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LUOMA ET AL .
FIGURE 1 its phases.
A timeline of the work and
TABLE 1
The informants of the study and their roles.
the sales-group meetings and when the customer interviews were being prepared for and conducted. The project followed a three-stage process (shown in Figure 1) in which the first stage focused on setting objectives for the work and obtaining commitment from informants / research participants at Metsä Tissue. This phase's problem formulation included nine back- ground discussions with key internal informants, two working-group meetings, and a meeting of the steering group. Phase 2 brought cus- tomers into the picture, to engage in generating joint understanding of data's value for environmental sustainability by means of inter- views. Additionally, that phase utilized, for preparation for the cus- tomer interviews, two working-group meetings, a sales-group meeting, and one steering-group meeting as well as, for reflection on the interim results, a joint meeting of the working group and the sales group. The work in the final phase assessed the opportunities and challenges identified in the customer interviews, shared the findings with customers, and articulated lessons from the process for future business development and customer engagement. Phase 3 featured two further working-group meetings and one meeting each of the sales and the steering group. In addition, an internal workshop was held, and the team solicited the internal participants' anonymous input on the lessons from the process. Metsä Tissue's customers differed in their commitment to envi- ronmental sustainability, not all had so far specifically prioritized developing their data sources and data management, and some lacked resources at the time of the study to devote to such matters. We directed our attention to the set of customers that seemed prepared to discuss the topic. Focusing on those customer companies ready to discuss the core topic facilitated collecting valid, reliable future- oriented insight as to rapidly evolving needs, thus enabling the com- pany to tackle these needs proactively and develop the capabilities required. The technique facilitated delving beyond commonly cited factors (e.g., carbon-footprint data) and forming vital knowledge for the future.
Role at the company Managing director Sustainability manager Sustainability director
Interviewee
Company's sales type
A
Professional (cleaning- and hygiene-product supplier) Professional (supplier of cleaning, hygiene, and office products)
B
C
Retail
D
Sales director Professional (cleaning- and hygiene-product supplier)
E
Sustainability director Sustainability director Sustainability manager Sustainability manager Sustainability specialist
Professional (office supplier)
F
Retail
G
Professional (office supplier)
H1 a
Retail
H2 a
Same as above
a Informants H1 and H2, from the same customer company, participated in a joint interview.
managers. Attention was given to involving customers from all six regions where the company does business (European markets), for eli- citing views from multiple markets. Potential interviewees were then contacted by the corresponding key-account managers, and their interest in participating was confirmed. The individuals contacted represented the customer entity's business-management or sustain- ability function (this depended on the size of the company). Some cus- tomers, facing pressures from inflation and supply-chain disturbances at the time of the study, could not prioritize the topic at the time of the study. In the end, nine informants, from eight customer compa- nies, participated in the interviews. They are listed in Table 1. All extracts reproduced below are from the interviews held with customers in phase 2 (in April to May 2022), which were audio- recorded and transcribed (yielding around 50,000 words of text). They were carried out in the form of interactive Microsoft Teams sessions adhering to a protocol developed for purposes of systematic data col- lection. To enhance comparability further, one of the researchers facil- itated the interviews, encouraging participants to express their thoughts on the three main open questions guiding the conversation. Accordingly, the process, which was carried out in either English or Finnish and took 38 – 58 min per interview, focused on these central
3.3
Data collection
|
Potential interviewees were chosen on the basis of their systematic work on sustainability and for having expressed interest in discussing the utilization of data for environmental sustainability with their sup- pliers. Prospective interviewees (involved in retail and professional sales) were identified in cooperation with Metsä Tissue's vice- presidents responsible for regional sales and its key-account
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