Miten kehittää ketjutoimintaa rautakaupassa; case Rautanet

TIIVISTELMÄ Tekijä: Urpalainen, Mika Tutkielman nimi: Miten kehittää ketjuliiketoimintaa rautakaupassa Case: Rautanet Tiedekunta: Kauppatieteellinen tiedekunta Pääaine / Maisteriohjelma: Kansainvälinen markkinointi Vuosi: 2014 Pro gradu – tutkielma: Lappeenrannan teknillinen yliopisto, 129 sivua, 28 kuvaa, 15 taulukkoa ja kaksi liitettä Tarkastajat: prof. Olli Kuivalainen, prof. Sanna-Katriina Asikainen Hakusanat: ketjutoiminta, Rautanet-ketju, sitoutuminen, markkinointi Keywords: Chain business, Rautanet-chain, commitment, marketing Rautanet-ketju on heterogeeninen, vapaaehtoisuuteen perustuva rautakauppaketju, joka on perustettu vuonna 1998. Tämän tutkimuksen tarkoituksena on selvittää Rautanet-kauppiaille ja koko ketjuorganisaatiolle ketjutoiminnan etuja, haasteita sekä kauppiaskunnan näkemyksiä ketjutoiminnasta tänä päivänä. Tutkimusmenetelmä oli kvalitatiivinen ja kvantitatiivinen, se perustui kauppiaille lähetettyyn kyselylomakkeeseen, joka sisälsi Likert-asteikollisia kysymyksiä 36 ja 3 kysymystä joihin vastattiin kirjallisesti. Kysymykset sisälsivät aiheita mm. Sitoutumisesta, markkinoinnista, sidosryhmistä jne. Tutkimusjoukkona oli Rautanet-kauppiaat. Kokonaisuutena arvioiden kauppiaat ovat tyytyväisiä ketjun toimintaan. Suurimmat edut ovat markkinointituki kuvastojen avulla ja ketjun voima, jonka kauppiaat tekevät yhdessä. Etuna voidaan pitää myös kauppiaiden sitoutumishalukkuutta ketjuun. Suurimpana haasteena on ehkä itsenäisyyden menettämisen pelko. Rautanet-ketjun toiminta on hyvällä tasolla. Kilpailun kiristyessä myös Rautanet-ketjun kauppiaiden sitoutumishalukkuutta on pidettävä yllä. Ketjuorganisaation on kunnioitettava kauppiaan itsenäisyyttä ja kuunneltava jatkossakin kauppiaita. Ketjun ja kauppiaiden selkeä yhteinen päämäärä, rakentaa vahva ketju, joka pystyy vastaamaan kilpailijoiden haasteisiin, on hyvin paljon riippuvainen yhdessä tekemisen halusta.

Open Access Subject Repositories – an Overview

Workshop presentation at Open Repositories 2014, Helsinki, Finland, June 9-13, 2014

Pharmacological differences between memory consolidation of habituation to an open field and inhibitory avoidance learning

Rats implanted bilaterally with cannulae in the CA1 region of the dorsal hippocampus or the entorhinal cortex were submitted to either a one-trial inhibitory avoidance task, or to 5 min of habituation to an open field. Immediately after training, they received intrahippocampal or intraentorhinal 0.5-µl infusions of saline, of a vehicle (2% dimethylsulfoxide in saline), of the glutamatergic N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist 2-amino-5-phosphono pentanoic acid (AP5), of the protein kinase A inhibitor Rp-cAMPs (0.5 µg/side), of the calcium-calmodulin protein kinase II inhibitor KN-62, of the dopaminergic D1 antagonist SCH23390, or of the mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase inhibitor PD098059. Animals were tested in each task 24 h after training. Intrahippocampal KN-62 was amnestic for habituation; none of the other treatments had any effect on the retention of this task. In contrast, all of them strongly affected memory of the avoidance task. Intrahippocampal Rp-cAMPs, KN-62 and AP5, and intraentorhinal Rp-cAMPs, KN-62, PD098059 and SCH23390 caused retrograde amnesia. In view of the known actions of the treatments used, the present findings point to important biochemical differences in memory consolidation processes of the two tasks.

Design of Personalization of Massive Open Online Courses

Massive Open Online Courses have been in the center of attention in the recent years. However, the main problem of all online learning environments is their lack of personalization according to the learners’ knowledge, learning styles and other learning preferences. This research explores the parameters and features used for personalization in the literature and based on them, evaluates to see how well the current MOOC platforms have been personalized. Then, proposes a design framework for personalization of MOOC platforms that fulfills most of the personalization parameters in the literature including the learning style as well as personalization features. The result of an assessment made for the proposed design framework shows that the framework well supports personalization of MOOCs.

