需要的英文翻译)整理完

Introduction and Early Use of Computers in the Finnish Retail Industry

The

retail

industry

in

Finland

was

at

the

national

forefront

in

terms

of computer adoption shortly after the Second World War. Analyzing the

societal, organizational, and industry- specific preconditions and the

drivers for this early adoption, both at industrial and organizational

levels, helps illustrate how this development unfolded inside the four

major

retailing

organizations

in

Finland

from

the

1950s

to

the

late

1970s.

Retail organizations were among the first nongovernmental entities

to adopt electronic computers in Finland.1 In fact, in the late 1950s,

only two government-run computers were operating in Finland. Thus, the

early

commercial

adoption

of

computers

in

Finland

stands

in

marked

contrast

to

the

US,

where

the

retail

industry

was

the

last

major

industry

to

embrace

computers.2

In

this

respect,

it

is

interesting

to

investigate

how

computer

adoption

took

place

in

Finnish

retailing

and,

moreover,

the

reasons behind this development. By doing so, we intend to respond to a

relatively recent call for research investigating industrial computer

adoption

outside

the

US.3

Moreover,

we

view

adopters

as

active

agents

with

idiosyncratic

needs,

applications,

and

decision-making

processes,4

situated

in

a

particular

(and

in

this

case

dynamic)

institutional

environment that influences their decision making.5 The Finnish retail

industry in particular is an interesting research area because between

the early 1950s and the late 1970s

—

during which Finland experienced

substantial societal changes

—

the industry was dominated by only four

large retail groups: OTK, Kes-ko,S Group, and TUKO.6

In

addition

to

documenting

early

computer

adoption

in

the

industry,

we

suggest

that

as

a response

to

changes

in

their

operating

environment,

Finnish retailers introduced computers to manage their data-intensive

routines; improve the effectiveness of their supply chains; and better

manage the transactions between their central organizations, regional

offices, and stores. (Our study draws on a rich set of data, including

both

interviews

and

various

published

and

unpublished

textual

material.8)

However,

for

organization-specific

reasons,

they

followed

different

implementation

approaches.

Three

of

the

four

retailers

had

been

operating

punched-card

systems

since

the

early

1950s,

so

computerization

in

the

late

1950s and early 1960s can be seen as a progressive step, rather than a

revolution, in automating information processing in the industry.

计算机在芬兰零售产业的早期使用和引进

在二战结束后不久，芬兰 的零售产业业曾经是国内最早使用计算机的产业。

通过分析存在于工业和有组织的阶层的 ，

社会的，

组织的，

以及工业特殊性的 先

决条件和用于早期使用的驱动程序，可以帮助展现从

20

世纪

50

年代到

2 0

世纪

70

年代晚期，这些发展是如何 在芬兰的四个大型零售组织中发生的。

零售组织曾经是芬兰的 第一批采用电子计算机的非政府企业之一。事实上，

在

20

世纪

50

年代晚期，

芬兰只有两台政府运营的计算机。

所以，

芬兰早期的计算

机商业使用与美国形成了鲜明的对比，

在美国零售行业是最后一个接 触计算机行

业。

从这种视角来看，

调查 计算机在芬兰零售业被采用的原因，

以及发展背后的

因果就变得 很有意思。

通过这样做，

我们倾向去回应一个相对近期的需求是 关于

美国外部计算机的工业使用的调查研究。

不仅如此，

我们还将采用方看做积极主

动地机构（活性剂）拥有着特殊的需求，应 用的方式以及决策程序，存在于一个

特殊的（在这个案例中是动态的）制度环境，它可以 影响他们决策。芬兰的零售

行业是一个很有意思的研究领域（区域性案例）

，因为在

20

世纪

50

年代早期到

20

世纪

70

年代晚期之间，芬兰经历了一个本质的社会变化

---- -

零售产业领域仅仅

由四个大型零售组织所主导，他们是：

OTK

，

Kes-ko,S Group, and TUKO.

除了零售产业早期使用计算机进行文件记录之外，

我们认为这是一个他们内

部运行环境变化的记录，

如，

芬兰的零售商引进计算机来管理他们日程中庞大的

数据量；

增加他们供应链的效率；

以及更好的管理他们的中央管理机构与地方 的

办公室和商店之间的事务。

（我们的研究是基于大量的数据， 其中包含了很多的

面对面采访内容和发表的以及未发表的文字材料）

然而，

基于组织特殊性的原因，

他们采用了不同的执行手段 和方法。

四分之三的零售商从

20

世纪

50

年代早期就已

使用打卡系统，

所以在

20

世纪

5 0

年代后期和

20

世纪

60

年代早期的计算机化应被视

为一个进步，而不是一 个产业信息自动化处理的改革。

Early Stages of Computing in Finland

Punched-card-based information processing began in Finland in the

1920s.

The

first

systems

were

adopted

in

1923

by

the

governmental

statistics

agency

to

help

produce

national

statistics.

Thus,

punched-card

systems

made

inroads into

Finland

relatively

late

compared

to the

US

and

other

Scandinavian

countries.

Nonetheless,

as

elsewhere

with

early

punched-card systems, the main use in Finland during these first two

decades

was

the

production

of

statistics

for

both

public

authorities

(such

as

for

censuses)

and

individual

businesses

(for

example,

for

sales

reports).

However,

the

Second

World

War

substantially

disrupted

societal

conditions

in

Finland,

halting

the

further

adoption

of

punched-card

systems until the late 1940s.

Computers

also

made

inroads

into

Finland

relatively

late,

although

the time lag in this case was notably smaller. The first computer went

into operation in Finland in late 1958, when the state- owned Postal

Savings

Bank

started using

an

IBM

650.

It

is

not

particularly

surprising

that

the

first

computer

in

Finland

was

supplied

by

IBM

because

the

company

already

enjoyed

a

market

leadership

position

in

punched-card-based

systems. IBM was

able

to carry

over to

the emerging market of electronic

computers.

Although

IBM

supplied

many

of

the

first

computers

in

Finland,

especially for business applications, there was also a noteworthy and

interesting domestic initiative for building a Finnish computer, ESKO.

Nonetheless, even if Finland was not in the international forefront of

computer

adoption,

the

core

people

involved

in

early

Finnish

computerization were not by any means ignorant of computers; Finnish

scientists

followed

the

field

’

s

international

developments

through

their

international contacts and through international journals. Moreover,

those interested in computers or requiring computing time had access to

computers already in operation abroad in Sweden, the US, Denmark,and

Germany.

Combined

with

some

visibility

of

computers

in

the

public

press,

this

implies

that

there

was

a

generally

favorable

atmosphere

that

allowed

computer adoption to take off in the 1960s after starting in the late

1950s.

芬兰的计算机发展前期

芬兰以打卡为基础的信息处理方式开始于

20

世纪

20

年代。

第一个系统在

1923

年被

政府统计机构开始使用进行全国的数据统计。

所以，

打卡系统进 入芬兰的时间要

相对晚于美国和其它

斯堪的纳维亚（