The Business Models of Telecommunications Equipment Manufacturers. Case: Cisco Systems.

Tutkielman tavoitteena oli tarkastella telekommunikaatiolaitevalmistajien liiketoimintamalleja. Tutkielma jakaantuu teoreettiseen ja empiiriseen osaan. Teoreettinen osa keskittyy lähinnä liiketoimintamallin käsitteen määrittelyyn. Olemassa olevien määritelmien, sekä liiketoimintamallin käsitteeseen läheisesti liittyvien termien, pohjalta luotiin liiketoimintamallille uusi malli. Tutkielman empiirinen osa keskittyy case-yritys Cisco Systemsin liiketoimintamallin määrittelyyn ja kehityksen kuvaamiseen. Liiketoimintamallin kehitystä seurattiin kahden vuoden ajalta perehtymällä lähinnä yrityksen lehdistötiedotteisiin, artikkeleihin ja muuhun julkiseen materiaaliin. Ciscon lisäksi empiirisessä osassa tutkittiin kahdeksan muun laitevalmistajan liiketoimintamallien kehitystä. Empiirisen osan päätavoitteena oli selvittää, miten telekommunikaatiolaitevalmistajien liiketoimintamallit kehittyvät nyt ja tulevaisuudessa.

Small business management in English

The goal was to define how growth creates problems in small companies with a staff of uner 20, and how the problems are solved. It is not about fast growing companies, but about smoothly or even slowly growing companies. The growth is started through the turnover and the main motive is to have a economic stability. Almost all the companies felt that the main reason for this strate-gic growth was to increase the competitivety. Growth was mainly from the domestic market, and new products and new markets. The biggest problem with this growth was providing capital and also a lack of reas-surance. In additinon to this it was dificult to find suitable personnel and there was a lack of time needed to plan and develop the operation. The lack of product develop-ment, was found to be a problem to some extent, particulary in smaller companies. The follow-up of the finances take place mainly through the profit and loss account, income statement and balance sheets. Apart from that they find the follow up by pro-duct was important. Another important element was to have company tailor-made consulting/sparring in order to develop the operation.

Business models enhancing the diffusion of mobile Internet in emerging markets

Tämän tutkimuksen päätavoitteena oli selvittää, millaiset liiketoimintamallit soveltuvat mobiilin internet-liiketoiminnan harjoittamiseen kehittyvillä markkinoilla. Tavoitteena oli myös selvittää tekijöitä, jotka vaikuttavat mobiilin internetin diffuusioon. Tutkimus tehtiin käyttäen sekä kvantitatiivista että kvalitatiivista tutkimusmenetelmää. Klusterianalyysin avulla 40 Euroopan maasta muodostettiin sisäisesti homogeenisiä maaklustereita. Näiden klustereiden avulla oli mahdollista suunnitella erityyppisille markkinoille soveltuvat liiketoimintamallit. Haastatteluissa selvitettiin asiantuntijoiden näkemyksiä tekijöistä, jotka vaikuttavat mobiilin internetin diffuusioon kehittyvillä markkinoilla. Tutkimuksessa saatiin selville, että tärkeimmät liiketoimintamallin elementit kehittyvillä markkinoilla ovat hinnoittelu, arvotarjooma ja arvoverkko. Puutteellisen kiinteän verkon todettiin olevan yksi tärkeimmistä mobiilin internetin diffuusiota edistävistä tekijöistä kehittyvillä markkinoilla.

The Impact of Doing Business Regulations on Investments in ICT

null

Role of an LRR receptor-like kinase in the establishment of a functional root endodermal barrier

