Metsäalan yrittäjien tyytyväisyys urakanantajaan

The aim of this thesis is to clarify, how satisfied the harvesting and transport entrepreneurs of Stora Enso Metsä are with the partnership relationship between Stora Enso Metsä and entrepreneurs. The aim is also to found the main areas of development in relation to forest entrepreneur. 161 companies answered to quantitative survey. Based on the results gathered, it would appear that the entrepreneurs are fairly satisfied with the functioning of Stora Enso Metsä. Changes of operations during the past two years is experienced a relatively neutral, although an entrepreneurial model is significantly changed and the model of transportation also. Most obvious targets for development according to the responses are information sharing, feedback, development of systems and IT applications.

Lämpöyrittäjäkonsepti biotuotteelle

Fossiilisista polttoaineista aiheutuvia hiilidioksidipäästöjä yritetään vähentää muun muassa lisäämällä uusiutuvien polttoaineiden käyttöä. Kiinteän biomassan ominaisuudet eroavat fossiilisesta kivihiilestä kuitenkin niin paljon, ettei biomassalla voida suoraan korvata kivihiiltä. Biomassan lämpökäsittely muuttaa sen ominaisuuksia kivihiilen kaltaiseksi, jolloin sillä on mahdollista korvata kivihiiltä. Tässä diplomityössä on tutkittu biomassan lämpökäsittelyä eli torrefiointia. Työn lähtökohtana on luoda pohjaa liikeidealle, jossa torrefioitua biomassaa tuotetaan pienissä lämpölaitoksissa lämmöntuotannon ohella. Työ sisältää laboratoriokokeita, joissa tarkastellaan käytännön kokeilla biomassan torrefioinnissa tapahtuvia ominaisuuksien muutoksia. Biomassan torrefiointiin suunnitellaan lisäksi pientä koelaitetta, jonka kokoa on mahdollista suurentaa jatkossa lämpölaitoskokoluokkaan asti. Torrefioidun biomassan tuotantokustannuksia on tarkasteltu laiteinvestointien, raaka-aine- sekä käyttökustannuksien kautta. Laboratoriokokeiden perusteella on saatu tuloksia optimaalisista toiminta-arvoista lämpökäsittelymenetelmille. Lämpöyrittäjälle on luotu perustoiminta-ajatus torrefioidun biomassan tuotannolle, jossa on tarkasteltu myös tuotannon kannattavuutta. Tämä työ antaa pohjaa aiheen jatkotutkimukselle ja -kehitykselle.

Teoretiskt om invandrares integration

Kirjallisuusarvostelu

Finnish Institutional Innovation Support Policies from Russian Entrepreneurs' Perspective: Establishing Cross-Border Technology Oriented Start-Up Firm

The purpose of this thesis is to study how Russian entrepreneurs perceive Finnish institutional environment and innovation support policies provided in the country, as well as to present a practical example in form of a case study of one technology oriented start-up firm which was established in Finland by Russian entrepreneurs. The empirical research of the thesis is conducted qualitatively in two parts. First part is conducted through online questionnaire with open questions in order to review the perceptions of Russian entrepreneurs in general. Second part is based on personal interviews with case company’s founders with the focus on the process of establishing the company in Finland. In the first part of the empirical research, five Russian start-up firms were contacted, and four responses were received. All of these responses were qualified for further analysis. The findings of the first part of the research reveal that Russian entrepreneurs have rather positive attitudes towards Finnish institutional innovation support policies. However, most of the entrepreneurs stated that they are unlikely to create their presence in Finland. As an outcome of the second part of the research, the process of establishing a case company in Finland is illustrated. In order to be able to establish companies in Finland, Russian entrepreneurs who have a permanent residence outside European Economic Area (EEA) are required to apply for a permission to perform business operations in the country. In addition, the established company must engage in improving the economical stand of the country by creating new work places, raising tax revenues, develop technologies and generate innovations in the country.

