Vertaileva tutkimus suomalaisten päivittäistavara kaupan alan yritysten likviditeetin hallinnasta vuosina 2009 - 2013

Tämän Pro gradu -tutkielman aiheena on tutkia suomalaisten päivittäistavarakaupan alan yritysten likviditeetin hallintaa vuosina 2009 - 2013. Tutkielmassa tutkitaan, millä tavalla suomalaisten päivittäistavarakaupan alan yritysten käyttöpääoman hallinta on muuttunut rajatulla ajanjaksolla. Lisäksi työssä tutkitaan millä tavoin valikoitujen yritysten kannattavuus, maksuvalmius ja vakavaraisuus ovat muuttuneet vuosina 2009 - 2013. Tutkimuksessa tarkastellaan myös, miten suomalainen päivittäistavarakauppa on kehittynyt tarkasteluajanjaksolla. Tutkimus on rajattu koskemaan neljää suurinta suomalaista päivittäistavarakaupan, pois lukien Lild Suomi Ky taloudellisten tietojen puuttumisen takia, alan ryhmittymää käyttäen kriteerinä vuoden 2013 päivittäistavaramyyntiä sekä markkinaosuuksia. Edellä mainittujen kriteerien perusteella tutkimukseen valikoitui seuraavat ryhmittymät: S-ryhmä, K-ryhmä, Suomen Lähikauppa Oy sekä Stockmann Oyj Abp.Teoriapohjaan tutkimuksessa käytetään aikaisempaa kirjallisuutta ja julkaistuja akateemisia tutkimuksia toimitusketjun ja sen hallinnasta, sekä käyttöpääomasta ja sen hallinnasta. Valikoitujen yritysten tilinpäätöstiedot on koottu Virre -tietokannasta ja toimiala tiedot tilastokeskuksen ohjelmalla PC -Axis 2008. Tutkimuksessa havaittiin käyttöpääomaprosentin ja quick ratio - tunnusluvun välillä pieniä yhtymäkohtia. Kun käyttöpääomaprosentti pienenee, quick ratio -tunnusluku paranee. Käyttöpääomaprosentin muutoksilla oli negatiivinen korrelaatio koko pääoman tuottoprosenttiin sekä liikevoittoprosenttiin. Tutkimuksen kohdeyritykset ovat pystyneet pitämään käyttöpääomaprosentin erilaisilla tehostamistoiminnoilla hyvin tasaisena tiukasta taloustilanteesta huolimatta.

Tuotekustannuslaskennan nykytila ja kustannusseurannan kehittäminen mallimoottoriajattelun avulla

Tutkimuksen tarkoituksena on tutkia globaalin konsernin yhden liiketoimintayksikön tuotekustannuslaskennan nykytilaa. Lisäksi tutkimuksessa selvitetään, miten tuotekohtaista kustannusseurantaa voidaan kehittää mallimoottoriajatuksen avulla. Tutkimus on toteutettu laadullisena case-tutkimuksena yhden organisaation tietojen pohjalta. Teoriaosuuden lähdeaineistot koostuvat pääosin kustannuslaskennan ja -johtamisen perusteoksista ja tieteellisistä artikkeleista. Empiriaosuuden tiedot pohjautuvat haastatteluihin, tietojärjestelmiin ja tutustumiseen organisaatioon. Tutkimuksessa selvisi, että liiketoimintayksikkö ei tällä hetkellä seuraa tuotekohtaisia kustannuksia yksittäisten tuotteiden tasolla. Kustannusseuranta tapahtuu sen sijaan suurempien kokonaisuuksien keskimääräisten kustannuksien tasolla. Tuotekustannuslaskenta on toteutettu perinteiseksi menetelmäksi luokiteltavalla laskentatavalla, jossa välilliset kustannukset kohdistetaan yleiskustannuslisäprosenttien avulla. Tutkimuksen perusteella yleiskustannuksien kohdistamisperusteissa on havaittavissa viitteitä kustannuksien vääristymisestä. Tuotetason kustannuksien seurantaan kehitettiin mallimoottoriajatukseen pohjautuva kustannusmalli, jonka avulla seurataan tarkasti valikoitujen tuotteiden kustannuksien kehittymistä sekä kustannusrakennetta. Mallin avulla voidaan lisätä tuotetason kustannustietoisuutta liiketoimintayksikössä sekä tehdä havaintoja tuotekohtaisten kustannuksien kehityssuunnasta. Mallin kustannustietona käytetään olemassa olevan kustannuslaskentajärjestelmän tietoja. Tästä johtuen mallin kustannustiedoissa on havaittavissa myös viitteitä kustannuksien vääristymisestä.

