16
METHODOLOGY .......................................................................................................................................... 16
CONTRIBUTION ........................................................................................................................................... 16
DELIVERABLES AND DISSEMINATION ......................................................................................................... 16
APPENDIX 6, WP 5, INTEGRATION............................................................................................................ 17
METHODOLOGY .......................................................................................................................................... 17
CONTRIBUTION ........................................................................................................................................... 17
DELIVERABLES AND DISSEMINATION ......................................................................................................... 17
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INTRODUCTION
The scope of strategic business issues faced by Finnish companies striving to operate and be
successful internationally has widened due to an increasingly broad geographic scope and the
increasing complexity of technology. Strategic issues arise not only through the formal,
periodic strategic planning processes in companies. They can, and quite often do arise
unpredictably due to new insights, unexpected advances in technology or competitive activities
in the market place. The existing research acknowledges this emergence, but does not provide
any applicable ways of dealing with this kind of incidents.
All companies have their way of identifying and dealing with these, their most critical strategic
questions. However, this process of managing emerging strategic issues is typically non-structured, not
necessarily optimally suited to enable the effective identification of the most critical questions
and the appropriate allocation of top management attention and corporate intelligence support
to answer the identified strategic questions. Despite the past research during 1960s, 1970s, and
1980s into the domain of strategic issues (SI), strategic issue management (SIM), and strategic
issue management systems (SIMS) there is a scarcity applicable approaches for firms to use in
improving their attention focus and distribution in strategic issue management processes.
The Institute of Strategy and International Business (ISIB) at Helsinki University of
Technology together with Nokia’s Corporate Strategy Unit have been addressing the challenge
described above using Nokia’s strategy processes as a case. The research project proposed here
builds on the work that focused on the Nokia case and extends it to cover other world class
companies in Finland and abroad so as to create results that are applicable to a wider set of
large and growth companies. The Finnish case companies, in addition to Nokia Oyj, will be
Suomen Posti Oyj, SanomaWSOY Oyj, and Vaisala Oyj. On the international side
benchmarking sessions have already been scheduled with the corporate strategic planning units
of Shell International and the 3M Corporation.
The extended empirical data to be collected in the company cases will be rare in that it will be
about a critical aspect of a company’s business and as such is highly confidential and sensitive
in nature. The data will, however, help create and test new theories and practices regarding
strategic issue management in companies.
Evidence about the relevance of the proposed study to the scientific community can be seen in
that a paper describing the qualitative results based on the Nokia case was accepted and
presented at the Strategic Management Society 2004 Conference (Kajanto et al, 2004) and that
a second paper describing the quantitative results of the case has been accepted for
presentation at the Strategic Management Society 2005 Conference (Kajanto et al, 2005).
This document is structured as follows. Section 2 outlines the rationale for the project. In
Section 3, a review of the background research is presented and Section 4 presents the actual
research plan for the project and its work packages.
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PROJECT MOTIVATION
Theoretical contribution
Strategic planning practices have undergone significant changes from the 1960s and 1970s to
the late 1990s. Grant (2003) shows how strategic decision-making in major oil companies in
the late 1990s was occurring for the most part outside of companies’ strategic planning
systems. The strategic planning systems were less formal than in the earlier decades and
numbers of corporate strategy staffs were greatly reduced. Grant (2003) argues that the
effectiveness of the companies’ strategic planning may have deteriorated in three respects.
First, the shortening of the planning horizons may reflect a shift in top management priority
from long-term development to short- and medium term performance goals. Second, the
transfer of responsibility from staff planners to line managers, while solving the problems of
formalization and detachment, also entailed a loss of analytical capability. Third, while breaking
down the rigidities of the old formalized planning systems and embracing emergent strategymaking processes, the companies had done little in terms of positive measures to encourage
innovation in strategy making. Our project aims to create new insights to the planning practices of
companies and strives for innovation in their dynamic strategic management for the benefit of Finnish companies.
Cyert and March (1963) noted in their classical book on “A Behavioral Theory of the Firm”
that organizational decision-making is commonly in many ways only boundedly rational, driven
by local problem-driven, temporally sequential search processes. Later research, including
Ansoff’s work (1965; 1984), the subsequent work on strategic issue management (Dutton et al.,
1987a, 1987b), and the work on attention-based view of organizational decision making
(Ocasio, 1997) has picked up the challenge posed by Cyert and March (1963) and Cohen,
March, and Olsen (1972) for improving organizational strategic decision-making practices, but
even today, there is still lack of applicable approaches for firms to use in improving their
attention focus and distribution in strategic issue management processes. Our project will
contribute to research in strategic issue management with new theories based on empirical results.
