Riikka Uimonen’s dissertation explains how companies must transform to effectively respond to the continuous change in an uncertain business environment. The research focuses on how companies can build business agility and thereby improve their strategic risk management, which is increasingly important with technological advancements, changing customer expectations, evolving legislation, and economic shifts.
“Traditional risk management tools and models are no longer sufficient to secure business success in uncertainty,” Uimonen states.
The research demonstrates that companies need to adopt business agility as part of their management and operations. Uimonen addresses the challenges and solutions of agile business transformations, showing that success requires clarifying the purpose of agility and developing leadership. While driving a company’s structural renewals is also important, these actions first require a clear understanding of the purpose of agility and leadership agility.
“Many companies have ambitiously started building business agility, but the pace of transformation is typically slow. This is reflected in the typical challenges that many companies are struggling with,” Uimonen clarifies.
The study was undertaken using versatile qualitative methods. It is based on business leaders’ and experts’ descriptions of typical transformations and related challenges as well as on the views of an expert panel implemented using the Delphi method. The research has been carried out in the context of the Nordic financial services sector, examining the research phenomenon above all from the perspective of agile transformations in traditional banks and insurance companies.
The doctoral dissertation offers a current perspective on strategic risk and business management, which is crucial for developing companies’ competitiveness for the future. The study is particularly significant in today’s rapidly changing business environment as it provides guidelines on how companies can succeed in building business agility to respond to uncertainty.
“My research demonstrates a new perspective and advice for business leaders, decision-makers, and risk management professionals who aim to develop strategies to respond to the changing challenges of the business environment,” Uimonen says.
Uimonen lives in Helsinki. Her background is in management consulting, and she is currently serving as an Investment Director at Fusion Ecosysem Oy, which is part of the Reaktor Group.
The public defense on Friday 19 January
The dissertation of Riikka Uimonen, Master of Economics and Business Administration, in the field of insurance and risk management, titled Agile Business Transformations and Strategic Risk Management in Uncertainty, will be publicly examined at the Faculty of Management and Business at Tampere University on Friday 19 January 2024 at 12. The venue is the Paavo Koli auditorium (A2100), Pinni A Building (Kanslerinrinne 1, Tampere). The opponent is Professor Torben Juul Andersen from Copenhagen Business School (CBS), and the custos is Associate Professor Timo Rintamäki from the Faculty of Management and Business at Tampere University.