Intercultural Competence of Masters of Science in Business Administration and in Technology

Tutkielman tavoitteena on selvittää minkälaista kulttuurienvälistä kompetenssia Lappeenrannan teknillisestä yliopistosta vastavalmistuneilla kauppatieteenmaistereilla sekä diplomi-insinööreillä tulisi olla työnantajien näkökulmasta. Tutkimuksen tarkoituksena on myös tarkastella, että voidaanko kaikkia Lappeenrannan teknillisestä yliopistosta valmistuvia kutsua Kansainvälisiksi Huippuosaajiksi sekä kuinka Lappeenrannan teknillinen yliopisto voisi parantaa vastavalmistuvien kulttuurienvälistä kompetenssia. Teoreettinen osa tarkastelee kulttuurienvälisen kommunikaation tärkeimpiä elementtejä, kulttuurienvälistä kompetenssia ja vastavalmistuneiden kauppatieteenmaistereiden sekä diplomi-insinöörien tarvitsemaa ammatillista osaamista. Empiria koostuu kymmenen työnantajien teemahaastattelun tuloksista. Lopuksi johtopäätöksissä empirian tuloksia verrataan teorian löydöksiin. Tulokset osoittavat että kulttuurienvälinen kompetenssi koostuu kolmesta dimensiosta: henkilökohtaisista ominaisuuksista, tiedosta ja kommunikointikyvystä. Henkilökohtaisiin ominaisuuksiin sisältyvät empaattisuus, epävarmuuden sietokyky sekä avoin ja utelias asenne. Tieto - ulottuvuus koostuu yleisestä ja erityisestä kulttuuritiedosta, kielitaidosta sekä ammatillisesta osaamisesta. Kommunikointikykyyn puolestaan sisältyvät hyvät vuorovaikutustaidot. Työnantajat olettavat nykyään vastavalmistuneilla olevan ammatillisen osaamisen ja kielitaidon lisäksi, kulttuuritietoutta sekä kansainvälistä kokemusta. Lappeenrannan teknillinen yliopisto voisi parantaa vastavalmistuneiden kulttuurienvälistä kompetenssia tarjoamalla kulttuurienvälisen kommunikaation opetusta.

Adjuvant cisplatin-based combined chemotherapy for lymph node (LN)-positive urothelial carcinoma of the bladder (UCB) after radical cystectomy (RC): a retrospective international study of >1500 patients.

OBJECTIVE: To compare outcomes of patients with lymph node (LN)-positive urothelial carcinoma of the bladder (UCB) treated with or without cisplatin-based combined adjuvant chemotherapy (AC) after radical cystectomy (RC). PATIENTS AND METHODS: We retrospectively analysed 1523 patients with LN-positive UCB, who underwent RC with bilateral pelvic LN dissection. All patients had no evidence of disease after RC. AC was administered within 3 months. Competing-risks models were applied to compare UCB-related mortality. RESULTS: Of the 1523 patients, 874 (57.4%) received AC. The cumulative 1-, 2- and 5-year UCB-related mortality rates for all patients were 16%, 36% and 56%, respectively. Administration of AC was associated with an 18% relative reduction in the risk of UCB-related death (subhazard ratio 0.82, P = 0.005). The absolute reduction in mortality was 3.5% at 5 years. The positive effect of AC was detectable in patients aged ≤70 years, in women, in pT3-4 disease, and in those with a higher LN density and lymphovascular invasion. This study is limited by its retrospective and non-randomised design, selection bias, the absence of central pathological review and lack in standardisation of LN dissection and cisplatin-based protocols. CONCLUSION: AC seems to reduce UCB-related mortality in patients with LN-positive UCB after RC. Younger patients, women and those with high-risk features such as pT3-4 disease, a higher LN density and lymphovascular invasion appear to benefit most. Appropriately powered prospective randomised trials are necessary to confirm these findings.

