Mikko Ketokivi

• Ph.D.
• Professor at IE University

How do scholars formulate arguments about economic inequality? What is the role of empirical analysis? In what ways, if any, is the debate informed by ethical considerations? In this paper, we address these questions by evaluating one of the main arguments in Thomas Piketty’s 2014 book Capital in the Twenty-First Century, along with its endorsement...

This book is aimed at guiding current and future designers of organizations to approach questions of design and governance from the perspective of efficiency. The ultimate goal is efficiency of the sustainable kind: eliminating the excess, not the essential; nurturing cooperation, not jeopardizing it; mutual value creation, not unmitigated self-int...

This book is aimed at guiding current and future designers of organizations to approach questions of design and governance from the perspective of efficiency. The ultimate goal is efficiency of the sustainable kind: eliminating the excess, not the essential; nurturing cooperation, not jeopardizing it; mutual value creation, not unmitigated self-int...

This book is aimed at guiding current and future designers of organizations to approach questions of design and governance from the perspective of efficiency. The ultimate goal is efficiency of the sustainable kind: eliminating the excess, not the essential; nurturing cooperation, not jeopardizing it; mutual value creation, not unmitigated self-int...

This book is aimed at guiding current and future designers of organizations to approach questions of design and governance from the perspective of efficiency. The ultimate goal is efficiency of the sustainable kind: eliminating the excess, not the essential; nurturing cooperation, not jeopardizing it; mutual value creation, not unmitigated self-int...

This book is aimed at guiding current and future designers of organizations to approach questions of design and governance from the perspective of efficiency. The ultimate goal is efficiency of the sustainable kind: eliminating the excess, not the essential; nurturing cooperation, not jeopardizing it; mutual value creation, not unmitigated self-int...

This book is aimed at guiding current and future designers of organizations to approach questions of design and governance from the perspective of efficiency. The ultimate goal is efficiency of the sustainable kind: eliminating the excess, not the essential; nurturing cooperation, not jeopardizing it; mutual value creation, not unmitigated self-int...

This book is aimed at guiding current and future designers of organizations to approach questions of design and governance from the perspective of efficiency. The ultimate goal is efficiency of the sustainable kind: eliminating the excess, not the essential; nurturing cooperation, not jeopardizing it; mutual value creation, not unmitigated self-int...

This book is aimed at guiding current and future designers of organizations to approach questions of design and governance from the perspective of efficiency. The ultimate goal is efficiency of the sustainable kind: eliminating the excess, not the essential; nurturing cooperation, not jeopardizing it; mutual value creation, not unmitigated self-int...

This book is aimed at guiding current and future designers of organizations to approach questions of design and governance from the perspective of efficiency. The ultimate goal is efficiency of the sustainable kind: eliminating the excess, not the essential; nurturing cooperation, not jeopardizing it; mutual value creation, not unmitigated self-int...

This book is aimed at guiding current and future designers of organizations to approach questions of design and governance from the perspective of efficiency. The ultimate goal is efficiency of the sustainable kind: eliminating the excess, not the essential; nurturing cooperation, not jeopardizing it; mutual value creation, not unmitigated self-int...

This book is aimed at guiding current and future designers of organizations to approach questions of design and governance from the perspective of efficiency. The ultimate goal is efficiency of the sustainable kind: eliminating the excess, not the essential; nurturing cooperation, not jeopardizing it; mutual value creation, not unmitigated self-int...

The process of justifying a generalized theoretical conclusion from a specific empirical analysis continues to elude us. In this article, we suggest that this stems from an incomplete understanding and specification of how arguments are structured. Most importantly, in addition to empirical data, a generalized conclusion hinges on the application o...

We argue that in analyzing panel-data econometric models, researchers rely excessively on statistical criteria to determine model specification, treating it primarily as a matter of statistical inference. This inferential emphasis is most obvious in the common practice of using statistical tests (e.g., the Hausman test) to choose between fixed-and...

