Rakennusalan käännetty arvonlisäverovelvollisuus Suomessa - arviointi ensi hetkien kokemusten perusteella

Tutkielman tavoitteena on selvittää ja arvioida rakennusalan käännettyä arvonlisäverotusta koskevan säännöksen onnistuneisuutta ja toimivuutta siirtymävaiheen ja ensi hetkien kokemuksien perusteella. Empiirisenä aineistona käytetään Verohallinnon neuvontapuhelimeen esitettyjä kysymyksiä. Tutkielmassa käydään läpi yritysten hallinnollista taakkaa ja sen muodostumista sekä tutkitaan veronmaksumyönteisyyttä ja siihen vaikuttavia tekijöitä. Tutkielmassa esitetään rakennusteollisuus toimialana ja kerrotaan erilaisista harmaan talouden muodoista ja keinoista torjua niitä. Lopuksi rakennusalan käännettyä arvonlisäveroa tutkitaan peilaamalla sen vaikutuksia yritysten hallinnolliseen taakkaan, veronmaksumyönteisyyteen sekä arvioimalla sen tehokkuutta harmaan talouden torjunnassa ja vaikutuksia verokertymään. Rakennusala on erittäin ongelmallinen harmaan talouden suhteen. Uusimpana keinona rakennusalalla harmaan talouden torjunnassa on otettu käyttöön rakennusalan käännetty arvonlisäverovelvollisuus. Säännös lisännee verokertymää ja ehkäisee tehokkaasti sellaista veronkiertoa, jossa ostaja vähentää arvonlisäveron, jonka myyjä jättää maksamatta valtiolle. Säännös saattaa lisätä myös alan veronmaksumyönteisyyttä, jos tulkinnallisia ongelmia pystytään esimerkiksi ohjeistuksen avulla vähentämään tehokkaasti. Säännös lisää yritysten hallinnollista taakka ja lisäkuormitus korostuu etenkin pk-yritysten taloushallinnossa. Useat rajanvedot eri tilanteisiin niin rakentamispalvelun määrittämisen kuin niin sanotun ostajan statuksen suhteen ovat toistaiseksi hyvin tulkinnallisia ja vaikeita ratkaista. Jos Verohallinto onnistuu ohjeistuksensa tai muiden toimiensa avulla vähentämään säännöksen aiheuttamia tulkinnallisia ongelmia, voidaan säännöksen ajatella olevan kokonaisuudessaan suhteellisen onnistunut ja toimiva sekä toteuttavan niitä tavoitteita, joita siltä odotettiinkin, eli kasvattavan verokertymää ja ehkäisevän tietynlaista harmaata taloutta.