Practical contribution
Companies participating in the project will directly benefit from the project by improving their
strategy processes. They learn to consider their processes for how best to select, allocate and
direct attention to emerging strategic issues depending on the envisaged characteristics of the
issues and the resources at their disposal. We expect that Finnish companies applying the
results of the project will increase their viability in the increasingly complex and competitive
global business environment. By dynamically managing a right set of strategic issues, a
company makes efficient use of management resources and thus improves its strategic
direction, success and viability. Failure to do so may forebode unsatisfactory performance in
the future. Methods and processes to be conceived for growth companies are expected to improve the rates of
success for some of the fast growing Finnish companies adopting the methods and processes.
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BACKGROUND RESEARCH
Extending Grant’s (2003) work on oil companies’ strategic planning practices, we have
examined the corporate level strategic planning practices of major technology-based firms in
the information and communications technology sectors. We have carried out a 18 month long
extensive in-depth case study of Nokia’s corporate strategic planning and issue management
practices with managers involved with the development and management of the corporate
level strategic planning practices. In addition, we have interviewed representatives of other
firms’ as benchmarks and studied secondary material that is publicly available on the strategy
planning practices of Hewlett-Packard and IBM. In 2000 HP developed its strategy process as
part of its “Reinvention” campaign by introducing different schemes to facilitate emergent
strategic decision-making (Zell et al., 2004). Similarly, starting in 1999 IBM replaced its annual
strategy review process with a year-round series of topically focused strategic assessments
(CSB, 2000). The goals of IBM’s new process were (1) to ensure that strategic issues are
addressed quickly, (2) to create a more rigorous decision-making process that would challenge
assumptions and broaden their view of available options, and (3) to address cross-unit issues
missed in traditional business unit-centered process (CSB, 2000).
We have found three archetypical configurations of strategic issue management systems
optimized for different purposes and were able to compare the benefits and challenges
involved in each of them. The configurations and their characteristics are shown in Figure 1.
Detailed analysis of
strategic issues
Facilitated group
work on issues
Fast, in-depth
analysis is the key
Efficiency in team
work is the key
Preserving valuable
options is the key
Analysis
Implementation
Both
Emergent,
one-time
Emergent,
one-time
Emergent and
cumulative
Issue analysis
Detailed analysis
practices and tools
Utilizing team’s
analysis intelligence
Varying profiles
of resource use
Implementation plan
Part of the analysis
recommendations
Emerges as a result
of the group work
Sensemaking result
emerging over time
Speed of action
Relatively fast after
the analysis results
Determined at the
initiation of work
Non-determinable,
options preservation
Analysis cannot
always imply optimal
implementation plan
Team self-sufficiency,
team member choice,
limited time frame
Saturation of the
process and rejection
of new issues, speed
Basic assumption
Main emphasis
Issue identification
Potential challenges
On-going strategic
issue management
Figure 1. Three archetypical strategic issue management configurations
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THE MESI PROJECT
4.1
Research Questions
The main questions to be answered in the proposed empirical research are: What is the state of
art in dynamic strategy formation in companies? What are the best practices? What
improvements can be considered? How to institutionalize them? What results to expect? We
structure our detailed research questions according to our model of the corporate strategic
agenda. The elements of the agenda schema form the sub-domains of research and trigger
more detailed research questions. Answers to these questions help understand each of the subdomains and serve to answer the main questions. The list is shown in Appendix 2.
4.2
Research Design
The project builds on a feasibility study, already performed, and on the methods developed
during the pre-study phase. The research methods include literature survey, company case
study, and quantitative study. A rich and unique set of data will be collected in the project
permitting a variety of analyses and triangulation of results.
The research work in the project will be divided to five work packages (WP). The first WP
involves management of the project. The following three work packages are the major fact
finding exercises of the project. They are all designed to provide answers to the basic research
questions but take on differing complementary approaches. The second WP comprises case
studies related to the participating industrial companies. The third WP is about extending the
research to cover major international companies through the process of benchmarking. The
fourth WP addresses issue management in growth companies. The fifth WP involves
integration of the results of WP2, WP3 and WP4 and the full dissemination of results. The
packages are outlined in the following and are described in more detail in Appendices 3,4,5 and
6. Figure 1 highlights the overall research design.
WP 1
Project management
WP 2
Large company cases
WP 3
Benchmarking
WP 5
Integration
Figure 2. Design of the MESI research project
WP 4
Growth firm survey
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4.3.1
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Work Packages (WP)
Work Package 1 Project Management
Project management resources the project and keeps track of the project schedule and budget.
