Verkostoituminen S-ryhmän alueosuuskaupan toiminnassa

Tutkimuksen tarkoituksena on osallistua liiketaloustieteelliseen keskusteluun osuuskuntien menestystekijöistä. Tutkimuksen tavoitteena on ymmärtää jakuvata, minkälainen on kohdeosuuskaupan verkosto ja verkostoituminen sekä mikä on niiden merkitys alueosuuskaupan toiminnassa. Kohdeorganisaationa on yksi S-ryhmän alueosuuskaupoista. Tutkimus on luonteeltaan laadullinen tutkimus, jonka aineisto on kerätty haastattelemalla. Tutkimuksen empiirinen aineisto kerättiin haastattelemalla yhtätoista keskeistä kohdeosuuskaupan verkoston toimijaa. Tutkimustulokset osoittavat, että kohdeosuuskaupan verkosto voidaannähdä 1) muodollisena verkostona (S-ryhmään kuuluvat organisaatiot) sekä 2) epämuodollisena verkostona (tietyn maakunnan sisällä olevat organisaatiot). Sekä muodollinen että epämuodollinen verkosto nähtiin yhteisten intressien toteuttajana, tietämyksen välittämiskanavana ja instituutiona. Kohdeosuuskauppa on saanut monia strategisia hyötyjä verkostoitumalla; se on mahdollistanut muun muassa alueellisen hallinnon ja tuonut kustannus - ja volyymietuja osuuskaupalle.

Three essays in dynamic corporate finance

The three essays constituting this thesis focus on financing and cash management policy. The first essay aims to shed light on why firms issue debt so conservatively. In particular, it examines the effects of shareholder and creditor protection on capital structure choices. It starts by building a contingent claims model where financing policy results from a trade-off between tax benefits, contracting costs and agency costs. In this setup, controlling shareholders can divert part of the firms' cash ows as private benefits at the expense of minority share- holders. In addition, shareholders as a class can behave strategically at the time of default leading to deviations from the absolute priority rule. The analysis demonstrates that investor protection is a first order determinant of firms' financing choices and that conflicts of interests between firm claimholders may help explain the level and cross-sectional variation of observed leverage ratios. The second essay focuses on the practical relevance of agency conflicts. De- spite the theoretical development of the literature on agency conflicts and firm policy choices, the magnitude of manager-shareholder conflicts is still an open question. This essay proposes a methodology for quantifying these agency conflicts. To do so, it examines the impact of managerial entrenchment on corporate financing decisions. It builds a dynamic contingent claims model in which managers do not act in the best interest of shareholders, but rather pursue private benefits at the expense of shareholders. Managers have discretion over financing and dividend policies. However, shareholders can remove the manager at a cost. The analysis demonstrates that entrenched managers restructure less frequently and issue less debt than optimal for shareholders. I take the model to the data and use observed financing choices to provide firm-specific estimates of the degree of managerial entrenchment. Using structural econometrics, I find costs of control challenges of 2-7% on average (.8-5% at median). The estimates of the agency costs vary with variables that one expects to determine managerial incentives. In addition, these costs are sufficient to resolve the low- and zero-leverage puzzles and explain the time series of observed leverage ratios. Finally, the analysis shows that governance mechanisms significantly affect the value of control and firms' financing decisions. The third essay is concerned with the documented time trend in corporate cash holdings by Bates, Kahle and Stulz (BKS,2003). BKS find that firms' cash holdings double from 10% to 20% over the 1980 to 2005 period. This essay provides an explanation of this phenomenon by examining the effects of product market competition on firms' cash holdings in the presence of financial constraints. It develops a real options model in which cash holdings may be used to cover unexpected operating losses and avoid inefficient closure. The model generates new predictions relating cash holdings to firm and industry characteristics such as the intensity of competition, cash flow volatility, or financing constraints. The empirical examination of the model shows strong support of model's predictions. In addition, it shows that the time trend in cash holdings documented by BKS can be at least partly attributed to a competition effect.