SOCIAL MEDIA IN INTERNATIONAL BRAND COMMUNICATION OF SMES - A multiple case study of small Finnish design-intensive companies

Social media is a rather new phenomenon which has revolutionised the world of online communication. However, academic research on how companies can benefit from social media is lacking. The research objective of this thesis was to examine the use of social media in international brand communication of small Finnish design-intensive companies. Therefore, this research contributes also to the research gap in SME branding. The focus was on communication targeted at consumers. The research was carried out as a mixed methods research employing the questionnaire and multiple case study methods. The questionnaire was used to gather preliminary information on Finnish design-intensive companies and to provide an eligible list of companies for deeper examination. Then, four case companies were studied in more depth. The empirical evidence of the case companies was mainly gathered through theme interviews. The results of the questionnaire shed light on the internationalisation of small Finnish designintensive companies. On average, the companies had internationalised rather quickly after they had been founded. However, the share of exports was rather low in most of the companies. The results revealed also that social media was already used widely in the exporting companies and the use can be expected to grow in future. The findings of the multiple case study suggest that branding activities in small Finnish designintensive companies are constrained by limited resources and skills. In addition, the branding activities are strongly guided by the vision and values of the entrepreneur(s) rather than extensive marketing research. The brand structure was simple in all case companies and they aimed at having a standardised brand image across markets. However, all case companies had faced a need for some adaptation of their international brand communication. Internationally important brand communication channels were international fairs, the internet, word-of-mouth and social media. Social media offered a cost-effective brand communication channel for the case companies. It was used for various purposes, such as creating brand awareness and affecting how the brand is perceived. The entrepreneurs found the use of social media to be rather easy and the case companies had not faced any major challenges. However, the companies had recognised that communication in social media requires consistency and planning. The planning was rather informal and stayed on a general level. Overall, the utilisation of social media in the case companies was limited by a lack of resources. It seemed to affect especially the follow-up of brand communication in social media which stayed rather superficial.

Immigration Strategy for Northern Ostrobothnia 2015

A strategy process was completed in the ESF project “Promotion of Work-related Immigration”, which was implemented at Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment for North Ostrobothnia, and an immigration strategy was drawn up for Northern Ostrobothnia on the basis of the process. Information was collected about the situation in Northern Ostrobothnia from the point of view of immigration and the future availability of labour. The intention was to use the information as background material for the strategy. Employers’ need for support in recruiting foreign labour was investigated with a broad inquiry, to which 1000 respondents replied. The strategy process was carried out together with an outside consultant (Net Effect Oy) by arranging three workshops and a seminar where the workshop results were summarised. A large number of companies, authorities, municipalities, associations, project actors and immigrants engaged in immigration issues participated in the workshops. The draft strategy is based on their experiences about immigration and on statistical data, background inquiries and surveys. To ensure the accuracy of the draft strategy, comments were requested from several parties and received from 64 organisations. The core of the immigration strategy consists of an initial analysis, values, a vision and priorities. The strategy is composed of three priorities. The key aim of the priority Internationalisation and Supporting Diversity is to support diversity in schools, workplaces and people’s everyday lives e.g. through attitude development and by promoting internationalisation in companies and education institutions. The aim of the priority Supporting Entrepreneurship and Recruiting Foreign Labour is to promote entrepreneurship among immigrants and the recruitment of foreign labour and to develop the forecasting of educational needs. The priority Developing Integration Services, Regional Cooperation and Networks, in turn, seeks to develop the service structure and policies of immigrant integration and to increase cooperation and exchange of information between regional actors engaged in integration issues. The aim is to use the strategy as a guideline document for immigration issues in Northern Ostrobothnia. The strategy is used to coordinate the existing organisations and operations dealing with immigration issues. In addition, it contains a future-oriented focus and underlines the management of new immigration projects and operations. The main party responsible for the implementation of the strategy is the Immigration Committee. In addition, responsible parties have been assigned to each measure. The implementation of the immigration strategy will be monitored annually on the basis of indicators.