Metsäsääntely Suomessa ja Venäjällä. Näkökulmia kestävään metsätalouteen

Sustainability is the aim of forest management and forest regulation in many countries. Accordingly, forest management has been steered towards more environmentally friendly methods and new regulatory instruments have been introduced. At the same time, wood trade and forest industry have become a global business. Even if the importance of national forest legislation has not decreased, it has been widely acknowledged that national regulation of forest management is no longer sufficient. The movement of goods does not acknowledge boundaries, even though most negative environmental and social consequences stay in the country of origin of wood and other raw materials. As a partial solution to this dilemma, different kinds of regulations have been developed. Various forest certification schemes and wood trade regulation in the EU (995/2010) are examples of efforts to prevent illegal logging and unsustainable forestry. The Finland-based forest industry is to a varying extent dependent on wood trade from Russia. Especially in the 1990‟s, ethical questions concerning import of wood from Russian old growth forests near the Finnish border were widely discussed. Consequently, forest industry enterprises have developed systems to trace the origin of wood and to buy certified wood from Russia. The aim of the research has been to evaluate Finnish and Russian forest regulations in order to investigate what kind of forest management these regulations enhance, and to what extent ecologically sustainable forest management has been integrated into different forms of regulation. I have examined Finnish and Russian forest regulation in four separate articles based on the topics of the Russian Forest Code, forest certification and other voluntary forest protection measures in Russia, Finnish forest certification and Finnish forest legislation. One objective has been to analyse the roles voluntary forest certification plays in promoting sustainable forest management in different countries. In my research, I have mainly concentrated on ecological sustainability and protection of biodiversity, although other aspects of sustainable forest management have been touched upon in different articles. In the following I shall conclude the findings of my research. When the current Russian Forest Code (2006) was being adopted, the main emphasis was not on ecological issues, but on reorganizing forest governance. The role of ecological requirements was even slightly diminished during the legislative reform. There are, nevertheless, still stipulations aiming at ecological sustainability, such as the division of forests into different forest management categories and various protection zones. In 2000, FSC forest certification arrived in Russia, at present covering already 28 million hectares of forests. The PEFC scheme is now in use as well, but to a much lesser extent. If properly implemented, Russian forest certification schemes clearly improve the level of ecological and social sustainability of forestry in Russia. Certification criteria, however, are partly in conflict with the Russian forest legislation and certified enterprises have been forced to pay fines or to negotiate with forest authorities. This clearly indicates that even if Russian forest legislation has otherwise been liberalized to a certain extent, some significant paternalism still exists. Voluntary, hands-on biodiversity protection measures are not valued, and they are not part of the official protection policies as in many other countries. However, there have been some regional solutions to this dilemma. In the Republic of Karelia forest authorities have approved a set of forest biodiversity protection rules created by a local NGO and a forest industry enterprise. By following these local rules, an enterprise can avoid fines for protection measures. The current Finnish Forest Act was adopted in 1996. It brought forest legislation into a new era as some ecological aspects were integrated into forest legislation. The various soft-law forest management recommendations further increased the level of biodiversity protection. My evaluation of the overall legitimacy of the Finnish forest legislation and forest management paradigm revealed, however, several problematic issues. As part of this study I analysed the history of the current forest management paradigm. This analysis revealed the path dependency which still hinders the protection of biodiversity and clearly decreases the general legitimacy of forest management. Due to several historical reasons only even-structured forest management based on clear cuts has for decades been officially approved in Finland. Due to increasing demands of forest owners the legislation is finally being revised. Yet, the official approval of uneven-structured forest management would not be enough to fully improve ecological, social and cultural legitimacy. The latest ecological theories and knowledge of endangered species should be taken into account in the on-going reform of forest legislation as well as the modernisation. Forest legislation is one of the very few spheres of Finnish environmental legislation where openness and participation are still considered a threat. The first Finnish forest certification scheme, PEFC, was established in 2000. It now covers more than 20 million hectares, about 95% of the forests in Finland. PEFC Finland does not require a higher level of biodiversity protection than the recommendations by Tapio (the Development Centre for Forestry), but certification has unified forest management practices and requires more protection measures than mere forest legislation. The study suggests that in Finland PEFC has not functioned as an instrument which would substantially improve the level of forest management. Rather it has supported the status quo of the forest sector. While the ecological and social responsibility of Finland-based forest corporations was one impetus for this research, I want to conclude that there are problems related to forest legislation and non-state regulation in both Finland and Russia. If an enterprise buying wood from Russia buys only certified wood, and carefully avoids wood coming from high conservation value forests that are either ecologically or socially valuable, it can be claimed to be as sustainably produced as in Finland. However, there must be continuous scrutiny of the circumstances. In Russia, the level of the compliance of certification criteria varies considerably, and there are vast unprotected invaluable forest areas. The utilisation of these areas should not be based on short-sighted decisions or lack of consensus among stakeholders.

Kuluttajien maksuhalukkuuden tutkiminen tupakkatuotteiden osalta – Case Yritys X

Tutkielmassa tutkitaan maksuhalukkuuden käyttöä tupakkatuotteiden hinnoittelumenetelmänä.

Osakeyhtiömuotoisen perheyrityksen edullinen ja onnistunut sukupolvenvaihdos: Case-tutkimus

Tutkielman tarkoituksena oli selvittää yksityisen osakeyhtiömuotoisen perheyrityksen sukupolvenvaihdoksenprosessin edullisuuteen ja onnistumiseen liittyviä tekijöitä. Tavoitteena oli selvittää, kuinka sukupolvenvaihdos tulee toteuttaa, jotta se olisi sekä luopujalle että jatkajalle mahdollisimman edullinen. Täten huomio kiinnittyi lahjaveroon, varainsiirtoveroon, luovutusvoittoveroon sekä mahdollisiin verohuojennuksiin. Lisäksi tutkielmassa kiinnitettiin huomiota sukupolvenvaihdoksen onnistumisen kannalta tärkeisiin pehmeisiin tekijöihin, joita ovat muun muassa luopumisen vaikeus ja vaihdoksen haasteet. Tutkielma toteutettiin laadullisena tapaustutkimuksena. Tutkimusaineistona toimivat case-yrityksen tilinpäätös sekä haastattelututkimuksen tulokset. Case-yrityksen sukupolvenvaihdoksen toteutustapojen edullisuutta mallinnettiin lahjanluonteisilla kaupoilla sekä lahjalla. Tulokset osoittivat, että case-yrityksen tapauksessa sukupolvenvaihdos tapahtuu edullisimmin lahjan avulla tai maksamalla 10 prosenttia yrityksen käyvästä arvosta. Tutkimus osoitti myös, että sukupolvenvaihdos on haastava ja aikaa vievä prosessi.