Patents in the Information and Communications Technology Sector - Development Trends, Problem Areas and Pressures for Change

The patent system was created for the purpose of promoting innovation by granting the inventors a legally defined right to exclude others in return for public disclosure. Today, patents are being applied and granted in greater numbers than ever, particularly in new areas such as biotechnology and information andcommunications technology (ICT), in which research and development (R&D) investments are also high. At the same time, the patent system has been heavily criticized. It has been claimed that it discourages rather than encourages the introduction of new products and processes, particularly in areas that develop quickly, lack one-product-one-patent correlation, and in which theemergence of patent thickets is characteristic. A further concern, which is particularly acute in the U.S., is the granting of so-called 'bad patents', i.e. patents that do not factually fulfil the patentability criteria. From the perspective of technology-intensive companies, patents could,irrespective of the above, be described as the most significant intellectual property right (IPR), having the potential of being used to protect products and processes from imitation, to limit competitors' freedom-to-operate, to provide such freedom to the company in question, and to exchange ideas with others. In fact, patents define the boundaries of ownership in relation to certain technologies. They may be sold or licensed on their ownor they may be components of all sorts of technology acquisition and licensing arrangements. Moreover, with the possibility of patenting business-method inventions in the U.S., patents are becoming increasingly important for companies basing their businesses on services. The value of patents is dependent on the value of the invention it claims, and how it is commercialized. Thus, most of them are worth very little, and most inventions are not worth patenting: it may be possible to protect them in other ways, and the costs of protection may exceed the benefits. Moreover, instead of making all inventions proprietary and seeking to appropriate as highreturns on investments as possible through patent enforcement, it is sometimes better to allow some of them to be disseminated freely in order to maximize market penetration. In fact, the ideology of openness is well established in the software sector, which has been the breeding ground for the open-source movement, for instance. Furthermore, industries, such as ICT, that benefit from network effects do not shun the idea of setting open standards or opening up their proprietary interfaces to allow everyone todesign products and services that are interoperable with theirs. The problem is that even though patents do not, strictly speaking, prevent access to protected technologies, they have the potential of doing so, and conflicts of interest are not rare. The primary aim of this dissertation is to increase understanding of the dynamics and controversies of the U.S. and European patent systems, with the focus on the ICT sector. The study consists of three parts. The first part introduces the research topic and the overall results of the dissertation. The second part comprises a publication in which academic, political, legal and business developments that concern software and business-method patents are investigated, and contentiousareas are identified. The third part examines the problems with patents and open standards both of which carry significant economic weight inthe ICT sector. Here, the focus is on so-called submarine patents, i.e. patentsthat remain unnoticed during the standardization process and then emerge after the standard has been set. The factors that contribute to the problems are documented and the practical and juridical options for alleviating them are assessed. In total, the dissertation provides a good overview of the challenges and pressures for change the patent system is facing,and of how these challenges are reflected in standard setting.

Modeling and measuring organizational renewal capability

Globalization and new information technologies mean that organizations have to face world-wide competition in rapidly transforming, unpredictable environments, and thus the ability to constantly generate novel and improved products, services and processes has become quintessential for organizational success. Performance in turbulent environments is, above all, influenced by the organization's capability for renewal. Renewal capability consists of the ability of the organization to replicate, adapt, develop and change its assets, capabilities and strategies. An organization with a high renewal capability can sustain its current success factors while at the same time building new strengths for the future. This capability does not only mean that the organization is able to respond to today's challenges and to keep up with the changes in its environment, but also that it can actas a forerunner by creating innovations, both at the tactical and strategic levels of operation and thereby change the rules of the market. However, even though it is widely agreed that the dynamic capability for continuous learning, development and renewal is a major source of competitive advantage, there is no widely shared view on how organizational renewal capability should be defined, and the field is characterized by a plethora of concepts and definitions. Furthermore,there is a lack of methods for systematically assessing organizational renewal capability. The dissertation aims to bridge these gaps in the existing research by constructing an integrative theoretical framework for organizational renewal capability and by presenting a method for modeling and measuring this capability. The viability of the measurement tool is demonstrated in several contexts, andthe framework is also applied to assess renewal in inter-organizational networks. In this dissertation, organizational renewal capability is examined by drawing on three complimentary theoretical perspectives: knowledge management, strategic management and intellectual capital. The knowledge management perspective considers knowledge as inherently social and activity-based, and focuses on the organizational processes associated with its application and development. Within this framework, organizational renewal capability is understood as the capacity for flexible knowledge integration and creation. The strategic management perspective, on the other hand, approaches knowledge in organizations from the standpoint of its implications for the creation of competitive advantage. In this approach, organizational renewal is framed as the dynamic capability of firms. The intellectual capital perspective is focused on exploring how intangible assets can be measured, reported and communicated. From this vantage point, renewal capability is comprehended as the dynamic dimension of intellectual capital, which consists of the capability to maintain, modify and create knowledge assets. Each of the perspectives significantly contributes to the understanding of organizationalrenewal capability, and the integrative approach presented in this dissertationcontributes to the individual perspectives as well as to the understanding of organizational renewal capability as a whole.