Bisnesenkelit aloittavien kasvuyritysten vauhdittajina – Tapaustutkimus

Bisnesenkelit, eli yksityiset riskisijoittajat ovat tärkeä ulkopuolinen rahoittajataho aloittaville kasvuyrityksille. Varallisuuden sijoittamisen ohella bisnesenkeleiden tärkeä ominaisuus on osaamisen ja verkostojen sijoittaminen yritykseen, minkä myötä yritys saa paremmat edellytykset kasvua varten. Bisnesenkeleiden kontribuutio ajoittuu tyypillisesti jälki-investointivaiheeseen, eli varallisuuden sijoittamisen jälkeen. Osallistumi-sen myötä yrittäjä-sijoittajasuhde on tärkeä taustatekijä bisnesenkelin kontribuutiossa aloittavalle kasvuyritykselle. Tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli luoda ymmärrystä bisnesenkelien kontribuutioon aloittavien kasvuyritysten jälki-investointivaiheessa. Tähän päätutkimusongelmaan vastattiin kuvailemalla lähtökohtia bisnesenkelin osallistumiselle, selvittämällä bisnesenkelin konkreettisia osallistumistapoja sekä kontribuutiosta koettua hyötyä erityisesti yrittäjien kannalta. Tutkimus toteutettiin laadullisena tutkimuksena hyödyntäen tapaustutkimusta. Tutkimusaineistona käytettiin neljälle yrittäjälle ja neljälle bisnesenkelille tehtyä teemahaastattelua. Tutkitut yritykset valittiin pääasiassa teknologiatoimialalta. Bisnesenkeleiden osallistumisen taustalla on pyrkimys viedä yritystä eteenpäin kasvua ja tulevasta exitistä saatavaa tuottoa ajatellen. Nämä tavoitteet ohjaavat bisnesenkeliä välittämään yritykseen strategista ja operatiivista osaamistaan sekä verkostojaan yrityksen tarpeista riippuen. Yrittäjän kannalta oleelliseksi havaittiin myös keskustelukumppanin merkitys. Suhteen toimivuuden edellytyksinä ovat erityisesti osapuolten välinen luottamus ja riittävä vuorovaikutus. Bisnesenkelin kontribuutio koettiin pääosin hyödyllisenä, esimerkiksi kasvua nopeuttaen.

Entrepreneurial orientation in small and medium-sized enterprises during economic crisis

The economic importance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and entrepreneurship has increased significantly in recent decades and entrepreneurial activity and SMEs are deemed vital to economic progress. Therefore, it is justifiable to study how small firms and entrepreneurs can enhance their performance and emergence in the turbulent economic environment. The concept of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) has recently attracted considerable attention in the field of entrepreneurship research. EO generally refers to a firm’s propensity to be innovative, to be proactive and to take risks. A majority of EO studies so far have found that adopting EO associated entrepreneurial behaviors will help firms to create or sustain a high level of performance. This dissertation explores the main drivers and performance implications of EO for SMEs in time of economic crisis. Hence the first objective of this dissertation is to examine the performance implications of EO and to test the role of EO on how firms are treated by the crisis at operative level. The second objective is to expand the prevailing understanding of determinants of EO by exploring the relationship between owner's work related values, attitudes, demographic characteristics, firm’s financial resources and EO. EO was found to be a significant and positive factor behind a firm’s long run growth. Hence it can be said that EO has positive implications for firm performance. But on the other hand, during a time of economic crisis the different dimensions of EO had both positive and negative effects on performance of SMEs. The performance implications varied across different stages of the crisis and were also dependent on what measure was used for measuring the performance. The main drivers of EO in SMEs were the personal work related values of the entrepreneur and his/her prior experience as an entrepreneur. The intrinsic work values related to interest, responsibility, challenge, self-development or intellectual stimulation and values related to status, power, achievement and recognition had a positive effect on the level of EO. On the other hand, extrinsic values related to high income, material possessions, benefits such as generous holidays, job security, and comfort through good working conditions decreased the level of EO

"Tässä on nyt todellakin meidän panos!" Tapaustutkimus kolmen nuoren kasvuhakuisen yrittäjätiimin minä, minun, me ja meidän -diskursseista

