Kalevala Koru :: essays research papers

Kalevala Koru Introduction The history of Kalevala jewellery went back to the Association of Kalevala Women who aimed to safeguard ancient Finnish culture tradition. Making-making was regarded by them as one way to honour national history and culture heritage as well as one way to raise funds for the Association of Kalevala Women. The name Kalevala came from the national epic because of its strong connection Established in 1937, Kalevala Jewellery started to produce jewellery in 1940. In 1940s, though facing difficulties of lacking raw materials and skilful workforce in production, the jewellery sold very well both at home and abroad partly due to the fact that demand exceeded supply, partly due to its attendances at jewellery exhibitions which enlarged its brand fame. 1950s saw the steady growth of Kalevala till 1960s, however modern jewellery gained an increasing market share at the same time. In the early 70s situation improved a bit then replaced by a sliding down at the end of the decade till the beginning of 80s when the Association had to give financial aid to help it out. Then thanks to a change in fashion in the mid-80s, Kalevala won over new customers when young women wanted big, ethnic jewellery. The main product ranges of Kalevala were ancient and archaeological jewellery, historical jewellery and modern jewellery. Bronze was used as main raw materials to make jewellery, next was silver and then gold. Bronze jewellery contributed a large part of total production (70%). The silver and gold works accounted for 22 % and 8 % respectively. Almost the entire Kalevala jewellery range was available in both bronze and silver. Every year over 400 models were being produced, of which most were available in various forms, like pendants, earrings, necklaces, brooches, rings for girls and tiepins and cufflinks for men. The production process was so labour-intensive that in 1996 85 out of 143 employees worked for production section. With the joining of new CEO, Kalevala stepped into a new stage. By motivating employees, investing in production machines and R&D, focusing on three market segments which targeted young women, working women and loyal users and improving customer services which included re-adjusting salesmen’ attitude towards retailers, automating administrative work, adapting to a changing environment, Marja Usvasalo managed to achieve best performances in the period from 4/1995 to 3/1996 with profit increased greatly by 39% compared with previous year though it had to be reaffirmed that from 1988 till 1996 period the corporate performances had been improving.