CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY from theory into financial statement: UPM-Kymmene Oyj

For number of reasons social responsibility in corporations has become a more essential part of business operations than before. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is dealt with different means and aspects but the overall effects it has on organisations performance, communication and underline actions is indisputable. The thesis describes corporate social responsibility and the main objective was to observe how corporate social responsibility has developed in our case company with answering to main research question how CSR reporting has evolved in UPM-Kymmene Oyj? In addition following questions were also addressed: Is there a monetary value of CSR? What does proficient CSR report consist of? What does corporate social responsibility consist of? Qualitative research method, content analysis to be precise, was chosen and excessive literature study performed to find the theoretical back ground to perform the empirical part of the study. Data for the empirical part was collected from UPM-Kymmene Oyj financial data and annual reports. The study shows that UPM-Kymmene Oyj engagement to CSR and reporting of CSR matter have improved due time but still few managerial implications could be found. UPM-Kymmene Oyj economic key figures are only building shareholder value and stakeholders are identified in very general level. Also CSR data is scattered all over the annual report which causes problems to readers. The scientific importance of this thesis arises from the profound way CSR has been addressed in a holistic manner. Thus it is giving a good basis to understand the underlying reasons of CSR from society towards the organisation and vice versa.

ETYK III-vaihe: Tasavallan Presidentin päätössanat 1.8.1975 = Third Stage of the CSCE = closing statement by the President of Finland August 1, 1975

Puhe

Pienten osakeyhtiöiden verosuunnittelu - empiirinen tutkimus

Tutkimuksen aiheeksi valittiin pienten osakeyhtiöiden verosuunnittelu. Tutkimuksen teoreettinen viitekehys perustui aiempaan laskentatoimen empiiriseen verotutkimukseen sekä laskentatoimen kontingenssiteoreettiseen pk-yritystutkimukseen. Tutkimusaineistoa kerättiin kyselytutkimuksella sekä tilinpaatostietokannasta Voitto+. Kyselytutkimukseen valittiin satunnaisotannalla osakeyhtiötä Etelä Suomen läänistä, joiden liikevaihto oli välillä 1 10 milj. euroa. Kyselytutkimukseen vastasi 216 yritystä, jolloin vastausprosentiksi saatiin 21,3. Kerättyä tutkimusaineistoa analysoitiin kvantitatiivisin menetelmin. Pääasiallisina analysointimenetelminä käytettiin pääkomponentti-, klusteri- ja regressioanalyysiä. Tutkimuksen tavoitteeksi asetettiin kokonaiskuvan muodostaminen pienten osakeyhtiöiden verosuunnittelusta, verosuunnittelun asemointi osaksi yrityksen taloushallintoa sekä yritysten erilaisia verosuunnittelustrategioita selittävien tekijöiden tunnistaminen. Tutkimusaineistosta kyettiin tunnistamaan pääkomponenttianalyysillä neljä erilaista verosuunnitteluorientaatiota: valistunut, resursseja panostava, veroa minimoiva sekä vastuuta ulkoistava. Verosuunnitteluorientaatioita kuvaavien muuttujien avulla yritykset jaettiin klusterianalyysilla neljään ryhmään. Yritykset nimettiin ryhmien luonteidensa mukaisesti verosuunnittelun osalta vastuun ulkoistajiksi, veron minimoijiksi, veroneutraaleiksi sekä valistuneiksi. Verosuunnitteluvastuuta ulkoistavien yritysten ryhmään kuului n. 57 % kyselyyn vastanneista yrityksistä. Tulos osoittaa sen, että yritykset ovat verosuunnittelun osalta paljolti riippuvaisia taloushallinnon sidosryhmistä, tilitoimistoista sekä tilintarkastajista. Tulosta voidaan tulkita myös niin, että taloushallinnon sidosryhmien ammattitaito verosuunnittelun osalta on keskeisessä roolissa, kun arvioidaan, miten yritysten välinen tasapuolisuus verotuksen osalta käytännössä toteutuu. Yritysten erilaisia verosuunnitteluorientaatioita, jotka kuvasivat yritysten verosuunnittelustrategioita, ei kyetty kvantitatiivisilla analyyseilla selittämään samoilla muuttujilla kuin yritysten erilaisia johdon laskentatoimen käytänteitä. Tätä havaintoa tulkittiin siten, että vaikka verosuunnittelu on selkeästi osa yrityksen taloushallintoa, sen asema ei ole johdon laskentatoimen käytänteiden tavoin taloushallinnon ytimessä. Tutkimuksessa kyettiin tuottamaan tuloksia, jotka kontribuoivat aiempia laskentatoimen empiirisiä verotutkimuksia, ja joilla on uutuusarvoa käytännön toimijoiden näkökulmasta.

