Quality potential of DIP and hardwood CTMP based raw materials in woodcontaining printing paper

The objective of the thesis was to define the quality potential of DIP and hardwood CTMP based raw material furnish for a printing paper production and to define the end product's pulp-based boundary conditions especially when thinking of Chinese markets. Although the Chinese paper industry expands rapidly, the production of some paper grades is still exiguous. Especially the softwood resources are limited in Asia, thus the purpose of the thesis was to find out the possibilities to produce printing paper in China from local raw materials. Bleached CTMP can be produced, for example, from fast-growing hardwood species like eucalyptus and poplar. Therefore in this thesis it was examined if good quality printing paper is possible to produce by using deinked pulp and hardwood CTMP based furnish. In the first section of experimental part, various deinked pulps and chemithermomechanical pulps were compared. The deinked pulps were from China, Central Europe and Finland. Central European was made for magazine papers, and the Chinese as well as the Finnish pulps were made for newsprints. Two of the BCTMPs were from China and those both were made from poplar, whereas one BCTMP was made from eucalyptus in a pilot plant. There were significant differences especially between BCTMPs and their paper properties. In the second section of experimental part, the deinked pulp and eucalyptus BCTMP were blended to produce handsheets. The results show that producing the highest quality printing paper would be difficult from these raw materials. Deinked pulp affected especially the strength and optical properties as well as calender blackening. The BCTMP was found to have effects mostly on the smoothness, strength and optical properties as well as calender blackening.

Facing the Hydra alone: three case studies

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

Urvilja : när livet är människans hem

This caring science study explores ‘Will’ as an ontological concept. The aim is to deepen the understanding of the essence of Will, and to highlight the manifestations of Will and how Will becomes evident in clinical caring. Will is ontological and universal. Will is connected with the essence of the human being, and manifests in the human being as will. The approach is inspired by Gadamer’s philosophical hermeneutics. The study’s horizon of understanding consists of Eriksson’s caritative theory and the caring science-tradition. The study’s research questions are as follows: What is the essence of Will? What are its manifestations? How does Will become evident in clinical caring? The hermeneutic interpretative movement is initiated by the material, which consists of the philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer’s texts, letters from experts and dictionaries. Meaning-bearing substance fragments in the material are intertwined with the original horizon of understanding through hermeneutical reading, hermeneutical interpretation and concept analysis in an oscillating interpretive movement. An abstraction occurs when the new substance is illuminated by the caring science ontology. The oscillating interpretive movement results in a reinterpreted horizon of understanding, which in turn provides the findings of the study. The reinterpreted horizon of understanding is presented in the form of a theoretical model and abductive theses. The essence of Will is represented in the theoretical model as the lifeaffirming and the loving force. Life and love are Will’s origin and destination. Will’s manifestations (its diversity) hold conditions and chance occurrences that obstruct Will. Hence the will of the human being does not necessarily appear in a way that is in tune with ontological Will. Will represents the lifeblood of ethos, and in this lifeblood love flows. Will acts by virtue of itself, and gives ethos its force. Will manifests in a way that ethos can affirm. When Will is affected by caring its force is active in the service of life and love. Being a caregiver entails acting as a world-eye, which means recognizing Will in diversity. For caregivers, being a world-eye means observing fragments of Will as it manifests in its original form in the real reality, and acting as the mirror of life. The human being who is able to perceive the fundamental values of life and to live according to these has understood the laws of life and entered upon the human calling. The human being then lives according to the fundamental order and has found a home in life.

