Esituotannon aikainen konseptien verifiointi muovituotteen valmistusessa

 Diplomityön tavoitteena on tutkia ja kehittää muovituotteen valmistuskonseptien verifiointimenetelmiä ja luoda malli, jolla saadaan esituotantovaiheestalähtien parannettu tuotantoprosessi massatuotannon aloittamiseen (ramp up). Työn tavoitteena on myös toimia viestintäkeinona lisäämässä organisaation tietoisuutta esituotantovaiheen tärkeydestä. Työ pohjautuu tekijän aikaisempaan tutkimukseen "esituotantoprosessista oppimisen vaikutukset massatuotannon aloitukseen", joka on tehty erikoistyönä v.2006. Tutkimus menetelminä on käytetty pääasiassa prosessien kuvaamista, benchmarkingia, asiantuntijoiden haastatteluja sekä analysoitu toteutuneita projekteja. Lopputuloksena on saatu toimintamalli, joka vastaa hyvin pitkälle prosessien kuvausten aikana syntynyttä mallia. Keskeisenä ajatuksena on valmistuskonseptin verifioinnin kytkeminen tuotteen mekaniikkasuunnittelun kypsyyteen. Koko projektia koskevien tavoitteiden määrittäminen johdetaan ramp up tavoitteista. Verifioitavaksi valitaan kriittisin tuote ja prosessi. Tähän on teoreettisena viitekehyksenä käytetty Quality Function Deployment (QFD) menetelmää. Jatkotoimenpiteiksi esitetään ramp up tavoitteiden ja mittareiden kehittämistä, joilla pystytään seuraamaan ja ohjaamaan projektia jo heti alusta alkaen. Lisätutkimusta tarvitaan myös esituotannon aikaisten prosessiparametrien suunnitteluun ja optimointiin.

Effective corporate governance : experimental evidence on international auditors'judgments and the contribution of financial accounting education

