Individuals' Responsibility in Corporations

I discuss role responsibly, individual responsibility and collective responsibility in corporate multinational setting. My case study is about minerals used in electronics that come from the Democratic Republic of Congo. What I try to show throughout the thesis is how many things need to be taken into consideration when we discuss the responsibility of individuals in corporations. No easy and simple answers are available. Instead, we must keep in mind the complexity of the situation at all times, judging cases on individual basis, emphasizing the importance of individual judgement and virtue, as well as the responsibility we all share as members of groups and the wider society. I begin by discussing the demands that are placed on us as employees. There is always a potential for a conflict between our different roles and also the wider demands placed on us. Role demands are usually much more specific than the wider question of how we should act as human beings. The terminology of roles can also be misleading as it can create illusions about our work selves being somehow radically separated from our everyday, true selves. The nature of collective decision-making and its implications for responsibility is important too. When discussing the moral responsibility of an employee in a corporate setting, one must take into account arguments from individual and collective responsibility, as well as role ethics. Individual responsibility is not a separate or competing notion from that of collective responsibility. Rather, the two are interlinked. Individuals' responsibilities in collective settings combine both individual responsibility and collective responsibility (which is different from aggregate individual responsibility). In the majority of cases, both will apply in various degrees. Some members might have individual responsibility in addition to the collective responsibility, while others just the collective responsibility. There are also times when no-one bears individual moral responsibility but the members are still responsible for the collective part. My intuition is that collective moral responsibility is strongly linked to the way the collective setting affects individual judgements and moulds the decisions, and how the individuals use the collective setting to further their own ends. Individuals remain the moral agents but responsibility is collective if the actions in question are collective in character. I also explore the impacts of bureaucratic ethic and its influence on the individual. Bureaucracies can compartmentalize work to such a degree that individual human action is reduced to mere behaviour. Responsibility is diffused and the people working in the bureaucracy can come to view their actions to be outside the normal human realm where they would be responsible for what they do. Language games and rules, anonymity, internal power struggles, and the fragmentation of information are just some of the reasons responsibility and morality can get blurry in big institutional settings. Throughout the thesis I defend the following theses: ● People act differently depending on their roles. This is necessary for our society to function, but the more specific role demands should always be kept in check by the wider requirements of being a good human being. ● Acts in corporations (and other large collectives) are not reducible to individual actions, and cannot be explained fully by the behaviour of individual employees. ● Individuals are responsible for the actions that they undertake in the collective as role occupiers and are very rarely off the hook. Hiding behind role demands is usually only an excuse and shows a lack of virtue. ● Individuals in roles can be responsible even when the collective is not. This depends on if the act they performed was corporate in nature or not. ● Bureaucratic structure affects individual thinking and is not always a healthy environment to work in. ● Individual members can share responsibility with the collective and our share of the collective responsibility is strongly linked to our relations. ● Corporations and other collectives can be responsible for harm even when no individual is at fault. The structure and the policies of the collective are crucial. ● Socialization plays an important role in our morality at both work and outside it. We are all responsible for the kind of moral context we create. ● When accepting a role or a position in a collective, we are attaching ourselves with the values of that collective. ● Ethical theories should put more emphasis on good judgement and decision-making instead of vague generalisations. My conclusion is that the individual person is always in the centre when it comes to responsibility, and not so easily off the hook as we sometimes think. What we do, and especially who we choose to associate ourselves with, does matter and we should be more careful when we choose who we work for. Individuals within corporations are responsible for choosing that the corporation they associate with is one that they can ascribe to morally, if not fully, then at least for the most part. Individuals are also inclusively responsible to a varying degree for the collective activities they contribute to, even in overdetermined contexts. We all are responsible for the kind of corporations we choose to support through our actions as consumers, investors and citizens.