Financial convergence in transition economies: EU enlargement

This paper analyses the financial impact of the enlargement of the European Union (EU) to include 10 new Central and Eastern European Nations (CEEN) on firms’ business and financial structures. To this end, we employ quantitative analytic techniques and financial ratios. In this context, we hope to discover whether firms in the new EU member States tend to converge with business in the Europe of the 15 in terms of the structure of firms’ financial statements. We examine the extent to which the increasing integration of the former may foster the convergence of productive structures. The methodology followed consists of an analysis of the evolution of 12 financial ratios in a sample of firms obtained from the AMADEUS data base. To that end, we perform a Dynamic Factor Analysis that identifies the determining factors of the joint evolution of deviations in the financial ratios with respect to the average value of firms in the EU-15. This analysis allows us to analyse the convergence in each of the CEEN nations with respect to the EU-15.

Relaciones de complacencia y deberes para con los invitados

En la STS, 1a, 17.7.2007 (RJ 2007\4895, MP: Francisco Marín Castán), el Tribunal Supremo sostiene que los daños que sufre una amiga de los demandados en el inmueble de éstos al tropezar con un juguete abandonado en el suelo del pasillo, insuficientemente iluminado, no son indemnizables, porque dada la especial relación de confianza entre las partes, ese nivel extremo de diligencia no es exigible. El Tribunal parece aplicar al caso un patrón de diligencia quam in suis, la que despliega uno en sus propios asuntos, que permitiría limitar la responsabilidad a los casos de dolo o culpa grave. El trabajo comenta la sentencia y presenta, además, la clasificación entre invitee, licensee y trespasser que el Common Law norteamericano ha utilizado tradicionalmente para delimitar los niveles de cuidado de propietarios (o poseedores) de inmuebles y que el borrador No. 6 del Restatement (Third) of Torts, de 12.9.2007, ha simplificado, añadiendo a la regla tradicional de No Duty to Trespasser la de una negligencia simple para los Innocent Trespasser.

Fer mapes per conèixer la Història: aportacions de la cartografia a l'estudi de l'Alta Edat Mitjana

To make maps to know history: contributions from the cartography to the study of the early middle ages. The accomplishment of maps can allow us to know many aspects that documents written do not allow us to have knowledge. This paper focuses on the boundaries of the townships or the parishes, on the routes and ways, and on the place names or on the invocations of the churches, in order to get to know like it was the territory in the early medieval centuries. One reaches the conclusion that often the limits, the ways and the settlements were created at early middle ages. This study allows to raise the ruptures and the continuities that took place throughout these centuries in the settlement.