Effects of septal cholinergic lesion on rat exploratory behavior in an open-field

The medial septum participates in the modulation of exploratory behavior triggered by novelty. Also, selective lesions of the cholinergic component of the septohippocampal system alter the habituation of rats to an elevated plus-maze without modifying anxiety indices. We investigated the effects of the intraseptal injection of the cholinergic immunotoxin 192 IgG-saporin (SAP) on the behavior of rats in an open-field. Thirty-nine male Wistar rats (weight: 194-230 g) were divided into three groups, non-injected controls and rats injected with either saline (0.5 µl) or SAP (237.5 ng/0.5 µl). Twelve days after surgery, the animals were placed in a square open-field (120 cm) and allowed to freely explore for 5 min. After the test, the rats were killed by decapitation and the septum, hippocampus and frontal cortex were removed and assayed for acetylcholinesterase activity. SAP increased acetylcholinesterase activity in the septum, hippocampus and frontal cortex and decreased the total distance run (9.15 ± 1.51 m) in comparison to controls (13.49 ± 0.91 m). The time spent in the center and at the periphery was not altered by SAP but the distance run was reduced during the first and second minutes (2.43 ± 0.36 and 1.75 ± 0.34 m) compared to controls (4.18 ± 0.26 and 3.14 ± 0.25 m). SAP-treated rats showed decreased but persistent exploration throughout the session. These results suggest that septohippocampal cholinergic mechanisms contribute to at least two critical processes, one related to the motivation to explore new environments and the other to the acquisition and storage of spatial information (i.e., spatial memory).

Recent developments in Finland – Open Science, IT infrastructures

Presentation of Kristiina Hormia-Poutanen at the LIBER Board meeting, February 19, 2015 in Helsinki.

Liber & Open Access

Seminaariesitys Avoimen tieteen kansainvälinen tilannekuva 2015 -seminaarissa Helsingissä 13.4.2015.

Managing open access workflows at the University of St Andrews: challenges and Pathfinder solutions

Presentation of Janet Aucock, at the FinELib Consortium Seminar (Aineistopäivä), April 16, 2015 in Helsinki.

Liber fostering Open Science and Knowledge Discovery

Presentation of Kristiina Hormia-Poutanen at the 25th Anniversary Conference of The National Repository Library of Finland, Kuopio 22th of May 2015.

Thigmotactic responses in an open-field

The goal of the present study was to investigate the role of thigmotaxis (the tendency to remain close to vertical surfaces) in rat exploratory behavior in an open-field. Thigmotaxis was investigated in a parametric way, using 24 experimentally adult naive male Wistar rats (210-230 g). Exploratory behavior was studied in an open-field (N = 12) in 5-min sessions and behavior was analyzed in terms of where it occurred: in areas surrounded by two, one, or no walls. Another group of rats (N = 12) was studied in an open-field with blocks placed near two of the corners so as to make these corner areas surrounded by three walls. The floor of the open-fields was divided into 20-cm squares in order to locate the exact place of occurrence of each behavior. The following behaviors were recorded: entries into the squares, rearings, and groomings. In both types of open-field the rats chose to remain longer in the squares surrounded by the largest possible number of walls. In one of the open-fields, the mean time (seconds) spent in squares surrounded by two walls was longer than the time spent in squares surrounded by one or no walls (37.2, 7.7, and 1.8 s, respectively). In the other open-field, the mean time spent in squares surrounded by three walls was longer than the time spent in squares surrounded by two, one or no walls (41.7, 20.4, 7.0, and 2.6 s, respectively). Other measures presented a similar profile. These results indicate that rats are sensitive to the number of walls in an environment and prefer to remain close to them.

Making it viable - enabling Open Access for Finnish scholarly journals

Poster at the CERN Workshop on Innovations in Scholarly Communication (OAI9), Geneva, June 17-19, 2015.

Dose-response effects of systemic anandamide administration in mice sequentially submitted to the open field and elevated plus-maze tests

The endocannabinoid system is involved in the control of many physiological functions, including the control of emotional states. In rodents, previous exposure to an open field increases the anxiety-like behavior in the elevated plus-maze. Anxiolytic-like effects of pharmacological compounds that increase endocannabinoid levels have been well documented. However, these effects are more evident in animals with high anxiety levels. Several studies have described characteristic inverted U-shaped dose-response effects of drugs that modulate the endocannabinoid levels. However, there are no studies showing the effects of different doses of exogenous anandamide, an endocannabinoid, in animal models of anxiety. Thus, in the present study, we determined the dose-response effects of exogenous anandamide at doses of 0.01, 0.1, and 1.0 mg/kg in C57BL/6 mice (N = 10/group) sequentially submitted to the open field and elevated plus-maze. Anandamide was diluted in 0.9% saline, ethyl alcohol, Emulphor® (18:1:1) and administered ip (0.1 mL/10 g body weight); control animals received the same volume of anandamide vehicle. Anandamide at the dose of 0.1 mg/kg (but not of 0.01 or 1 mg/kg) increased (P < 0.05) the time spent and the distance covered in the central zone of the open field, as well as the exploration of the open arms of the elevated plus-maze. Thus, exogenous anandamide, like pharmacological compounds that increase endocannabinoid levels, promoted a characteristic inverted U-shaped dose-response effect in animal models of anxiety. Furthermore, anandamide (0.1 mg/kg) induced an anxiolytic-like effect in the elevated plus-maze (P < 0.05) after exposing the animals to the open field test.