Tässä tutkimuksessa yhdistän tiimiyrittäjyyden, sosiaalisen identiteetin ja kollektiivisen psykologisen omistajuuden akateemisia keskusteluja. Tavoitteenani on kuvailla millaisia minä, minun, me ja meidän -diskursseja yrittäjätiimien jäsenet puhuvat kuvatessaan yrittäjyyttään. Tutkimuksen aineistona on nuorten, kasvuhakuisten yrittäjätiimien jäsenten puolistrukturoidut teemahaastattelut. Näkökulmana hyödynnän sosiaalista konstruktionismia ja analysoin aineiston diskurssianalyysillä. Tulkitsen neljä erilaista diskurssia, jotka liittyvät eri tavoin yrittäjätiimien me-identiteettiin. Ensimmäisessä diskurssissa yrittäjät puhuvat omasta roolistaan suhteessa tiimiin. Toisessa diskurssissa yrittäjät luovat oikeudenmukaisuuden ja yhteisvastuullisuuden normeja, joilla rakennetaan me-orientoitumista. Kolmannessa diskurssissa he puhuvat me-muodossa. Puheessa me on kokija, toimija, kollektiivinen psykologinen omistaja ja merkityksen antaja. Neljännessä diskurssissa me-identiteettiä rakentavat yrittäjyyden representaatiot ja toiminta. Meidän -puhetta liitetään asioihin, joihin tiiminä on yhdessä panostettu. Meidän -kokemukset näyttäytyvät puheessa voimallisena yrittäjyyden toiminnan merkityksellistämisen tapana.

Finnish SMEs and Russian Business Environment: Challenges and Support Activities

The purpose of this study is based on the need of finding what kind of problems Finnish SMEs face in Russian market and how they could be supported. Used support activities in certain levels of internationalization and internationalization patterns are evaluated, international experience of entrepreneur is compared to used support activities and the most challenging pillars in Russia from the Institutional Theory are defined. The empirical part of the study is a semi structured qualitative analysis of ten case companies that represent different industry fields. All of them are SMEs and they represent different levels of internationalization and internationalization patterns. The results of this study indicated that usefulness of support activities have to be evaluated case by case. All the companies are individual organizations and usefulness of support activities have to be evaluated according to the actual situation of the company. International experience of manager has effect on the use of support activities. SMEs identified many problems related to pillars of Institutional theory and regulative environment seems to be the most challenging one.

Russian SME technology transfer to Finland – Entrepreneurial challenges and motivation

The purpose of this thesis is to study the international technology transfer of transition economy SME entrepreneurs to the developed countries. The research aims to characterize the phenomenon by studying Russian SME technology transfer to Finland with the research methods from case studies. In addition to characterizing the phenomenon, the research finds out factors that motivate Russian entrepreneurs to conduct international technology transfer and what are the challenges the Russian entrepreneurs face when they enter the Finnish business environment. The qualitative data was collected from six semi-structured interviews with the entrepreneurs and several secondary data sources, considering four different technology transfer cases. The data and the analysis showed that the case companies in Finland are mostly linked to manufacturing of physical products. The entrepreneurs are motivated to come to Finland mainly by the opportunities and support the Finnish business and innovation environment provides to the entrepreneurs and by the personal gain that they get by establishing the company in Finland. Major challenges in the process include time constraints and capital requirements, difficulties on achieving sales on the Finnish market and finding skilled personnel to support the Russian management and owners.

Rehtori yrittäjyyskasvatuksen toimijana

Rehtoreiden roolista opetuksen ja oppilaitoksen johtajana löytyy tutkimustietoa mutta heidän roolistaan yrittäjyyskasvatuksen toimijana ei juurikaan tiedetä. Tämän tutkimuksen tavoitteena on selvittää rehtoreiden tämänhetkinen toiminta yrittäjyyskasvatuksen kehittämisen näkökulmasta Työssä tarkasteltiin rehtoreiden toimintaa yrittäjyyskasvatuksessa yrittäjämäisen työilmapiirin luomisen, yrittäjyyskasvatuksen kehittämisen ja arvioinnin, sekä koulun käytäntöjen ja verkostoyhteistyön kannalta. Työssä selvitettiin kuinka taustatekijät vaikuttavat rehtorin toimintaan yrittäjyyskasvattajana sekä millaisia vaikuttavuussuhteita rehtoreiden johtamiskäytännöillä on koulun yrittäjyyskasvatuksen käytäntöihin. Työ tehtiin kvantitatiivisena tutkimuksena, jonka empiirinen osuus toteutettiin verkkokyselylomakkeella Yrittäjyyskasvatuksen mittariston™ avulla. Tutkimuksen aineisto käsittää 97 perus- ja toisen asteen koulun rehtorin vastausta. Tutkimustulosten perusteella rehtoreiden taustaan liittyvillä muuttujilla on vaiku-tusta heidän toimintaansa yrittäjyyskasvattajina. Erityisesti rehtorin liike-elämän kokemus, yrittäjyyskokemus ja yrittäjyyskasvatusaiheisiin koulutuksiin osallis-tuminen vaikuttivat rehtorin yrittäjyyskasvatuksen toimintaa lisäävästi. Lisäksi rehtoreiden kehittämistoimilla on vaikutusta yrittäjyyskasvatuksen käytäntöjen näkymiseen oppilaitoksessa ja verkostoyhteistyöhön oppilaitoksen ulkopuolisten toimijoiden kanssa. Yrittäjyyskasvatuksen kehittämisen näkökulmasta rehtoreiden työelämätietou-teen ja kehittämistyöhön aktivoimiseen tulisikin kiinnittää huomioita, esimerkiksi täydennyskoulutusten avulla. Rehtoreiden aktiivinen toiminta alueellisesti tai paikallisesti yrittäjyyskasvatuksen kehittämisessä johtaa oppilaitoksen käytäntö-jen valikoiman laajentumiseen ja verkostoyhteistyön lisääntymiseen