Research on supply chain relationships tends to focus on power and asymmetric dependency. Our objective is to complement this by examining contractual challenges in the context of bilateral dependency. Our specific empirical focus is on how Indian Railways, one of the largest railroads in the world, manages warranty claims related to engine failure...

Transaction cost economics (TCE) is one of the most widely referenced organization theories in operations and supply chain management research. Even though TCE is a broadly applicable theory of governance, one of its specific topics of interest—the make‐or‐buy decision—readily aligns with some of the central research questions on how firms manage s...

Much like researchers in general management and organization theory interested in organization‐level phenomena, operations management researchers theorize and analyze entire operational systems, such as factories, supply chains, airports, or hospital wards. In discussing threats to measurement validity, we tend to focus on motivational factors such...

In this chapter, the authors theorize organizational integration by extending, elaborating, and combining various theoretical perspectives, such as structural contingency theory, organization economics, and organizational culture. The aim of this study is to provide the foundation for a holistic theory of integration that examines the different rel...

In this chapter, we theorize organizational integration by extending, elaborating, and combining various theoretical perspectives, such as structural contingency theory, organization economics, and organizational culture. Our aim is to provide the foundation for a holistic theory of integration that examines the different relevant facets of integra...

Objectives: Smoking frequently associates with suicidal behavior, but also with confounding other risk factors. We investigated, whether smoking independently predicts suicidal ideation, attempts (SAs), or modifies risk of SAs during major depressive episodes (MDEs). Methods: In the Vantaa Depression Study (VDS), a five-year prospective study of ps...

In this paper, we apply a design science approach to help a Northern European city improve the efficiency of its home care delivery system. Our proposed solution emerges as a synthesis of applying Goldratt's Theory of Constraints and the principles of variable-demand inventory replenishment. The improved system exhibits both more level resource utili...

Which components should a manufacturing firm make in-house, which should it co- produce, and which should it outsource? Who should sit on the firm’s board of directors? What is the right balance between debt and equity financing? --- These questions may appear different on the surface, but they are all variations on the same theme: how should a com...

Many influential theories of organization rest on an analogical foundation: we think of the organization as if it were a governance structure, a nexus of contracts, a social network, or an information processing system. We may invoke an analogy simply to express an idea, but analogy use may also constitute a key part of a theoretical explanation an...

In this paper, we examine the problem of endogeneity in the context of operations management research. Whereas the extant literature has focused primarily on the statistical aspect of the problem, a comprehensive treatment requires an examination of theoretical and pragmatic considerations as complements. The prevailing problem with the focus on st...

Introduction Although suicidal behavior is very common in bipolar disorder (BD), few long-term studies have investigated incidence and risk factors of suicide attempts (SAs) specifically related to illness phases of BD. Objectives We examined incidence of SAs during different phases of BD in a long-term prospective cohort of bipolar I (BD-I) and I...

In this paper, we examine in detail 35 final assembly location decisions to gain understanding of the manufacturing location decision from strategy and economic policy perspectives. We are particularly interested in the decision to locate final assembly specifically in a high-cost (high GDP per capita) environment. In contrast with the earlier lite...

Objectives: Few long-term studies on bipolar disorder (BD) have investigated the incidence and risk factors of suicide attempts (SAs) specifically related to illness phases. We examined the incidence of SAs during different phases of BD in a long-term prospective cohort of bipolar I (BD-I) and bipolar II (BD-II) patients, and risk factors specific...

In this JOM Forum article, published in conjunction with the Special Issue on Manufacturing in the High-Cost Environment, two operations management heavyweights Richard Schonberger and Karen Brown examine the missing link between manufacturing research and practice.

In this JOM Forum article, three operations management scholars and production geography pioneers Kasra Ferdows, Ann Vereecke, and Arnoud De Meyer discuss the challenge and the complexity of managing geographically dispersed operations.

