Challenges for Finnish companies in doing business in Russia

The purpose of this study was to define the key challenges for Finnish companies in doing business in Russia. The study consists of a theoretical and an empirical part and is conducted as a quantitative study. The theoretical framework was build around capital structure, cost of capital and emerging market theories. The findings suggest that the firms in the sample seek growth mainly from emerging markets. These research results also indicate that challenges are visible in emerging market environment. Challenges that companies are facing in Russian market are mainly connected with legislation, communication and language problems. In addition, companies’ profitability has changed during the financial crisis, which has been the main reason for the negative changes in companies’ profitability. Even though the financial crisis has had a strong effect on the worldwide economy, the firms in the sample are not postponing their investments to Russia, because of lack of new financing or unfavorable credit terms.

Influence of Institutional Environment on Companies’ Innovation Activity

At the time of moving towards knowledge-based economy, countries pay much attention to innovations by making them a central issue in countries’ innovation policy development. Innovations are influenced much by the institutional environment, in which they are created. That is why exploration of National Innovation Systems, as an important part of such an environment, became central in works of different researchers all over the world.

Segmentation of Industrial Customers – Case: Finnish Mechanical Engineering Companies

Segmentointi on perinteisesti ollut erityisesti kuluttajamarkkinoinnin työkalu, mutta siirtymä tuotteista palveluihin on lisännyt segmentointitarvetta myös teollisilla markkinoilla. Tämän tutkimuksen tavoite on löytää selkeästi toisistaan erottuvia asiakasryhmiä suomalaisen liikkeenjohdon konsultointiyritys Synocus Groupin tarjoaman case-materiaalin pohjalta. K-means-klusteroinnin avulla löydetään kolme potentiaalista markkinasegmenttiä perustuen siihen, mitkä tarjoamaelementit 105 valikoitua suomalaisen kone- ja metallituoteteollisuuden asiakasta ovat maininneet tärkeimmiksi. Ensimmäinen klusteri on hintatietoiset asiakkaat, jotka laskevat yksikkökohtaisia hintoja. Toinen klusteri koostuu huolto-orientoituneista asiakkaista, jotka laskevat tuntikustannuksia ja maksimoivat konekannan käyttötunteja. Tälle kohderyhmälle kannattaisi ehkä markkinoida teknisiä palveluja ja huoltosopimuksia. Kolmas klusteri on tuottavuussuuntautuneet asiakkaat, jotka ovat kiinnostuneita suorituskyvyn kehittämisestä ja laskevat tonnikohtaisia kustannuksia. He tavoittelevat alempia kokonaiskustannuksia lisääntyneen suorituskyvyn, pidemmän käyttöiän ja alempien huoltokustannusten kautta.

Efficiency of the ISM Code in Finnish Shipping Companies

Due to increasing waterborne transportation in the Gulf of Finland, the risk of a hazardous accident increases and therefore manifold preventive actions are needed. As a main legislative authority in the maritime community, The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has set down plenary laws and recommendations which are e.g., utilised in the safe operations in ships and pollution prevention. One of these compulsory requirements, the ISM Code, requires proactive attitude both from the top management and operational workers in the shipping companies. In this study, a crosssectional approach was taken to analyse whether the ISM Code has actively enhanced maritime safety in the Gulf of Finland. The analysis included; 1) performance of the ISM Code in Finnish shipping companies, 2) statistical measurements of maritime safety, 3) influence of corporate top management to the safety culture and 4) comparing safety management practices in shipping companies and port operations of Finnish maritime and port authorities. The main results found were that maritime safety culture has developed in the right direction after the launch of the ISM Code in the 1990´s. However, this study does not exclusively prove that the improvements are the consequence of the ISM Code. Accident prone ships can be recognized due to their behaviour and there is a lesson to learn from the safety culture of some high standard safety disciplines such as, air traffic. In addition, the reporting of accidents and nearmisses should be more widely used in shipping industry. In conclusion, there is still much to be improved in the maritime safety culture of the Finnish Shipping industry, e.g., a “no blame culture” needs to be adopted.

Leadership in repetitively innovative mature companies

Mobiltelefonen uppfanns år 1970, den förta komerciella produkten lanserades 1983 och marknaden för mobiltelefoner tog kraftigt fart 1986. Exemplet belyser fenomenet innovation såsom ett mångårigt, ofta upptill tio år eller årtionden, vilket är forkningsansatsen i doktorsavhandlingen. Studien har betraktat fenomenet utgående från ett företagsledningsperspektiv, inte som ett innovations projekt vilket är det trditionella perspektivet. Forskningen bygger vidare på kritiken mot den allmänna uppfattningen att nystartade små och entrepreneursdrivna företag är idealomgivningen för innovation. I forskningen har studerats gamla och stora innovativa konsumentvaruföretag. De sex studerade företagen drivs inte längre av företagets grundare, hans tankar, nätverk, ledningssätt, utan är mera influerat av strukturer, system och prosesser som och iståndsatts av en annan professionell ledning. Denna ledning har i viss mån förmått att professionalisera sättet hur innovation hanteras framgångsrikt i företaget. I forskningen har den innovativa företagsledningens tankevärld och dynamiken i tänkandet definierats. Genom studien framkommer dels tre påtagliga tankemönster och dels en generell beskrivning av ledningen för ett innovativt företag. Kärnan i arbetet definierar ledningens uppmärksamhetsområde vilket är kritiskt för att det innovativa tillståndet och cykeln för innovation har fortbestått. Innovationsaktivisternas roll är avgörande, där produkten formas som en funktion av idéer som någon har och jobbar med, av beslutsfattadet i företaget, samt av tolkning och slutledningen av företagets gällande och framtida verksamhetsvilkor. Detta kritiska uppmärksamhetsområde har även testats och verifierats i avhandlingen. Ur forskningen framstår belägg och ett förslag till en teori, med vilken det är möjligt att förklarar skillnaden i ledningens tänkande vid betraktelsen av de innovativa företagen och de icke-innovativa företagen.