Den etiske akten : den caritative etikken når pasientens fordringer er av eksistensiell art

The purpose of this thesis is to develop a theory model about some core concepts and phenomena within caritative ethics when patients' demands are existential. There are two research questions, (A) Which realities represent concepts such courage, responsibility, and sacrifice within the caritative ethics. (B) Which phenomena of ethical significance are made current and applicable when patients¿ demands are existential. This study takes as its point of departurecertain chosen theoretical perspectives that discuss some perspectives of the concepts of courage, responsibility, and sacrifice in terms of their significanceto the research questions A. This represents the study¿s theoretical data. The empirical data provide answers to the research question B. In the end, the thesis discusses synthesis of these two accesses of knowledge in order to formulate theses and create a theory model. Løgstrup's contribution and description of the ethical claim helps in understanding and interpreting the links between the substance of the caritative ethic and the concrete reality in the encounter with existential issues. This thesis is a study within the field of Caring Science. The nursing profession provides empirical data and reflects the study topic, by addressing issues of relevance to the application of the knowledge of Caring Sciencein light of the nursing profession's various daily challenges. This study proceeds from the basic assumption: "Caring relationships form the meaningful contextfor caring and derive from the ethos of love, responsibility, and sacrifice, i.e. a caritative ethics" (Eriksson 2001). This study attempts to explore and prove this statement in the light of theoretical and empirical data, in the light ofthe caring scientific perspective which is here linked particularly to the viewof man as a unity of body, mind, and soul, and to the ontological health model. Hermeneutics is the overall perspective for the interpretations proposed in this thesis. Through conversation and hermeneutic observations, I try to understandthe challenges of nursing performance in the encounter with existential issues. This constitutes the empirical data that was gathered on a ward treating cancerpatients. The discussion proceeds sequence by sequence, first by discussing theconditions of the caritative ethics when meeting the existential claims in the light of the concepts of courage, sacrifice, and responsibility. Then a thesis is formulated concerning the caritative ethics in the light of Caring Science. This is the foundation of the creation of the theory model. The resulting theses concern the chosen concepts and phenomena which promote caritative ethics when patients' claims are existential: Freedom is the hallmark of caritative ethics. Freedom is the basic category of caring. When attending to the patient's existential claims, it is of vital importance to secure human relationships as caring interpersonal communions, created by responsible persons who have shown courage and sacrifice. Courage and sacrifice constitute the ethos of caring communities (communions). Courage and sacrifice are then a part of the collective ethos of caring communities, because the patient is confirmed as the unity of body, mind, and soul.

Finna - Opening Access to Cultural Heritage and Scientific Information

Aki Lassilan esitys Europeana työpajassa 20.11.2012 Helsingissä.

Scientific creativity and diversity of physical work environment: framework development

The aim of this research was to develop a framework to analyze how physical environment influences scientific creativity. Due to the relative novelty of this topic, there is still a gap in the unified method to study connection between physical environment and creativity. Therefore, in order to study this issue deeply, the qualitative method was used (interviews and qualitative questionnaire). Scientists (PhD students and senior researchers) of Graduate School of Management were interviewed to build the model and one expert interview was conducted to assess its validity. The model highlights several dimensions via which physical environment can influence scientific creativity: Comfort, Instruments and Diversity. Comfort and Instruments are considered to be related mostly to productivity, an initial requirement for creativity, while Diversity is the factor responsible for supporting all the stages of scientific creative process. Thus, creative physical environment is not one place by its nature, but an aggregative phenomenon. Due to two levels of analysis, the model is named the two-level model of creative physical environment.

Targeted Annotation of Scientific Literature and Data Resources in Invenio Digital Libraries

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