Julkisen organisaation johdon raportoinnin kehittäminen CASE: Puolustusvoimien johtamisjärjestelmäkeskus

Tämän tutkielman tavoitteena on tutkia julkisen organisaation sisäistä taloudellista raportointia eli johdon raportointia case -organisaation avulla. Tavoitteena on kehittää ja uudistaa organisaation johdolle tuotettavaa kustannusseurantaan liittyvää raportointityökalua. Teoreettista viitekehystä luodaan pääasiassa New Public Management (NPM) -ajattelua tutkimalla. Teoriaosuudessa pohditaan myös muita julkisen organisaation johtamiseen ja raportointiin liittyviä asioita: tulosjohtamista ja suorituskyvyn mittaamista. Empiria osuudessa kehitetään tutkitun teorian, organisaation sisällä kahdessa eri vaiheessa tehtyjen haastattelujen ja jatkuvan havainnoinnin avulla uusi raportointityökalu johdolle. Tämän kehitystyön tuloksena case -organisaatiossa otettiin vuoden 2015 alussa käyttöön uudistettu johdon raportti resurssien käytöstä. Raportti sai paljon positiivista palautetta sen käyttäjiltä ja sen todettiin helpottavan kustannusseurantaa. Seurannan toteutus ja sen taustojen ymmärtäminen vaatii kuitenkin vielä paljon opettelua organisaatiossa.

Marketing performance measurement in the marketing-finance interface

Marketing and finance are both facing challenges in the constantly changing business environment. Finance is challenged to change its role from cost control to value-adding business partner while marketing needs to be able to demonstrate its accountability so how it contributes to firm performance. Finance is the key partner for marketing to prove its impact by helping marketing to measure its actions. By doing so, finance can also emphasize its business partner role. There is not a lot of research conducted of the relationship between marketing and finance departments. The aim of this study is to investigate how the professional differences of marketing and finance and their forms of cooperation affect marketing performance measurement. Literature of marketing and finance disciplines, their cooperation, performance implications of their interface as well as the roles of marketing performance measurement, performance measurement system and measures were reviewed. This research was conducted as a qualitative case study among senior management of marketing and finance in the sporting goods company. The data collected through semi-structured interviews, participant observation and secondary data was described and classified and connections were made. The results of the study show that the nature of marketing and finance disciplines has many effects on their cooperation and performance measurement. Due to the ambiguous nature of marketing, measuring its performance is still seen as a challenge but digitalization is helping the measurement. It was indicated that marketing and finance professionals need to have different skillsets in order to perform their roles effectively and thus cooperation is needed. Marketing performance needs to be measured with both financial and nonfinancial measures. Both marketing and finance interviewees highlighted the importance of marketing measures over financial measures. Measuring marketing performance comprehensively is seen as a challenge since marketing and finance cooperation is still shaped by the cost control and budget management roles, rather than performance measurement. We recognized three constraints affecting this cooperation and performance measurement: people, time and software. If marketing and finance would develop deeper cooperation, they could create comprehensive performance measurement system that improves organizational performance.

A critical study of major construction projects in kerala vis-a-vis effectiveness in project implementation

Chapter 1 presents a brief note on the state at which the construction industry stands at present, bringing into focus the significance of the critical study. Relevance of the study, area of investigation and objectives of the study are outlined in this chapter. The 2nd chapter presents a review of the literature on the relevant areas. In the third chapter an analysis on time and cost overrun in construction highlighting the major factors responsible for it has been done. A couple of case studies to estimate loss to the nation on account of delay in construction have been presented in the chapter. The need for an appropriate estimate and a competent contractor has been emphasised for improving effectiveness in the project implementation. Certain useful equations and thoughts have been formulated on this area in this chapter that can be followed in State PWD and other Govt. organisations. Case studies on project implementation of major projects undertaken by Government sponsored/supported organizations in Kerala have been dealt with in Chapter 4. A detailed description of the project of Kerala Legislature Complex with a critical analysis has been given in this chapter. A detailed account of the investigations carried out on the construction of International Stadium, a sports project of Greater Cochin Development Authority is included here. The project details of Cochin International Airport at Nedumbassery, its promoters and contractors are also discussed in Chapter 4. Various aspects of implementation which led the above projects successful have been discussed in chapter 5. The data collected were analysed through discussion and perceptions to arrive at certain conclusions. The emergence of front-loaded contract and its impact on economics of the project execution are dealt with in this chapter. Analysis of delays in respect of the various project narrated in chapter 3 has been done here. The root causes of the project time and overrun and its remedial measures are also enlisted in this chapter. Study of cost and time overrun of any construction project IS a part of construction management. Under the present environment of heavy investment on construction activities in India, the consequences of mismanagement many a time lead to excessive expenditure which are not be avoidable. Cost consciousness, therefore has to be keener than ever before. Optimization in investment can be achieved by improved dynamism in construction management. The successful completion of coristruction projects within the specified programme, optimizing three major attributes of the process - quality, schedule and costs - has become the most valuable and challenging task for the engineer - managers to perform. So, the various aspects of construction management such as cost control, schedule control, quality assurance, management techniques etc. have also been discussed in this fifth chapter. Chapter 6 summarises the conclusions drawn from the above criticalr1 of rhajor construction projects in Kerala.

