Contextuality in SME Ownership – Studies on Owner-managers’ Ownership Behavior

The purpose of this study is to deepen the understanding of the meaning of ownership in the context of small and medium sized businesses. The research on ownership has increased and widened during the last few years. Ownership is treated increasingly as a psychological phenomenon and it has been noticed that it is common for SME ownermanagers to be mentally linked to their firms. Previous research is suggesting that the central role of an owner-manager in an SME is specifying the concept of SMEs, and that ownership is creating a great heterogeneity within SMEs. This study suggests that there is a variation whitin ownership behaviour of small business owners, and the variation is not totally random or irrational, but following the general patterns of business ownership and of doing business on an SME level. This study is a concept analytical in nature and it builds on the theoretical clarification of the concept of ownership. The theoretical consideration concludes with proposing a definition of ownership: Ownership means a subject’s relatively sustaining position of control in regard to an object. The empirical part of this study consists of five articles, out of which one is conceptual and four are empirical in nature. The notion of contextuality of ownership and the notions of SME characteristics form the basic premise of this study and the theoretical basis for the publications. From the owner-managers point of view, ownership relates the owner also to his or her environment and therefore also to the valuations of the owner-managers. This means that all the dimensions are not equally valued, but certain dimensions in his or her ownership are more important. The presented empirical research is supporting the claim that there is a variation whitin ownership behaviour of small business owners. When bringing the definition of ownership onto a personal and psychological level and into the SME context, it was noticed that ownership is not only a closed system phenomenon occurring between the owner and object owned, but it is also elementarily connected to the environment. Ownership - along with the psychological side of it - is a contextual phenomenon where the fundamental factor is the relatively sustaining position of control with regard to an object. As a contribution of the study, this definition is bringing a new point of view to the discussion on SMEs, SME strategic behaviour and family businesses. The study concludes with pointing out directions for future research.

Functional studies on bacterial nucleotide-regulated inorganic pyrophosphatases

CBS domains are ~60 amino acid tandemly repeated regulatory modules forming a widely distributed domain superfamily. Found in thousands of proteins from all kingdoms of life, CBS domains have adopted a variety of functions during evolution, one of which is regulation of enzyme activity through binding of adenylate-containing compounds in a hydrophobic cavity. Mutations in human CBS domain-containing proteins cause hereditary diseases. Inorganic pyrophosphatases (PPases) are ubiquitous enzymes, which pull pyrophosphate (PPi) producing reactions forward by hydrolyzing PPi into phosphate. Of the two nonhomologous soluble PPases, dimeric family II PPases, belonging to the DHH family of phosphoesterases, require a transition metal and magnesium for maximal activity. A quarter of the almost 500 family II PPases, found in bacteria and archaea, contain a 120-250 amino acid N-terminal insertion, comprised of two CBS domains separated in sequence by a DRTGG domain. These enzymes are thus named CBS-PPases. The function of the DRTGG domain in proteins is unknown. The aim of this PhD thesis was to elucidate the structural and functional differences of CBS-PPases in comparison to family II PPases lacking the regulatory insert. To this end, we expressed, purified and characterized the CBS-PPases from Clostridium perfringens (cpCBS-PPase) and Moorella thermoacetica (mtCBS-PPase), the latter lacking a DRTGG domain. Both enzymes are homodimers in solution and display maximal activity against PPi in the presence of Co2+ and Mg2+. Uniquely, the DRTGG domain was found to enable tripolyphosphate hydrolysis at rates similar to that of PPi. Additionally, we found that AMP and ADP inhibit, while ATP and AP4A activate CBSPPases, thus enabling regulation in response to changes in cellular energy status. We then observed substrate- and nucleotide-induced conformational transitions in mtCBS-PPase and found that the enzyme exists in two differentially active conformations, interconverted through substrate binding and resulting in a 2.5-fold enzyme activation. AMP binding was shown to produce an alternate conformation, which is reached through a different pathway than the substrate-induced conformation. We solved the structure of the regulatory insert from cpCBS-PPase in complex with AMP and AP4A and proposed that conformational changes in the loops connecting the catalytic and regulatory domains enable activity regulation. We examined the effects of mutations in the CBS domains of mtCBS-PPase on catalytic activity, as well as, nucleotide binding and inhibition.

Mitochondrial disease in Southwestern Finland. Population-based molecular genetic and clinical studies

