Using tools to help cost estimating and pricing: examination of costing model's and cost breakdown's workability and their capability to cooperative work

Tämä diplomityö käsittelee työkaluja, jotka on suunniteltu kustannusten ennakointiin ja hinnan asetantaan. Aluksi on käyty läpi perinteisen ja toimintoperusteisen kustannuslaskennan perusteita. Näiden menetelmien välisiä eroja on tarkasteltu ja toimintoperusteisen kustannuslaskennan paremmin sopivuus nykypäivän yrityksille on perusteltu. Toisena käsitellään hinnoittelu. Hinnan merkitys, hinnoittelumenetelmät ja päätös lopullisesta hinnasta on käyty läpi. Hinnoittelun jälkeen esitellään kustannusjärjestelmät ja kustannusten arviointi. Nämä asiat todistavat, että tarkat kustannusarviot ovat elintärkeitä yritykselle. Tuotteen kustannusarviointi, hinnan asetanta ja tarjoaminen ovat erittäin merkityksellisiä asioita ottaen huomioon koko projektin elinkaaren ja tulevat tuotot. Nykyään on yleistä käyttää työkaluja kustannusarvioinnissa ja joskus myös hinnoittelussa. Työkalujen luotettavuus on tiedettävä, ennenkuin työkalut otetaan käyttöön. Myös työkalujen käyttäjät täytyy perehdyttää hyvin. Muuten yritys todennäköisesti kohtaa odottamattomia ja epämiellyttäviä yllätyksiä.

Public and private sector cooperative opportunities in the Finnish healthcare internationalization : views from the public sector’s perspective

Traditionally mostly publicly provided Finnish healthcare services are confronted today by the evident challenge of rising healthcare costs as the expenditure on health and social case has exceeded Finland’s national GDP growth significantly since the new millennium. While the opening of the traditional barriers through the EU’s new patient directive resulting in increasing international competition and the free flow of patients within the EU present opportunities for the Finnish healthcare services industry there are also several challenges for the existing healthcare system as proposed by the Ministry of Employment and the Economy in 2011. Due to the structure and nature of the current Finnish healthcare service system the greatest potential for internationalization is seen from a joint cooperation of the public and private sectors in an internationalization network for Finnish healthcare services. As its formation has recently also taken as a strategic initiative to be completed by the Ministry of Employment and the Economy and no earlier research exists on how this is seen in practice by the network actors, the purpose of this study is to examine the proposed solution of forming an internationalization network between the public and private sector actors in Finland in practice from the viewpoint of public sector actors. The research relied heavily on the reports by the Finnish Ministries in understanding the current situation of the Finnish healthcare services internationalization and its potential. Suitable theories were also used to build a more comprehensive view of the matter. The study applied a qualitative research approach on the explorative research problem. The data collection was achieved through expert interviews in two of the largest Finnish public healthcare service providers; the Turku and Helsinki Central University Hospitals. Expert interviews were considered as the most suitable method for data collection in order to create an in-depth understanding of the topic within the limitations of this thesis. In turn, two different public healthcare service providers were chosen to give a broader view of the field instead of focusing on a specific unit and also to allow a possible comparison between the two different organizations. The latter however was shown not to be suitable for the purposes of this study as the opinions of the respondents varied largely also within their own organizations. The conclusion is that while the actors agree on the evident internationalization of Finnish healthcare services, there are several large-scale structural challenges effectively preventing such activities while at the same time the opportunities within Finland vary, as there are several niches but no real large-scale advantages in the highly competitive industry. Interest towards cooperation between the sectors are seen especially in exploiting the advantages offered by the private sector in commercialization and marketization, yet however no clear views exist on how these activities should be governed or structured in the short-term as a larger reform of the entire Finnish healthcare service sector is needed in the long-term.

