Department of Business Administration

Keywords: international accounting harmonisation, financial performance evaluation, critical perspectives in accounting, ESG reporting, accounting education, real-time accounting and digitisation, costing and budgeting, strategic management accounting, green accounting, cash flow management, earnings management, accounting for financial innovations, performance management

The accounting research group is active in various related research fields, using both quantitative and qualitative research methods. The research is interdisciplinary and uses critical research methods to explore some of the above research themes. The group has active and growing links with business organisations both in Estonia and worldwide and is also actively consulting Estonian government institutions on their strategic development and training programmes of their members.

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Keywords: entrepreneurship education; entrepreneurial competencies; entrepreneurial growth; knowledge management; knowledge risk management, risk management, internationalization of entrepreneurial organizations; rural entrepreneurship; innovation management; social entrepreneurship; ecosystems (including entrepreneurial ecosystem and university ecosystem); responsible digitalization and sustainable business development; resilient organizations

The entrepreneurship research group brings together academic scholars from diverse backgrounds to investigate how new and established entrepreneurial firms develop and apply their entrepreneurial competencies and organisational knowledge in their quest to apply present and future business opportunities in a sustainable way.

Mission 

The group’s research efforts focus on value creation through responsible entrepreneurship, i.e., value creation through development and applying one’s competencies and organisational knowledge with sustainability as a key factor. In this light, the mission of the research group extends from education to entrepreneurial individuals to entrepreneurial teams and to other forms of entrepreneurial organisation. The advancement of the study of entrepreneurship education is an important focus of research, with the idea that entrepreneurial education should begin in the early stages of an individual’s higher education at the latest.

The ways in which small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can achieve sustainable growth from both domestic and international markets form the core of the research group’s focus. The roles of business transfers, knowledge management, crisis management, business model innovation, digitalisation, creativity and innovation, and knowledge and innovation ecosystems that facilitate growth and internationalisation of SMEs are of particular interest.

In all its activities, the research group encourages research on how responsibility and digital business transformation can drive entrepreneurship research at national and international level, and across the two.

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Research efforts aim at working with entrepreneurial and future-oriented minds to nurture and sustain entrepreneurship ecosystem where knowledge and innovative methods and approaches are transferred smoothly and successfully across the research field and society.

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Entrepreneurship and International Business Unit Homepage

Keywords: customer experience; service marketing; urban studies; customer and stakeholder engagement; customer journey; stakeholder journey

Research within the group spans four separate sets of projects, which are closely aligned with novel learning and teaching. Consumption is a significant topic incorporating consumer behaviour theorisations with a focus on the consumer/customer experience, consumer journeys, cosmopolitanism, consumer ethnocentrism, ethical and sustainable consumption. Work on experience service design complements investigations into the digital divide and ageism in marketing. The sub-stream of service design is focused around the new dLab initiative, building upon existing and forging new collaborations, including through the collaborative Service Design Conference. In services and relationship marketing, the investigations focus on customer service-related engagement, digital value co-creation, disciplining and compliance-based interactions between providers and consumers. Empirical and conceptual studies from all four sub-streams of this research area have appeared in top journals in the area. The topic is led by Professor L. Hollebeek. Critical examinations of customer-provider relationships, service provision, recovery management, and customer engagement have produced new, state-of-the-art theories complementing research on the stakeholders’ interplay in service/product innovation. The sub-stream of service design is focused on the new d.Lab initiative, building upon existing and forging new collaborations. Urban and residential research stream focuses on transforming urban realities conceived within the interplay of socio-economic, cultural and spatial-material processes, as well as within the reciprocity of individual and institutional strategies. The interdisciplinary perspective introduced in the analysis of processes observed in residential and public spaces incorporates theoretical and methodological approaches applied in sociological, architectural, planning and business studies.  The latest research projects encompass inquiries of, for example, residents’ and property owners’ expectations towards sustainable development of heritage space in Tallinn Old Town, or formation of citizens’ (incl. youth) preferences and choices at urban residential markets, including private rental markets.

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Keywords: leadership; well-being; responsible and ethical organizational development; leader-follower relationship; strategic management; knowledge and innovation management; risk management; HRM; change management; occupational health; organizational psychology; occupational safety and risks; future of work and digital transformation

The research group is active in a number of research fields related to organisation and management, using different theoretical lenses and research methods. The primary research interests can be grouped under leadership, future of work, well-being and responsible, ethical organizational development and sustainable management. The group collaborates with a number of internationally renowned researchers working within the confines of organization and management, future of work, occupational safety and related research areas. The purpose of the group is to extend the scientific body of knowledge concerning the related fields of organization and management and to contribute to practice, by presenting opportunities and challenges confronting Estonian organizations and beyond. The overall interest of the group is to investigate how organizations transform their knowledge and access to new digital solutions into innovative outputs to achieve and maintain sustainable business development. The group members have a broad portfolio of expertise gained from working with a variety of national and international private and public organizations. The aim is to take advantage of it and use this expertise to develop it further for the greater good.

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Keywords: sustainable business development; operations management; sustainable innovation; environmental economics; green economy; smart supply chain management; organizational learning; data science

Sustainable value chain management deals with tasks and processes aiming at preparing and supporting the implementation of growth opportunities and innovations within the constraints of a firm’s strategy. Thus, sustainable value chain management is focused on preparing, planning, implementing and evaluating a continuous stream of potential innovations. The research group investigates potential growth and innovation opportunities within and between organizations by using interdisciplinary approaches from business, sustainability management (e.g. “Circular Economy”) and environmental economics, operations and innovation management, engineering, IT, design and social sciences in the context of the European agenda for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. Consequently, the research group deals with innovations and growth opportunities in the areas of digitalization, smart production and Industry 4.0, Big Data, strategic alliances and networks as well as industrial strategy and competitiveness studies. The research work usually takes place in the framework of European and/or national projects and in the context of the university–business cooperation.

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