Browsing by Author "Rautio, Santeri"

Companies finance the equipment investments more often with financial products such as hire purchase and leasing. Simultaneously, the manufacturers as well as the retailers have implemented financial solutions under the own brand. The phenomenon is a market driver that affect the entire value chain. The purpose of the research was to conduct an in-depth review of the business by observing and understanding the motives, benefits and challenges behind private-label financial services. Moreover, the effects of the solutions on sales are assessed from the three key stakeholders’ perspective. The industrial focus is on the current market situation of agriculture and forestry machinery, which traditionally are pioneers in these solutions. Additionally, a country comparison is done on primary data level. The research method is qualitative, which is the most suitable approach for business-related topics with modest prior research. The source of the primary data was interviews with eight managers representing financiers, manufacturers and retailers within this business. A thematic analysis was utilized with five pre-selected themes that formed also the interview framework. According to the findings, the private-label financing has been successful for all involved stakeholders. From the vendor’s perspective, the private-label solutions are mainly used either to earn from the generated finance portfolio or as a manageable sales tool utilizing the brand value. For the financier, the services are rather profitable, since often, the manufacturers offer funds to lower the price of financing below competitors’ levels and additionally, the co-operation offers an exclusivity to the finance deals. In the future, these solutions seem to increase, because the financing is becoming a more important part of the sales. Along with the motives and benefits, the paper aimed to explore the co-operation and the effects on sales. The results indicate that the commitment of the partner is a focal part in the co-operation. The manufacturers and retailers are also demanding on the service level. For the financier, the risk-sharing, funds and exclusivity are key factors. The evidence given, the private-label financial solutions affect the direct sales and the sales work positively. Here, the standardized products and terms are important. Overall, the key stakeholders are in general rather satisfied with the solutions and all the respondents depicted interest to develop them further. However, a few challenges were extracted such as the unsophistication of the sales force, commitment of the partner and resources in terms of service and product level.