Additionally and importantly it entails liaison with project partners and benchmarking
companies as well as forming contacts with new international companies.
4.3.2
Work Package 2 Company Case Studies
This work package consists of three new in-depth company case studies and an extension of
the old Nokia case. A new case is formed for Suomen Posti Oyj, SanomaWSOY Oyj and
Vaisala Oyj. The cases are designed with two goals in mind


They should serve our research in the accumulation of empirical data in the quest to
provide answers to our research questions, and
They should serve the case companies in understanding and improving their strategic
planning and issue processing processes
In the case studies we will work on real strategic themes and issues that have been or will be
processed within our industrial partner corporations. Two types of cases are planned. In the
first case type, the emphasis is on a company’s strategic planning process and on the way it
processes its strategic issues. In the second type, the emphasis is on how the development of a
new strategic theme and its related issues should and will progress.
In order to answer our research questions, we will collect data on strategic decision-making
with respect to the cases, including issue characteristics, planning and decision processes,
resource deployment as well as estimates of the impact and correctness of the decisions. The
collected data will be analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively. For example, we will use
network plots of individuals involved in the strategic issue work. These networks will show
how each theme is participated and by which individuals, thus giving a handle on nature of
issue processing and the workload of key people. The accumulation of issue-based data will
permit quantitative analysis revealing dependencies between characteristics of issues. The
prime deliverables of the case analyses will be reports detailing each case and its findings and
the practical recommendations for the companies involved. Each case is scheduled to last six
calendar months and will be continuously followed up to the end of the project.
4.3.3
Work Package 3 Benchmarking
In addition to the in-depth company cases benchmarking sessions with world-class global
companies are sought. These sessions will not be as in-depth as the case studies, but will cover
the strategic issue management practices and considerations in the companies involved, and
will thus add breadth to project’s fact finding. Sessions are currently scheduled with the
corporate strategic planning staffs of Royal Dutch/Shell Group and the 3M Corporation.
Separate reports are produced on each benchmarking session.
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Work Package 4 Growth Company Considerations
This work package will address the specific nature of strategic issue processing in technologydriven growth companies. Intensive case studies are not warranted in smaller companies due
to the limitations of growth firms’ resources. An alternative, lighter, approach is therefore
appropriate. First, a survey of the issue processing practices in a large number of growth
companies is conducted. The survey questionnaire will be designed based on our research
questions. Based on the results of the survey and the company cases in WP2 and
benchmarking in WP3, methods suitable for growth companies are designed and tested. A
report of considerations and recommendations for issue processing in growth companies will
then be produced. At the end, feedback from a selected set of companies is solicited.
The prime deliverable of this WP is a report outlining the considerations and
recommendations updated with feedback from the growth companies. This work package is
planned to commence in the second year of the project and will last 12 months.
4.3.5
Work Package 5 Integration
This WP will integrate the results from the case studies in WP2, the benchmarking work from
WP3 and the growth company considerations in WP4. Quantitative studies based on
accumulated data will be conducted. Summary report of the case study work will be produced
Results of project will be published in scientific conferences and seminars. Material to be used
in university teaching as well for training growth firms will be developed. The work package
will commence in 18 months from the beginning of the project and will last six months.
4.4
Project Organization, Resources
The project will be carried out by the Institute of Strategy and International Business of
Helsinki University of Technology. The persons in charge of the project are Professor Tomi
Laamanen and Professor Markku Maula. The project will be managed by Dr Matti Keijola.
Institute of Strategy and International Business has extensive experience on similar demanding
research projects.
The other project resources will include Master of Science and PhD students. Each case will
have a dedicated researcher either from the participating companies or from HUT. The two
PhD level researchers involved in the project at Nokia and at SanomaWSOY have already
been nominated. In addition there will be a full-time researcher working on all sub-projects of
MESI and will be the resource for addressing the growth company considerations. The project
will have a Steering Group with members from the participating companies and Tekes.
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Project Schedule
The project is scheduled for a period of 24 months. The main emphasis during the first 12
months will be on cases and benchmarking sessions. After that the focus shifts on the growth
company survey, and leveraging the results of the first part. The last six months represent an
integrative phase in the project.
