Kilpailuetu ja liiketoiminnan kehittäminen – cash&carry-ketju muuttuvassa ympäristössä

Suomalaiset yritykset ovat lähteneet hakemaan kasvua omille liiketoiminnoilleen, ja Baltian markkina-alue on ollut monille yrityksille ensimmäinen askel kansainvälisille liiketoiminnoille. Erityisesti tukkukauppatoimiala on ollut kasvussa Baltian alueella. Tässä työssä on käsitelty yhtä tukkukaupan muotoa, noutotukkukauppaa, Virossa toimivan pääosaltaan suomalaisomisteisen cash&carry-ketjun näkökulmasta. Ensimmäinen ketjun toimipiste perustettiin jo 1990-luvun alussa lähes heti Viron itsenäistymisen jälkeen. Toukokuussa 2005 perustetaan ketjun kahdeksas toimipiste. Jotta yritykset pärjäisivät kilpailussa, on niiden investoitava eri tavoin toimintaansa, että liiketoiminta jatkuisi ja asema kilpailutilanteessa säilyisi. Tehokkaat markkinointi- ja jakelukanavaratkaisut ovat yritysten intresseissä, koska niillä yritykset pystyvät lisäämään usein kontrollia markkinoista. Jokainen yritys pyrkii kehittämään liiketoimintaansa, ja sillä pyritään saavuttamaan kilpailuetuja tai säilyttämään nykyinen kilpailuetu. Toiminnan kehittäminen vaatii jatkuvaa liiketoimintaympäristön seurantaa, jotta aukenevat mahdollisuudet pystyttäisiin hyödyntämään ja tekemään liiketoiminnalle kannattavia ratkaisuja.

International cash management and how to optimize it in China, Case: Stora Enso Oyj School of Business

The aim of this study was to analyze and give proposals for the case-company how to optimize cash management in China. The purpose of the theoretical part was to enlighten the liquidity and cash management practices in an international environment and apply these into the different, regulated environment of China. In the theoretical part both domestic and international literature, articles and journals were used. The results of the empirical part are based on the in-formation from the case-company and its associates. Information was gathered mainly via internal questionnaire which was sent to the case com¬pany's subsidiaries involved with the study. Mainly company-internal factors were studied. The main result of the study implies that China is a challenging environment to optimize cash management, as the structures used elsewhere can not be applied to China as such. The study clarified the picture of the current cash management situation within the case company's China units. Can be seen, that by optimizing their cash management it is possible to especially increase control, and interest earnings and utilize internal liquidity more efficiently.

Determinants of cash holdings in Finnish industrial sector: measuring the impact of financial crisis 2007- 2010

This thesis studies cash and short term investments to net assets ratio of Finnish industrial companies during financial crisis, and how different firm specific and macro economical variables affect cash and short term investments. The data consists of quarter level interim reports. Regression analysis was used to find out the effects of different variables. Regression models were formed based on previous studies on cash holdings. It was found that firms studied held more cash during financial crisis than before it. Cash and short-term investments acted as substitute of net working capital. Leverage had a positive and significant relationship to cash and short term investment ratio. It was also found out that firms have a target cash and short term investments ratio.

Development of project cash flow forecasting process

Process management refers to improving the key functions of a company. The main functions of the case company - project management, procurement, finance, and human resource - use their own separate systems. The case company is in the process of changing its software. Different functions will use the same system in the future. This software change causes changes in some of the company’s processes. Project cash flow forecasting process is one of the changing processes. Cash flow forecasting ensures the sufficiency of money and prepares for possible changes in the future. This will help to ensure the company’s viability. The purpose of the research is to describe a new project cash flow forecasting process. In addition, the aim is to analyze the impacts of the process change, with regard to the project control department’s workload and resources through the process measurement, and how the impacts take the department’s future operations into account. The research is based on process management. Processes, their descriptions, and the way the process management uses the information, are discussed in the theory part of this research. The theory part is based on literature and articles. Project cash flow and forecasting-related benefits are also discussed. After this, the project cash flow forecasting as-is and to-be processes are described by utilizing information, obtained from the theoretical part, as well as the know-how of the project control department’s personnel. Written descriptions and cross-functional flowcharts are used for descriptions. Process measurement is based on interviews with the personnel – mainly cost controllers and department managers. The process change and the integration of two processes will allow work time for other things, for example, analysis of costs. In addition to the quality of the cash flow information will improve compared to the as-is process. Analyzing the department’s other main processes, department’s roles, and their responsibilities should be checked and redesigned. This way, there will be an opportunity to achieve the best possible efficiency and cost savings.