Vesiputkikattilan paineenalaisten osien lujuuslaskentaohjelman kehitys

Työssä kehitetään standardin EN 12952 mukaisille vesiputkikattiloiden paineenalaisille osille lujuuslaskentaohjelma. Lisäksi perehdytään putkisto-osien mitoituksen lujuusopilliseen pohjaan ja tarkastellaan vastaako standardin mitoitus sitä. Standardin EN 13480 mukaisille metallisille teollisuusputkistoille on kohdeyrityksellä käytössään mitoitusohjelma. Näin ollen työssä vertaillaan standardin EN 12952 ja EN 13480 mukaisia putkisto-osien mitoituksia. Vertailun perusteella selvitetään mitkä putkistokomponentit voidaan mitoittaa olemassa olevalla ohjelmalla. Joidenkin putkisto-osien mitoitus on standardeissa yhtenevä. Suunnittelujännitys määritetään kuitenkin eri tavalla kyseisissä standardeissa. Tämän takia kaikki yrityksen tarvitsemat putkistokomponentit ovat kirjattu kehitettyyn laskentaohjelmaan. Koska putkistokomponenttien mitoitus on yhtenevä monelta osin kyseisissä standardeissa, vertaillaan ohjelmien antamia tuloksia toisiinsa. Näin voidaan todeta kehitetty laskentaohjelma toimivaksi.

Fundraising and investor relations in social enterprise: Marketing your way out of the pioneer gap in African off-grid renewable energy

Social enterprises apply the best of business for the pursuit of social or environmental mission while also generating revenues. Globally, nearly 1,3 billion people lack access to electricity, as well as another billion having access to only low quality and infrequent electricity. Off-grid renewable energy, like solar, will increasingly have a key role in the solution of the energy access issue. The pioneer gap in off-grid renewable energy consists of financing (or funding) gaps and capacity gaps, to do with both the early stage of the enterprises in question, as well as the early stage of the whole industry. The gaps are emphasised by specific characteristics of off-grid renewable energy business models and the requirements of operating in bottom-of-the-pyramid markets. The marketing perspective to fundraising is chosen to uncover the possible role enterprises themselves have in bridging the pioneer gap. The purpose of this thesis is to study how social enterprises operating in off-grid renewable energy in Africa utilise marketing activities in their investor relations in bridging the pioneer gap. This main research question is divided into the following sub-questions:  How does the pioneer gap affect fundraising for these enterprises?  How are the funding needs for these enterprises characterised?  How do these enterprises build trust in their investor relations? The theoretic framework is built on relationship marketing and investor relations, with an emphasis on creation of trust. The research is conducted as a thematical case study. Primary data is gathered via semi-structured interviews with six solar energy companies and two accelerators. According to the findings, the main components affecting trust-creation are diminished information asymmetry and perceived risk, mission alignment as well as a personal fit or relationship with the investor. Therefore, an enterprise can utilise e.g. the following marketing activities in their investor relations to bridge the pioneer gap: ensuring investor material, the enterprise story and presenting of them is clear, concise and complete to “package” the enterprise as an investment; taking investor needs and motivations into account as well as utilising existing investors as ambassadors.

Co-operative acquisitions – the contextual factors and challenges for co-operatives when acquiring an investorowned firm

Mergers and acquisitions (M&As) have been seen as an important strategy in helping organizations to grow, gain access to new markets and resources, increase efficiency, and enable competitiveness in order to fulfil the purpose of the organization. These aspects have made M&As of central interest to academic literature. In co-operative studies mergers especially have been widely studied. The common focus of these studies is that M&As have taken place between organizations of the same form. It is noteworthy that there is a scarcity of literature concerning acquisitions between different organizational types. Moreover, M&As have not been evaluated concerning the organization’s ownership and purpose, which may be significant integration factors. The overall objective of this study is to describe and understand why co-operative organizations use acquisition as a strategic alternative. In more detail – and in order to develop understanding of the background ideals affecting the acquisition decision and the differences of organization ideals in the integration process – this study is based on a qualitative case study approach. By combining interview data gathered from the OPPohjola Group and associating the observations from various streams of research on acquisitions and management with the purpose of co-operation, and examining these issues further, the thesis contributes to the elaboration of theory in the field of the strategic management of co-operatives. The dissertation consists of two parts. The first part introduces the research topic, methods and publications, as well as discussing the overall outcomes. The second part consists of four publications that address the research questions from different viewpoints. The analyses of this dissertation indicate that, from the strategic point of view, the acquisition of an investor-owned firm by a co-operative organization may create competitive advantage for the co-operative. On the other hand, there are differences in and following from the purpose of acquirer and the acquiree that may, in such case, pose several challenges to the integration process.