This JOM Forum is an exchange of ideas on the antecedents and consequences of resource heterogeneity. Two sets of authors examine in a point–counterpoint style the usefulness of the resource based view (or resource based theory) in operations management research.

How many subsystems must fail for a locomotive engine to fail? How many subsystems actually fail in an engine failure? Answering these questions requires an understanding of how nearly decomposable systems fail. By design, engines are nearly decomposable systems: they consist of interdependent parts that are linked to one another in a way that the...

Background: Differential diagnosis between bipolar disorder (BD) and borderline personality disorder (BPD) is often challenging due to some overlap in symptoms and comorbidity of disorders. We investigated correlations in self-reported symptoms of BD and BPD in screening questionnaires at the levels of both total scores and individual items and ex...

We submit that the central managerial messages of transaction cost economics (TCE) have been lost or misconstrued in academic debates that miss the underpinning logic of the theory. Critiques of TCE are often based on narrow and selective interpretations, indeed caricatures. Our goal is to set the record straight by examining TCE's fundamentally co...

The number of submissions has steadily increased over the Years for the Journal of Operations Management (JOM). Submissions have become increasingly more diverse in terms of theories, methods, and empirical contexts. JOM authors use a wide variety of methods draw on a broad base of theories and different contexts. The main design principle in the n...

The long-term outcome of bipolar disorder (BD) has been extensively investigated. However, previous studies may be biased towards hospitalized patients with bipolar I disorder (BD-I), and generalizability to the current treatment era remains uncertain. In this naturalistic study, we followed a secondary-care cohort of patients with BD. In the Jorvi...

In this paper, we examine in detail 35 final assembly location decisions in an attempt to understand the manufacturing location decision both from a strategy and economic policy perspectives. We are particularly interested in understanding the decision to locate final assembly specifically in a high-cost (high GDP per capita) environment. In contra...

In this paper, we apply design science methodology to tackle the resource allocation problem faced by a home care initiative of a Northern European city. Combining problem-solving methods with Theory-of-Constraints principles, we develop a Demand-Based Replenishment System, a set of resource allocation and scheduling principles aimed at managing ho...

Since the seminal article by Eisenhardt (1989), scholarly interest in case research has mushroomed in operations management and organization sciences. Volumes of methodological texts are matched with a massive amount of empirical research that seeks to develop case research as a scientific method. What is missing from this literature is a treatment...

In this paper, we examine the link between outsourcing and reactor reliability and safety in 89 of the 104 nuclear power reactors operating in the United States in the year 2007. In particular, we test whether outsourcing knowledge-intensive activities such as reactor maintenance constitutes an outsourcing hazard that jeopardizes reactor reliabilit...

We evaluate for the first time the associations of brain white matter hyperintensities (WMHs) on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with neuropsychological variables among middle-aged bipolar I (BPI), II (BPII) and major depressive disorder (MDD) patients and controls using a path model. Thirteen BPI, 15 BPII, 16 MDD patients, and 21 controls underwe...

Objective: To study, whether temperament and character remain stable over time and whether they differ between patients with and without personality disorder (PD) and between patients with specific PDs. Methods: Patients with (n=225) or without (n=285) PD from Jorvi Bipolar Study, Vantaa Depression Study (VDS) and Vantaa Primary Care Depression...

We elaborate the link between organizational design and effectiveness by examining organizational integration and performance in the context of modern manufacturing. Through careful contextualization and empirical analysis of 266 manufacturing organizations in three industries and nine countries, we uncover a joint effect of integration and complex...

We tested the degree to which longitudinal observations fit two hypotheses of psychiatric co-morbidity in DSM-IV major depressive disorder (MDD) among adult patients: (1) Axis I co-morbidity is dependent on major depressive episode (MDE) course, and (2) Axis I co-morbidity is independent of MDE course. Method In the Vantaa Depression Study (VDS), 2...

Background: Major depressive disorder (MDD) and smoking are major public health problems and epidemiologically strongly associated. However, the relationship between smoking and depression and whether this is influenced by common confounding factors remain unclear, in part due to limited longitudinal data on covariation. Methods: In the Vantaa D...