1 Summary This dissertation deals with two major aspects of corporate governance that grew in importance during the last years: the internal audit function and financial accounting education. In three essays, I contribute to research on these topics which are embedded in the broader corporate governance literature. The first two essays consist of experimental investigations of internal auditors' judgments. They deal with two research issues for which accounting research lacks evidence: The effectiveness of internal controls and the potentially conflicting role of the internal audit function between management and the audit committee. The findings of the first two essays contribute to the literature on internal auditors' judgment and the role of the internal audit function as a major cornerstone of corporate governance. The third essay theoretically examines a broader issue but also relates to the overall research question of this dissertation: What contributes to effective corporate governance? This last essay takes the perspective that the root for quality corporate governance is appropriate financial accounting education. r develop a public interest approach to accounting education that contributes to the literature on adequate accounting education with respect to corporate governance and accounting harmonization. The increasing importance of both the internal audit function and accounting education for corporate governance can be explained by the same recent fundamental changes that still affect accounting research and practice. First, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX, 2002) and the 8th EU Directive (EU, 2006) have led to a bigger role for the internal audit function in corporate governance. Their implications regarding the implementation of audit committees and their oversight over internal controls are extensive. As a consequence, the internal audit function has become increasingly important for corporate governance and serves a new master (i.e. the audit committee) within the company in addition to management. Second, the SOX (2002) and the 8th EU Directive introduced additional internal control mechanisms that are expected to contribute to the reliability of financial information. As a consequence, the internal audit function is expected to contribute to a greater extent to the reliability of financial statements. Therefore, effective internal control mechanisms that strengthen objective judgments and independence become important. This is especially true when external- auditors rely on the work of internal auditors in the context of the International Standard on Auditing (ISA) 610 and the equivalent US Statement on Auditing Standards (SAS) 65 (see IFAC, 2009 and AICPA, 1990). Third, the harmonization of international reporting standards is increasingly promoted by means of a principles-based approach. It is the leading approach since a study of the SEC (2003) that was required by the SOX (2002) in section 108(d) was in favor of this approach. As a result, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) commit themselves to the development of compatible accounting standards based on a principles-based approach. Moreover, since the Norwalk Agreement of 2002, the two standard setters have developed exposure drafts for a common conceptual framework that will be the basis for accounting harmonization. The new .framework will be in favor of fair value measurement and accounting for real-world economic phenomena. These changes in terms of standard setting lead to a trend towards more professional judgment in the accounting process. They affect internal and external auditors, accountants, and managers in general. As a consequence, a new competency set for preparers and users of financial statements is required. The basil for this new competency set is adequate accounting education (Schipper, 2003). These three issues which affect corporate governance are the initial point of this dissertation and constitute its motivation. Two broad questions motivated a scientific examination in three essays: 1) What are major aspects to be examined regarding the new role of the internal audit function? 2) How should major changes in standard setting affect financial accounting education? The first question became apparent due to two published literature reviews by Gramling et al. (2004) and Cohen, Krishnamoorthy & Wright (2004). These studies raise various questions for future research that are still relevant and which motivate the first two essays of my dissertation. In the first essay, I focus on the role of the internal audit function as one cornerstone of corporate governance and its potentially conflicting role of serving both management and the audit committee (IIA, 2003). In an experimental study, I provide evidence on the challenges for internal auditors in their role as servant for two masters -the audit committee and management -and how this influences internal auditors' judgment (Gramling et al. 2004; Cohen, Krishnamoorthy & Wright, 2004). I ask if there is an expectation gap between what internal auditors should provide for corporate governance in theory compared to what internal auditors are able to provide in practice. In particular, I focus on the effect of serving two masters on the internal auditor's independence. I argue that independence is hardly achievable if the internal audit function serves two masters with conflicting priorities. The second essay provides evidence on the effectiveness of accountability as an internal control mechanism. In general, internal control mechanisms based on accountability were enforced by the SOX (2002) and the 8th EU Directive. Subsequently, many companies introduced sub-certification processes that should contribute to an objective judgment process. Thus, these mechanisms are important to strengthen the reliability of financial statements. Based on a need for evidence on the effectiveness of internal control mechanisms (Brennan & Solomon, 2008; Gramling et al. 2004; Cohen, Krishnamoorthy & Wright, 2004; Solomon & Trotman, 2003), I designed an experiment to examine the joint effect of accountability and obedience pressure in an internal audit setting. I argue that obedience pressure potentially can lead to a negative influence on accountants' objectivity (e.g. DeZoort & Lord, 1997) whereas accountability can mitigate this negative effect. My second main research question - How should major changes in standard setting affect financial accounting education? - is investigated in the third essay. It is motivated by the observation during my PhD that many conferences deal with the topic of accounting education but very little is published about what needs to be done. Moreover, the Endings in the first two essays of this thesis and their literature review suggest that financial accounting education can contribute significantly to quality corporate governance as argued elsewhere (Schipper, 2003; Boyce, 2004; Ghoshal, 2005). In the third essay of this thesis, I therefore focus on approaches to financial accounting education that account for the changes in standard setting and also contribute to corporate governance and accounting harmonization. I argue that the competency set that is required in practice changes due to major changes in standard setting. As the major contribution of the third article, I develop a public interest approach for financial accounting education. The major findings of this dissertation can be summarized as follows. The first essay provides evidence to an important research question raised by Gramling et al. (2004, p. 240): "If the audit committee and management have different visions for the corporate governance role of the IAF, which vision will dominate?" According to the results of the first essay, internal auditors do follow the priorities of either management or the audit committee based on the guidance provided by the Chief Audit executive. The study's results question whether the independence of the internal audit function is actually achievable. My findings contribute to research on internal auditors' judgment and the internal audit function's independence in the broader frame of corporate governance. The results are also important for practice because independence is a major justification for a positive contribution of the internal audit function to corporate governance. The major findings of the second essay indicate that the duty to sign work results - a means of holding people accountable -mitigates the negative effect of obedience pressure on reliability. Hence, I found evidence that control .mechanisms relying on certifications may enhance the reliability of financial information. These findings contribute to the literature on the effectiveness of internal control mechanisms. They are also important in the light of sub-certification processes that resulted from the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the 8th EU Directive. The third essay contributes to the literature by developing a measurement framework that accounts for the consequences of major trends in standard setting. Moreovér, it shows how these trends affect the required .competency set of people dealing with accounting issues. Based on this work, my main contribution is the development of a public interest approach for the design of adequate financial accounting curricula. 2 Serving two masters: Experimental evidence on the independence of internal auditors Abstract Twenty nine internal auditors participated in a study that examines the independence of internal auditors in their potentially competing roles of serving two masters: the audit committee and management. Our main hypothesis suggests that internal auditors' independence is not achievable in an institutional setting in which internal auditors are accountable to two different parties with potentially differing priorities. We test our hypothesis in an experiment in which the treatment consisted of two different instructions of the Chief audit executive; one stressing the priority of management (cost reduction) and one stressing the priority of the audit committee (effectiveness). Internal auditors had to evaluate internal controls and their inherent costs of different processes which varied in their degree of task complexity. Our main results indicate that internal auditors' evaluation of the processes is significantly different when task complexity is high. Our findings suggest that internal auditors do follow the priorities of either management or the audit committee depending on the instructions of a superior internal auditor. The study's results question whether the independence of the internal audit function is actually achievable. With our findings, we contribute to research on internal auditors' judgment and the internal audit function's independence in the frame of corporate governance.