Microfinance, Efficiency and Agricultural Production in Bangladesh

The objectives of this study were to make a detailed and systematic empirical analysis of microfinance borrowers and non-borrowers in Bangladesh and also examine how efficiency measures are influenced by the access to agricultural microfinance. In the empirical analysis, this study used both parametric and non-parametric frontier approaches to investigate differences in efficiency estimates between microfinance borrowers and non-borrowers. This thesis, based on five articles, applied data obtained from a survey of 360 farm households from north-central and north-western regions in Bangladesh. The methods used in this investigation involve stochastic frontier (SFA) and data envelopment analysis (DEA) in addition to sample selectivity and limited dependent variable models. In article I, technical efficiency (TE) estimation and identification of its determinants were performed by applying an extended Cobb-Douglas stochastic frontier production function. The results show that farm households had a mean TE of 83% with lower TE scores for the non-borrowers of agricultural microfinance. Addressing institutional policies regarding the consolidation of individual plots into farm units, ensuring access to microfinance, extension education for the farmers with longer farming experience are suggested to improve the TE of the farmers. In article II, the objective was to assess the effects of access to microfinance on household production and cost efficiency (CE) and to determine the efficiency differences between the microfinance participating and non-participating farms. In addition, a non-discretionary DEA model was applied to capture directly the influence of microfinance on farm households production and CE. The results suggested that under both pooled DEA models and non-discretionary DEA models, farmers with access to microfinance were significantly more efficient than their non-borrowing counterparts. Results also revealed that land fragmentation, family size, household wealth, on farm-training and off farm income share are the main determinants of inefficiency after effectively correcting for sample selection bias. In article III, the TE of traditional variety (TV) and high-yielding-variety (HYV) rice producers were estimated in addition to investigating the determinants of adoption rate of HYV rice. Furthermore, the role of TE as a potential determinant to explain the differences of adoption rate of HYV rice among the farmers was assessed. The results indicated that in spite of its much higher yield potential, HYV rice production was associated with lower TE and had a greater variability in yield. It was also found that TE had a significant positive influence on the adoption rates of HYV rice. In article IV, we estimated profit efficiency (PE) and profit-loss between microfinance borrowers and non-borrowers by a sample selection framework, which provided a general framework for testing and taking into account the sample selection in the stochastic (profit) frontier function analysis. After effectively correcting for selectivity bias, the mean PE of the microfinance borrowers and non-borrowers were estimated at 68% and 52% respectively. This suggested that a considerable share of profits were lost due to profit inefficiencies in rice production. The results also demonstrated that access to microfinance contributes significantly to increasing PE and reducing profit-loss per hectare land. In article V, the effects of credit constraints on TE, allocative efficiency (AE) and CE were assessed while adequately controlling for sample selection bias. The confidence intervals were determined by the bootstrap method for both samples. The results indicated that differences in average efficiency scores of credit constrained and unconstrained farms were not statistically significant although the average efficiencies tended to be higher in the group of unconstrained farms. After effectively correcting for selectivity bias, household experience, number of dependents, off-farm income, farm size, access to on farm training and yearly savings were found to be the main determinants of inefficiencies. In general, the results of the study revealed the existence substantial technical, allocative, economic inefficiencies and also considerable profit inefficiencies. The results of the study suggested the need to streamline agricultural microfinance by the microfinance institutions (MFIs), donor agencies and government at all tiers. Moreover, formulating policies that ensure greater access to agricultural microfinance to the smallholder farmers on a sustainable basis in the study areas to enhance productivity and efficiency has been recommended. Key Words: Technical, allocative, economic efficiency, DEA, Non-discretionary DEA, selection bias, bootstrapping, microfinance, Bangladesh.