Osingonjako ja omien osakkeiden hankinta varojenjakokeinoina – veroseuraamusten tarkastelu

Tämän tutkielman tarkoituksena on perehtyä osingon ja omien osakkeiden hankinnan eroihin varojenjakokeinoina ja erityisesti tarkastella niihin liittyviä veroseuraamuksia. Veroseuraamuksia arvioidaan niin listaamattomista, kuin listatuista yhtiöistä saaduista varoista ja niitä selvennetään laskuesimerkein. Näiden lisäksi tutkielmassa käsitellään peitellyn osingon säännöksen soveltamista erityisesti omien osakkeiden hankintaan liittyen. Peiteltyyn osinkoon liittyvät ennakkopäätökset, joita tutkielmassa esitellään runsaasti, ovat avain asemassa säännöksen soveltamisen ymmärtämisessä. Koska tutkielman perustana on voimassa olevan oikeuden sisältö ja tarkoituksena on tulkita lainsäädäntöä, on kyseessä lainopillinen tutkimus. Tutkielmassa todetaan osingon ja omien osakkeiden hankinnan olevan toistensa kaltaisia varojenjakokeinoja, kun asiaa katsotaan osakeyhtiölain näkökulmasta. Kun asiaa tarkastellaan verotuksen näkökulmasta, lainsäädäntö kannustaa yleensä jakamaan osinkoa etenkin listaamattomista yhtiöistä. Pörssiyhtiöissä myös omien osakkeiden hankinta voi olla tarkoituksen mukainen keino saada varoja yhtiöstä.

Extremfall, stjärnelever och verktygsskramlare : en diskursanalytisk studie av lärares tal om studerande som behöver särskilt stöd

The groups within Finnish vocational upper secondary education and training (VET) are often heterogeneous with respect to the student's need for support in their studies. According to the national core curricula, Special Education Needs (SEN) students should in the first place, get their education in the same group as everyone else. This dissertation aims to clarify and create an understanding about how the ideals and intention of equality in education is constructed in communication among teachers in VET in the Swedish-speaking parts of Finland. Through this understanding it should be possible to highlight a potential which could ultimately contribute to a positive development of a more inclusive education within VET. The epistemological platform of the study is to be found within the post structuralist philosophy of language that is considered as subsumed in a social constructionist thinking. The data has been collected through focus group discussions in groups of 3–6 participants (teachers) in seven schools in Finnish-Swedish VET. The analyses are based on a discursive psychological analysis combined with an analysis based on Michel Foucault's concepts with an emphasis on the subject, government and power. Four discourser where identified in the analysis of teachers' constructions of the educational assignment in relation to SEN students. The most dominant was discussing the educational assignment as a pragmatic project i.e. as a matter of transmission of knowledge. The discourse included both interpretative repertoires where the heterogeneous group was constructed as self-evident and possible to manage as well as a constructed as an impossible project. The educational assignment was also constructed as a holistic project, as part of a democratic project, and as a labor market project. Each discourse contains both including as well as excluding features in relation to SEN students. The development of an inclusive practice can and should therefore include elements from all of them. Three discourses were identified in the analysis concerning teachers' versions of SEN students: students with difficulties and problems; students who do not use or do not have ability and students who are irresponsible and lack the will to study. Within the various discourses and interpretative repertoires were both constructs when teachers described a concern and kindness in relation to the individual SEN student and constructions where teachers mainly expressed fears that other students in the group would be negatively affected by students in need of special support. Results from the third research question conclude the results from the two others, the analysis is done out of a government perspective. In the material use of different government techniques are identified: disciplinary power through direct reprimands; pastoral power by a desire of insight in order to promote the opportunities for consultation and the use of bio-power that primarily focuses on what is best for the population and whose tool racism results in a legitimation of the exclusion of SEN students. The conclusion is that teachers in VET need to pay attention to inclusive and exclusive elements identified in various discourses.

