Prof. Josu Takala – a visiting scholar from the University of Vaasa was visiting SGGW and presented open lecture on March 19, 2015. The topic question for presentation introduced was “Can Furniture Industries Compete Sustainably in their Global Operations? Case Studies from Some Countries”

Prof. Takala’s main interest is in technology management in the competitive operative strategies of private and public organizations in manufacturing networks, especially trying to find out answers to the question: how to accomplish sustainable competitive advantage in dynamic business environments?

Considering the international nature of the research it was noted that study has been conducted in several countries: Finland, Poland, Slovakia, China and Malaysia. The Study presentation has noted the importance of survey considering the turbulent business environment and therefore the importance of studying the roles of prospectors, analyzers and defenders within companies that were part of conducted case studies. Further, the triangle model of quality, cost and delivery has been presented to the audience. It was emphasized that companies from Poland are performing better in export numbers, thus decision about the risk-taking factor is higher than in other competitive countries. The open question of research remains: If Polish companies should directly export more, or if they should put more effort on innovation and design, the strategic areas are yet to be defined.

After discussing the results from companies of furniture industries it was concluded that the research is not yet finalized and required further works before able to give final recommendation to interested parties of the industry. After the Q&A session with students the open lecture was finalized.