Evaluation of the research

The research questions emerged during the research process. The three questions, What is Aalto-Tongji partnership, What are the challenges in the collaboration, and How to improve the dance, were answered and solutions were found to problems.

Due to many practical constraints, not many of the issues were studied in the depth they would require, if the goal were to fully understand them. However, my hope is that this study will encourage and lead the way towards more precise, more in-depth studies related to the topics, either strengthening or weakening the statements and conclusions I have made. The research is intended to be public and hence a certain level of discreteness is kept to avoid any unintentional provocations. Many of the statements are subjective and may not be accepted by all parties.

7.2.1 Matching with theory

Empirical findings of the research guided the literature review to focus on strategic partnerships and international joint ventures. The theory on international joint ventures reveals general issues of the collaboration that was observed at the Sino-Finnish Centre by comparing the theory to the findings and by using interviews as triangulation method to provide support for the findings.

The cultural issues observed at the Sino-Finnish Centre, were easily explained by categorizing them through the cultural dimensions of Oinonen's adaptation of Schein’s model of organizational culture. Her theory helped to understand the cultural differences, misunderstandings, and conflicts related to the establishment of our Sino-Finnish collaboration platform.

The findings of the collaboration are typical for multicultural organization.

Theoretical framework for transferring organizational culture with people from two national cultures into one collaboration platform between two universities did not exist yet, and therefore it was built in this research.

7.2.2 What succeeded

Target for the study was to increase the understanding of China, collaboration with Chinese university, and the transfer and application of Design Factory culture in China. The fact that this research has been done, started a new discussion about the quality and content of the cooperation between Aalto and Tongji Universities. It also contributes to the discussions between different stakeholders on what is the future of Sino-Finnish Centre, and what kind of activities the collaboration platform could host in the future. For the Aalto Design Factory, the study offers groundwork for future research and development of the Design Factory platform.

Contribution of this study is to be an example of a comprehensive analysis of one case of an international joint venture with a platform where cultures collide. And yet there might be many unexpected results. The manuscript of a thesis can be a good discussion starter, but the work behind the manuscript in many cases is often even more valuable. This is one of these cases. Participatory observations and action research type approach has actively encouraged and almost forced people involved in the research to contribute to the improvement of the platform.

Applying the grounded theory method, the research focus has changed from the collaborative spaces, through institutional theory, to finally partnerships and culture.

Due to the iterative research, the research questions and problems were iterated several times before defining the final questions. Objectives of the study have developed from general partnership challenges to defining the Sino-Finnish Centre culture. The grounded theory method made it possible for me to focus on the emerged topics and to change the research focus to topics that were relevant.

7.2.3 What to do differently

The research could have been initialized better. A lot of time was wasted on searching data from different sources and from various theoretical frameworks.

Because the platform evolved continuously, in many cases, the research data expired faster than it could be written down. Findings of the research could have been

published before the manuscript was finished in order to help Aalto University administration and other stakeholders to understand the current situation, challenges and possibilities in China. Due to the late publishing of the manuscript, it did not have time to affect the new agreement, which was signed between the universities on November 20^th in 2014.

During the participatory research, I intended to become a member of the community.

The observations provided more data than could be reasonably handled in one master’s thesis. Instead of focusing on finishing one manuscript, I had enough data for three separate studies, with different topics and theoretical frameworks. To make the research process faster, it could have been done as an outsider, not involved in the actual development.

The cultural analysis does not offer any new information of Aalto Design Factory, Finnish or Chinese cultures. Instead, the only function for cultural study in this research is to point out the differences and that way build a model to explain the complexity of this kind of cultural transfer from one country to another. The specific values from Chinese culture affecting the Aalto-Tongji Design Factory and Sino-Finnish Centre cultures could have been studied further. They could also be part of similar study, conducted by Tongji University from Chinese perspective.

7.2.4 Limitations of the research

This research was intended to be a fairly comprehensive situational analysis of the operational, structural, and cultural aspects of the Sino-Finnish Centre. Because of the comprehensiveness, it has been obvious that the study has a lot of limitations.

The research was initiated by one of the partners, Finnish Aalto University, and more specifically the part of Aalto University representing the transferred manifestation, Aalto Design Factory. Therefore, the emphasis is heavily on Aalto’s side of the collaboration, and the differences between the platform units are studied from Design Factory perspective.

Aalto-Tongji partnership with its multi stakeholder collaboration has not been easy to understand. Complex situation needs lot of interpretation. Certain facts presented in this paper are based on the individuals’ own viewpoint and perception. The target for this paper is to explain two forms and perspectives of partnership as objectively as a participant can describe. Specifics, statistics and evidence collected for this study, are interpretations based on participatory observation, and refer to the status in November 2014 unless mentioned separately.

Interviews were made using Finnish or English language. For Chinese people, English is not native language and therefore, certain answers may lack for information, when answered in English. Similarly, translated Finnish answers may change the meaning when translated to English language.