Talonrakennushankkeen logististen kustannusten mallintaminen

Logistiikan kehittämisen merkitys on suuri rakennusalan yritysten kilpailukyvylle. Tutkimuksen kohdeyrityksessä ei tunnettu logistiikkakustannuksia ja tämän takia eri toimitusketjuvaihtoehtojen kustannusvaikutuksia ei voitu vertailla. Ilman kustannustietoja toiminnan kehittäminen ja kilpailukyky kärsivät. Rakentamisen kehittämisen nopein tehostamis- ja kustannussäästöpotentiaali onkin logistiikassa. Tutkimuksen tavoite oli luoda helppokäyttöinen, nopea, ymmärrettävä ja luotettavaa informaatiota tarjoava toimitusketjuratkaisija, jonka avulla voidaan löytää kustannustehokkain toimitusketju projektitietojen perusteella. Alustava mallinnus ja testaus suoritettiin Excel-ohjelmalla. Malli laski logistiset kustannukset kustannustekijäkohtaisesti yhteen huomioiden tutkimuksen rajaukset. Osa rakennusalan tuotteista aiheuttaa huomattavan määrän kokonais- sekä logistisista kustannuksista, kun taas tiettyjen tuotteiden kustannukset ovat vain pieniä. Eri talotyypeille voidaan löytää yleisiä ohjesääntöjä toimitusketjujen käytöstä, mutta työmailla on aina myös tuotteita, jotka kannattaa tuoda joko terminaali- tai suorana toimituksena. Työmaiden olosuhteet ja toimitusmäärät ovatkin varsin ratkaisevassa asemassa toimitustapaa valittaessa. Edellä mainittuja tutkimustuloksia tukivat alan kirjallisuus sekä mallin testaustulokset.

Investigating Neuroanatomical Features in Top Athletes at the Single Subject Level.

In sport events like Olympic Games or World Championships competitive athletes keep pushing the boundaries of human performance. Compared to team sports, high achievements in many athletic disciplines depend solely on the individual's performance. Contrasting previous research looking for expertise-related differences in brain anatomy at the group level, we aim to demonstrate changes in individual top athlete's brain, which would be averaged out in a group analysis. We compared structural magnetic resonance images (MRI) of three professional track-and-field athletes to age-, gender- and education-matched control subjects. To determine brain features specific to these top athletes, we tested for significant deviations in structural grey matter density between each of the three top athletes and a carefully matched control sample. While total brain volumes were comparable between athletes and controls, we show regional grey matter differences in striatum and thalamus. The demonstrated brain anatomy patterns remained stable and were detected after 2 years with Olympic Games in between. We also found differences in the fusiform gyrus in two top long jumpers. We interpret our findings in reward-related areas as correlates of top athletes' persistency to reach top-level skill performance over years.

Dynamic Capabilities and Real Options

Tutkielman tavoitteena oli selvittää dynaamisten kyvykkyyksien teorian kehittymistä ja nykytilaa. Työssä tarkastellaan myös mahdollisuuksia yhdistää reaalioptioajattelua ja dynaamisten kyvykkyyksien teoriaa. Tutkielma on toteutettu teoreettisena kirjallisuuskatsauksena. Dynaamisten kyvykkyyksien teorian mukaan muuttuvassa toimintaympäristössä yritysten kilpailuetu perustuu kykyyn rakentaa, yhdistää ja muokata resursseja ja kyvykkyyksiä. Yritysten täytyy pystyä löytämään, sulauttamaan ja muuntamaan tietoa voidakseen tunnistaa uusia mahdollisuuksia ja pystyäkseen reagoimaan niihin. Tutkielma tuo esille uusia yhteyksiä dynaamisten kyvykkyyksien teorian ja yritysten käyttäytymisen välillä. Reaalioptioajattelu auttaa tunnistamaan yrityksen rajojen määrittämiseen vaikuttavia tekijöitä. Työssä tehdään ehdotuksia dynaamisten kyvykkyyksien teorian jatkotutkimusta varten.

Yritysten väliset verkostot tietojohtamisen näkökulmasta – Case Imatran Seudun Koivukeskus