Bisnesenkelien sijoituskriteerit aikaisen vaiheen yrityksiin

Diplomityössä tutkitaan bisnesenkelien sijoituskriteereitä aikaisen vaiheen yrityksiin. Työn tavoitteena on selvittää, mitkä ovat keskeiset tekijät, jotka vaikuttavat bisnesenkelien sijoituspäätöksiin aikaisen vaiheen yrityksiin. Työssä tarkastellaan myös bisnesenkelien sijoitusaktiivisuutta. Tutkimuksen tuloksena kävi ilmi, että sijoituspäätökseen vaikuttavat merkittävimmät tekijät olivat yrityksen ydintiimi, tuotteen tai palvelun innovatiivisuus, markkinoiden kasvu ja skaalautuvuus sekä markkinoilla oleva kilpailu. Sijoituskriteerien ymmärtäminen on keskeistä aikaisen vaiheen yritysten hakiessa ulkopuolista rahoitusta.

The third transformation of Japan: An institutional narrative on agglomeration economies in abenomics

Objective of the study The aim of this study is to understand the institutional implications in Abenomics in a spatial context, the contemporary economic reform taking place in Japan, which is to finally end over two decades of economic malaise. For theoretical perspective of choice, this study explores a synthesis of institutionalism as the main approach, complemented by economies of agglomeration in spatial economics, or New Economic Geography (NEG). The outcomes include a narrative with implications for future research, as well as possible future implications for the economy of Japan, itself. The narrative seeks to depict the dialogue between public discourse and governmental communication in order to create a picture of how this phenomenon is being socially constructed. This is done by studying the official communications by the Cabinet along with public media commentary on respective topics. The reform is studied with reference to historical socio-cultural, economic evolution of Japan, which in turn, is explored through a literature review. This is to assess the unique institutional characteristics of Japan pertinent to reform. Research method This is a social and exploratory qualitative study – an institutional narrative case study. The methodological approach was kept practical: in addition to literature review, a narrative, thematic content analysis with structural emphasis was used to construct the contemporary narrative based on the Cabinet communication. This was combined with practical analytic tools borrowed from critical discourse analysis, which were utilized to assess the implicit intertextual agenda within sources. Findings What appears to characterize the discourse is status quo bias that comes in multiple forms. The bias is also coded in the institutions surrounding the reform, wherein stakeholders have vested interests in protecting the current state of affairs. This correlates with uncertainty avoidance characteristic to Japan. Japan heeds the international criticism to deregulate on a rhetorical level, but consistent with history, the Cabinet solutions appear increasingly bureaucratic. Hence, the imposed western information-age paradigm of liberal cluster agglomeration seems ill-suited to Japan which lacks risk takers and a felicitous entrepreneur culture. The Japanese, however, possess vast innovative potential ascribed to some institutional practices and traits, but restrained by others. The derived conclusion is to study the successful intrapreneur cases in Japanese institutional setting as a potential benchmark for Japan specific cluster agglomeration, and a solution to its structural problems impeding growth.