Naudanlihan jalostusketjun hiilijalanjälki Suomessa

Kirjallisuustutkimuksen tavoitteena oli perehtyä kasvihuoneilmiön taustoihin ja kartoittaa aiempia tutkimuksia naudan- ja muiden lihatuotteiden kasvihuonekaasupäästöistä. Lisäksi kirjallisuustutkimuksessa perehdyttiin aiemmissa tutkimuksissa elintarvikkeiden hiilijalanjäljen laskemisessa sovellettuun elinkaarianalyysiin ISO 14040-standardin mukaisesti. Kokeellisen osion tavoitteena oli määrittää naudanlihan hiilijalanjälki Suomessa maatilan portilta kuluttajan ruokapöytään. Tavoitteena oli myös ymmärtää jalostusketjun päästöjen merkitys verrattuna koko naudanlihan tuotantoketjuun ja määrittää jalostusketjun vaiheiden merkitys ketjussa. Työn toiminnallisena yksikkönä toimi kilo naudanlihaa. Työ toteutettiin perehtymällä yksityiskohtaisesti yhteen naudanlihan jalostusketjuun Suomessa. Päästöt laskettiin todellisten yhteistyöyritykseltä saatujen prosessitietojen perusteella. Tiedot kerättiin tiedonkeruulomakkeella vierailemalla yhteistyöyrityksen kahdessa tuotantolaitoksessa ja täydentämällä tietoja haastatteluilla. Naudanlihan jalostusketjun päästöt olivat 1240 g CO2-ekv/lihakilo. Eniten päästöjä tuottivat jalostusvaihe (310 g CO2-ekv/lihakilo), teurastus (280 g CO2-ekv/lihakilo) ja lihatuotteiden kuljetus kuluttajalle (210 g CO2-ekv/lihakilo). Koko naudanlihan tuotantoketjusta jalostusketjun päästöt muodostivat alle 4 %, sillä syntymästä maatilan portille syntyviksi päästöiksi laskettiin kirjallisuuden perusteella yli 30 000 g CO2-ekv/lihakilo. Jatkossa naudanlihan hiilijalanjälkeä voitaisiin pääasiassa pienentää kehittämällä prosessia maatilan portille asti. Tämän työn tulokset olivat hyvin samansuuruiset verrattuna aiempaan tutkimukseen broilerin jalostusketjun päästöistä Suomessa (Katajajuuri ym. 2008). Tämä vastasi ennakko-odotuksia, sillä jalostusketjujen vaiheissa ei ollut merkittäviä eroja. Aiempia tutkimuksia naudanlihan jalostusketjun päästöistä ei ollut saatavilla.

Emerging bioenergy business at Finnish independent industrial sawmills

Finnish forest industry is in the middle of a radical change. Deepening recession and the falling demand of woodworking industry´s traditional products have forced also sawmilling industry to find new and more fertile solutions to improve their operational preconditions. In recent years, the role of bioenergy production has often been highlighted as a part of sawmills´ business repertoire. Sawmilling produces naturally a lot of by-products (e.g. bark, sawdust, chips) which could be exploited more effectively in energy production, and this would bring more incomes or maybe even create new business opportunities for sawmills. Production of bioenergy is also supported by government´s climate and energy policies favouring renewable energy sources, public financial subsidies, and soaring prices of fossil fuels. Also the decreasing production of domestic pulp and paper industry releases a fair amount of sawmills´ by-products for other uses. However, bioenergy production as a part of sawmills´ by-product utilization has been so far researched very little from a managerial point of view. The purpose of this study was to explore the relative significance of the main bioenergy-related processes, resources and factors at Finnish independent industrial sawmills including partnerships, cooperation, customers relationships and investments, and also the future perspectives of bioenergy business at these sawmills with the help of two resource-based approaches (resource-based view, natural-resource-based view). Data of the study comprised of secondary data (e.g. literature), and primary data which was attracted from interviews directed to sawmill managers (or equivalent persons in charge of decisions regarding bioenergy production at sawmill). While a literature review and the Delphi method with two questionnaires were utilized as the methods of the study. According to the results of the study, the most significant processes related to the value chain of bioenergy business are connected to raw material availability and procurement, and customer relationships management. In addition to raw material and services, the most significant resources included factory and machinery, personnel, collaboration, and geographic location. Long-term cooperation deals were clearly valued as the most significant form of collaboration, and especially in processes connected to raw material procurement. Study results also revealed that factors related to demand, subsidies and prices had highest importance in connection with sawmills´ future bioenergy business. However, majority of the respondents required that certain preconditions connected to the above-mentioned factors should be fulfilled before they will continue their bioenergy-related investments. Generally, the answers showed a wide divergence of opinions among the respondents which may refer to sawmills´ different emphases and expectations concerning bioenergy. In other words, bioenergy is still perceived as a quite novel and risky area of business at Finnish independent industrial sawmills. These results indicate that the massive expansion of bioenergy business at private sawmills in Finland is not a self-evident truth. The blocking barriers seem to be connected mainly to demand of bioenergy and money. Respondents´ answers disseminated a growing dissatisfaction towards the policies of authorities, which don´t treat equally sawmill-based bioenergy compared to other forms of bioenergy. This proposition was boiled down in a sawmill manager´s comment: “There is a lot of bioenergy available, if they just want to make use of it.” It seems that the positive effects of government´s policies favouring the renewables are not taking effect at private sawmills. However, as there anyway seems to be a lot of potential connected to emerging bioenergy business at Finnish independent industrial sawmills, there is also a clear need for more profound future studies over this topic.