The endodermis is a highly conserved cell layer present in the root of all vascular plants, except Lycophytes. This tissue layer establishes a protective diffusion barrier surrounding the vasculature and is expected to prevent passive, uncontrolled flow of nutrients through the root. This barrier property is achieved by the production of Casparian strips (CS), a localized cell wall impregnation of lignin in the anticlinal walls of each endodermal cell, forming a belt-like structure sealing the extracellular space. The CS act as a selective barrier between the external cell layers and the vascular cylinder and are thought to be important in many aspects of root function. For instance, selective nutrient uptake and sequestration from the soil, resistance to different abiotic and biotic stresses are expected to involve functional CS. Although discovered 150 years ago, nothing was known about the genes involved in CS establishment until recently. The use of the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana together with both reverse and forward genetic approaches led to the discovery of an increasing number of genes involved in different steps of CS formation during the last few years. One of these genes encodes SCHENGEN3 (SGN3), a leucine-rich repeat receptor-like kinase (LRR-RLK). SGN3 was discovered first by reverse genetic due to its endodermis-enriched expression, and the corresponding mutant displays strong endodermal permeability of the apoplastic tracer Propidium Iodide (PI) indicative of defective CS. One aim of this thesis is to study the role of SGN3 at the molecular level in order to understand its involvement in establishing an impermeable CS. The endodermal permeability of sgn3 is shown to be the result of incorrect localization of key proteins involved in CS establishment (the "Casparian strip domain proteins", CASPs), leading to non-functional CS interrupted by discontinuities. CASPs localize in the plasma membrane domain subjacent to the CS, named the Casparian Strip membrane Domain (CSD). The CSD discontinuities in sgn3 together with SGN3 localization in close proximity to the CASPs lead to the assumption that SGN3 is involved in the formation of a continuous CSD. In addition, SGN3 might have a second role, acting as a kinase reporting CSD integrity leading to lignin and suberin production in CSD/CS defective plants. Up to now, sgn3 is the strongest and most specific CS mutant available, displaying tracer penetration along the whole length of the seedling root. For this reason, this mutant is well suited in order to characterize the physiological behaviour of CS affected plants. Due to the lack of such mutants in the past, it was not possible to test the presumed functions of CS by using plants lacking this structure. We decided to use sgn3 for this purpose. Surprisingly, sgn3 overall growth is only slightly affected. Nevertheless, processes expected to rely on functional CS, such as water transport through the root, nutrient homeostasis, salt tolerance and resistance to an excess of some nutrients are altered in this mutant. On the other hand, homeostasis for most elements and drought tolerance are not affected in sgn3. It is surprising to observe that homeostatic defects are specific, with a decrease in potassium and an increase in magnesium levels. It indicates a backup system, set up by the plant in order to counteract free diffusion of nutrients into the stele. For instance, potassium shortage in sgn3 upregulates the transcription of potassium influx transport proteins and genes known to be induced by potassium starvation. Moreover, sgn3 mutant is hypersensitive to low potassium conditions. Hopefully, these results about SGN3 will help our understanding of CS establishment at the molecular level. In addition, physiological experiments using sgn3 should give us a framework for future experiments and help us to understand the different roles of CS and their involvement during nutrient radial transport through the root. -- L'endoderme est un tissu présent dans les racines de toutes les plantes vasculaires à l'exception des Lycophytes. Ce tissu établit une barrière protectrice entourant les tissus vasculaires dans le but d'éviter la diffusion passive et incontrôlée des nutriments au travers de la racine. Cette propriété de barrière provient de la production des cadres de Caspary, une imprégnation localisée de lignine des parties anticlinales de la paroi de chaque cellule d'endoderme. Cela donne naissance à un anneau/cadre qui rend étanche l'espace extracellulaire. Les cadres de Caspary agissent comme une barrière sélective entre les couches externes de la racine et le cylindre central et sont supposés être importants dans beaucoup d'aspects du fonctionnement de la racine. Par exemple, l'absorption sélective de nutriments et leur séquestration à partir du sol ainsi que la résistance contre différents stress abiotiques et biotiques sont supposés impliquer des cadres de Caspary fonctionnels. Bien que découverts il y a 150 ans, rien n'était connu concernant les gènes impliqués dans Ja formation des cadres de Caspary jusqu'à récemment. Durant ces dernière années, l'utilisation de la plante modèle Arabidopsis thaliana ainsi que des approches de génétique inverse et classique ont permis la découverte d'un nombre croissant de gènes impliqués à