There have been several difficulties to conduct this research. The first challenge was that this research on the selected interpersonal network is first of its kind and therefore theoretical background of academic literature had to be decided by the researcher to match the operational level of the organization researched. Decision focusing on intangible capital, networking capability and how those are related to international entrepreneurship was done and modelled by the researcher.
Second challenge was the scope of the research which changed during the process from quantitative research to mixed methods simple research as focusing solely on quantitative research it would have not provided deeper understanding of the topic since research questions were more qualitative than quantitative. This caused dilemma for researcher as one of the main idea behind this research was to provide understanding of global economic impact which could be only measured numerically that would have had dilemma between research questions and the topic of the thesis.
Third challenge was related with challenge number two. If the focus is not on whole honorary member database of Junior Chamber International which consists of more than 75 000 Senators’ how smaller research could have a global perspective and still provide answers to set research questions. Focus was put on each area of JCI and select case study as a research method by focusing more on qualitative than quantitative research even the questionnaire (APPENDIX 1) was created in advance. I decided to test so called six degrees of separation theory which state each individual in the world is linked to each other with maximum of six steps. In this research the amount of steps became either one step or no step at all if the area representative came from already existing interpersonal network of the researcher. This is supported by the earlier data gathered for Master level course as one former JCI World President stated he can get touch with anyone in the world within one or two direct steps from his interpersonal network.
Fourth challenge was then to find individuals that match the set criteria and limitation of this research. This turned out to be the most difficult challenge in a global scale as the world is divided to four areas’ according to researched interpersonal network and individual was pinpointed from three out of four areas. It was very surprising that there was no SME export business owner inside the JCI global network of Senators from the area of America. It looks like the set limitation of this research were too strict in order to cover each area on export
business perspective. After few months of search it was time to call the research off and focus solely on the received three data’s.
As there is an individual-level logic model created for area representative it is good to analyze the results at whole. In the questionnaire (APPENDIX 1) was few key questions like number three: how many percentage of your business skills came being a member of JCI and what were those skills?
Each area representative acknowledge the influence of JCI membership on the improvement of their personal business skills. For the SE it was 110%, to SAM 80 % and to SAP 30 %. This is an interesting result to provide some statistics to support the importance of JCI membership for any entrepreneur. Each area representative have listed the exact skills they gained and improved at the time of the membership. Both SE and SAM highlight the importance of networking capability as one key skill while SAP did not highlight the same skill. These results support the finding of Yin (2003,47) in this sample where two out of three data provided similar results like a replication logic of literal replication while one data provided a contrasting results but for a predictable results like a theoretical replication logic. The contrast of SAP answers in this key question are interesting in the point of view whether SAP consider the skill of networking capability so common that it should not be highlighted or those skills have been gained elsewhere if the business and JCI membership are not linked.
Answers of question number six follow the same replication logic as answers to question number three since SE and SAM have university level education while SAP has not. Even though this was not highlighted internally as key question it is interesting how within the both questions three and six the replication among the participants is exactly the same. For you who do not know the JCI that well it is a hobby that individuals participate outside the professional career even though the hobby provides skills to be used in professional career as well like the respondents have provided as answers to this research when asked the percentage of their business skills increased during their time as active citizens at their local chapter. Another numerical data was placed in the questionnaire in order to receive understanding of the annual cost of membership. The annual membership cost for SE was 167 USD, to SAM 50 USD and for SAP 185 USD so the average annual cost of being a member in a global network of Junior Chamber International according to this research is 134 USD. Each individual can personally consider whether the average cost is a lot or a little to pay for the hobby that according to the data provides skills and interpersonal network to professional career as well.
Questions 10 and 12 were linked together in the questionnaire (APPENDIX 1) and highlighted internally by researcher as one of the key questions. The collected numerical data of this research provide not so high results in these since data of both SE and SAP argue that export business is not done within the global organization at all. This raise several questions whether their line of business is something that does not suit to some members of the network who are also entrepreneurs in B2B or to each member of JCI in B2C. It also questions whether the cases were selected properly. As mentioned several times in this study there was no secondary data available which could have guided the research towards those individuals directly who match the set criteria and limitations thus as a forerunner this pilot research provide important data for further research and is not a failure even the key questions did not receive that much data as researcher would have hoped. Interesting was that in these questions SAP and SE provided similar results like a literal replication while SAM provided the data that was actually looked for. According to answers of SAM there are 10 % of the company’s global accounts totally from the JCI network. The most interesting is that those JCI related global accounts provide 60
% of annual sales of the company and the rest of global accounts outside the JCI are 90 % of total accounts but provide combined only 40 % of annual sales. Results of SAM are contrasting findings compared to SE and SAP thus following the theoretical replication as a minor result. I as a researcher would have hoped all three individuals to provide logic of literal replication on the questions of 10 and 12 like the answers of SAM which could have highlighted the significant community impact inside the JCI global network.