Managing Business Processes in Corporate Expansion

Yrityksen laajentuessa kansainvälisesti, olemassa olevat rutiinit jäävät vanhoiksi ja liiketoimintaprosessien johtaminen muuttuu. Kyseisten prosessien täytyy olla läpinäkyviä ja tietovirtojen hyvin suunniteltuja. Prosessien harmonisointi aiheuttaa haasteita yrityksessä ja konsernin etu tulee ottaa huomioon. Ahlstrom konserni laajentuu merkittävästi kaikilla liiketoiminta-alueillaan ja kansainvälinen laajentuminen vie Ahlstrom Glassfibre Oy:n täysin uuteen tilanteeseen. Liiketoimintaprosessien johtamiseen vaikuttavat konsernin ohjaus, mahdollisuudet muutosten implementoimiseksi, toimintaympäristön tekijät ja järjestelmien muodostama arkkitehtuuri. Tässä tutkimuksessa keskitytään ydinprosessien tietovirtoihin ja työ on tehty Karhulan tehtaalla Suomessa. Johtamismallin luomiseksi vaaditaan yrityksessä ongelmia määrittelevää työskentelyä. Tämä ongelmanmääritys oli työn tärkein tavoite. Ongelma-alueiden tutkimuksen pohjalta muodostettiin ratkaisu, jossa käsiteltiin systemaattisen liiketoimintaprosessien johtamisen mahdollisuuksia ja vaatimuksia. Lopputuloksena voidaan todeta, että suurin painopiste löytyy informaatioteknologian ja liiketoiminnan rajapinnoista. Tähän työhön liittyvät myös prossien harmonisointi ja integrointi.

Yrityssaneerauksen asettamat Iiiketoimintastrategian laatimiselle

Työssä on tutkittu yrityssaneerauksen alla olevan pienyrityksen selviytymistä vuodesta 2003 vuoteen 2006. Työ jakaantuu teoreettiseen osaan, jossa esitellään käytetyt menetelmät ja käytännölliseen osaan, jossa niitä sovelletaan yritykseen. Työssä on erotettu mahdollisuuksien mukaan yrityksen taloudellinen tilanne ja velanmaksukyky yrityksen muusta liiketoiminnasta ja liiketoiminnan suunnittelusta. Pääpaino on yrityksen liiketoimintojen organisoinnilla ja toimintaympäristön ja sen vaikutusten analysoinnilla. Yritysanalyysin avulla voidaan luoda yritykselle Iiiketoimintasuunnitelma, korjata ja selittää sen tekemiä strategisia ratkaisuja, sekä luoda käytäntöjä tiedonvälittymiseen yritykseltä velkojatoimikunnalle valvojan kautta yrityssaneerausprosessin aikana.