différentes étapes de la formation de cette structure. Un des ces gènes code pour SCHENGEN3 (SGN3), un récepteur kinase "leucine-rich repeat receptor-like kinase" (LRR-RLK). SGN3 a été découvert en premier par génétique inverse grâce à son expression enrichie dans l'endoderme. Les cadres de Caspary ne sont pas fonctionnels dans le mutant correspondant, ce qui est visible à cause de la perméabilité de l'endoderme au traceur apoplastique Propidium Iodide (PI). Un des objectifs de cette thèse est d'étudier la fonction de SGN3 au niveau moléculaire dans le but de comprendre son rôle dans la formation des cadres de Caspary. J'ai pu démontrer que la perméabilité de l'endoderme du mutant sgn3 est le résultat de la localisation incorrecte de protéines impliquées dans la formation des cadres de Caspary, les "Casparian strip domain proteins" (CASPs). Cela induit des cadres de Caspary non fonctionnels, contenant de nombreuses interruptions. Les CASPs sont localisés à la membrane plasmique dans un domaine sous-jacent les cadres de Caspary appelé Casparian Strip membrane Domain (CSD). Les interruptions du CSD dans le mutant sgn3, ainsi que la localisation de SGN3 à proximité des CASPs nous font penser à un rôle de SGN3 dans l'élaboration d'un CSD ininterrompu. De plus, SGN3 pourrait avoir un second rôle, agissant en tant que kinase reportant l'intégrité du CSD et induisant la production de lignine et de subérine dans des plantes contenant des cadres de Caspary non fonctionnels. Jusqu'à ce jour, sgn3 est le mutant en notre possession le plus fort et le plus spécifique, ayant un endoderme perméable tout le long de la racine. Pour cette raison, ce mutant est adéquat dans le but de caractériser la physiologie de plantes ayant des cadres de Caspary affectés. De manière surprenante, la croissance de sgn3 est seulement peu affectée. Néanmoins, des processus censés nécessiter des cadres de Caspary fonctionnels, comme le transport de l'eau au travers de la racine, l'homéostasie des nutriments, la tolérance au sel et la résistance à l'excès de certains nutriments sont altérés dans ce mutant. Malgré tout, l'homéostasie de la plupart des nutriments ainsi que la résistance au stress hydrique ne sont pas affectés dans sgn3. De manière surprenante, les altérations de l'ionome de sgn3 sont spécifiques, avec une diminution de potassium et un excès de magnésium. Cela implique un système de compensation établi par la plante dans le but d'éviter la diffusion passive des nutriments en direction du cylindre central. Par exemple, le manque de potassium dans sgn3 augmente la transcription de transporteurs permettant l'absorption de cet élément. De plus, des gènes connus pour être induits en cas de carence en potassium sont surexprimés dans sgn3 et la croissance de ce mutant est sévèrement affectée dans un substrat pauvre en potassium. Ces résultats concernant SGN3 vont, espérons-le, aider à la compréhension du processus de formation des cadres de Caspary au niveau moléculaire. De plus, les expériences de physiologie utilisant sgn3 présentées dans cette thèse devraient nous donner une base pour des expériences futures et nous permettre de comprendre mieux le rôle des cadres de Caspary, et plus particulièrement leur implication dans le transport radial des nutriments au travers de la racine. -- Les plantes terrestres sont des organismes puisant l'eau et les nutriments dont elles ont besoin pour leur croissance dans le sol grâce à leurs racines. De par leur immobilité, elles doivent s'adapter à des sols contenant des quantités variables de nutriments et il leur est crucial de sélectionner ce dont elles ont besoin afin de ne pas s'intoxiquer. Cette sélection est faite grâce à un filtre formé d'un tissu racinaire interne appelé endoderme. L'endoderme fabrique une barrière imperméable entourant chaque cellule appelée "cadre de Caspary". Ces cadres de Caspary empêchent le libre passage des nutriments, permettant un contrôle précis de leur passage. De plus, ils sont censés permettre de résister contre différents stress environnementaux comme la sécheresse, la salinité du sol ou l'excès de nutriments. Bien que découverts il y a 150 ans, rien n'était connu concernant les gènes impliqués dans la formation des cadres de Caspary jusqu'à récemment. Durant ces dernière années, l'utilisation de la plante modèle Arabidopsis thaliana a permis la découverte d'un nombre croissant de gènes impliqués à différentes étapes de la formation de cette structure. Un de ces gènes code pour SCHENGEN3 (SGN3), un récepteur kinase "leucine-rich repeat receptor-like kinase" (LRR- RLK). Nous montrons dans cette étude que le gène SGN3 est impliqué dans la formation des cadres de Caspary, et que le mutant correspondant sgn3 a des cadres de Caspary interrompus. Ces interruptions rendent l'endoderme perméable, l'empêchant de bloquer le passage des molécules depuis le sol vers le centre de la racine. En utilisant ce mutant, nous avons pu caractériser la physiologie de plantes ayant des cadres de Caspary affectés. Cela a permis de découvrir que le transport de l'eau au travers de la racine était affecté dans le mutant sgn3. De plus, l'accumulation de certains éléments dans les feuilles de ce mutant est altérée. Nous avons également pu montrer une sensibilité de ce mutant à un excès de sel ou de certains nutriments comme le fer et le manganèse.

