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In order reveal different inter-firm roles, interviews were conducted with practitioners
representing the focal net members in two separate rounds. The empirical
investigation consisted of loosely structured interviews with selected informants,
and later – once the focal net was defined together with the representatives
of the focal firm – deeper discussions based on a semi-structured questionnaire.
In interviews the researcher, with the help of an open dialogue, aspired
to support and encourage speaking rather than compel the respondents to
use certain idioms and phrases. The gathered results were interpreted and analysed
before entering next round. Many of the research acts were done simultaneously,
and even in the reverse direction, implying a loop-wise procedure. The
researcher aimed at making intermediate synthesis of the information that was in
use at a specific moment. The total number of informants was 25, representing
15 different operators. The sample consisted of VR Cargo’s major partners in intermodal
freight transportation, which means that the operators account for the
major part of the total revenue of the focal firm in domestic IM business. Some of
the informants did not have any contractual bond with VR Cargo or any direct
business relationship, but as their decisions and perceptions are important in
general, and because they indirectly influence the traffic, they were chosen as
informants (see also Nikkanen 2003).
Generally, a strong interactive and iterative aspect was emphasised throughout
the empirical working process. There was no strict frame presented a priori by
means of processual flow-charts, or similar, expressing tight causal links because
of interactive phenomena. In this study conceptual vocabularies were addressed,
rather than conceptual frameworks created a priori (compare to Pettigrew
1998). The aim was to avoid the ‘WUAWUG- syndrome’. The WUAWUG
syndrome (What-you/U-ask-is-what-you/U-get) is one of the obstacles for the researcher
to get in-depth knowledge regarding the interactive issues that are under
consideration. A pre-defined theoretical framework might force the researcher
to use the wording, concepts and expected causality of the preexplained
model, including the use of appropriate vocabulary as well. A rather
similar idea is described by Gummeson (1991) when he discusses a procrustean
science - an idea derived from ancient Greek mythology - which refers to
misuses of theories and models for formulating the hypotheses to be tested.
When such hypotheses are used as the point of departure in research ‘they
govern the way questions are asked and the way answers and other observations
are interpreted‘ (op.cit., 55).
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