Corporate Layoff Announcements and Shareholder Value: Empirical Evidence from Finland

Tutkimuksen tavoitteena on tutkia lyhyen aikavälin markkinareaktiota suomalaisten pörssiyhtiöiden irtisanomisilmoituksiin. Lisäksi tutkitaan poikkileikkausmenetelmän avulla, vaikuttavatko erilaiset yrityskohtaiset tekijät siihen miten osakemarkkinat suhtautuvat irtisanomisiin. Kolmantena tutkimuksen kohteena ovat maakohtaiset irtisanomisiin liittyvät tekijät sekä kuinka ekstensiivistä on yritysten tiedottaminen irtisanomisista. Aineisto sisältää 83 julkisesti annettua irtisanomistiedotetta viiden vuodenaikaväliltä (kesäkuu 2000 - kesäkuu 2005). Osakemarkkinoiden keskimääräistä reaktiota sekä kehitettyjä alihypoteeseja tutkittiin hyödyntämällä tapahtumatutkimusmetodia. Empiiriset tulokset osoittavat, että sijoittajat näkevät irtisanomisetkeskimääräisesti negatiivisina uutisina yhtiöiden markkina-arvon kannalta. Irtisanomisilmoituksia edeltävä markkinareaktio on negatiivinen tukien aiempia tutkimustuloksia Yhdysvaltojen ja Iso-Britannian markkinoilta. Erona aikaisempiin tutkimuksiin on kuitenkin se, että negatiivinen markkinareaktio on täysin hinnoiteltu jo ilmoitusta edeltävänä aikana. Tukea löytyi myös kaikille yrityskohtaisillealihypoteeseille, jotka selittävät sijoittajien reaktiota irtisanomisilmoituksiin: koko pääoman tuotto, suhdannesykli, corporate governance sekä yrityksen ja johdon maine.

Hallituksen riippumattomuus Suomen corporate governance -suosituksessa

Tutkimuksen tavoitteena on tutkia, kuinka Suomen vuonna 2004 voimaan tullut corporate governance -suositus tukee hallituksen riippumattomuutta. Tutkimuksessa määritellään hallituksen riippumattomuuden käsite. Tämän määritelmän avulla tarkastellaan, kuinka Suomen corporate governance -suosituksessa ohjataan hallituksen riippumattomuutta. Tutkimus on kvalitatiivinen tutkimus, joka on luonteeltaan osittain teoreettinen ja osittain normatiivinen. Tutkimusstrategiassayhdistyvät deskriptiivisyys ja komparatiivisuus. Tutkimuksessa Suomen corporategovernance -suosituksen hallituksen riippumattomuutta koskevia suosituksia verrataan toisaalta päämies-agenttiteorian pohjalta muodostettuun riippumattoman hallituksen määritelmään ja toisaalta keskeisimpiin ulkomaisiin corporate governance -säännöstöihin. Riippumattomaksi hallitukseksi määriteltiin hallitus, jonka toimintaa toimiva johto tai merkittävä osakkeenomistaja ei voi suoraan tai välillisesti dominoida. Suomen suosituksessa voidaan nähdä pyrkimys kohti riippumaton-ta hallitusta. Suomen suositus ei kuitenkaan tue hallituksen riippumattomuutta parhaalla mahdollisella tavalla. Sekä toimivalle johdolle että yhtiön merkittäville osakkeenomistajille jää valtaa vaikuttaa hallituksen toimintaan enemmän kuin osakkeenomistajien etujen kannalta olisi suositeltavaa.

Corporate governance kasvuyritysten rahoituskelpoisuuden nostamisen välineenä

Tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli selvittää, mitä corporate governance on nuorten yritysten kohdalla ja miten he sillä voivat parantaa omia tulevaisuuden kasvumahdollisuuksia. Tutkimuksessa haastateltiin Lappeenrantalaisia kasvuyrityksiä ja pääomasijoittajien edustajia, minkä avulla saatiin tietoa siitä, mikä on tämän hetken tilanne hyvän hallintotavan suhteen. Tutkielmassa tutkittiin eri osa-alueita, jotka tämänhetkisessä tilanteessa on yhdistetty yritysten hyvän hallintotavan mukaiseen toimintaan. Näistä asioista nostetaan esille ne peruslinjaukset, joita nuorten yritysten tulisi noudattaa, jottaheidän toimintansa noudattaisi hyvää hallintotapaa. Tämän lisäksi tutkitaan pääomasijoittamista. Tutkimuksessa käydään läpi Suomessa toimivat erityyppiset pääomasijoittajat, heidän käyttämänsä sijoitusprosessit ja - kriteerit sekä arvonmääritys. Tutkimuksessa myös käsitellään pääomasijoittamisen merkitystä nuorille yrityksille ja sitä, mitä kohdeyrityksen hyvä hallintotapa voi pääomasijoittajillemerkitä. Corporate governance mielletään vielä suurten yritysten asiaksi, muttase on myös selkeästi käännettävissä pienille yrityksille sopivaksi. Mitään yksiselitteistä suositusten listaa ei voida antaa, mutta tärkeämpää olisi saada nuoret yritykset miettimään ja panostamaan oman yrityksen hyvän hallintotavan mukaiseen toimintaan. Tämän avulla on mahdollista parantaa yrityksen toimintaedellytyksiä ja torjua uhkia.