Arseeni ja elohopea maaperässä ja vesistöissä

Maapallon väestön kasvaessa ja tarpeen makealle vedelle, ruualle ja viljelymaalle noustessa on tärkeää alkaa kiinnittää entistä tarkemmin huomiota vesistöjen ja maaperän saastumiseen myrkyllisillä raskasmetalleilla. Erityisesti elohopea ja arseeni, jotka jo nyt vaikuttavat heikentävästi miljoonien ihmisten elämään eri puolilla maapalloa, on syytä ottaa huolelliseen tarkkailuun. Raskasmetallien päästölähteet voidaan jakaa kahteen luokkaan, luonnollisiin ja ihmisperäisiin. Ihmisperäisiin päästölähteisiin voidaan vaikuttaa muun muassa teollisuutta ja liikennettä koskevalla lainsäädännöllä. Luonnollisiin päästölähteisiin vaikuttaminen on huomattavasti haastavampaa, mutta niiden haittaa ihmisille on mahdollista pienentää muun muassa parempien vedenpuhdistustekniikoiden avulla. Tämän työn kirjallisuusosassa tullaan esittelemään erityyppisiä luonnossa esiintyviä arseenin ja elohopean yhdisteitä, suurimpia arseenin ja elohopean päästölähteitä, sekä näiden raskasmetallien haitallisia terveysvaikutuksia. Kokeellisessa osassa tullaan keskittymään arseenin analysointiin nestemäisistä näytteistä. Näytteinä käytettiin tuntemattomilta kaatopaikoilta otettuja suotovesinäytteitä, sekä Pien-Saimaan pintavesinäytteitä. Analyyseihin on käytetty ICP-AES laitteistoa sekä kapillaarielektroforeesia.

Nurses’ Acceptance of an Internet-Based Support System in The Care of Adolescents with Depression

The overall goal of the study was to describe nurses’ acceptance of an Internet-based support system in the care of adolescents with depression. The data were collected in four phases during the period 2006 – 2010 from nurses working in adolescent psychiatric outpatient clinics and from professionals working with adolescents in basic public services. In the first phase, the nurses’ anticipated perceptions of the usefulness of the Internet-based support system before its implementation was explored. In the second phase, the nurses’ perceived ease of computer and Internet use and attitudes toward it were explored. In the third phase, the features of the support system and its implementation process were described. In the fourth phase, the nurses’ experiences of behavioural intention and actual system use of the Internet-based support were described in psychiatric out-patient care after one year use. The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) was used to structure the various research phases. Several benefits were identified from the nurses’ perspective in using the Internet-based support system in the care of adolescents with depression. The nurses’ technology skills were good and their attitudes towards computer use were positive. The support system was developed in various phases to meet the adolescents’ needs. Before the implementation of the information technology (IT)-based support system, it is important to pay attention to the nurses’ IT-training, technology support, resources, and safety as well as ethical issues related to the support system. After one year of using the system, the nurses perceived the Internet-based support system to be useful in the care of adolescents with depression. The adolescents’ independent work with the support system at home and the program’s systematic character were experienced as conducive from the point of view of the treatment. However, the Internet-based support system was integrated only partly into the nurseadolescent interaction even though the nurses’ perceptions of it were positive. The use of the IT-based system as part of the adolescents’ depression care was seen positively and its benefits were recognized. This serves as a good basis for future IT-based techniques. Successful implementations of IT-based support systems need a systematic implementation plan and commitment from the part of the organization and its managers. Supporting and evaluating the implementation of an IT-based system should pay attention to changing the nurses’ work styles. Health care organizations should be offered more flexible opportunities to utilize IT-based systems in direct patient care in the future.

Pennförare i periferin : österbottniska sockenskrivare 1721-1868

Modern research on literacy, the scriptualization of the administration and the interaction between the governing and the governed as part of the political culture, has brought to the fore the issue of different scripts and their terms. The present dissertation focuses on the parish scribes in the county of Ostrobothnia during the period 1721–1868. The peasantry had been given the right to pay parish scribes in 1624. The parish scribes who were to assist the peasants in connection with the collection of taxes simultaneously supervised the bailiffs who collected the taxes. Their writing skills made the scribes indispensable also in many other contexts. In Ostrobothnia, the peasantry had use for parish scribes, who worked as mediators between Swedish and Finnish, between the oral and the written and vice versa. The aim of this dissertation is on the one hand to explore the recruitment of parish scribes, and on the other to examine the parish scribes as a professional and social group. The parish scribes’ significance for the peasantry in everyday life, local decision-making and in connection with political processes will be analyzed by examining their work and professional activities. The recruitment of parish scribes and has been analyzed as a decision process where different actors were able to influence the election. The parish scribes’ competence requirements and terms of employment have been analyzed. The parish scribes as a professional body or a social group has not previously been explored. The examination of the 154 parish scribes as a professional and social group has been carried out in the form of a collective biography. Parish scribes’ tasks originally consisted of the collection of taxes, but the duties within the parish administration increased in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The private writing assignments consisted of many different documents: bills of sale, probate inventories and estate distributions, wills, land tenancy agreements, life annuity and crofter agreements, promissory notes, auction records and different survey documents. The interaction with state power has been analyzed by examining five political decision-making processes that the peasants actively participated in.

