Development of foreign direct investment in Finland

During 1990 to 2009, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI henceforth) in Finland has fluctuated greatly. This paper focused on analyzing the overall development and basic characteristics of Foreign Direct Investment in Finland, covering the period from 1990 to present. By comparing FDI in Finland with FDI in other countries, the picture of Finland’s FDI position in the world market is clearer. A lot of statistical data, tables and figures are used to describe the trend of Foreign Direct Investment in Finland. All the data used in this study were obtained from Statistics Finland, UNCTAD, OECD, World Bank and International Labor Office, Investment map website and etc. It is also found that there is a big, long-lasting and increasing imbalance of the inward FDI and outward FDI in Finland, the performance of outward FDI is stronger than the inward FDI in Finland. Finland’s position of FDI in the world is rather modest. And based on existing theories, I tried to analyze the factors that might determine the size of the inflows of FDI in Finland. The econometric model of my thesis is based on time series data ranging from 1990 to 2007. A Log linear regression model is adopted to analyze the impact of each variable. The regression results showed that Labor Cost and Investment in Education have a negative influence on the FDI inflows into Finland. Too high labor cost is the main impediment of FDI in Finland, explaining the relative small size of FDI inflows into Finland. GDP and Economy openness have a significant positive impact on the inflows of FDI into Finland; other variables do not emerge as significant factor in affecting the size of FDI inflows in Finland as expected. Meanwhile, the impacts of the most recent financial and economic crisis on FDI in the world and in Finland are discussed as well. FDI inflows worldwide and in Finland have suffered from a big setback from the 2008 global crisis. The economic crisis has undoubtedly significant negative influence on the FDI flows in the world and in Finland. Nevertheless, apart from the negative impact, the crisis itself also brings in chances for policymakers to implement more efficient policies in order to create a pro-business and pro-investment climate for the recovery of FDI inflows. . The correspondent policies and measures aiming to accelerate the recovery of the falling FDI were discussed correspondently.

Opportunity Exploration and Exploitation in International New Ventures: A Study of Relationships’ Involvement in Early Entrepreneurial and Internationalisation Events

International new ventures (INVs) are firms that engage very early after their foundation, if not immediately, in inter-national activities. INVs are a relatively recent phenomenon that deviates from earlier theories on international business. In order to develop our understanding of the emergence and early internationalisation of INVs three different research areas are built upon in the dissertation: International Entrepreneurship, Entrepreneurship and Networks. Net-works have been identified as important for INVs. However, there is a lack of more profound studies regarding the way different types of relationships influence INVs. Few studies are concerned with exploration and exploitation of opportunities and research on the benefits and drawbacks of entrepreneurs’ relationships for the international opportunity recognition process has been called for. By taking a network approach to opportunity exploration and exploitation, the dissertation develops our under-standing of how entrepreneurs’ relationships are involved in exploring and exploiting opportunities during an INV’s early and critical entrepreneurial and internationalisation events. The critical events are studied during three phases: pre-founding, start-up and early internationalisation. Since internationalisation is present from the very beginning, the early internationalisation phase may be parallel to both the pre-founding and the start-up phase. The dissertation contributes to international entrepreneur-ship research in mainly two ways. First, by offering a deep insight into which opportunity exploration and exploitation activities entrepreneurs’ relationships are involved. Second, by adding to our understanding of what the relationships contribute to these activities, mainly in the sense of benefits gained through the relationships. Studying micro firms in real time in their early development towards INVs is considered a unique contribution of the study as it offers valuable insights into pre-founding, start-up, pre-internationalisation as well as early internationalisation. The study shows that in order to understand the development of INVs, it is beneficial to go back to times when there was no thought of starting the INV. By focusing on the entrepreneurs’ background and relationships a more complete picture of the INV is gained. Relationships created at former workplaces or during school time might be the ones that develop business opportunities and set off internationalisation. By focusing on the pre-founding phase, the study also contributes to entrepreneurship literature as this stage has often been neglected or assumed obvious in earlier research. This dissertation shows that an important and mostly lengthy pre-founding phase precedes the decision to start a f rm. In addition, the integration of entrepreneurs’ real experiences with existing theory to develop a continuum for the strength of relationships allows for contributions to network theory.

Functional outcome and health-related quality of life after traumatic brain injury in the framework of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF)

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) affects people of all ages and is a cause of long-term disability. In recent years, the epidemiological patterns of TBI have been changing. TBI is a heterogeneous disorder with different forms of presentation and highly individual outcome regarding functioning and health-related quality of life (HRQoL). The meaning of disability differs from person to person based on the individual s personality, value system, past experience, and the purpose he or she sees in life. Understanding of all these viewpoints is needed in comprehensive rehabilitation. This study examines the epidemiology of TBI in Finland as well as functioning and HRQoL after TBI, and compares the subjective and objective assessments of outcome. The frame of reference is the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF). The subjects of Study I represent the population of Finnish TBI patients who experienced their first TBI between 1991 and 2005. The 55 Finnish subjects of Studies II and IV participated in the first wave of the international Quality of life after brain injury (QOLIBRI) validation study. The 795 subjects from six language areas of Study III formed the second wave of the QOLIBRI validation study. The average annual incidence of Finnish hospitalised TBI patients during the years 1991-2005 was 101:100 000 in patients who had TBI as the primary diagnosis and did not have a previous TBI in their medical history. Males (59.2%) were at considerably higher risk of getting a TBI than females. The most common external cause of the injury was falls in all age groups. The number of TBI patients ≥ 70 years of age increased by 59.4% while the number of inhabitants older than 70 years increased by 30.3% in the population of Finland during the same time period. The functioning of a sample of 55 persons with TBI was assessed by extracting information from the patients medical documents using the ICF checklist. The most common problems were found in the ICF components of Body Functions (b) and Activities and Participation (d). HRQoL was assessed with the QOLIBRI which showed the highest level of satisfaction on the Emotions, Physical Problems and Daily Life and Autonomy scales. The highest scores were obtained by the youngest participants and participants living independently without the help of other people, and by people who were working. The relationship between the functional outcome and HRQoL was not straightforward. The procedure of linking the QOLIBRI and the GOSE to the ICF showed that these two outcome measures cover the relevant domains of TBI patients functioning. The QOLIBRI provides the patients subjective view, while the GOSE summarises the objective elements of functioning. Our study indicates that there are certain domains of functioning that are not traditionally sufficiently documented but are important for the HRQoL of persons with TBI. This was the finding especially in the domains of interpersonal relationships, social and leisure activities, self, and the environment. Rehabilitation aims to optimize functioning and to minimize the experience of disability among people with health conditions, and it needs to be based on a comprehensive understanding of human functioning. As an integrative model, the ICF may serve as a frame of reference in achieving such an understanding.