This three-wave study among ethnic migrants from Russia to Finland (N = 136) investigated the stability and change of attitudes toward cultural diversity, i.e., support for multiculturalism and preference for cultural maintenance, over the course of migration. More specifically, we expected changes in these attitudes to be a result of changes in pe...

Prescriptions regarding organization-scientific methodology are typically founded on the researcher’s ability to approach perfect rationality. In a critical examination of the use of scientific reasoning (deduction, induction, abduction) in organization research, we seek to replace this unrealistic premise with an alternative that incorporates a mo...

This longitudinal study among ethnic migrants from Russia to Finland (N = 127) examined the relationships between anticipated and perceived discrimination, ethnic and national identities, and outgroup attitudes towards the national majority group. The study included one pre‐migration and two post‐migration assessments. First, associations between t...

We previously reported an association between P2RX7 variant rs208294, diagnosis, and the longitudinal course of mood disorders. Here, we test whether the personality trait neuroticism mediates the effect of P2RX7 on the course of mood disorders. Patients with DSM-IV mood disorder (256 with major depressive disorder and 168 with bipolar disorder [BD...

BACKGROUND: Whether antidepressants influence personality is a major clinical and societal issue due to their widespread use. In an observational study, we investigated whether depressive patients' neuroticism and extraversion scores covary with antidepressant pharmacotherapy, and if so, whether this remains significant after accounting for depress...

Purpose Conventional wisdom has it that cross‐functional integration is a “must”. The purpose of this paper is to take an information‐processing approach to integration and elaborate the conventional wisdom by theoretical examination of both the concept of integration as well as theoretical and empirical elaboration of its link to operational perfo...

Make-to-order (MTO) products may be either customized or standard, and customization can occur either at the configuration or component level. Consequently, MTO production processes can be divided into three customization gestalts: non-customizers, custom assemblers, and custom producers. In this article, we examine how the multilevel nature of cus...

To test two hypotheses of psychiatric comorbidity in bipolar disorder (BD): (i) comorbid disorders are independent of BD course, or (ii) comorbid disorders associate with mood. In the Jorvi Bipolar Study (JoBS), 191 secondary-care outpatients and inpatients with DSM-IV bipolar I disorder (BD-I) or bipolar II disorder (BD-II) were evaluated with the...

Incompleteness of inductive reasoning presents an enduring dilemma for organizational researchers. We examine two practical reasoning strategies—idealization and contextualization—that can be used at the pinnacle of this dilemma: when theoretical conclusions are drawn from empirical data. Understanding the two strategies can lead to more effective...

In this paper, we examine firm innovation and its link to firm growth. Instead of using the conventional conceptualization and operationalization of innovation in terms of the R&D budget, we use a more elaborate 12-dimensional conceptualization, which takes into account also the non-technological aspects of innovation. The 12-dimensional operationa...

This essay and the following commentaries address the use of theory in operations management. While much is said about theory in the typical journal article, theory, as science defines it, is not at the center of much of our research. The discipline had fallen into some bad habits. This essay and its commentaries appeal for more attention to what t...

Tilastollinen tutkimus ja argumentointi on tilastollisen päättelyn, tulkinnan ja teoreettisen selittämisen välistä vuoropuhelua, joka ei synny ainoastaan tilastollisen päättelyn sääntöjä ja menetelmiä soveltamalla. Tämä teos käsittelee tieteelliseen selittämiseen pyrkivän tilastollisen tutkimuksen käytännön haasteita, joista tilastomatematiikan op...

Understanding determinants of business location decisions is important from the point of view of economic policy. While the determinants of manufacturing and R&D location have been extensively covered in the literature, in this article we examine a largely neglected question: Under what conditions do manufacturing and R&D have to be physically colo...

