Approaching VUCA Environment with Enterprise Agility in Government Organization : Case Business Finland and COVID-19
Kuusisto, Emmi (2022-04-29)
Kuusisto, Emmi
29.04.2022
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2022042931570
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2022042931570
Tiivistelmä
As we live in a VUCA world, many have experienced what crises can cause in business life. To be resilient and thrive in this increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous world, top companies are gaining sustainable competitive advantages by embracing agility at scale. Those that fail to keep up with the rapid pace of change risk falling behind the competition. However, with crises come opportunities for change. Businesses of all sizes have never sensed so much pressure to make their business models fit changing requirements. This study aims to discover how a government organization embraced enterprise agility when the global pandemic (COVID-19) added another dimension to the already VUCA environment. Of particular interest is how the role of a public organization has affected a company’s agility in such a dynamic environment and what kind of capabilities are essential for agility.
The study constructs a tentative theoretical framework based on existing research on a dynamic environment and enterprise agility considering the public context. The framework outlines the foundation for the exploratory qualitative case study on a single case from Business Finland, a Finnish government organization for innovation funding and trade, travel, and investment promotion. The primary data for the empirical study was collected by conducting semi-structured interviews with 12 knowledge representatives who were actively involved in Business Finland’s operations during the COVID-19 outbreak but who worked in different units and regions, thus providing various lookouts on the same phenomenon.
The novelty of this study lies in the combination of dynamic environment and agility, and it contributes to both research fields. The findings show that Business Finland has embraced enterprise agile practices to respond to the volatility and uncertainty that followed the COVID-19 pandemic. Altogether six agility providers with several embedded practices emerged from the findings. A burning platform for change replaced the cultural aversion to risk-taking and highlighted empowered teams that worked within and across agencies to achieve rapid results. The findings indicate that these providers and practices did not only help Business Finland to navigate through the COVID-19 crisis but also pointed to more agile operating practices to be more resilient and agile in the future. It became evident that the driver behind various operating rules and practices that might have hindered government organizations’ agility is more often a habit, not law. Given the high environmental velocity, the findings suggest that Business Finland should incorporate the Lean Startup mindset and practices that emerged during the crisis into its daily operations to prepare for future changes and potential shock waves. Moreover, the study confirmed the primary capabilities of agility, of which flexibility and responsiveness, in particular, became essential during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The study constructs a tentative theoretical framework based on existing research on a dynamic environment and enterprise agility considering the public context. The framework outlines the foundation for the exploratory qualitative case study on a single case from Business Finland, a Finnish government organization for innovation funding and trade, travel, and investment promotion. The primary data for the empirical study was collected by conducting semi-structured interviews with 12 knowledge representatives who were actively involved in Business Finland’s operations during the COVID-19 outbreak but who worked in different units and regions, thus providing various lookouts on the same phenomenon.
The novelty of this study lies in the combination of dynamic environment and agility, and it contributes to both research fields. The findings show that Business Finland has embraced enterprise agile practices to respond to the volatility and uncertainty that followed the COVID-19 pandemic. Altogether six agility providers with several embedded practices emerged from the findings. A burning platform for change replaced the cultural aversion to risk-taking and highlighted empowered teams that worked within and across agencies to achieve rapid results. The findings indicate that these providers and practices did not only help Business Finland to navigate through the COVID-19 crisis but also pointed to more agile operating practices to be more resilient and agile in the future. It became evident that the driver behind various operating rules and practices that might have hindered government organizations’ agility is more often a habit, not law. Given the high environmental velocity, the findings suggest that Business Finland should incorporate the Lean Startup mindset and practices that emerged during the crisis into its daily operations to prepare for future changes and potential shock waves. Moreover, the study confirmed the primary capabilities of agility, of which flexibility and responsiveness, in particular, became essential during the COVID-19 pandemic.