Month from the start of the project
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
WP0
Project Management
Steering Group Meeting
WP1
X
X
X
X
Case studies
Case 1
Case 2
Case 3
Case 4
WP2
Benchmarking
Benchmarking sessions
WP3
Growth companies
Survey planning
Survey
Report, draft
Feed-back solicitation
Report , final
WP4
Integration
Case summary report
Course material
Training and consulting material
Summary report
Scientific papers
x
x
x
x
x
X
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APPENDIX 1, THE CONCEPT OF THE STRATEGIC AGENDA
As a synthesis of our case analyses in the feasibility study phase, we have defined a broader
framework for corporate level strategic management and named it as the corporate strategic agenda.
Corporate strategic agenda can be defined as the set of key issues, decisions and programs that
are considered strategically the most important from the corporate perspective. The focus
could similarly have been put on a business or divisional level. Our choice of the corporate
level of analysis is, however, consistent with our primary focus on the first phases of the
strategic issue management processes. On the business level, more emphasis should be placed
on the following up of strategic issue implementation. Strategic issue management could also
be seen to represent an important function of the corporate parent. As Goold, Campbell, and
Alexander (1994) point out, among the key sources of parenting advantage are the parent’s
mental maps. They are rules of thumb or mental models that help a corporate parent interpret
and synthesize information and that shape the parent’s perception of the different business
improvement opportunities (Goold et al., 1994).
We define the concept of corporate strategic agenda to comprise five elements, as shown in
Figure 2: (1) Scanning of agenda items, (2) Item selection, (3) Item structuring, (4) Intelligence
support for the strategic agenda, and (5) Agenda management. The purpose of each of these
elements is to help explicating the thought processes underlying strategic issue management. In
particular, the purpose is to provide a framework that would overcome the challenges in
strategic issue identification and implementation discussed earlier.
Scanning for
agenda items
· Internal and
external information sources
· Potentially
disruptive
changes
· Organization:
responsibilities
and processes
Item selection
· Emergent or
analytical
· Selling and
gaining
acceptance
· Potential
biases
Structuring
· Item type
· Underlying
assumptions,
· Objectives and
constraints
· Priorities
· Number of
items: fixed
or flexible
Intelligence
support
· Intelligence
requirements
· Organization:
responsibilities
and processes
Agenda
management
· Priority
management
· Update triggers
and frequency
· Organization:
responsibilities
and processes
Figure 2. Elements of corporate strategic agenda
The scanning for agenda items is aimed at easing the identification of strategic issues. It helps
decision-makers explicate and pool emergent ideas and get them faster to discussions with peer
decision-makers. This can be expected to reduce the time lag that it takes for a strategic issue
to take shape. The scanning phase also provides an arena to collect emerging weak signals in a
more structured fashion. An organizational intelligence function can also help identify
emerging issues and bring them to the attention to decision makers in a more concentrated
fashion.
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The biases resulting from existing organizational cognition, as well as structural and social
realities, cannot be overcome in the item selection phase. It provides, however, an explicated
process for selecting among the emergent strategic issues. Issue and project selection systems
exist commonly at more advanced stages when the issues and projects have already feasibility
studies supporting them. Advanced item selection helps alleviate internal issue ecology
challenges. The issue structuring in our framework helps explicate and study the underlying
assumptions and constraints of each of the items on a corporate strategic agenda.
Decision-makers are often relatively alone with their ideas when a new strategic issue emerges
as a weak signal. In many cases, there are no other ways to take care of the situation than to
wait how things develop, discuss the issue with others, and then eventually at some point start
taking actions on the issue. The purpose of the intelligence support provided for strategic
agenda items is that intelligence support at an earlier stage helps speed up the analysis of
emerging issues and prevents that the issues are discarded due to time constraints or due to
other similarly emerging issues.
Finally, the agenda management aspect contributes to an orderly, explicit processing of
strategic issues and their transition to implementation. It helps bridge the gap between strategic
issue identification and implementation by tracking the strategic issue implementation. In
addition, it addresses explicitly the organizational responsibilities for the structuring of
attention and provides continuous support for items on a strategic agenda. A systematic
strategic agenda management process may also help alleviate the challenges of adversely
escalating commitment.
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APPENDIX 2 LIST OF RESEARCH QUESTIONS
1. Scanning for new agenda items
 What is the emphasis in scanning?
 What are the types of items are to be scanned for?
 What is the organization for the scanning process and its responsibilities?
2. Selection of agenda items
 Is the process emergent or analytical?
 Are there potential biases?