Predicting random level and seasonality of hotel prices. A structural equation growth curve approach

This article examines the effect on price of different characteristics of holiday hotels in the sun-and-beach segment, under the hedonic function perspective. Monthly prices of the majority of hotels in the Spanish continental Mediterranean coast are gathered from May to October 1999 from the tour operator catalogues. Hedonic functions are specified as random-effect models and parametrized as structural equation models with two latent variables, a random peak season price and a random width of seasonal fluctuations. Characteristics of the hotel and the region where they are located are used as predictors of both latent variables. Besides hotel category, region, distance to the beach, availability of parking place and room equipment have an effect on peak price and also on seasonality. 3- star hotels have the highest seasonality and hotels located in the southern regions the lowest, which could be explained by a warmer climate in autumn

La incidencia del sistema de patentes estadounidense en la política de salud pública sudafricana 2000- 2012

El interés de este estudio de caso es explicar la incidencia del sistema de patentes estadounidense en la política de salud pública sudafricana del 2000 al 2012. Teniendo en cuenta los altos costos que este sistema impone en los precios de los medicamentos especialmente para tratar el VIH/SIDA y la malaria dos de los males que más aquejan a la población sudafricana. Se pretende explicar y establecer los cambios que ha implementado el gobierno sudafricano en su política de salud pública a través de la creación de una incipiente industria farmacéutica genérica que alivia en parte esta situación, pero que resulta insuficiente debido a su primordial interés de mantener relaciones cordiales con Estados Unidos antes que experimentar cualquier represalia como sucedió en India y Brasil.

Estudo de custos no serviço público

Este trabalho se refere ao controle de custos no serviço público, procura identificar os motivos que ensejaram a adoção dessa alternativa característica do setor privado e pretende demonstrar sua importância para as políticas públicas, desde sua concepção até a avaliação, destacando pontos negativos pela não adoção desse tipo de controle e indicando sua condição de imprescindibilidade no estudo de custo efetividade das ações dos governos. Como forma de obter um panorama acerca do tema, fez-se um breve referencial histórico da experiência brasileira, com destaque para a ação promovida pelo governo federal. Finalmente, indica benefícios não econômicos do controle de custos, muito úteis ao momento presente da Administração Pública brasileira.

Os fatores que impactam no desenvolvimento da mentalidade comercial no modelo empresarial de serviços compartilhados

A implantação e expansão do modelo operacional de “serviços compartilhados” ocupam um lugar de destaque na atual estratégia de muitas empresas multinacionais, o que demonstra seu valor e sucesso como mecanismo de redução de desperdícios e de aumento da eficiência e da eficácia na execução das atividades organizacionais. Esta dissertação tem o objetivo de investigar problemas que podem comprometer o sucesso deste modelo partindo de alguma hipóteses levantadas pelo autor com base em sua observações e vivência profissional. Para atender ao objetivo deste trabalho, foi realizada uma revisão da literatura sobre os temas estratégia e relação matriz-subsidiária, a fim de compreender os diferentes fatores que influenciam os papéis desempenhados pelas subsidiárias com relação às matrizes. Estes temas foram selecionados em virtude das revelações do campo. Com base neste referencial teórico, foram selecionadas algumas tipologias como critério de análise para a investigação empírica das práticas na empresa selecionada. A metodologia utilizada engloba um estudo de caso único. É feita uma análise dos resultados encontrados na pesquisa baseando-se no referencial teórico selecionado na tipologia. Com base no caso estudado, é possível afirmar que a relação matriz-subsidiária impacta diretamente no sucesso deste modelo em empresas multinacionais.

Desenvolvimento de um sistema de planejamento, gestão de serviços e controle de custos em obras de construção civil

The increasing competitiveness of the construction industry, set in an economic environment in which the offer is now greater than the demand , causes the prices of many products and services, are strongly influenced by the processes of production and the final consumer. Thus, to become more competitive in the market and construction companies are seeking new alternatives to reduce and control costs, production processes and tools that allow for close monitoring of the construction schedule, with the consequent compliance deadline with the client. Based on this scenario, the creation of control tools, service management and planning work emerges as an investment opportunity and an area that can promote great benefits to construction companies. The goal of this work is to present a system of planning, service management and costs control that through worksheets provide information relating to the production phase of the work, allowing the visualization of possible irregularities in the planning and cost of the enterprise, enabling the company to take steps to achieve the goals of the enterprise in question, and correct them when necessary. The developed system has been used in a piece of real estate in Rio Grande do Norte, and the results showed that its use together allowed the construction company to accompany their results and take corrective and preventive actions during the production process, efficiently and effective

