Neoarchean sanukitoid series in the Karelian Province, Finland

Sanukitoid series intrusions can be found throughout the Archean Karelian Province of the Fennoscandian shield. All sanukitoids share the same controversial elemental characteristics: they have high content of incompatible elements such as K, Ba, and Sr as well as high content of the compatible elements Mg, Cr, and Ni, and high Mg#. This composition is explained by an enriched mantle wedge origin in a Neoarchean subduction setting. This study concentrates on sanukitoid intrusions and tonalite-trondhjemite-granodiorite series (TTGs) from Finnish part of the Karelian Province. The collected rock samples have been studied in the field and under microscope as well as for their whole-rock (including isotopes) and mineral compositions. The new data together with previously published analyses help us to better understand the petrogenesis, tectonic setting and reworking of the Archean rock units. TTGs from the Karelian Province form a voluminous series of granitoids and reworked migmatites. This study divides TTG series into two subgroups based on their elemental composition: low-HREE (heavy rare earth element) TTGs and high-HREE TTGs indicating pressure differences in their source. Sanukitoid series is a minor, divergent group of intrusions. These intrusions are variable sized, and the texture varies from even-grained to K-feldspar porphyritic. The elemental composition differentiates sanukitoids from more voluminous TTG groups, the SiO2 in sanukitoids varies to include series of gabbro, diorite, and granodiorite. U Pb age determinations from sanukitoid series show temporally limited emplacement between ~ 2745 2715 Ma after the main crust forming period in the area. Hafnium, neodymium, common lead, and oxygene isotopes indicate well homogenized characteristics. Recycled crust has made a variable, yet minor, contribution to sanukitoids, as evidenced by oxygene isotopes and inherited zircon cores. A proposed tectonic setting for the formation of the sanukitoid series is slab breakoff of oceanic lithosphere in subduction setting, with sanukitoids deriving from an enriched mantle wedge. The proposed setting explains some of the peculiar features of sanukitoids, such as their temporally limited occurrence and controversial elemental composition. Sanukitoids would occur after cessation of the regional growth of Archean crust, and they could be derived from mantle wedge previously enriched by melts and fluids from oceanic crust and sediments. A subsequent event during the Paleoproterozoic Svecofennian orogeny at ~1.9 Ga affected the appearance and microstructures of the rocks as well as caused redistribution of lead between minerals and whole rock. However, the deformation was not able to obliterate the original geochemical characteristics of these sanukitoids.

The Nature of Learning about Customers in a Customer Service Setting - A Study of Frontline Contact Persons

The starting point of this thesis is the notion that in order for organisations to understand what customers value and how customers experience service, they need to learn about customers. The first and perhaps most important link in an organisation-wide learning process directed at customers is the frontline contact person. Service- and sales organisations can only learn about customers if the individual frontline contact persons learn about customers. Even though it is commonly recognised that learning about customers is the basis for an organisation’s success, few contributions within marketing investigate the fundamental nature of the phenomenon as it occurs in everyday customer service. Thus, what learning about customers is and how it takes place in a customer-service setting is an issue that is neglected in marketing research. In order to explore these questions, this thesis presents a socio-cultural approach to understanding learning about customers. Hence, instead of considering learning equal to cognitive processes in the mind of the frontline contact person or learning as equal to organisational information processing, the interactive, communication-based, socio-cultural aspect of learning about customers is brought to the fore. Consequently, the theoretical basis of the study can be found both in socio-cultural and practice-oriented lines of reasoning, as well as in the fields of service- and relationship marketing. As it is argued that learning about customers is an integrated part of everyday practices, it is also clear that it should be studied in a naturalistic and holistic way as it occurs in a customer-service setting. This calls for an ethnographic research approach, which involves direct, first-hand experience of the research setting during an extended period of time. Hence, the empirical study employs participant observations, informal discussions and interviews among car salespersons and service advisors at a car retailing company. Finally, as a synthesis of theoretically and empirically gained understanding, a set of concepts are developed and they are integrated into a socio-cultural model of learning about customers.

Mentoring in an Entrepreneurial Setting - The Mentor's Perspective

This paper discusses mentoring from the mentors' point of view in an entrepreneurial setting. The aim of the paper is to present why mentoring can be considered important for entrepreneurs who are mentors and under what circumstances mentoring is valuable for the mentor. A pilot mentorprogramme was conducted among women entrepreneurs during 1998. A study was made in order to examine the mentors’ perception of the programme. Firstly mentoring and entrepreneurship in Finland are discussed briefly. Secondly the results of the study are presented. The results of the study show that mentoring can be valuable for the mentors both on a vocational and a personal level. However, it is important to choose the mentees of the programme on a rather strict basis. The results demonstrate a need to be careful in choosing mentees.