Despite ambitious efforts in various fields of research over multiple decades, the goal of making academic research relevant to the practitioner remains elusive: theoretical and academic research interests do not seem to coincide with the interests of managerial practice. This challenge is more fundamental than knowledge transfer, it is one of dive...

ABSTRACT In seeking higher performance, organizations differentiate themselves internally in an attempt to economize on bounded rationality. I argue that for this same reason—bounded,rationality— maximal,functional specialization is not optimal organizational design from the point of view of exploration. I examine this argument by testing the hypot...

ABSTRACT : The phenomenon of physical R&D-manufacturing co-location is interesting, because researchers have made very different observations regarding its prevalence. In some populations co-location of the two functions seems to be the norm; in others, an exception. However, we still do not have an explicit explanatory theory of co-location. In th...

ABSTRACT : While both manufacturing and R&D location decisions have received considerable theoretical and empirical attention from economists and organization scientists, theories and evidence regarding the ´co-location´ of the two are scarce. The goal of this article is to lay the theoretical foundation for R&D-manufacturing co-location. Theories...

Some operations management researchers tackle real-life problems that are not well-defined, and where the focus is on discovery and problem solving, not explanation. In this paper, we suggest that the principles of design science can be used to formalize research on ill-structured operations management problems, such as research addressing the impa...

The extant literature on the focused factory has not explored the contingencies associated with the de facto adoption and use of focused factory principles: Why are some plants focused while others are not? Is focus—or unfocus—a strategic choice, best practice or perhaps a reflection of an environmental constraint? In his pioneering work, Skinner [...

What determines which manufacturing flexibility strategies are feasible and which are not? In this paper, I build both theoretical and empirical understanding of task-environmental contingencies that may either enable or constrain the selection of various flexibility strategies. The special emphasis is on the various plant-level actions that are us...

While alleviating the adverse effects of employees’ pursuit of their subgroups’ goals over organizational goals is important, finding ways to avoid them may be even more important. In this paper, we investigate whether strategic planning can be used to reduce organizational members’ position bias, or the extent to which they direct their attention...

In contrast with the general management and strategy literature, performance measurement in the extant empirical operations management literature has relied heavily on perceptual measures of operational and financial performance. At the same time, rigorous examinations of the psychometric properties of such performance measurements instruments have...

The main argument in this paper is that in order to understand the phenomenon of how innovative manufacturing practices diffuse we need to invoke theoretical arguments other than the ones that are conventionally used. In particular, neo-institutional arguments can shed light on the determinants of manufacturing practice adoption and implementation....

This article challenges and advances the extant manufacturing practice-performance research in three ways. First and most fundamentally, the article offers a sound theoretical foundation for the proposition that manufacturing practices have competitive value. Second, typical studies do not pay enough attention to the multidimensional nature of perf...

Acknowledgment: The authors would like to express the ir gratitude to the President and the Vice President of Strategic Planning of CMC for their support of this research endeavor, as well as the dozens of CMC's employees all over the world, who offered us their time and expertise in the data collection phase.

How the manufacturing function can reach its operational goals is one of the enduring questions in manufacturing strategy. We address this question in two ways. First, we examine the existing literature and empirical evidence on why the implementation of manufacturing strategies may fail. Second, in order to aid implementation of manufacturing stra...

ABSTRACT Middle managers’ shared understanding of organizational priorities is a key determinant of successful goal implementation. In this paper, we analyze whether involving middle managers,in the strategic planning process and communicating,the agreed-upon goals to them afterwards reduce the bias of their managerial role and thus increase the co...

A vast and often confusing economics literature relates competition to investment in innovation. Following Joseph Schumpeter, one view is that monopoly and large scale promote investment in research and development by allowing a firm to capture a larger fraction of its benefits and by providing a more stable platform for a firm to invest in R&D. Ot...

ABSTRACT When goods are produced according to customers’ specifications, the product complexity can vary at two levels. Specifically, customized products may have unique configurations, unique components, or both. The dimensions do not necessarily correlate with one another, which gives