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Does strategic and innovative fit indicate smart social media use in a company


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IFKAD 2016 presentation: Does strategic and innovative fit indicate smart social media use in a company? We investigated the relationship between strategic management, innovation management and social media use. Study was conducted in collaboration with Tampere University Technology (Industrial Management and Engineering & Information Management and Logistics) and University of Calabria (Department of Mechanical, Energy and Management Engineering). Co-authors include Heli Aramo-Immonen, Olli Rouvari, Pasi Porkka and Salvatore Ammirato.

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  1. 1. Does strategic and innovative fit indicate smart social media use in a company? Jari J. Jussila1, Heli Aramo-Immonen2, Olli Rouvari2, Pasi L. Porkka2, Salvatore Ammirato3 1Tampere University of Technology, Information Management and Logistics, FINLAND 2Tampere University of Technology, Pori Unit, FINLAND 3University of Calabria, ITALY
  2. 2. Motivation for the study •  Several authors claim that companies need to have a clear social media strategy in order to benefit from social media utilization (Wilson et al., 2011; Andzulis et al., 2012; Antikainen and Valkokari, 2015) and to avoid the negative effects of inappropriate social media management (Werder et al., 2014). •  However, many companies are struggling with how to adopt social media into their models and strategy (Andzulis et al., 2012; Jussila et al., 2015). 14/06/16 2
  3. 3. Social media in Business vs. Consumer use (in Finland) •  The adoption and understanding of social media in the business context is still quite low. For example, in the study of Federation of Finnish Technology Industries, 17% of the companies in the machinery and metal products sector used social media internally, but only 4% used social media with customers. •  In contrast, consumers are adopting social media more rapidly, for instance, in a study commissioned by the Finnish broadcasting company YLE of Finnish citizens’ social media use (N=4261 and n=1003) revealed the number of users of Facebook to be 56%, WhatsApp 37%, Twitter 10% and LinkedIn 9% (Taloustutkimus, 2015). 14/06/16 3
  4. 4. Focus of this study •  This study was conducted in order to find out if the strategic management maturity and the innovation capability of companies are also indicators of the extent of the use of social media tools •  This study was conducted among companies in the Finnish car retail and service business. The sample covered all member companies in the of the Finnish Central Organisation for Motor Trades and Repairs (147 companies). •  We obtained responses from 37 company managers at a response rate of 25.2%. A structured in-depth interview was also conducted with some of the managers. 14/06/16 4
  5. 5. Data collection •  The empirical research questionnaire was divided into three categories: 1) strategic management, 2) innovation management and 3) use of the social media. •  The strategic management part comprised 24 Likert- scale statements. In the innovation part, we utilized Tidd and Bessant’s (2009) innovation assessment capability tool, which consists of 40 Likert-scale statements. In the social media survey, the use and knowledge of social media tools was studied with 13 multiple choice and five open questions. •  After the survey and statistical calculations, we conducted interviews with three CEOs to find out more details about social media related questions among managers. 14/06/16 5
  6. 6. Results •  We were able to discover statistically significant differences amongst variables between clusters of Strategic Management and Innovation Management. •  However, the Mann-Whitney test we run on the Social Media Usage statements to find whether there were also differences between the clusters, revealed that not a single one of the 13 statements showed a difference. These results are gathered in Table 1. 14/06/16 6
  7. 7. •  In all 14 Strategic Management and 16 Innovation Management statements, the replies in the smaller cluster were higher. This indicates that in the organizations belonging to the smaller cluster, certain strategic and innovation issues fitted better. •  However, the same distinction did not show up in the social media statements. Therefore, the strategic and innovative fit does not indicate smart social media use in the investigated companies. In fact, when the outliers were also taken into account, there were no observable differences in social media usage between the ‘good’ companies, the mediocre companies and the outliers. 14/06/16 7 Results continued
  8. 8. •  We can summarize that the usefulness of social media was seen in customer relationships (Q1). •  Even though we investigated company strategy and innovation processes, these were not seen as potential beneficiaries from social media platforms. •  Our findings from the survey were validated in the interviews concerning the lack of strategy in social media utilization in companies (Q2). There was no or very little regulation from car manufacturers for dealers concerning the use of social media (Q4). The process of choosing social media channels varied in the companies (Q5). There seem to be followers and companies who try to manage their social media processes. 14/06/16 8 Interview results
  9. 9. Conclusions •  Whereas the analysis of strategic management maturity and innovation capability was able to distinguish the factors that determine low performing and high performing groups of companies (Rouvari et al., 2016), no clear evidence from statistical analysis was found that strategic management maturity and innovation capability would indicate smart social media use. •  One possible reason that may explain why we did not find any links between strategic management maturity and smart use of social media is that the companies did not have a separate social media strategy. While it is debatable whether companies should have a separate social media strategy or a holistic business strategy which includes social media as an element, the interviews revealed that companies in the Finnish car retail and service business had neither. 14/06/16 9