Data of all three participants on the questions of the community impact show sustainability in the local community as the amount of tax they annually pay and the number of people who are employed by only these three companies is more than half a million USD and amount of employment totally is 53 professionals. We have to understand that this is a small number when considering the global employments but it is only limited to these three companies. Wider research would be needed to provide exact numbers to both community impact questions of taxation and employment if the limitation would not be solely on exporting companies and JCI Senators but every company and entrepreneur, domestic or international, inside the JCI global network of 115 countries and more than 200 000 members.
It is good to note that among the participants of this research are JCI Senators from different decades as SE received Senator Honors in 1987, SAP in 2008 and SAM in 2014. Both SAM and SAP have served as National President of their country and SE served as National Deputy
President but had to stop JCI career due to serious illness before opportunity to serve as National President.
What is good to highlight is the personal community impact of each participant as they have become very active citizens on many fields inside and outside of JCI in their local communities.
SAP is highly involved with the JCI in the area of Asian Pacific by participating international events and mentoring some international events in the selected area. SAP participates on World Congresses actively as well inside the JCI network. Locally in the community SAP supports financially through the company almost every community development programs which are not necessary linked with the local JCI chapters. SAM personally support and mentor youth development programs in the local community as well as strengthens the entrepreneurial spirit of young women in the rural areas and areas with economic disadvantages. SE shares the collective knowledge on learning revolution at every level of educational system in Finland as well as have served several chairman positions in non-profit organizations. This research only shows the holistic story of three JCI Senators and their community impact both personally and through their business activities which is a strong evidence the sustainable positive impact that JCI members do globally in 115 countries at 5000 local communities with more than 200 000 members.
Interviews with both SAM and SAP were done with Facebook discussions and by sending the questionnaire by email. These decisions were done both personally by researcher as well as co-operation with both Senators. This type of data gathering limits the answers to cover only the questionnaire compared to the personal interview with SE in his company. What was very interesting data gathered outside the questionnaire how SE highlighted the JCI global organization, JCI ideology and national operations of JCI Finland in his active years as very influencing on the rise of Finnish SME export business since that time only government owned companies did mainly export sales. This is very crucial piece of information which is not researched or highlighted in any research concerning SME export activities in Finland. This was before the global breakthrough of Nokia mobile phones in early 1990s. The reasons why JCI influenced SME export activities was that the members of JCI Finland were mainly entrepreneurs or directors of companies thus the strength of network supported the exports as most of the SME entrepreneurs in Finland were members of the organization that time and knew each other both professionally and personally so there was trust among the SME entrepreneurs to pursue for international business instead of just domestic business.
Other important JCI network related piece of data according to SE is that when active citizen retires from JCI at the age of forty the created network lasts for ten years if the member no longer participate in the local, regional, national or international events of the organization. The fact is that not every member receives Honors of JCI Senator or other reward that allows them to continue the hobby inside the network for longer than age of forty years old.
It is good to notice how theoretical framework and literature is connected with the cases. As my decision was to focus on networking capability and intangible capital which consists of social, human and relational capital the data supports the framework. Each participant of the case studies informed their educational background and how being an active member of JCI network honed their business skills from 30 % to 110 % which supports the human capital part of the framework. Each participant also highlighted the importance of network in a form of networking capability some inside the JCI network and outside of it as key ingredient for the success of the business activities. This skill of networking capability is active in each form of intangible capital which supports the opening statement of this research that in the world especially today the most important tools are your intangible capital and who do you know. It is active on social capital as the size and width of the interpersonal network. It is active on human capital as well since within the network each member learn new skills when they take actively part of local projects and it is active on relational capital in a way that more active member in the network you are the wider your interpersonal network will globally grow.
Concerning the further research this pilot research open doors to the world of academics to understand the influence and the positive impact Junior Chamber International as a global learning organization of young active citizens create in their communities. When operating under the similar governing structure and shared values in 115 countries with more than 200 000 active and 75000 honorary members coming from all professional positions of the community can create together in this world that is currently more divided than united is a breath of fresh air. The organization has several projects like “Nothing but Nets” where individuals can purchase a mosquito net for 10 USD for the sub Saharan part of Africa where many diseases like malaria are spread by mosquitos especially to small children and families (http://nothingbutnets.net/). There is also a campaign called “Peace is Possible” which was launched year 2016 by JCI HQ to support for everlasting peace in the world among the nations (http://peaceispossible.cc/). JCI is the only organization in the world that is allowed to use logo of United Nations as part of their own logo which is used in a pin by every member globally and from that pin members can recognize each other in all parts of the world.