 What is the manageable number or size of new items? Is it fixed or flexible?
3. Item structure
 What types of items can be recognized?
 What are the underlying assumptions?
 What are their objectives and constraints?
4. Item implementation and management
 Intelligence requirements and organization?
 Item management including
1. how are priorities assigned?
2. how are issues framed: threat vs. opportunity?
3. what is the right forum for an issue?
4. what is the role and significance of the issue driver?
5. what is the impact if the driver changes?
6. what is the impact if the resources change?
7. what should be the role of the senior executive associated with the
case?
8. what are the best corporate and business involvements?
9. how are decisions made?
5. Agenda management
 How are priorities managed?
 What is the update frequency and what are the triggers?
 What is the organization (responsibilities and processes)?
 What is the total number or size of manageable items
 How is attention allocated?
 How are decisions made?
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APPENDIX 3, WP 2, CASE STUDIES
The company cases are designed with two goals in mind


They should serve our research in the accumulation of empirical data in the quest
to provide answers to our research questions, and
They should serve the case companies in understanding and improving their
strategic planning and issue processing processes
Two types of cases are planned. In the first type, the emphasis is on a company’s strategic
planning process and on the way it processes its strategic issues. In the second, the emphasis is
to consider how the development of a new strategic theme and its related issues should and
will progress. The company cases are briefly outlined in the following.
Suomen Posti Oyj is the leading messaging and logistics company in Finland and selected
markets in the Baltic Rim, with letter, magazine and direct-mail deliveries including its
traditional business operations. Seeking growth, particularly in the Information Logistics and
logistics businesses, Finland Post Group is developing its business towards integrated
information and materials flow management. The case for the MESI project will center on
addressing issues around Information Logistics and the transition of legacy services to the new
services.
Nokia is a world leader in mobile communications, driving the growth and sustainability of
the broader mobility industry. Nokia connects people to each other and the information that
matters to them with easy-to-use and innovative products like mobile phones, devices and
solutions for imaging, games, media and businesses. Nokia provides equipment, solutions and
services for network operators and corporations. The Nokia case will be an extension of the
work already performed regarding strategic issue management at the corporate level.
SanomaWSOY is Finland's leading media group and the largest media company in the Nordic
region. The Group is comprised of five divisions operating in versatile fields of media in 20
European countries. SanomaWSOY is also among the top five European magazine publishers
and has a strong position, in addition to Finland, in the Netherlands, Belgium, Bulgaria, the
Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Russia. The SanomaWSOY case will address the
corporate level strategic issue management process.
Vaisala develops, manufactures and markets products and services for environmental and
industrial measurement. Vaisala's markets are global. The goal is to provide basis for better
quality of life, environmental protection, safety, efficiency and cost savings. The Vaisala case
will center on issues related to the development of its information services business.
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Methodology
Each chosen case is different from the others thus enriching the total set of cases. Without
going into too much detail in the confidential nature cases we note the following aspects

One case is about refining an already existing scheme for processing strategic issues

One case is about creating and formalizing a new process for handling strategic issues

One case incorporates issues around a strategic theme involving transition from the
physical legacy world to the new e-world

One case incorporates issues about building a new aspect of company’s business
In order to answer our research questions, we will collect data about strategic decision-making
regarding the cases, such as issue characteristics, planning and decision processes, resource
deployment as well as estimates of the impact and rightness of the decisions made.
Data will be analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively. For example, we will plot networks
of individuals involved in strategic issue work. These networks will show how each theme is
participated by which individuals thus giving a handle on the workload of key people.
Accumulation of issue-based data will permit quantitative analysis revealing dependencies
between characteristics of issues.
Contribution
The case studies will help companies understand and develop their strategy processes. They
will understand what types of issues demand what type of effort and what types of resources.
They also learn to observe when rapid results can be demanded and expected and when should
caution and option preservation be exercised when making decisions about how issues should
be tackled. The case studies serve to accumulate data about strategic issue processing systems.
This will help create new insights into the strategic management of companies.
Deliverables and dissemination
The prime deliverables of the case analyses are reports detailing each case and its findings. A
final report summarizing and integrating the results of the individual cases will be produced in
WP5. Separate conference papers about the cases will be planned. Each case is scheduled to
last approximately six calendar months and will then be continuously followed up to the end
of the project.
Qualitative results based on the Nokia case have already been reported at the Strategic
Management Society 2004 Conference (Kajanto et al, 2004) and quantitative results of the case
will be reported at Strategic Management Society 2005 Conference.