An adaptive system based on artificial neural networks for NPK fluid fertilizer application

The application process of fluid fertilizers through variable rates implemented by classical techniques with feedback and conventional equipments can be inefficient or unstable. This paper proposes an open-loop control system based on artificial neural network of the type multilayer perceptron for the identification and control of the fertilizer flow rate. The network training is made by the algorithm of Levenberg-Marquardt with training data obtained from measurements. Preliminary results indicate a fast, stable and low cost control system for precision fanning. Copyright (C) 2000 IFAC.

Effects of the eccentricity on the primaries in the gravitational capture phenomenon

Gravitational capture is a characteristic of some dynamical systems in celestial mechanics, as in the elliptic restricted three-body problem that is considered in this paper. The basic idea is that a spacecraft (or any particle with negligible mass) can change a hyperbolic orbit with a small positive energy around a celestial body into an elliptic orbit with a small negative energy without the use of any propulsive system. The force responsible for this modification in the orbit of the spacecraft is the gravitational force of the third body involved in the dynamics. In this way, this force is used as a zero cost control, equivalent to a continuous thrust applied in the spacecraft. One of the most important applications of this property is the construction of trajectories to the Moon. The objective of the present paper is to study in some detail the effects of the eccentricity of the primaries in this maneuver.

Análise das vantagens de duas técnicas anestésicas - Venosa e inalatória - Para colecistectomia por videolaparoscopia

Background and Objectives - It is essential to reduce health care costs without impairing the quality of care. Propofol is associated to faster recovery and it is known that post-anesthesia care unit (PACU) costs are high. The aim of this study was to evaluate the advantages of two anesthesia regimens - propofol continuous infusion or isoflurane - taking into account the cost of both techniques on PACU stay. Methods - Forty seven patients, physical status ASA I, II and III, undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy were divided into 2 groups according to the anesthetic agent: G1, conventional propofol continuous infusion (100-150 μg.kg-1.min-1) and G2, isoflurane. All patients were induced with sufentanil (1 μg.kg-1) and propofol (2 mg.kg-1) and were kept in a re-inhalation circuit (2 L.min-1 of fresh gas flow) with 50% N2O in O2, sufentanil (0.01 μg.kg-1.min-1) and atracurium (0.5 mg.kg-1), or pancuronium (0.1 mg.kg-1) for asthma patients. All patients received atropine and neostigmine at the end of the surgery. Prophylactic ondansetron, dipyrone and tenoxican were administered and, when necessary, tramadol and N-butylscopolamine. Costs of anesthetic drugs (COST), total PACU stay (t-PACU), and PACU stay after extubation (t-EXT) were computed for both groups. Results - Costs were significantly lower in the isoflurane group but t-PACU was 26 minutes longer and t-EXT G1COST were significant for G1 only. Therefore, in G1, t-PACU was a function of propofol doses. Conclusions - We concluded that the use of isoflurane as anesthesia maintenance agent for laparoscopic cholecystectomy showed lower drug costs as compared to propofol. However, isoflurane group patients stayed longer in PACU as compared to propofol continuous infusion group.

Effects of the eccentricity on the primames in the gravitational capture phenomenon

Gravitational capture is a characteristic of some dynamical systems in celestial mechanics, as in the elliptic restricted three-body problem that is considered in this paper. The basic idea is that a spacecraft (or any particle with negligible mass) can change a hyperbolic orbit with a small positive energy around a celestial body into an elliptic orbit with a small negative energy without the use of any propulsive system. The force responsible for this modification in the orbit of the spacecraft is the gravitational force of the third body involved in the dynamics. In this way, this force is used as a zero cost control, equivalent to a continuous thrust applied in the spacecraft. One of the most important applications of this property is the construction of trajectories to the Moon. The objective of the present paper is to study in some detail the effects of the eccentricity of the primaries in this maneuver.

Medicação de alto custo para portador de sofrimento psíquico: Um estudo preliminar dos custos

The present work aims to raise the costs of high-cost drugs used to treat patients of Refractory Schizophrenia in ambulatory unit. The study was carried out in the Psychosocial Support Center, which treated 33 patients with these medications, during the period of June, 2005 to May, 2006. Data analysis disclosed that the mostly used drugs to treat the carriers of Refractory Schizophrenia were: clozapina and risperidona. It was observed that the treatment with olanzapina is more expensive than that with risperidona. The study concluded that the analysis of the consumption and costs of drugs of high cost is necessary to subside better management of the expenses and new investments in the service. Moreover, the necessity of more studies in the area was also identified to contribute with the control of costs.