Effect of aminoethoxyvinilglycine (AVG) on preharvest fruit drop and maturity of apples

Apple trees cultivars Gala and Fuji were sprayed four weeks before commercial harvest with aminoethoxyvinilglycine (AVG), at doses of 0, 125, or 250 mg L-1, and assessed for preharvest fruit drop, fruit growth, and maturation on tree. In 'Gala', 64 days after AVG spraying, fruit drop for control treatment was 85%, and AVG (at 125 and 250 mg L-1) reduced it to 10%. In 'Fuji', 64 days after AVG spraying, fruit drop for control was 6%, while treatments with AVG (at 125 and 250 mg L-1) increased fruit drop to 10%. AVG was a powerful retardant of fruit maturation for 'Gala' but not for 'Fuji'. In 'Gala', the most affected attribute was the skin background color, followed, in decreasing order, by soluble solids content, the starch index, skin red color, the flesh firmness, and titratable acidity. In 'Gala', only flesh firmness retention was improved by increasing AVG dose from 125 mg L-1 to 250 mg L-1. The AVG at 250 mg L-1 inhibited "Gala" late fruit growth but not 'Fuji'.

Corporate governancen vaikutus osuustoiminnallisten yritysten riskienhallintaan

Tutkimuksen tarkoituksena on osallistua corporate governance -keskusteluun tuomalla esiin riskienhallinnan näkökulma osuustoiminnallisessa yritystoiminnassa. Tutkimuksen tavoitteena on kuvata corporate governancen vaikutuksia tuottajaosuustoiminnallisten yritysten riskienhallintaan, selvittää tuottajaosuustoiminnan riskienhallinnan tilaa ja toteutusta ja siihen vaikuttavia tekijöitä sekä tuoda esille näkökulmia riskienhallinnan kehittämiseksi tuottajaosuustoiminnallisissa yrityksissä. Tutkimus on luonteeltaan laadullinen tapaustutkimus. Tutkimuksen empiirinen aineisto kerättiin haastattelemalla kolmea osuustoiminnan asiantuntijaa ja seitsemää riskienhallinnan ja hallinnon vastuuhenkilöä. Haastattelut tehtiin vuoden 2006 kesän ja alkusyksyn aikana. Tutkimuksen perusteella corporate governancen vaikutus organisaatioiden riskienhallintaan on ollut rajallinen. Myös riskienhallintaan sidoksissa olevien toimi- ja hallintoelinten osalta suosituksilla on ollut vähäinen vaikutus. Huolimatta corporate governancen ja riskienhallinnan merkityksen lisääntymisestä tuottajaosuustoiminnallisissa yrityksissä, konkreettisella tasolla riskienhallinta ei toteudu corporate governance -periaatteiden edellyttämällä tavalla niin, että riskienhallintaa voisi kuvata kokonaisvaltaiseksi, periaatteiltaan määritellyksi ja suunnitelmalliseksi prosessiksi. Tutkimuksessa on myös pyritty nostamaan esiin riskienhallinnan eroja eri organisaatiomallien välillä. Tarkastelussaolleiden perusosuuskuntien sekä hybridimallien väliset erot liittyvät lähinnä yritysten resurssien ja koon vaikutuksista syntyviin eroihin riskienhallinnan toteutuksessa ja organisoinnissa. Merkittävään rooliin tuottajaosuustoiminnallistenyritysten riskienhallinnassa nousee erillisen riskienhallintatoiminnon osaaminen ja sen hyödyntäminen organisaatioiden riskienhallintatyössä.