La démocratie directe et le droit international : prise en compte des obligations internationales de la Confédération et participation populaire à la politique extérieure

Le droit international connaît une évolution quantitative et qualitative qui entraîne des répercussions sur les institutions de l'initiative populaire et du référendum. Ce phénomène laisse apparaître deux problématiques principales - la prise en compte du droit international dans l'exercice des droits populaires et la participation des citoyens à la politique extérieure - dont certaines facettes sont aujourd'hui abondamment discutées. La présente étude a pour but d'examiner les droits d'initiative populaire et de référendum, tels que reconnus sur le plan fédéral, à l'aune de ces deux problématiques. Pour chacun d'entre eux, l'auteur procède à un état des lieux, sur la base duquel il explore certaines pistes afin de proposer un aménagement optimal des institutions de démocratie directe, compte tenu de leur environnement juridique actuel.

International Accounting Standards –normistoon siirtymisen vaikutukset suomalaisten pörssiyritysten taloushallintoon ja tilinpäätökseen

Tutkimuksen päätavoitteena oli selvittää, mitä vaikutuksia IAS-tilinpäätösstandardien käyttöön siirtyminen aiheuttaa suomalaisten pörssiyritysten tilinpäätöksissä ja taloushallinnossa. Tähän tavoitteeseen edettiin alatavoitteiden avulla. Näitä olivat tilinpäätösten kansainvälisen harmonisoinnin, Euroopan Unionin IAS-asetuksen ja itse IAS-tilinpäätöksen selvittäminen. Tutkimusaineisto koostuu kirjallisuudesta ja suomalaisille pörssiyrityksille tehdystä kyselystä. Tutkimuksen teoriaosassa käytetään käsiteanalyyttista ja empiirisessä osassa nomoteettista tutkimusotetta. Tutkielman mukaan tiedon lisääntyminen lisää myönteisyyttä IAS-standardistoa kohtaan. Henkilöstön koulutus onkin avainasemassa siirtymäprojektissa. Toinen merkittävä vaikutus on uuden laskentaohjeistuksen luontitarve. Merkittävin standardi vaikutuksiltaan on IAS 14 Segmenttiraportointi.

Is Inefficiency under control in the Justice Administration?

Efficiency in the administration of justice is found to increase over time, while the variation in the efficiency of the courts tended to remain low and fall over time. This would appear to be good news, at least for the case studied here: the civil courts of first instance in Spain between 2005 and 2009. Apart from the simple passing of time, the percentage of temporary judges in the system also determines some of the differences in efficiency between courts over time. Thus, we find that the greater the percentage of temporary judges, the lower is the efficiency of the courts. Overall, the average relative efficiency level for the period 2005 to 2009 was 97.46%, suggesting the matter is under control.

Operational Reliability Analysis of a Three-Tiered Thin-Client ERP-system in an International Corporate Environment

Internationalization and the following rapid growth have created the need to concentrate the IT systems of many small-to-medium-sized production companies. Enterprise Resource Planning systems are a common solution for such companies. Deployment of these ERP systems consists of many steps, one of which is the implementation of the same shared system at all international subsidiaries. This is also one of the most important steps in the internationalization strategy of the company from the IT point of view. The mechanical process of creating the required connections for the off-shore sites is the easiest and most well-documented step along the way, but the actual value of the system, once operational, is perceived in its operational reliability. The operational reliability of an ERP system is a combination of many factors. These factors vary from hardware- and connectivity-related issues to administrative tasks and communication between decentralized administrative units and sites. To accurately analyze the operational reliability of such system, one must take into consideration the full functionality of the system. This includes not only the mechanical and systematic processes but also the users and their administration. All operational reliability in an international environment relies heavily on hardware and telecommunication adequacy so it is imperative to have resources dimensioned with regard to planned usage. Still with poorly maintained communication/administration schemes no amount of bandwidth or memory will be enough to maintain a productive level of reliability. This thesis work analyzes the implementation of a shared ERP system to an international subsidiary of a Finnish production company. The system is Microsoft Dynamics Ax, currently being introduced to a Slovakian facility, a subsidiary of Peikko Finland Oy. The primary task is to create a feasible base of analysis against which the operational reliability of the system can be evaluated precisely. With a solid analysis the aim is to give recommendations on how future implementations are to be managed.