Evolution of Ba and Role of Absorptive Capacity in Collaboration between MNCs and Chinese Universities in China

During the recent years, collaboration with Chinese universities has aroused growing interest among multinational companies (MNCs). Cross-cultural university-industry (U-I) collaboration creates various challenges in collaborative knowledge creation and innovation due to the differences e.g. between university and company motivation, objectives and activities. Also different values, norms, and means of actions result often in collisions and misunderstandings. This thesis examines the establishment of the relationships and the evolution of the collaboration between MNCs and Chinese universities. Empirical findings underscore that the partners in collaboration are required to possess research interest as well as capability to acquire, assimilate and exploit new external knowledge. Time and communication have a critical role in the evolution of the collaboration. In China the personal relationships, guanxi, play an important role. Collaborative knowledge creation requires a platform, Ba, which enables the creation of common understanding, commitment, trust and mutual respect. Empirical data has been collected through interviewing company experts and academe of Chinese universities from ICT and forest industries as well as attending panel discussions and meetings with the experts from the field of study.

Generic and professional caring in a Chinese setting: an ethnopraphic study

The objective of the present study is to describe the cultural care practices, meanings, values and beliefs which form the basis of caring in a Chinese context. The research has its starting point in a caring science perspective and a qualitative research approach with interpretative ethnography as methodological guideline. The theoretical perspective is formed by elements of the theory of caritative caring, developed by Eriksson, and the theory of Culture Care Diversity and Universality, developed by Leininger. Previous research of suffering, culture and caring is described and also a presentation of actual transcultural nursing research as well as a presentation of the social structure dimensions of Chinese culture is included in the theoretical background. The empirical part includes patients and relatives, nurses and Hu Gongs as informants. The data collected are analysed based on Geertz’s idea of forming “thick descriptions” through examining the “what, how and why” of people’s actions. The findings show that the family has a prominent position in Chinese caring practices. The patient plays an unobtrusive role and a mutual dependence between the patient and the family members is evident. The professional nursing care is an extended act which includes the family in the caring relationship. The care practices of the Chinese nurse are characterized by great professional nursing skills. Suffering is described by the informants as being caused by disease, pain and social circumstances. “Social suffering” is described as worse than physical or mental suffering. Culturally competent and congruent care is a prerequisite for avoiding cultural pain, imposition and blindness when caring for the suffering human being. The findings of the present study necessitate a broadening in caring theory to include the family in the caring relationship. A further conclusion is that a broadening in our perception and understanding of culture would promote the delivery of culturally competent and congruent care. Suffering need to be seen as enclosed in cultural patterns of how it is expressed, interpreted, understood and relieved. Care and caring need to be seen as embedded in culture and the care practices values and beliefs have to be congruent with the cultural patterns where the care is provided.

Russia, China, India Foresight for Small and Medium size Enterprises in Uusimaa : Changes forecast in the Russian, Chinese and Indian operating environments from the viewpoint of small and middle-sized enterprises in Uusimaa

The report describes those factors of the future that are related to the growth and needs of Russia, China, and India and that may provide significant internationalisation potential for Uusimaa companies. The report examines the emerging trends and market-entry challenges for each country separately. Additionally, it evaluates the training needs of Uusimaa companies in terms of the current offerings available for education on topics related to Russia, China, and India. The report was created via the Delphi method: experts were interviewed, and both Trendwiki material and the latest literature were used to create a summary of experts’ views, statements, and reasons behind recent developments. This summary of views was sent back to the experts with the objective of reaching consensus synthesising the differing views or, at least, of providing argumentation for the various alternative lines of development. In addition to a number of outside experts and business leaders, all heads of Finpro’s Finland Trade Centers participated in the initial interviews. The summary was commented upon by all Finpro consultants and analysts for Russia, China, and India, with each focusing on his or her own area of expertise. The literature used consisted of reports, listed for each country, and an extensive selection of the most recent newspaper articles. The report was created in January-April 2010. On 22 April 2010 its results were reviewed at the final report presentation in cooperation with the Uusimaa ELY Centre.

