Internationalization of a Finnish accounting firm to Russian markets

Despite the unstable situation at the moment in Russia, the Russian market and St. Petersburg have been a very attractive from the point of view of Finnish companies. The objective of this research was to define how a Finnish accounting firm should perform its market entry to Russian markets as a part of its internationalization process. In addition, the special characteristics that support the internationalization to Russia were examined together with the implications from the behavior of potential customers at the market. The actual market entry mode was developed based on the theories of Uppsala model, transaction cost economics and the network approach. Additional emphasis was given for the service point of view. The primary data in this research was collected through semi-structured interviews with professionals from the Russian market. The results of this research show that there exists potential especially at the accounting markets in Russia. However, the current unstable situation and sanctions in Russia have led to situation where the price-sensitivity among customers is high, and costs savings are searched from multiple processes in organizations. Therefore, the accounting company should perform its market entry in small incremental steps to decrease the risks involved, and to gain specific market knowledge before committing more resources into Russian markets. A simplified process was developed to evaluate the suitable market entry mode. As a result, the level of commitment and market knowledge affect the final entry model of the firm, as well as defined goals for the particular market.

Construction de l'Est et de l'Ouest : vers des compétences interculturelles. Un exemple de recherche à Hong-Kong en situation de mobilité académique

Numerous scholars have already stressed the need to prepare students prior to academic mobility (Abdallah-Pretceille, 2003; Jackson, 2013, for example) in order to face hypermodernity (Aubert, 2004). As per the new mobilities paradigm (Urry, 2007), this implies considering individuals at the centre of political and institutional issues. Furthermore, the multiplicity of terminology of references towards academic mobility, and intercultural competences, justifies this research. The theory, for this doctoral dissertation, applies “renewed interculturality” (Dervin, 2012), a move away from a culturalist approach. Intercultural competences are therefore defined as a stepping back from discourses on the Other that may emerge during encounters. In order to collect the data, six focus groups have been organised with two batches of students from a Higher Education Institution in Hong-Kong, an “education hub” (Dervin & Machart, 2014) that is striving to be competitive particularly in increasing the number of incomingand outcoming students. Training and education to interculturality have been implemented prior to academic mobility in order to observe the impact on participants’ discourses before and after the mobility. Theories of enunciation and dialogism represent the methodology allowing us to compare and analyse the reported voices in the participants’ discourse and their prosodic realisation (Martin & White, 2005) before and after the experience of academic mobility. I have attempted to observe the dialogic space available to welcome the Other during encounters in the participants’ discourse. The results seem to underline the increased number of reported voices in participants’ discourse after study abroad, but as the space opened for negotiation is instable and depends on the interlocutors and the voices addressed, consequently, further research appears necessary to study the influences of a preparation prior to mobility on the contraction or expansion of heteroglossia. All in all, this doctoral dissertation aimed to renew preparation

The Construction of ‘Disciplinary’ Violence Against Children — Social Workers’, Police Officers’ and Parents’ Rationales