Raise All Ships: Cooperative Repository Strategies in a Boot-Strap Culture

Presentation at Open Repositories 2014, Helsinki, Finland, June 9-13, 2014

Cooperative strategy in emerging markets - analysis of interfirm r&d cooperation and performance in Russian manufacturing companies

Emerging markets have come to play a significant role in the world, not only due to their strong economic growth but because they have been able to foster an increasing number of innovative high technology oriented firms. However, as the markets continue to change and develop, there remain many companies in emerging markets that struggle with their competitiveness and innovativeness. To improve competitive capabilities, many scholars have come to favor interfirm cooperation, which is perceived to help companies access new knowledge and complementary resources and, by so doing, enables them to catch up quickly with Western competitors. Regardless of numerous attempts by strategic management scholars, the research field remains very fragmented and lacks understanding on how and when interfirm cooperation contributes to firm performance and competiveness in emerging markets. Furthermore, the reasons why interfirm R&D sometimes succeeds but fails at other times frequently remain unidentified. This thesis combines the extant literature on competitive and cooperative strategy, dynamic capabilities, and R&D cooperation while studying interfirm R&D relationships in and between Russian manufacturing companies. Employing primary survey data, the thesis presents numerous novel findings regarding the effect of R&D cooperation and different types of R&D partner on firms’ exploration and exploitation performance. Utilizing a competitive strategy framework enables these effects to be explained in more detail, and especially why interfirm cooperation, regardless of its potential, has had a modest effect on the general competitiveness of emerging market firms. This thesis contributes especially to the strategic management literature and presents a more holistic perspective on the usefulness of cooperative strategy in emerging markets. It provides a framework through which it is possible to assess the potential impacts of different R&D cooperation partners and to clarify the causal relationships between cooperation, performance, and long term competitiveness.

Grass-endophyte coevolution and ploidy levels in fescues

ABSTRACT Fescues consist of wild and cultivated grasses that have adapted to a wide range of environmental conditions. They are an excellent model species for evolutionary ecology studies that investigate symbiosis and polyploidization and their effects on plant performance. First, they are frequently infected with symbiotic endophytic fungi known to affect a plant’s ability to cope with biotic and abiotic environmental factors. Second, fescue species have been reported to have substantial intraspecific variation in their ploidy level and morphology. In my thesis, I examined large-scale generalizations for frequency of polyploidy and endophyte infections and their effects on plant morphology. As a model species, I selected red (Festuca rubra) and viviparous sheep’s (F. vivipara) fescues. They are closely related, but they differ in terms of distribution and endophyte infection frequency. I investigated the biogeographic pattern and population biology of 29 red and 12 viviparous sheep’s fescue populations across ≈300 latitudes in Europe (400-690 N). To examine plant ploidy levels, I implemented time- and cost-efficient plate-based high throughput flow cytometric analysis. This efficient procedure enabled me to analyze over 1000 red fescue individuals. I found three ploidy levels among them: overall 84 %, 9 % and 7 % of the red fescue plants were hexaploid, tetraploid and octoploid, respectively. However, all viviparous sheep’s fescue plants were tetraploid. Ploidy level of red fescue appeared to some extent follow gradients in latitude and primary production as suggested by previous studies, but these results could be explained better by taking the sampling design and local adaptation into account. Three Spanish populations were mostly tetraploids and one high elevation population in northernmost Finland (Halti) was octoploid, while most other populations (25 sites) were dominated by hexaploids. Endophyte infection frequencies of wild fescue populations varied from 0 to 81 % in red fescue populations and from 0 to 30 % in viviparous sheep’s fescue populations. No gradients with latitude or primary production of the sites were detected. As taxonomy of red fescues is somewhat unclear, I also studied morphology, ploidy variation and endophyte status of proposed subspecies of European red fescues. Contrary to previous literature, different ploidy levels occurred in the same subspecies. In addition to wild fescues, I also used two agronomically important cultivars of meadow and tall fescue (Schedonorus phoenix and S. pratensis). As grass-legume mixtures have an agronomic advantage over monocultures in meadows, I carried out a mixture/competition experiment with fescues and red clover to find that species composition, nutrient availability and endophyte status together determined the total biomass yield that was higher in mixtures compared to monocultures. The results of this thesis demonstrate the importance of local biotic and abiotic factors such as grazing gradients and habitat types, rather than suggested general global geographical or environmental factors on grass polyploidization or its association with symbiotic endophytic fungi. I conclude that variation in endophyte infection frequencies and ploidy levels of wild fescues support the geographic mosaic theory of coevolution. Historical incidents, e.g., glaciation and present local factors, rather than ploidy or endophyte status, determine fescue morphology.

Open Access in Times of Knowledge Unlatched : Cooperative Action for Books and Journals

Presentation at the seminar "Publishers and Funders for OA in Finland", Helsinki, May 24, 2016