Emotional intelligence and multicultural project leadership in Finnish-Chinese MNC context

The main goal of this thesis was to examine how the emotional intelligence skills and multicultural project leadership style of a project manager interrelate and affect the success of a project. The research methods used are literature review in theoretical part of the thesis and semi-structured interviews in empirical part of the thesis. This study is a single case study i.e. one case company was selected to be the secondary level of analysis. Within the case company, four project managers were selected as research units to form the primary level of analysis. Literature review formed the basis for the empirical research and the interview questions were derived from the literature. Findings from the interviews were mirrored against the literature review findings, based on which both conclusions and generalisations could be made. Thus, both deductive and inductive methods were utilised to get more complete picture about the research topic. In the first part of the literature review the general leadership theories and the project leadership terminology are introduced as a background for the concept of emotional intelligence and the integrated leadership model. Emotional intelligence and its interrelation to different leadership concepts are discussed during the literature review. Chinese cultural aspects affecting the way of making business, and the multicultural leadership styles of the Finnish project managers are introduced in the following part of the literature review. It was found that the most successfully used multicultural leadership styles in Finnish-Chinese context are synergistic and polycentric, and these require emotional intelligence skills. In the empirical part on this thesis the findings from the semi-structured interviews are introduced, discussed and analysed. Interviews were done in private meeting rooms, and they were recorded and transcripted to add reliability and validity. Although the sample was only four project managers, the results show that the sample is quite saturated as the responses to several questions followed the same pattern. It was found that Finnish project managers in the case company are democratic and take cultural differences into account in their project leadership. Both synergistic and polycentric leadership styles are used with Chinese team members. Emotional intelligence capabilities and the emphasis of those differ a bit depending on the interviewee. Though, the results show that EI skills and the multicultural project leadership style used in Chinese context are interrelated. The findings from the literature review and the empirical research in this thesis are similar. Though, there is need for further research as the sample was small, and this thesis is a single case study. It is recommendable to make a multi-company study with larger sample of project managers. Also multi-industry perspective is recommendable for further research.

Target audience and message alignment for integrated marketing communication of luxury products: entering the Chinese market

The purpose of this study is to identify opportunities to match marketing communication message strategies with the target audience characteristics in the Chinese luxury market entry context. Therefore, consumer behaviour and psychographic marketing segmentation fields are being reviewed in a holistic view in order to identify the similarities and connection points. Through the analysis of the messages in advertisements placed in a certain luxury and fine living magazine, message creation strategies are being anticipated.

Post-transaction brand and model line-up integration in the automotive industry: Case studies of European companies as target of acquisitions by Chinese and Indian multinational corporations