Effects of business-to-business customer orientation, satisfaction and retention on firm profitability

The objective of this master’s thesis was to examine the effect of customer orientation on customer satisfaction and how customer satisfaction and customer retention contribute to firm profitability. Beside customer orientation, also other antecedents of customer satisfaction, i.e. service quality, flexibility, trust and commitment, were investigated as control variables. Literature review revealed several research gaps concerning research of the key concepts. These research calls were also answered. The empirical study focused on one case company, a telecommunication expert. The data for the empirical part was collected with web-based questionnaire from case company’s business customers in January-February 2008. Sample (N=95) produced 59 answers, thus the response rate of the survey was 62,1%. The data was analyzed by using statistical analysis program, SPSS. As a conclusion, the results indicate that customer orientation do not affect customer satisfaction directly, but through service quality, flexibility and trust. Moreover, customer satisfaction has positive impacts on commitment and intentions to stay as a customer in the future, but not on profitability. In the present study, only past purchase behavior, measured with customer database measure, is positively related to firm profitability.

Implementing Role Based Access Control into the Enterprise Environment to Support Business and IT Functions

The thesis studies role based access control and its suitability in the enterprise environment. The aim is to research how extensively role based access control can be implemented in the case organization and how it support organization’s business and IT functions. This study points out the enterprise’s needs for access control, factors of access control in the enterprise environment and requirements for implementation and the benefits and challenges it brings along. To find the scope how extensively role based access control can be implemented into the case organization, firstly is examined the actual state of access control. Secondly is defined a rudimentary desired state (how things should be) and thirdly completed it by using the results of the implementation of role based access control application. The study results the role model for case organization unit, and the building blocks and the framework for the organization wide implementation. Ultimate value for organization is delivered by facilitating the normal operations of the organization whilst protecting its information assets.

Innovation process management of complex consumer products and services in new innovation paradigm – case location based business

Innovation is the word of this decade. According to innovation definitions, without positive sales impact and meaningful market share the company’s product or service has not been an innovation. Research problem of this master thesis is to find out what is the innovation process of complex new consumer products and services in new innovation paradigm. The objective is to get answers to two research questions: 1) What are the critical success factors what company should do when it is implementing the paradigm change in mass markets consumer business with complex products and services? 2) What is the process or framework one firm could follow? The research problem is looked from one company’s innovation creation process, networking and organization change management challenges point of views. Special focus is to look the research problem from an existing company perspective which is entering new business area. Innovation process management framework of complex new consumer products and services in new innovation paradigm has been created with support of several existing innovation theories. The new process framework includes the critical innovation process elements companies should take into consideration in their daily activities when they are in their new business innovation implementing process. Case company location based business implementation activities are studied via the new innovation process framework. This case study showed how important it is to manage the process, look how the target market and the competition in it is developing during company’s own innovation process, make decisions at right time and from beginning plan and implement the organization change management as one activity in the innovation process. In the end this master thesis showed that all companies need to create their own innovation process master plan with milestones and activities. One plan does not fit all, but all companies can start their planning from the new innovation process what was introduced in this master thesis.

Establishment of a Developmental Compartment Requires Interactions between Three Synergistic Cis-regulatory Modules.

The subdivision of cell populations in compartments is a key event during animal development. In Drosophila, the gene apterous (ap) divides the wing imaginal disc in dorsal vs ventral cell lineages and is required for wing formation. ap function as a dorsal selector gene has been extensively studied. However, the regulation of its expression during wing development is poorly understood. In this study, we analyzed ap transcriptional regulation at the endogenous locus and identified three cis-regulatory modules (CRMs) essential for wing development. Only when the three CRMs are combined, robust ap expression is obtained. In addition, we genetically and molecularly analyzed the trans-factors that regulate these CRMs. Our results propose a three-step mechanism for the cell lineage compartment expression of ap that includes initial activation, positive autoregulation and Trithorax-mediated maintenance through separable CRMs.