Metabolism and Translocation of Aminophospholipids in Mammalian Cells

In this study we investigated the metabolism, i.e. remodeling and translocation, of the aminophospholipids phosphatidylserine (PS) and phosphatidylethanolamine (PE). A new method for introduction of exogenous PS and PE molecular species to cultured cells was developed, and combined with mass spectrometry it enabled more detailed follow-up of the metabolism of single molecular species than previously. We found that I) exogenous PS and PE molecular species can be efficiently introduced to cultured cells without compromising cell integrity, II) PS and PE molecular species are remodeled by several phospholipases displaying selectivity based on phopholipid head group and acyl chain composition, III) PS decarboxylase (PSD) and Kennedy pathways provide a different PE molecular species composition to the cellular PE pool. In addition, PE species produced by these pathways are translocated from the site of synthesis to other cell compartments depending on their acyl chain composition. The data obtained in the present study helps to understand cellular phospholipid metabolism in more depth. The data show that effective labeling of cultured cells by exogenous phospholipids does not compromise cell viability and may be used to disturb cellular phospholipid composition to study lipid homeostasis. Remodeling and translocation of PS and PE molecular species is highly selective. The developed method and mass- spectrometric techniques may be used in future studies to understand disturbances in lipid homeostasis for example in diabetes mellitus, thus opening doors to optional scientific approaches to study mechanisms behind pathologies related to lipid disturbances.

The Effect of Food-Related Lifestyle on the Choices of Consumers of Five Food Products

The purpose of this study was to find out whether food-related lifestyle guides and explains product evaluations, specifically, consumer perceptions and choice evaluations of five different food product categories: lettuce, mincemeat, savoury sauce, goat cheese, and pudding. The opinions of consumers who shop in neighbourhood stores were considered most valuable. This study applies means-end chain (MEC) theory, according to which products are seen as means by which consumers attain meaningful goals. The food-related lifestyle (FRL) instrument was created to study lifestyles that reflect these goals. Further, this research has adopted the view that the FRL functions as a script which guides consumer behaviour. Two research methods were used in this study. The first was the laddering interview, the primary aim of which was to gather information for formulating the questionnaire of the main study. The survey consisted of two separate questionnaires. The first was the FRL questionnaire modified for this study. The aim of the other questionnaire was to determine the choice criteria for buying five different categories of food products. Before these analyses could be made, several data modifications were made following MEC analysis procedures. Beside forming FRL dimensions by counting sum-scores from the FRL statements, factor analysis was run in order to elicit latent factors underlying the dimensions. The lifestyle factors found were adventurous, conscientious, enthusiastic, snacking, moderate, and uninvolved lifestyles. The association analyses were done separately for each choice of product as well as for each attribute-consequence linkage with a non-parametric Mann-Whitney U test. The testing variables were FRL dimensions and the FRL lifestyle factors. In addition, the relation between the attribute-consequence linkages and the demographic variables were analysed. Results from this study showed that the choice of product is sequential, so that consumers first categorize products into groups based on specific criteria like health or convenience. It was attested that the food-related lifestyles function as a script in food choice and that the FRL instrument can be used to predict consumer buying behaviour. Certain lifestyles were associated with the choice of each product category. The actual product choice within a product category then appeared to be a different matter. In addition, this study proposes a modification to the FRL instrument. The positive towards advertising FRL dimension was modified to examine many kinds of information search including the internet, TV, magazines, and other people. This new dimension, which was designated as being open to additional information, proved to be very robust and reliable in finding differences in consumer choice behaviour. Active additional information search was linked to adventurous and snacking food-related lifestyles. The results of this study support the previous knowledge that consumers expect to get many benefits simultaneously when they buy food products. This study brought detailed information about the benefits sought, the combination of benefits differing between products and between respondents. Household economy, pleasure and quality were emphasized with the choice of lettuce. Quality was the most significant benefit in choosing mincemeat, but health related benefits were often evaluated as well. The dominant benefits linked to savoury sauce were household economic benefits, expected pleasurable experiences, and a lift in self-respect. The choice of goat cheese appeared not to be an economic decision, self-respect, pleasure, and quality being included in the choice criteria. In choosing pudding, the respondents considered the well-being of family members, and indulged their family members or themselves.