Group mentoring for junior medical students: perceptions of mentees and mentors

Entering medical school can be associated with a number of difficulties that can hinder students' performance. Mentoring programs are designed to help students circumvent difficulties and improve their learning and personal development. The current study aimed to evaluate the perceptions of both students and mentors regarding a recently introduced, group-based mentoring program designed to support first-year students. After one year of regular meetings, students and mentors' perceptions of the program were assessed by means of structured questionnaires. Response content categories were identified through multiple readings. Both regular attendees and non-participating students had positive opinions about the program. Mentors were highly satisfied at having participated and acknowledged that the program has been useful not only for assisting students, but also for fostering their own personal and professional development. In conclusion, the group-based mentoring program is feasible and can elicit positive views from both mentors and students. In addition, faculty members' participation as mentors can also be beneficial, since the program appears to contribute to their own personal and professional development

Effects of stock splits on stock returns: An event study of Finnish companies

Tämän kandidaatintyön tavoitteena on tutkia osakkeen nimellisarvon jakamisen vaikutusta osakkeen markkina-arvoon Suomessa vuosina 1996-2007. Ilmiötä tarkastellaan tapahtumatutkimusmenetelmän avulla ja lopullinen tutkittavien osakesplittien määrä on 38. Tutkimuksessa ei löydetty epänormaaleja tuottoja splittien julkistushetkellä, joten tämän aineiston mukaan sijoittajat eivät pitäneet sitä johdolta tulevana positiivisena signaalina. Sitä vastoin tutkimuksessa löydettiin positiivinen kurssimuutos niiden osakkeiden kohdalla, jolloin pörssiyhtiö ilmoitti splitin ohella myös osingonjaostaan.

Analysis of companies' software as a service adoption intention factors

The goal of this study is to develop managerial recommendations for international vendors and system integrators, which offer Software as a Service for enterprise information systems on the Russian market. Those recommendations can be used to develop marketing, sales, new product and service level agreement strategies. For those reasons factors affecting SaaS adoption were determined and their influence on intention to adoption was examined.

Knowledge modeling for innovative companies: case of business incubator

The paper presents a study which is aimed at building a knowledge model for a case company – business incubator “Ingria” (St. Petersburg, Russia). The business incubator is one of its kind organization in St. Petersburg, and one of the few in Russia, providing services for innovative entrepreneurial companies at an international level. Business incubation impact is deeply researched from the point of view of knowledge engineering. The paper also provides a broad analysis of various knowledge engineering tools used for visualization of knowledge, as well as knowledge modeling techniques.

Intellectual capital management in international and Russian software companies

The importance of the company’s intellectual capital (IC) increased during the last decades due to knowledge-based economy development. Despite the clear understanding of the IC importance, researchers agree on the fact that many difficulties in management of intangibles still exist from the both theoretical and practical points of view. The goal of the study is to conduct a comparison of IC management approaches used in international and Russian software companies. To carry out a proper comparison and identify similarities and differences, software firms are explored from the point of view of IC, and then be compared in the context of international and Russian sectors. At the end of the study, current IC management findings in international and Russian software companies are presented, and comparison of IC management is done. It was investigated from the comparison that international and Russian software companies have similarities and few principal differences in several IC management areas. The comparison of IC management approaches between international and Russian software companies provide helpful information to both, researchers and practitioners.

Innovation and Internationalisation in Russian Companies: Challenges and Opportunities for Open Innovation and Cooperation

Increasing globalisation and intensified cross-border cooperation, together with significant technological breakthroughs, create a fascinating gap for the research of the relationship between internationalisation and innovation on national, regional and company levels in Russia. The intensified international trade between countries and regions benefited from favourable institutional conditions, and facilitated the technology transfer and the development of innovations on the national level. This study approaches the same question from the company perspective; if certain companies are more innovative than other domestic companies, will they start internationalisation more easily or get involved in cooperation with international stakeholders? When companies operate in international markets, how do they obtain knowledge? Moreover, would this new knowledge from the foreign market help then to increase innovativeness, competitiveness and develop operations in domestic/local and foreign markets? Considering the role of foreign direct investments (FDI), the research in hand tries to find out the role of companies with FDI on the other players on the home market. Do foreigners bring new technology, innovation to the country? Is there spillover effect observed and how local companies can benefit from them? This dissertation studies the internationalisation and innovation in Russian companies, both from the outward internationalisation and inward internationalisation perspectives. Russian companies developed quickly during the transition period, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The common background of these companies, the effects of the change of ownership, and some managerial difficulties make them more sensitive to competitions issues, and in this context, the opportunities brought by the developing innovations are seen in companies and on the governmental level.

Stock Repurchase Authorizations - Finnish Companies

The aim of this study is to examine the abnormal market reaction caused by share repurchase authorizations. We study this abnormal reaction from five different angles. First four concentrate on average abnormal returns while the fifth concentrates on cumulative abnormal return. Data consists of 508 share repurchase authorization from Finnish stock market. Event study methodology is used to examine the stock price reaction and regression analysis is used to find correlation between actual buybacks and abnormal returns. The empirical results show that markets do usually react positively to share repurchase authorizations. There are some differences depending which of the five angles the abnormal returns are being examined. Statistically we can confirm that some authorization give positive reaction while others do not. Also we didn’t find a statistically significant positive correlation between actual buybacks and abnormal returns.