Mitochondria are present in all eukaryotic cells. They enable these cells utilize oxygen in the production of adenosine triphosphate in the oxidative phosphorylation system, the mitochondrial respiratory chain. The concept ‘mitochondrial disease’ conventionally refers to disorders of the respiratory chain that lead to oxidative phosphorylation defect. Mitochondrial disease in humans can present at any age, and practically in any organ system. Mitochondrial disease can be inherited in maternal, autosomal dominant, autosomal recessive, or X-chromosomal fashion. One of the most common molecular etiologies of mitochondrial disease in population is the m.3243A>G mutation in the MT-TL1 gene, encoding mitochondrial tRNALeu(UUR). Clinical evaluation of patients with m.3243A>G has revealed various typical clinical features, such as stroke-like episodes, diabetes mellitus and sensorineural hearing loss. The prevalence and clinical characteristics of mitochondrial disease in population are not well known. This thesis consists of a series of studies, in which the prevalence and characteristics of mitochondrial disease in the adult population of Southwestern Finland were assessed. Mitochondrial haplogroup Uk was associated with increased risk of occipital ischemic stroke among young women. Large-scale mitochondrial DNA deletions and mutations of the POLG1 gene were the most common molecular etiologies of progressive external ophthalmoplegia. Around 1% of diabetes mellitus emerging between the ages 18 – 45 years was associated with the m.3243A>G mutation. Moreover, among these young diabetic patients, mitochondrial haplogroup U was associated with maternal family history of diabetes. These studies demonstrate the usefulness of carefully planned molecular epidemiological investigations in the study of mitochondrial disorders.

The board of directors as a part of family business governance – multilevel participation and board development

In this study, I examine the board of directors as a part of family business governance. Both boards and governance have increased their attractiveness as a research topic lately. Research on boards has concentrated mostly on the study of different board attributes, like composition, and the relationship of these attributes to the firm’s performance. Family business governance studies are criticized for ignoring the multifaceted needs of companies. More research observing the context and contingencies affecting the governance and board of directors is needed. The objective of this study is to clarify: 1) how the board participates in family business governance, and 2) how the board develops along with the firm’s and family’s development. The study is implemented as qualitative research, and the longitudinal process approach has been used as it provides the opportunity to examine development in context. Selection criteria for the two cases selected for this study are: active board of directors, at least one implemented succession, and interviewees available from two generations and from different positions in the firm. The data consists of interviews and secondary data, and it is collected from different data sources. The analysis was done selecting first some critical events from both cases to closer examination, and analysing them by using content analysis technique. Several conclusions were drawn basing on the findings. First, the family business board participates in the firm’s activities much more widely than it is customary to think. Second, the family business board is not a static part of the business, but it develops and it has to develop for different reasons. Third, ownership is not only the basis for the board’s activities or existence, but the relationship between the board and ownership is two-way. The board contributes to a large extent to the ownership decisions, and in this way to the management of ownership. Fourth, according to the cases, the board has many unrecognized possibilities to facilitate succession in family firms.

Family ownership – a source of sustainable success in listed companies

Extant research on exchange-listed firms has acknowledged that the concentration of ownership and the identity of owners make a difference. In addition, studies indicate that firms with a dominant owner outperform firms with dispersed ownership. During the last few years, scholars have identified one group of owners, in particular, whose ownership stake in publicly listed firm is positively related to performance: the business family. While acknowledging that family firms represent a unique organizational form, scholars have identified various concepts and theories in order to understand how the family influences organizational processes and firm performance. Despite multitude of research, scholars have not been able to present clear results on how firm performance is actually impacted by the family. In other words, studies comparing the performance of listed family and other types of firms have remained descriptive in nature since they lack empirical data and confirmation from the family business representatives. What seems to be missing is a convincing theory that links the involvement and behavioral consequences. Accordingly, scholars have not yet come to a mutual understanding of what precisely constitutes a family business. The variety of different definitions and theories has made comparability of different results difficult for instance. These two issues have hampered the development of a rigorous theory of family business. The overall objective of this study is to describe and understand how the family as a dominant owner can enhance firm performance, and can act a source of sustainable success in listed companies. In more detail, in order to develop understanding of the unique factors that can act as competitive advantages for listed family firms, this study is based on a qualitative approach and aims at theory development, not theory verification. The data in this study consist of 16 thematic interviews with CEOs, members of the board, supervisory board chairs, and founders of Finnish listed-family firms. The study consists of two parts. The first part introduces the research topic, research paradigm, methods, and publications, and also discusses the overall outcomes and contributions of the publications. The second part consists of four publications that address the research questions from different viewpoints. The analyses of this study indicate that family ownership in listed companies represents a structure that differs from the traditional views of agency and stewardship, as well as from resource-based and stakeholder views. As opposed to these theories and shareholder capitalism which consider humans as individualistic, opportunistic, and self-serving, and assume that the behaviors of an investor are based on the incentives and motivations to maximize private profits, the family owners form a collective social unit that is motivated to act together toward their mutual purpose or benefit. In addition, socio-emotional and psychological elements of ownership define the family members as owners, rather than the legal and financial dimensions of ownership. That is, collective psychological ownership of family over the business (F-CPO) can be seen as a construct that comprehensively captures the fusion between the family and the business. Moreover, it captures the realized, rather than merely potential, family influence on and interaction with the business, and thereby brings more theoretical clarity of the nature of the fusion between the family and the business, and offers a solution to the problem of family business definition. This doctoral dissertation provides academics, policy-makers, family business practitioners, and the society at large with many implications considering family and business relationships.

