The gathered data was approached in an inductive manner, which means that the data was approached as impartially as possible without any assumptions on the issue beforehand. Through analyzing the data in an inductive manner, the researcher is able to construct new information by means of the collected empirical data (Eskola & Suoranta, 2008, p. 19). The data collected during the research was analyzed with quantitative and qualitative methods. With qualitative methods the intention was to clarify the collected data and seek the most important and repetitive entities and patterns. Thus, it was possible to produce new information and increase researcher’s knowledge and understanding on the handled issue. Since the researcher is obligated to interpret the collected data, it can be said that researcher’s perceptions and richness of imagination have an effect on the final conclusions and findings of the research (Eskola & Suoranta, 2008, pp. 145-147).
The main data used in analyzing phase was the data collected through observations. Notes were made constantly on a daily basis concerning the actions
and observations that were made during the process. Analysis of the data was carried out according to the content analysis method. Contents of observation documents were analyzed by searching entities and patterns which were experienced as important or essential by the researcher or by the company personnel. Also, effects and actions described and observed as important or essential were searched and analyzed from the material. In addition, repetitive observations on certain actions, effects and factors that were seen as beneficial or non beneficial by the company were tracked down. By finding the most significant observations, actions, factors and effects, it was possible to form a picture on what methods of marketing in social networking sites were beneficial for the company itself. Also actions and methods which were seen as irrelevant and unbeneficial for the company’s operations were tracked down through analyzing the collected data.
To validate this observed information, knowledge received from reviewed literature and data collected from interviews and meeting were used for evaluating and analyzing the functionality and usefulness of certain activities and methods appeared in the collected empirical data. In addition, a quantitative method was used for analyzing the qualitative data by simply investigating and counting which observations concerning certain actions or factors appeared in the documents most frequently. This way the researcher was able to track down successful and unsuccessful actions made by the company and its competitors. By reviewing and analyzing the collected material this way, also some important factors and things that need to be remembered, observed and taken into account when acting in social networking sites were recognized.
Also statistical data from the used social networking sites and company’s web page statistics was collected. This numerical data was used to evaluate and analyze the benefits and usefulness of made actions and the overall benefits of using social networking sites. The researcher tried to find possible reasons for the changes in the numerical data, for example reasons for increased amount of traffic from a particular social networking site to company’s web page. Of course the
absolute truth was impossible to find, but some clear indications on the possible reasons were revealed and reported in the research. Numerical data was also used for evaluating and analyzing which site of the used social networking sites is the most relevant for the company in the light of numerical statistics. Relevancy and usefulness of selected sites was analyzed also through observation documents.
6 MEGA ELECTRONICS LTD
Mega Electronics Ltd is a medical device manufacturing company from Kuopio, Finland founded in 1983. The company develops, manufactures and sells medical devices and software for monitoring and analyzing human brain, muscles and heart for several different applications like sport science, rehabilitation, neurophysiology, occupational health, research use, educational use and home healthcare. With the devices manufactured by the company it is possible to measure muscular strength, fatigue and recovery, stress levels of an employee, work ergonomics and human brain, for example in form of epilepsy monitoring.
Currently the company has 19 employees.
Over the years the company has become more international and nowadays its business is based much on exporting products abroad. Mega has customers all over the world and its distributor network is spread out to over 30 countries. Mega has a long history and experience on the multinational and -cultural customer base of the medical device industry. The industry is strongly emphasized on selling and purchasing very specific systems and devices which is why the continuance of individual customer relationships is varying a lot. Because a great amount of the customers are from the public sector, carrying out deals takes a lot of bureaucracy for finding the finance for purchase from the customer side. This is why the sales proceeds may be scattered very unequally during the fiscal year.
Mega’s biggest customer segments are hospitals, universities, research institutes and other public institutes. Besides this, the company also has a variety of different institutes and companies from the private sector. A big part of the made sales are one time device purchases and new orders from the same customer may not come for several years. One main reason for this is that innovative products which replace older solutions are not developed as often as in the home appliance industry, for example. Most of the competition is based on the software and service side which are sold with the devices, which is why the software development is becoming more and more important in the industry. One thing slowing down the pace of launching new products is the need for getting the
needed approvals for the devices which takes time. When selling the devices to public institutes like hospitals, the customers may demand the devices to be certified medical devices unlike in some sectors of the healthcare industry, for example in the heart rate monitor market, where products are sold straight to end-users without any need for medical device approvals. The company has a very strong research and development department, but a lot of development projects are also carried out in cooperation with different universities and research institutes. Through cooperation Mega is able to develop new medical solutions and technology as well as its own operations to be more customer-oriented and innovative.