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APPENDIX 4, WP 3, BENCHMARKING
In addition to the in-depth company cases, benchmarking sessions with global companies are
sought to complement data collection through case studies. These sessions will not be as indepth as the case studies, but they will cover the strategic issue management practices and
considerations in the companies involved and will thus add breadth to project’s fact finding.
Methodology
Benchmarking sessions primarily involve exchange of information between companies. Each
session will therefore have a Finnish company counterpart and a foreign company counterpart.
A typical schedule for the sessions is
1. The Finnish counterpart presents its strategic planning and strategic issue management
practices and experiences
2. The global counterpart presents its strategic planning and strategic issue management
practices and experiences
3. Optionally HUT presents results of its research
4. These presentations are followed by discussions about implications, best practices, and
possible future cooperation
Benchmarking sessions are currently scheduled with the corporate strategic planning staffs of
the Royal Dutch/Shell Group and the 3M Corporation. The Finnish counterpart in these
sessions will be Nokia. New sessions involving the other Finnish participating companies will
be sought.
Contribution
The Finnish counterpart company benefits by having the option to play and compare its views
and considerations against the foreign counterpart’s views and considerations. The
benchmarking sessions will widen the views of the project and serve to trigger new ideas and
insights in the strategic management practices in leading global companies.
Deliverables and dissemination
Working reports are produced about each benchmarking session. Conclusions about the
benchmarking sessions will be drawn in the final report to be produced in WP5.
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APPENDIX 5, WP 4, GROWTH COMPANY CONSIDERATIONS
The case study companies can be considered large, rather established and having at least some
dedicated planning personnel. The lessons from these cases might not be applicable in smaller
growth companies where dedicated planning personnel are lacking. Growth companies,
however, form an important part of the set of all Finnish businesses. This work package will
specifically address strategic issue processing considerations in these companies.
Methodology
In order to cover a large set of companies a survey-based approach complemented with
selected feedback solicitation has been chosen for this work package.
First, a survey of the issue processing practices in a large number of growth companies is
conducted. The survey questionnaire will be designed based on our research questions. The
survey also queries whether a company is interested to work closer with the project when
feedback from companies will be requested.
Based on the results of the survey and the company cases in WP2, methods suitable for
growth companies will be designed and then discussed with a selected set of companies (a
subset of those that had indicated interest to work closer with the project).
A report of considerations and recommendations for issue processing in growth companies
will then be produced. Feedback from a selected set of companies is finally solicited in face-toface meetings with company representatives.
Contribution
Growth companies participating in the survey are forced to address the fact that they have to
and they do make strategic decisions about issues arising over time. This will make them
cognizant of the process. By considering the results of the survey and the report to be
produced, growth companies, in general, will become better equipped to face and resolve
issues as they emerge. They will learn to better allocate the attention of their scarce strategy
making resource, their top management, who at the same time most probably also need to
attend to many other issues more operational in nature. By addressing the growth company
sector, the work package will bring an important extension to the scope of the total scope of
the project. New insights, applicable also to larger companies, may be gained.
Deliverables and dissemination
The prime deliverable of this WP is the report outlining considerations and recommendations
for strategic issue processing in growth companies complemented with feedback from the
companies. This work package will commence in the second year of the project and will last
for 12 months.
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APPENDIX 6, WP 5, INTEGRATION
This WP will integrate the main results of the project by analyzing data accumulated in the case
studies in WP2, the benchmarking work from WP3, and the growth company considerations
in WP4 and by integrating the results of the work packages.
Methodology
The cases, the benchmarking sessions, and the growth company study will all yield significant
amounts of data that facilitates both quantitative and qualitative studies to answer our basic
research questions.
Contribution
The results of the final work package of this research project will contribute to the strategic
decision making capabilities of both large and growing Finnish companies operating in global
markets by introducing processes and methods which will direct the companies to optimize
the allocation of their scarce strategic decision making resources and by advising them to
address the variety of issues in the most appropriate way.
The results of the project, being based on rare empirical data, will contribute to the theories of
strategic issue management through new insights.
Deliverables and dissemination
A summary report of the case studies will be produced at the end of the last case study. The
final report summarizes the results of work packages in the project. In addition it presents the
results of integration work. Results of project will be published in scientific conferences and
seminars. Material to be used in university teaching, as well as in training and consulting
technology-based growth companies will be developed. This work package will commence in
full force 18 months from the beginning of the project and will last six months.