”By my Lords comand, I am to acquainte you”: An Edition of the Seventeenth-Century Correspondence of the Wentworth Family in the Folger Shakespeare Library

This thesis is an edition of the correspondence of the Yorkshirean Wentworth family. The aim of the edition is to provide these handwritten manuscripts to a wider audience by transcribing them. The material has been acquired from the Folger Shakespeare Library, and the transcriptions presented in this thesis are a part of their database called Early Modern Manuscripts Online. My material consists of fifteen documents from the early modern period which have been sent to or sent by members of the Wentworth family. Fourteen of these documents are letters, and one is a warrant written in the form of a letter. In the Folger Shakespeare Library the documents form the section 2.1. Correspondence of the Wentworth family in a larger collection called Papers of the Cavendish-Talbot family. The documents have been transcribed diplomatically in order to retain the character of the original manuscripts. In addition to the transcriptions, background chapters on letter writing, the historical and linguistic context, and palaeography are provided. Furthermore, each text includes a commentary containing a brief summary of the text and a description of the manuscript. Notes concerning specific words or concepts are also provided to make the texts easier to understand. Additionally, the transcriptions are encoded in XML for the purposes of the Folger Shakespeare Library. These earlier unedited manuscripts reassert the status of the Wentworth family in the early modern English society and provide information about letter writing conventions, language, and palaeographical conventions in early modern England. This edition can be used in further studies, for example as part of a larger corpus.

Glutathione Transferases as Detoxification Agents: Structural and Functional Studies

Glutathione transferases (GSTs) are a diverse family of enzymes that catalyze the glutathione-dependent detoxification of toxic compounds. GSTs are responsible for the conjugation of the tripeptide glutathione (GSH) to a wide range of electrophilic substrates. These include industrial pollutants, drugs, genotoxic carcinogen metabolites, antibiotics, insecticides and herbicides. In light of applications in biomedicine and biotechnology as cellular detoxification agents, detailed structural and functional studies of GSTs are required. Plant tau class GSTs play crucial catalytic and non-catalytic roles in cellular xenobiotic detoxification process in agronomically important crops. The abundant existence of GSTs in Glycine max and their ability to provide resistance to abiotic and biotic stresses such as herbicide tolerance is of great interest in agriculture because they provide effective and suitable tools for selective weed control. Structural and catalytic studies on tau class GST isoenzymes from Glycine max (GmGSTU10-10, GmGSTU chimeric clone 14 (Sh14), and GmGSTU2-2) were performed. Crystal structures of GmGSTU10-10 in complex with glutathione sulfenic acid (GSOH) and Sh14 in complex with S-(p-nitrobenzyl)-glutathione (Nb-GSH) were determined by molecular replacement at 1.6 Å and 1.75 Å, respectively. Major structural variations that affect substrate recognition and catalytic mechanism were revealed in the upper part of helix H4 and helix H9 of GmGSTU10-10. Structural analysis of Sh14 showed that the Trp114Cys point mutation is responsible for the enhanced catalytic activity of the enzyme. Furthermore, two salt bridges that trigger an allosteric effect between the H-sites were identified at the dimer interface between Glu66 and Lys104. The 3D structure of GmGSTU2-2 was predicted using homology modeling. Structural and phylogenetic analysis suggested GmGSTU2-2 shares residues that are crucial for the catalytic activity of other tau class GSTs–Phe10, Trp11, Ser13, Arg20, Tyr30, Leu37, Lys40, Lys53, Ile54, Glu66 and Ser67. This indicates that the catalytic and ligand binding site in GmGSTU2-2 are well-conserved. Nevertheless, at the ligandin binding site a significant variation was observed. Tyr32 is replaced by Ser32 in GmGSTU2-2 and thismay affect the ligand recognition and binding properties of GmGSTU2-2. Moreover, docking studies revealed important amino acid residues in the hydrophobic binding site that can affect the substrate specificity of the enzyme. Phe10, Pro12, Phe15, Leu37, Phe107, Trp114, Trp163, Phe208, Ile212, and Phe216 could form the hydrophobic ligand binding site and bind fluorodifen. Additionally, side chains of Arg111 and Lys215 could stabilize the binding through hydrogen bonds with the –NO2 groups of fluorodifen. GST gene family from the pathogenic soil bacterium Agrobacterium tumefaciens C58 was characterized and eight GST-like proteins in A. tumefaciens (AtuGSTs) were identified. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that four members of AtuGSTs belong to a previously recognized bacterial beta GST class and one member to theta class. Nevertheless, three AtuGSTs do not belong to any previously known GST classes. The 3D structures of AtuGSTs were predicted using homology modeling. Comparative structural and sequence analysis of the AtuGSTs showed local sequence and structural characteristics between different GST isoenzymes and classes. Interactions at the G-site are conserved, however, significant variations were seen at the active site and the H5b helix at the C-terminal domain. H5b contributes to the formation of the hydrophobic ligand binding site and is responsible for recognition of the electrophilic moiety of the xenobiotic. It is noted that the position of H5b varies among models, thus providing different specificities. Moreover, AtuGSTs appear to form functional dimers through diverse modes. AtuGST1, AtuGST3, AtuGST4 and AtuGST8 use hydrophobic ‘lock–and–key’-like motifs whereas the dimer interface of AtuGST2, AtuGST5, AtuGST6 and AtuGST7 is dominated by polar interactions. These results suggested that AtuGSTs could be involved in a broad range of biological functions including stress tolerance and detoxification of toxic compounds.