Effect of preharvest spraying with thidiazuron on fruit quality and maturity of apples

Apple trees, cultivars Gala and Fuji, were sprayed at full bloom with thidiazuron (TDZ) at the doses of 0, 5, 10, or 20 g (a.i.) ha-1 and fruit were assessed for quality and maturity. In both cultivars, the increase of TDZ dose had detrimental effects on fruit quality, causing a reduction of fruit red surface and an increase of percentage of fruit that was asymmetrical and with calyx-end rot. TDZ caused an increment of calyx-end aperture that might have increased calyx-end rot. TDZ increased density and the length : diameter (L : D) ratio of the fruit. The number of viable seeds was not affected by TDZ. TDZ resulted in a substantial delay of fruit maturity in 'Gala' but not in 'Fuji'. TDZ also reduced soluble solids content (SSC) in 'Gala' and reduced titratable acidity in both cultivars.

In Search of Corporate Renewal: How to Benefit from Corporate Venturing?

Despite the rapid change in today's business environment there are relatively few studies about corporate renewal. This study aims for its part at filling that research gap by studying the concepts of strategy, corporate renewal, innovation and corporate venturing. Its purpose is to enhance our understanding of how established companies operating in dynamic and global environment can benefit from their corporate venturing activities. The theoretical part approaches the research problem in corporate and venture levels. Firstly, it focuses on mapping the determinants of strategy and suggests using industry, location, resources, knowledge, structure and culture, market, technology and business model to assess the environment and using these determinants to optimize speed and magnitude of change.Secondly, it concludes that the choice of innovation strategy is dependent on the type and dimensions of innovation and suggests assessing market, technology, business model as well as novelty and complexity related to each of them for choosing an optimal context for developing innovations further. Thirdly, it directsattention on processes through which corporate renewal takes place. On corporate level these processes are identified as strategy formulation, strategy formation and strategy implementation. On the venture level the renewal processes are identified as learning, leveraging and nesting. The theoretical contribution of this study, the framework of strategic corporate venturing, joins corporate and venture level management issues together and concludes that strategy processes and linking processes are the mechanism through which continuous corporate renewaltakes place. The framework of strategic corporate venturing proposed by this study is a new way to illustrate the role of corporate venturing as a purposefullybuilt, different view of a company's business environment. The empirical part extended the framework by enhancing our understanding of the link between corporate renewal and corporate venturing in its real life environment in three Finnish companies: Metso, Nokia and TeliaSonera. Characterizing companies' environmentwith the determinants of strategy identified in this study provided a structured way to analyze their competitive position and renewal challenges that they arefacing. More importantly the case studies confirmed that a link between corporate renewal and corporate venturing exists and found out that the link is not as straight forward as indicated by the theory. Furthermore, the case studies enhanced the framework by indicating a sequence according to which the processes work. Firstly, the induced strategy processes strategy formulation and strategy implementation set the scene for corporate venturing context and management processes and leave strategy formation for the venture. Only after that can strategies formed by ventures come back to the corporate level - and if found viable in the corporate level be formalized through formulation and implementation. With the help of the framework of strategic corporate venturing the link between corporaterenewal and corporate venturing can be found and managed. The suggested response to the continuous need for change is continuous renewal i.e. institutionalizing corporate renewal in the strategy processes of the company. As far as benefiting from venturing is concerned the answer lies in deliberately managing venturing in a context different to the mainstream businesses and establishing efficientlinking processes to exploit the renewal potential of individual ventures.

Exploration of the social dimension of corporate responsibility in a welfare state