Yksityisen osakeyhtiön onnistunut sukupolvenvaihdos verotuksellisesta näkökulmasta: case-tutkimus

Sukupolvenvaihdoksella tarkoitetaan yrityksen omistajasuhteiden vaihtumista sukupolvelta toiselle liiketoiminnan jatkamiseksi yrityksessä. Tutkielmassa tutkitaan sukupolvenvaihdosta koskevaa verokohtelua ja muita omistajavaihdokseen liittyviä tekijöitä, joita yrityksissä kohdataan omistajavaihdosprosessin aikana. Tutkimuksen tarkoituksena on löytää paras ratkaisu sukupolvenvaihdoksen toteutukseen kohdeyritykselle. Tutkimus toteutettiin tapaustutkimuksena ja aineistona käytettiin pääasiassa kohdeyrityksen tilinpäätöksiä viime vuosilta sekä omistajan ja jatkajan haastatteluja. Tutkimuksessa esitetyt laskelmat perustuvat kohdeyrityksen tilinpäätöstietoihin. Laskelmien tarkoituksena on selkeyttää sukupolvenvaihdoksen verotuskäytäntöä ja avustaa koituvan kokonaisrahoituksen tarpeen arvioinnissa. Sukupolvenvaihdokseen tulee valmistautua riittävän ajoissa ja etenkin verotukseen liittyviin ratkaisuihin tulee valmistautua ennakkoon. Yrityksen käypä arvo ja omistajavaihdoksen toteutustapa määrittävät pitkälti kokonaisverotuksen määrän. Kohdeyritykselle sopivin ratkaisu riippuu myös jatkajan mahdollisuuksista rahoittaa omistajavaihdos. Kohdeyrityksen tapauksessa kokonaisrahoituksellisesti edullisin vaihtoehto olisi maksaa käypään arvoon nähden alhainen kauppahinta.

Asiakasarvon selvittäminen ja palvelukonseptin kehittäminen muovialan pk-yrityksessä

Kahden yrityksen väliset transaktiot perustuvat pohjimmiltaan asiakkaan kokemaan arvoon, eli siihen, mitä hyötyjä asiakas kokee saavansa suhteessa niihin kustannuksiin, jotka se joutuu uhraamaan ne saavuttaakseen. Tämän arvon tulee parantaa asiakkaan asemaa suhteessa sen omaan kilpailutilanteeseen ja asiakkaisiin. Arvo voi muodostua tarjooman hinnoittelusta, mutta muita asiakasarvon ulottuvuuksia voivat olla muun muassa laatutekijät sekä asiakassuhteen ja toimittajan imagon vaikutukset. Tämän tutkimuksen tavoitteena on selvittää, mitkä ulottuvuuden muodostavat asiakkaan kokeman arvon case-yrityksen toimialalla sen urakoitsija- ja jälleenmyyjäasiakkailleen segmenteissä. Lisäksi analysoidaan, kuinka tuotantoon keskittyneen yrityksen tulisi kehittää palvelukonseptiaan luodakseen lisäarvoa kyseisille segmenteille ja saavuttaakseen siten kilpailuetua markkinoilla. Tutkimus on tapaustutkimus, jonka tärkeimpänä aineistonkeruumenetelmänä toimivat 17 nykyisten, entisten ja potentiaalisten asiakkaiden teemahaastattelua. Tulokset osoittavat, että toimiala on haastava lisäpalveluiden kannalta, koska ne eivät ole sille tyypillisiä. Asiakkaiden näyttää olevan erityisen vaikea tunnistaa palveluita, joista ne olisivat valmiita maksamaan. Tämä johtaa tilanteeseen, jossa asiakasuskollisuus ei ole erityisen korkea, vaan etenkin jälleenmyyjäasiakkaat ostavat tuotteet pääosin hintaan perustuen. Selkeän lisäarvopalvelukonseptin luominen voikin parantaa asiakasuskollisuutta ja sitä kautta asiakkaan elinkaaren arvoa, mikä voi rikkoa markkinoiden perinteisiä toimintamalleja case-yrityksen eduksi.