This dissertation examines parental disciplinary violence against children in authority records and in the criminal procedure in Finland. The main aim is to analyze disciplinary violence, how it is defined, and how it is constructed as a crime by social workers, the police, and parents. This dissertation consists of four sub-studies and a summary article. In the first sub-study, I examine how disciplinary violence appears in child welfare documents and analyze the decision-making processes and measures taken by the child welfare workers. The second sub-study, utilizing police interview data, examines police officers’ perceptions of disciplinary violence, its criminalization, and its investigation. In addition to this analysis of police officers’ own perceptions, in the third sub-study, I use reports of crime and pre-trial investigation documents to look at what a typical suspicion of disciplinary violence coming to the attention of the police is and examine the decision-making processes of the police. Utilizing authority data, the fourth sub-study analyzes how parents rationalize the use of disciplinary violence to the authorities investigating these suspicions. The research provides findings that are unprecedented in Finland. Firstly, it was shown that social workers’ decision-making processes in suspicions of disciplinary violence follow three pathways of reasoning, with many factors taken into consideration; and in less than one-third of the cases, a request for criminal investigation has been made to the police. Secondly, it was verified that police officers hold different perceptions of disciplinary violence, and these perceptions have multiple effects on the investigation of these cases and the construction of disciplinary violence as a crime. Thirdly, the analysis of the reports of crime and pre-trial investigation documents showed that almost two-thirds of the cases of disciplinary violence had been sent to a prosecutor by the police and, thus, defined as a crime. However, in many cases, acts of disciplinary violence were often seen as ‘educational, petty one-off incidents’ and a possible trial and punishment for the perpetrator were seen as unreasonable. Fourthly, it was found that parents often try to neutralize and rationalize the violence they have used against their children, for example, either by denying the victim, the criminal intent, or the entire act, or relying on the necessity of the forbidden act. The dissertation concludes that disciplinary violence is defined and constructed in authority policies and practices, first and foremost, by the severity of the act, the nature of the act as continuous or singular, the perceived harm caused by the act to a child, and the perceptions of authorities regarding physical punishment of children. The asymmetrical power setting present in disciplinary violence and parents’ legitimized right to raise and discipline their children partly seem to explain why criminal-law processing of these suspicions of violence and understanding these as crimes is difficult. Finally, this research calls for more coherent and consistent authority practices and policies, achieved by educating authorities and increasing awareness on disciplinary violence, questions the need for a concept like ‘disciplinary’ violence, and suggests more emphasis on unambiguous perceptions of a child’s best interest.

The Formation Of Internationalization Strategies Within The Construction Industry:Vision and Strategy

Internationalization represents a complex topic that has been researched for quite some time. However, since it continues to be extremely current a topic, its significance has not diminished, but maybe even increased in importance. Companies today face extreme pressure to enter new markets in the hope of growing, becoming more profitable, increasing market share, attracting new customers and meeting the requirements of its share- and stakeholders. In the increasingly global business environment of today, companies are facing both challenges and possible advantages of internationalization. Few companies are not operating internationally and it is becoming the question of ‘Why not?’ rather than ‘Why?’ to internationalize business operations. Internationalization and the importance of strategy are discussed in this research from the viewpoint of three case companies that were interviewed about internationalization strategies. This research project is a qualitative study that answers the research question of How is a business strategy constructed for entering a new market? The sub-questions are • How are goals set and what indicators are used to monitor the achievement of these goals? • What are the key characteristics of a strategy implementation process? The research method chosen for this study is a multiple-case study. Three case companies were chosen for the interviews in order to gain in-depth data of internationalization strategies within the construction industry.

Nouvelles annales de la construction : publication rapide et économique des documents les plus récents et les plus intéressants relatifs à la construction française et étrangère... / C.-A. Oppermann

1886/10 (A32,SER4,N382).

Nouvelles annales de la construction : publication rapide et économique des documents les plus récents et les plus intéressants relatifs à la construction française et étrangère... / C.-A. Oppermann

1858/08 (T4,N8).

Nouvelles annales de la construction : publication rapide et économique des documents les plus récents et les plus intéressants relatifs à la construction française et étrangère... / C.-A. Oppermann

1878/10 (A3,SER3,N286).

Nouvelles annales de la construction : publication rapide et économique des documents les plus récents et les plus intéressants relatifs à la construction française et étrangère... / C.-A. Oppermann

1855/12 (N12).

Nouvelles annales de la construction : publication rapide et économique des documents les plus récents et les plus intéressants relatifs à la construction française et étrangère... / C.-A. Oppermann

1857/11 (A3,N11).

Nouvelles annales de la construction : publication rapide et économique des documents les plus récents et les plus intéressants relatifs à la construction française et étrangère... / C.-A. Oppermann

1876 (TB)-1887.

Nouvelles annales de la construction : publication rapide et économique des documents les plus récents et les plus intéressants relatifs à la construction française et étrangère... / C.-A. Oppermann

1887/04 (SER4,T4,N388).

Nouvelles annales de la construction : publication rapide et économique des documents les plus récents et les plus intéressants relatifs à la construction française et étrangère... / C.-A. Oppermann

1859/06 (A5,N6).

Nouvelles annales de la construction : publication rapide et économique des documents les plus récents et les plus intéressants relatifs à la construction française et étrangère... / C.-A. Oppermann

1864/06 (A10,N114).