KULTA:Modeling Changing Needs of Consumers

Our group coordinates a project called KULTA. The acronym comes from Finnish words that refer to consumers and needs. The acronym is a word in Finnish that means two things: gold and darling. Due to this nice ambiguity we have decided not to translate the acronym.

The project develops methods that can be used in understanding, conceptualizing and anticipating the changing needs of consumers. The conceptual models of the practice theory are applied to analyze changes in the consumer society.

These models are applied in the context of developing the business models of different kinds of companies. The data gained in this research and developing process are then analyzed and modeled using methods that are developed and applied in our laboratory.

The project was planned by Prof. Mika Pantzar (National Consumer Research Center), Dr. Tarja Knuuttila University of Helsinki, Department of Philosophy) and Dr. Timo Honkela who serves as the responsible director of the project. Dr. Tanja Kotro from the National Consumer Research Center is the project manager of KULTA.

A central motivation from our group's point of view is the possibility to deal with complex phenomena and data that deal with both individual and social levels of reality.