This study focuses on corporate social responsibility (or CSR)as the latest dimension to emerge in the corporate responsibility and sustainability agenda, which in the recent past has rapidly risen to the top of the list of concerns for civil societies worldwide. Despite the continuing debates and discussions about the scope, benefits, and impacts of CSR to business and community in various sectors, levels, and types of society, many companies have moved forward to confront the opportunities and challenges of CSR. Thus, this study is about those proactive companies with a focus on the importance of CSR and its management inside and outside the company. It is an exploration and learning from the experience of Finnish companies, as well as other actors interested or involved in shaping the course of CSR, locally and globally. It also looks closely at how national culture affects the views, thinking, and management of CSR in a welfare state. This dissertation primarily draws on the analyses of information collected from a series of qualitative interviews and the existing literature in the area. This is complemented by an analysis of written and published documents on CSR from various sources. The results of the study give insightful information and detailed descriptions of a roadmap useful in learning and understanding CSR in Finnish companies. Despite the varying conceptual connotations, essential roadmap indicators point to the importance of framing CSR within the corporate responsibility concept, Finnish development and the welfare state system, globalization, stakeholders, and the pursuit of sustainable development as the main drivers of CSR, the remarkable progress of CSR in companies, and identification of key management areas and practices relevant to CSR. Similarly,the study reveals the importance of culture as essential in understanding and learning CSR. Finnish culture has a positive influence on the views, thinking, and management practices of CSR issues. Such a positive influence of culture, therefore, makes it easy for business people to discuss and understand CSR, because those CSR issues are already considered common and taken-for-granted by Finns and are implicit in the welfare state provisions. The experience of Finnish companies in implementing CSR policies in the supply chain is a concrete proactive step in advancing the message of CSR, that is, to bring companies and suppliers together to work on improving and strengthening relationships towards socially responsible practices worldwide. Such a forward step to deal with CSR issues in the supply chain reflects the companies' commitments and belief that CSR can be managed with the suppliers and gain positive benefits. Despite the problems and complexities, particularly in the global supply chain, managing CSR for Finnish companies presents new opportunities and challenges that are expected to intensify in the near future. The focus on CSR policy implementation inthe supply chain points to the importance of companies taking initiatives and forging cooperation with suppliers with the aim of addressing and improving CSR questions in the supply chains. The proactive stance of Finnish companies toward CSR is complemented by the active supporting role of important societalactors such as the government and NGOs. These actors carry out various promotional efforts and campaigns, thus bringing CSR into the mainstream of Finnish companies and strengthening the synergistic learning about CSR within the Finnish business and civil circles. The efforts of the government and NGOs to promote CSR are indicative of the importance of multipartite involvement and the emergence of better civil regulations. Likewise, their drive to learn from each other, exchange experiences, and contribute in CSR debates facilitated the evolution of CSRnetworks in the country. The results of this study add to the mounting evidence that CSR, in general, has created a new dimension in managing corporate sustainability. This study provides compelling empirical evidence and some direct quotations about CSR in the Finnish context. This information can be used to learn and gain new useful insights, approaches, and concepts for managing CSR.

Maturity indexes for 'Kumagai' and 'Paluma' guavas

Harvest time is one of the main factors related to guava fruit postharvest losses. It is subjectively determined by fruit size and skin color, without any consensual standardization among the growers. The use of maturity indexes enables growers to know the ideal harvest time according to each market situation. The objective of this work was to determine the maturity indexes to identify the harvest time for guava fruit cv. Kumagai and Paluma. Skin color, fruit firmness, soluble solids, titratable acidity, ratio and ascorbic acid were analyzed. The most adequate maturity indexes for 'Kumagai' guava fruit were skin color and pulp firmness, while for 'Paluma' guava fruit, the best indexes were skin color, pulp firmness, titratable acidity and ratio.

Analysis of vineyard differential management zones and relation to vine development, grape maturity and quality

The objective of research was to analyse the potential of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) maps from satellite images, yield maps and grapevine fertility and load variables to delineate zones with different wine grape properties for selective harvesting. Two vineyard blocks located in NE Spain (Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah) were analysed. The NDVI was computed from a Quickbird-2 multi-spectral image at veraison (July 2005). Yield data was acquired by means of a yield monitor during September 2005. Other variables, such as the number of buds, number of shoots, number of wine grape clusters and weight of 100 berries were sampled in a 10 rows × 5 vines pattern and used as input variables, in combination with the NDVI, to define the clusters as alternative to yield maps. Two days prior to the harvesting, grape samples were taken. The analysed variables were probable alcoholic degree, pH of the juice, total acidity, total phenolics, colour, anthocyanins and tannins. The input variables, alone or in combination, were clustered (2 and 3 Clusters) by using the ISODATA algorithm, and an analysis of variance and a multiple rang test were performed. The results show that the zones derived from the NDVI maps are more effective to differentiate grape maturity and quality variables than the zones derived from the yield maps. The inclusion of other grapevine fertility and load variables did not improve the results.