Alueellinen yrityskeskittymä sisältää monenlaisia yhteistyöverkostoja siinä toimivien yritysten välillä. Olemassa olevien verkosto- ja tietojohtamisteorioiden pohjalta yhteistyöverkostot jaettiin niiden perustehtävän mukaan kolmeen eri päätyyppiin, jotka ovat tuottaja-, kehittäjä- ja innovaatioverkosto. Tutkimusongelmana oli määrittää, voidaanko verkostoja eritellä niiden perustehtävän mukaan ja näkyykö perustehtävän erilaisuus niiden organisoitumis- ja kommunikointitavassa. Tutkimuskohteena oli kasvava puualan keskittymä, Imatran Seudun Koivukeskus. Tutkimusmenetelmänä käytettiin tapaustutkimusta ja aineistonkeruumenetelmänä teemahaastattelua. Aineistoa käsiteltiin käyttämällä menetelmänä profilointia ja teemoittelua. Tutkimuksen perusteella voitiin alueelta erottaa selvästi kolme verkostojen päätyyppiä, jotka toimivat alueella tietoa luovana, välittävänä ja soveltavana tasona. Päätyyppien välillä havaittiin eroja, kun kriteereinä käytettiin verkostojen suhteita, osaamista, tiedonkulkua ja johtajuutta. Koivukeskukselle erityisen tärkeänä verkostotyyppinä pidettiin kehittäjäverkostoa, sillä se toimii alueen sosiaalisen pääoman kasvualustana ja täten auttaa muiden verkostotyyppien kehittymistä. Mikäli kaikki päätyypit saadaan toimi-maan tehokkaasti, alueen innovaatioverkostossa syntyvät uudet prosessi- ja tuoteinnovaatiot ovat välittömästi siirrettävissä tehostamaan tuotantoa. Alueellinen yrityskeskittymä sisältää kaikkia edellä mainittuja verkostotyyppejä, ja yksittäinen toimija voi kuulua samanaikaisesti kaikkiin verkostotyyppeihin. Johtopäätöksenä esitettiin, että alueellisen yrityskeskittymän kilpailuetu syntyy alueen sisälle muodostuvien tuottaja-, kehittäjä- ja innovaatioverkoston kautta. Alueellisen yrityskeskittymän verkostopohjaisen kehittämisen avuksi kehitettiin yksinkertainen työkalu.

Microbiome influences on allergy in mice and humans.

The microbiota plays a pivotal role in the development and calibration of host immunity. Over many millennia, finely balanced interactions between the microbiota and host tissue compartments have evolved, imparting metabolic advantages and protection against pathogens, while restricting deleterious immune responses against innocuous antigens. Perturbations in host-microbiota crosstalk at critical developmental windows in early life may underlie allergy and chronic inflammation. Although the microbiota's of the gut and skin have been extensively characterized, the lung microbiota has also, in recent years, received considerable attention. This ever-expanding field is pushing the boundaries of pulmonary research, with potential implications for novel strategies in the treatment and prevention of chronic lung diseases. In this article, we provide a summary of the development of the microbiota in early life, and describe the evidence from human and murine studies of how microbial dysbiosis in early life can alter the trajectory of immune development and provide the setting for allergic disorders in later life.

A Pragmatic Intellectual: Dutch Fabians, Boekman, and Cultural Policy in the Netherlands, 1890-1940

Around 1900, the notion of community art (gemeenschapskunst) served to crystallize Dutch social democratic thinking about the role of the arts in society. Drawing on the pragmatism of leading social democrats like Wibaut, and drawing on his formal education in economics and statistics, the self‐made social democrat Emanuel Boekman redressed the utopian meaning of community art to signify the dissemination of "good" culture over all layers of society in his influential 1939 dissertation on the relation of the state to the arts. Being about facts rather than opinions, Boekman set the boundaries of his work to exclude a substantial discussion of the meaning of "good" culture. On the one hand, this pragmatism helped Boekman to gain support for government intervention for the arts over most of the political spectrum. On the other hand, Boekman thus pre‐empted discussions about the tension between "quality" and "accessibility" of the arts that haunts cultural policy in the Netherlands to this day.

A Eterna Busca do Indivisível: do Átomo Filosófico aos Quarks e Léptons

The fascinating search of the inner boundaries of the Universe, has been entangled, since the birth of greek philosophy 25 centuries ago, with the main epistemological changes in the History of Science. This paper does not intend to present a systematic description of the discovery of the elementary particles. By stressing the main achievements of the knowledge of matter's structure and their dependence on symmetry arguments, it is argued that even considering profound differences in each historical period, there is a paradgima of atom shared by Chemistry and Particle Physics. This text could help High School Teachers of Chemistry and Physics, as well as motivate them, in the challenge of explaining to their pupils how the idea of atom evolved.