Corporations practice company acquisitions in order to create shareholder’s value. During the last few decades, the companies in emerging markets have become active in the acquisition business. During the last decade, large and significant acquisitions have occurred especially in automotive industry. While domestic markets have become too competitive and companies are lacking required capabilities, they seek possibilities to expand into Western markets by attaining valuable assets through acquisitions of developed country corporations. This study discusses the issues and characteristics of these acquisitions through case studies. The purpose of this study was to identify the acquisition motives and strategies for post-transaction brand and product integration as well as analyze the effect of the motives to the integration strategy. The cases chosen for the research were Chinese Geely acquiring Swedish Volvo in 2010 and Indian Tata Motors buying British Jaguar Land Rover in 2008. The main topics were chosen according to their significance for companies in automotive industry as well as those are most visible parts for consumers. The study is based on qualitative case study methods, analyzing secondary data from academic papers and news articles as well as companies’ own announcements e.g. stock exchange and press releases. The study finds that the companies in the cases mainly possessed asset-seeking and market-seeking motives. In addition, the findings refer to rather minimal post-acquisition brand and product integration strategies. Mainly the parent companies left the target company autonomous to make their own business strategies and decisions. The most noticeable integrations were in the product development and production processes. Through restructuring the product architectures, the companies were able to share components and technology between product families and brands, which results in cutting down costs and in increase of profitability and efficiency. In the Geely- Volvo case, the strategy focused more on component sharing and product development know-how, whereas in Tata Motors-Jaguar Land Rover case, the main actions were to cut down costs through component sharing and combine production and distribution networks especially in Asian markets. However, it was evident that in both cases the integration and technology sharing were executed cautiously to prevent on harming the valuable image of the luxury brand. This study has concluded that the asset-seeking motives have significant influence on the posttransaction brand and model line-up integration strategies. By taking a cautious approach in acquiring assets, such as luxury brand, the companies in the cases have implemented a successful post-acquisition strategy and managed to create value for the shareholders at least in short-term. Yritykset harjoittavat yritysostoja luodakseen osakkeenomistajille lisäarvoa. Viimeisten muutamien vuosikymmenien aikana yritykset kehittyvissä maissa ovat myös aktivoituneet yritysostoissa. Viimeisen vuosikymmenen aikana erityisesti autoteollisuudessa on esiintynyt suuria ja merkittäviä yritysostoja. Koska kilpailu kotimaan markkinoilla on kiristynyt ja yritykset ovat vailla vaadittavia valmiuksia, ne etsivät mahdollisuuksiaan laajentaa länsimaisiin markkinoihin hankkimalla arvokkaita etuja kehittyneiden maiden yrityksistä yritysostojen avulla. Tämä tutkimus pohtii näiden yritysostojen olennaisia kysymyksiä ja ominaisuuksia casetutkimuksien kautta. Tutkimuksen tarkoitus oli tunnistaa sekä yritysostojen motiiveja ja brändi- ja mallisto-integraation strategioita että analysoida kyseisten motiivien vaikutusta integraatiostrategiaan. Tapaus-tutkimuksiksi valittiin kiinalaisen Geelyn yritysosto ruotsalaisesta Volvosta vuonna 2010 ja intialaisen Tata Motorsin yritysosto englantilaisesta Jaguar Land Roverista vuonna 2008. Tutkimus on kvalitatiivinen case-tutkimus ja siinä analysoidaan toissijaista tietoa sekä akateemisten ja uutisartikkeleiden että yritysten omien ilmoitusten, kuten pörssi- ja lehdistötiedotteiden, kautta. Tutkimuksen tulokset osoittavat, että tutkittujen yritysten toiminnat perustuivat motiiveihin, joita ajoivat etujen and uusien markkinoiden tarve. Sen lisäksi tutkimustulokset osoittivat, että yritysoston jälkeinen brändi- ja mallisto-integraatio pidettiin minimaalisena. Pääasiallisesti kohdeyrityksille jätettiin autonomia tehdä omat liikkeenjohdolliset päätökset yritysstrategioihin liittyen. Huomattavimmat integraatiot koskivat tuotekehityksellisiä ja tuotannollisia prosesseja. Kehittämällä uudelleen tuotearkkitehtuureja, yritykset pystyivät jakamaan komponentteja ja teknologiaa tuoteperheiden ja brändien välillä. Tämä mahdollisti kustannusleikkauksia sekä kannattavuuden ja tehokkuuden parantamista. Geely-Volvo –tapauksessa integraatiostrategia keskittyi komponenttien jakamiseen yhteisten tuotearkkitehtuurien avulla ja tuotekehityksen ammattitaitoon, kun taas Tata Motors-JLR –tapauksessa päätoiminnat olivat kustannuksien leikkaus sekä tuotannon ja jakeluverkoston yhdistäminen erityisesti Aasian maissa. Yhteistä yrityskaupoissa oli, että brändi- ja mallisto-integraatio sekä teknologian jakaminen suoritettiin varoen ehkäistäkseen arvokkaiden luksus-brändien tuotekuvan vahingoittamista. Tutkimuksen lopputulokset osoittavat, että yrityskaupan motiiveilla on huomattava vaikutus brändija mallisto-integraation strategiaan. Toteuttamalla varovaista lähestymistapaa luksus-brändin hankinnassa ja integraatiossa, yritykset ovat onnistuneet luomaan lisäarvoa osakkeenomistajille vähintään lyhyellä aikavälillä.