Shared service center as part of global reorganization of procurement in a multinational company
Härkönen, Laura (2018-10-12)
Shared service center as part of global reorganization of procurement in a multinational company
Härkönen, Laura
(12.10.2018)
Julkaisu on tekijänoikeussäännösten alainen. Teosta voi lukea ja tulostaa henkilökohtaista käyttöä varten. Käyttö kaupallisiin tarkoituksiin on kielletty.
suljettu
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on:
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2018101538270
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2018101538270
Tiivistelmä
Today, companies are constantly under pressure to find ways to survive in a global competition. Operating in domestic markets is rarely enough in order to keep ahead of the competition. Moving activities abroad has been increasingly growing phenomenon among companies and, therefore, it can be seen as an interesting research topic among both companies and researchers.
This Master’s Thesis is based on a case study of a multinational company that has moved its procurement activities from Finland to a shared service center located in Tallinn. This study investigates how employees both in Finland and in Tallinn have experienced the transition and how they feel about current state. Personal interviews are used as data collection method and the interview questions are based on the research questions and theoretical framework of this study.
Concerning transition of activities, research findings indicate that interviewees in Finland were especially satisfied with professional knowledge capture team and fast transition. On the other hand, much extra work was done during knowledge capture, there were difficulties with getting rights to the systems and communication and preparation for the change was insufficient in some local business units.
The main focus of this study is how interviewees feel about current state. Especially high attrition rate of employees in Tallinn, inflexibility, untruthful metrics, insufficient communication and a lack of proactivity were pointed out as challenges by Finnish employees. However, most interviewees in Finland were satisfied with achieved cost savings, service quality provided by the shared service center and cooperation between Finland and Tallinn.
In Tallinn, achieved cost savings, operation of the shared service center, utilization of language and culture knowledge and cooperation between Tallinn and Finland were underlined as positive things. Negative attitudes of Finnish employees, insufficient instructions, recruiting of right employees and a lack of rights to all systems were seen as significant challenges. Although research findings of this study cannot be generalized, they may provide interesting findings both for management of the case company and in general level.
This Master’s Thesis is based on a case study of a multinational company that has moved its procurement activities from Finland to a shared service center located in Tallinn. This study investigates how employees both in Finland and in Tallinn have experienced the transition and how they feel about current state. Personal interviews are used as data collection method and the interview questions are based on the research questions and theoretical framework of this study.
Concerning transition of activities, research findings indicate that interviewees in Finland were especially satisfied with professional knowledge capture team and fast transition. On the other hand, much extra work was done during knowledge capture, there were difficulties with getting rights to the systems and communication and preparation for the change was insufficient in some local business units.
The main focus of this study is how interviewees feel about current state. Especially high attrition rate of employees in Tallinn, inflexibility, untruthful metrics, insufficient communication and a lack of proactivity were pointed out as challenges by Finnish employees. However, most interviewees in Finland were satisfied with achieved cost savings, service quality provided by the shared service center and cooperation between Finland and Tallinn.
In Tallinn, achieved cost savings, operation of the shared service center, utilization of language and culture knowledge and cooperation between Tallinn and Finland were underlined as positive things. Negative attitudes of Finnish employees, insufficient instructions, recruiting of right employees and a lack of rights to all systems were seen as significant challenges. Although research findings of this study cannot be generalized, they may provide interesting findings both for management of the case company and in general level.