Sensory and physicochemical evaluation of acerola nectar sweetened with sucrose and different sweeteners

This paper aims to evaluate the physicochemical characteristics, sensory acceptance, and purchase intent of acerola nectar sweetened with sucrose and other sweeteners (neotame, sucralose and stevia extracts with 40%, 60%, 80%, and 95% rebaudioside A). The analyses were carried out for pH, soluble solids, total titratable acidity, ascorbic acid, and colorimetry (L*a*b). The acceptance test was performed by 120 consumers who evaluated the appearance, aroma, flavor, texture, and overall impression of the samples using a 9-cm unstructured hedonic scale. Furthermore, the consumers were asked to rate overall purchase intent along the scale anchored with (1) "would definitely not purchase" to (5) "would definitely purchase." The results were evaluated using analysis of variance/Tukey test and the internal preference mapping technique. The acerola nectar samples did not differ significantly (p>0.05) between themselves in terms of vitamin C content and total titratable acidity. As for appearance and aroma, there was no significant difference (p>0.05) between the samples, and as for flavor and overall impression, the most accepted samples were those with sucrose and sucralose. The internal preference mapping indicated that the most accepted samples were those with sucrose, sucralose, and neotame were. The highest frequency of positive purchase intent scores was observed for sucrose and sucralose.

Renegociação da dívida pública interna em condições de sobreendividamento

Renegotiation of the public debt in conditions of excessive debt. This paper studies the debt overhang models and maturity management models, and analyses both theoretically and historically the debt renegotiations which the final outcome is a lower public debt burden. From the theoretical view the renegotiation plans can be Pareto improving, both creditors and debtors can be better-off, and the value of the new debt will price the new reputation and debtors' willingness to pay. From the historical point of view, funded debts were the instrument that debtors used to improve reputation.

Liquidity Risk in the Finnish Stock Market

This study explores the pricing of liquidity risk and its effect on stock returns in the Finnish stock market. In addition to that, it investigates whether there is a trend in liquidity risk. Finally, it analyzes whether the two chosen liquidity measures provide different results. The data consists of all the common shares listed in the Finnish stock market during the period of 1/1997–7/2015. To examine whether liquidity risk affects stock returns in the Finnish stock market, this study utilizes a conditional version of liquidity-adjusted capital asset pricing model (LCAPM) by Acharya and Pedersen (2005). Two recently proposed illiquidity measures – PQS and AdjILLIQ – are used in the empirical estimation to see whether there are differences in the results between the measures. The time-varying conditional liquidity risks are estimated by using a multivariate DCC-GARCH model, while the pricing of the liquidity risk is conducted by applying fixed effect panel regression. The results imply that investors in the Finnish stock market are willing to pay a premium to hedge from wealth shocks and having liquid assets during the declined market liquidity. However, investors are not willing to pay a premium for stocks with higher returns during illiquid markets. The total annualized illiquidity premiums found in the Finnish stock market are 1.77% and 1.04%, based on the PQS and AdjILLIQ measures, respectively. The study also shows that liquidity risk does not exhibit decreasing trend, and investors should consider liquidity risk in their portfolio diversification in the Finnish stock market.

Increased profitability and efficiency by improving the Meetings & Events Category S2P-process – Case Company

The purpose of this research was to examine the most optimal way to arrange meetings and events management and source to pay –process in a global company. The research is a qualitative multi-method case study and is a commission from a global company. The theoretical framework of this research structures around two approaches. First approach focus on a purchasing strategy and management that shows the current role of procure-ment and introduce different ways to organize purchasing functions. Second approach focus on purchasing process management and improvement methods. Annual spend analyze, external and internal interviews and internal survey were done to gain compre-hensive knowledge about the current state of operations and possible solutions. Gathered data were then combined to theoretical framework in order to create optimal solution for the case company. Based on the research a source to pay –process and global policy for meeting and event category was created. The solution includes all relevant matters that are needed in order to secure efficient and profitable operations. The results show that optimal way to arrange meetings and events structures around standardized source to pay –processes, central-ized procurement, preferred supplier and clearly defined roles and responsibilities be-tween different stakeholders.