Business Process Reengineering - Liiketoimintaprosessin uudistaminen Helsingin ja Uudenmaan sairaanhoitopiirin laboratorioliikelaitoksessa

Tutkimuksen tavoitteena on selvittää laboratoriotutkimuksien liiketoimintaprosessin uudistamisen hyödyt ja haitat Helsingin ja Uudenmaan sairaanhoitopiirin laboratorioliikelaitokselle. Tutkimuksessa selvitetään myös, kannattaako HUSLAB:n uudistaa nykyistä laboratoriotutkimuksien liiketoimintaprosessiaan sekä mitkä ovat liiketoimintaprosessin uudistamisen vaikutukset HUSLAB:lle. Tutkimuksessa mallinnetaan laboratoriotutkimuksien nykyinen liiketoimintaprosessi, jonka pohjalta muodostetaan kuvaus uudistettavasta prosessista. Prosessien välisiä eroja tutkitaan tarkemmin HUSLAB:n yhdessä toimipisteessä. Tutkimuksessa selvitetään, kuinka toimipisteen kustannusrakenne ja toimintamalli muuttuisivat prosessin uudistamisen myötä. Tutkimuksen empiiristen tulosten mukaan HUSLAB:n ei kannata uudistaa laboratoriotutkimuksien liiketoimintaprosessiaan tutkimuksessa kuvatulla tavalla. Liiketoimintaprosessin uudistaminen osoittautui kannattamattomaksi, koska uudistamisen haitat muodostuivat hyötyjä suuremmiksi. Vaikka BPR:ää ei kannatta toteuttaa tutkimuksessa esitetyllä tavalla, voi BPR kuitenkin olla tulevaisuudessa varteenotettava vaihtoehto HUSLAB:n toimintaa muutettaessa.

Business Models of Packaging Machinery Manufacturers – Case Study

The goal of the study was to find a proper frame to understand business models and study business models of the chosen companies in packaging machinery manufacturing. Good practices and tips are searched from business models which have helped companies to success. Packaging industry’s future is also examined in front of different kinds of changes and the influence which they have on machinery manufacturer’s business models. In the theory part business models’ history and the best frame suitable for this study are presented. The chosen case companies have been discussed according to the frame, and they have been compared to each other to point out the differences. The good practices noticed in companies and according to information from other sources, new business model has been constructed including things that should be noticed while constructing a new business model. The information sources of this study where interviews, annual reports, companies presentations and web pages. The type of study was an interpretative case study.

Viimeistelyohjelma Business Park -kohteissa

Tämä insinöörityö tehtiin NCC Rakennus Oy:lle. Työssä selvitettiin Business Park -kohteiden viimeistelyyn liittyviä ongelmia haastatteluin ja tutustumalla viimeistelyohjelmiin sekä aiempiin tutkimuksiin. Tässä insinöörityössä kehitettiin Business Park -kohteisiin räätälöity viimeistelyohjelma nykyisen käytännön pohjalta. Työssä ei ole tehty uutta viimeistelyohjelmaa, vaan nykyisen toimintatavan kehitystyötä. Työssä ei pyritty kehittämään viimeistelyohjelmaa kokonaisvaltaisesti vaan paneuduttiin tutkimusvaiheessa havaittuihin suurimpiin ongelma kohtiin ja puutteisiin, joita kehitettiin. Business Park -toimistotalokohteet toteutetaan perustajaurakointina, jolloin samaan konserniin (NCC) kuuluvat yritykset rakennuttavat (NCC Property Development) ja rakentavat (NCC Rakennus Oy). Kyseisissä kohteissa rakentamisen viimeistelyvaiheessa aiemmin ilmenneet ongelmat olivat syynä insinöörityöni aiheeseen.

International cash management and how to optimize it in China, Case: Stora Enso Oyj School of Business

The aim of this study was to analyze and give proposals for the case-company how to optimize cash management in China. The purpose of the theoretical part was to enlighten the liquidity and cash management practices in an international environment and apply these into the different, regulated environment of China. In the theoretical part both domestic and international literature, articles and journals were used. The results of the empirical part are based on the in-formation from the case-company and its associates. Information was gathered mainly via internal questionnaire which was sent to the case com¬pany's subsidiaries involved with the study. Mainly company-internal factors were studied. The main result of the study implies that China is a challenging environment to optimize cash management, as the structures used elsewhere can not be applied to China as such. The study clarified the picture of the current cash management situation within the case company's China units. Can be seen, that by optimizing their cash management it is possible to especially increase control, and interest earnings and utilize internal liquidity more efficiently.