Strategic Communications of a Finnish Start-up Aiming for International Markets
Koivisto, Susanna (2017)
Haaga-Helia ammattikorkeakoulu
2017
All rights reserved
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2017112217778
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2017112217778
Tiivistelmä
The need for this study was created when the commissioning company, a Finnish start-up organization, wanted to have a communication strategy created for them. The purpose of this study is to have a deeper understanding on strategic communications of start-ups and how they can use communications in internationalization. The study aims to discover what are the best practices for creating an effective communication strategy, how awareness can be increased cost-effectively and how well the communication methods designed for big corporations help a start-up company in achieving their strategic goals.
The literature review discusses different communicational methods required for creating an effective communication strategy. The practices that are considered best for the use of this study are chosen for the conceptual framework.
The study is conducted as a case study research that uses both deductive and inductive approaches. The data is collected from literature, interview, personal correspondence, questionnaire and observation and analysed using both quantitative and qualitative methods.
The key findings of the study indicate that corporate communication methods can also be applied in start-up context. However, the fast-evolving nature of start-ups needs to be taken into consideration and the communication strategy needs to be revised frequently to correspond the business strategy. Having a person dedicated to communications, who is also closely connected to business operations helps implementing the communicational objectives. Even though social media gives start-up organizations cost-effective channels for raising communications, the desired results are not reached if the channels are not used actively. In internationalization, it needs to be remembered that the communication strategy has to be linked to the business strategy and different strategies are needed for each target market.
This study provides some new insights on strategic communications from start-up perspective. More studies are needed, however, to increase the knowledge on the matter.
The literature review discusses different communicational methods required for creating an effective communication strategy. The practices that are considered best for the use of this study are chosen for the conceptual framework.
The study is conducted as a case study research that uses both deductive and inductive approaches. The data is collected from literature, interview, personal correspondence, questionnaire and observation and analysed using both quantitative and qualitative methods.
The key findings of the study indicate that corporate communication methods can also be applied in start-up context. However, the fast-evolving nature of start-ups needs to be taken into consideration and the communication strategy needs to be revised frequently to correspond the business strategy. Having a person dedicated to communications, who is also closely connected to business operations helps implementing the communicational objectives. Even though social media gives start-up organizations cost-effective channels for raising communications, the desired results are not reached if the channels are not used actively. In internationalization, it needs to be remembered that the communication strategy has to be linked to the business strategy and different strategies are needed for each target market.
This study provides some new insights on strategic communications from start-up perspective. More studies are needed, however, to increase the knowledge on the matter.