Students competences in Business Administration subjects

The evaluation of the competences acquired by the students in the context of a university education system is needed to enable professors to develop teaching-learning processes tailored to students" needs. The main goal of this paper is to analyze in depth the profile of the acquired competences of the bachelor students in Business Administration subjects. In that sense, this paper explains an experience in assessing bachelor student"s competences by applying an ICT-based digital platform designed for the selfassessment of personal and social competences. In particular, we apply an evaluation tool which was specifically designed for self-evaluating the project managers" generic and specific competences. The authors of this research have previous experience in implementing this evaluation tool in the subjects of Business Administration, Operations Management and Strategic Management taught in the Faculty of Economics and Business of the University of Barcelona. In this paper, the results show that there exist significant differences in the self-evaluation of competences depending on the respondent gender. This kind of tools benefits the three parties involved: students, university managers and organizations, and should be applied along the Bachelor as a transversal project and adapt the programs to achieve graduate students with higher levels of social and personal competences, as demanded by the labour market.

From Olympic administration to Olympic governance

This articles describes three models which played a key role in the evolution of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and all the organizations which contribute to the staging of the Olympic Games and constitute the Olympic System, from its beginnings in 1894 to the present day. This evolution and the addition of many stakeholders has increased the complexity of the management of the Olympic System over the years from pure Olympic administration (when the IOC headquarters moved to Lausanne in 1915) to Olympic network governance which must take into consideration more than 24 types of stakeholders, including goverments and intergovernmental organizations.

Towards actionable international comparisons of health system performance: expert revision of the OECD framework and quality indicators.

OBJECTIVE: To review and update the conceptual framework, indicator content and research priorities of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD) Health Care Quality Indicators (HCQI) project, after a decade of collaborative work. DESIGN: A structured assessment was carried out using a modified Delphi approach, followed by a consensus meeting, to assess the suite of HCQI for international comparisons, agree on revisions to the original framework and set priorities for research and development. SETTING: International group of countries participating to OECD projects. PARTICIPANTS: Members of the OECD HCQI expert group. RESULTS: A reference matrix, based on a revised performance framework, was used to map and assess all seventy HCQI routinely calculated by the OECD expert group. A total of 21 indicators were agreed to be excluded, due to the following concerns: (i) relevance, (ii) international comparability, particularly where heterogeneous coding practices might induce bias, (iii) feasibility, when the number of countries able to report was limited and the added value did not justify sustained effort and (iv) actionability, for indicators that were unlikely to improve on the basis of targeted policy interventions. CONCLUSIONS: The revised OECD framework for HCQI represents a new milestone of a long-standing international collaboration among a group of countries committed to building common ground for performance measurement. The expert group believes that the continuation of this work is paramount to provide decision makers with a validated toolbox to directly act on quality improvement strategies.

Treaty shopping in international investment law

Is "treaty shopping" in international investment law "legitimate nationality planning" or "treaty abuse"? This is the question investment arbitral tribunals have been increasingly faced with over past years. This PhD thesis will examine in a systematic and comprehensive manner investment arbitral decisions that have attempted to draw this line. It will show that while some legal approaches taken by arbitral tribunals have started to consolidate, others remain unsettled, contributing to the picture of an overall inconsistent jurisprudence. The thesis will also make proposals de lege ferenda on how States could reform their international investment agreements in order to make them less susceptible to the practice of treaty shopping.

From breaking the rule to making the rules : the adoption, entrenchment and diffusion of gender quotas in France

Once a country allergic to any type of preferential treatment or quota measure for women, France has become a country that applies gender quotas to regulate women's presence and representation in politics, the business sector, public bodies, public administration, and even some civil society organizations. While research has concentrated on the adoption of electoral gender quotas in many countries and their international diffusion, few studies focus on explaining the successful diffusion of gender quotas from politics to other domains in the same country. This paper proposes to fill this gap by studying the particularly puzzling case of a country that at one point strongly opposed the adoption of gender quotas in politics, but, in less than a decade, transformed into one of the few countries applying gender quotas across several policy domains. This paper argues that the legal entrenchment of the parity principle, the institutionalization of parity in several successive women's policy agencies, and key players in these newly created agencies are mainly responsible for this unexpected development. The diffusion of gender quotas in France thus offers an illuminating example of under which conditions women's policy agencies can act autonomously to diffuse and impose a new tool for gender equality