Performance measurement model for projects from a strategic management perspective

This research studied the project performance measurement from the perspective of strategic management. The objective was to find a generic model for project performance measurement that emphasizes strategy and decision making. Research followed the guidelines of a constructive research methodology. As a result, the study suggests a model that measures projects with multiple meters during and after projects. Measurement after the project is suggested to be linked to the strategic performance measures of a company. The measurement should be conducted with centralized project portfolio management e.g. using the project management office in the organization. Metrics, after the project, measure the project’s actual benefit realization. During the project, the metrics are universal and they measure the accomplished objectives relation to costs, schedule and internal resource usage. Outcomes of these measures should be forecasted by using qualitative or stochastic methods. Solid theoretical background for the model was found from the literature that covers the subjects of performance measurement, projects and uncertainty. The study states that the model can be implemented in companies. This statement is supported by empirical evidence from a single case study. The gathering of empiric evidence about the actual usefulness of the model in companies is left to be done by the evaluative research in the future.

Influencing Perceived Agency: A Study into User Experiences in Digital Interactive Storytelling

User experience is a crucial element in interactive storytelling, and as such it is important to recognize the different aspects of a positive user experience in an interactive story. Towards that goal, in the first half of this thesis, we will go through the different elements that make up the user experience, with a strong focus on agency. Agency can be understood as the user’s ability to affect the story or the world in which the story is told with interesting and satisfying choices. The freedoms granted by agency are not completely compatible with traditional storytelling, and as such we will also go through some of the issues of agency-centric design philosophies and explore alternate schools of thought. The core purpose of this thesis is to determine the most important aspects of agency with regards to a positive user experience and attempt to find ways for authors to improve the overall quality of user experience in interactive stories. The latter half of this thesis deals with the research conducted on this matter. This research was carried out by analyzing data from an online survey coupled with data gathered by the interactive storytelling system specifically made for this research (Regicide). The most important aspects of this research deal with influencing perceived agency and facilitating an illusion of agency in different ways, and comparing user experiences in these different test environments. The most important findings based on this research include the importance of context-controlled and focused agency and settings in which the agency takes place and the importance of ensuring user-competency within an interactive storytelling system. Another essential conclusion to this research boils down to communication between the user and the system; the goal of influencing perceived agency should primarily be to ensure that the user is aware of all the theoretical agency they possess.

Metrics for Predicting User Behavior and Experience in an Interactive Storytelling System

In much of the previous research into the field of interactive storytelling, the focus has been on the creation of complete systems, then evaluating the performance of those systems based on user experience. Less focus has been placed on finding general solutions to problems that manifest in many different types of interactive storytelling systems. The goal of this thesis was to identify potential candidates for metrics that a system could use to predict player behavior or how players experience the story they are presented with, and to put these metrics to an empirical test. The three metrics that were used were morality, relationships and conflict. The game used for user testing of the metrics, Regicide is an interactive storytelling experience that was created in conjunction with Eero Itkonen. Data, in the forms of internal system data and survey answers, collected through user testing, was used to evaluate hypotheses for each metric. Out of the three chosen metrics, morality performed the best in this study. Though further research and refinement may be required, the results were promising, and point to the conclusion that user responses to questions of morality are a strong predictor for their choices in similar situations later on in the course of an interactive story. A similar examination for user relationships with other characters in the story did not produce promising results, but several problems were recognized in terms of methodology and further research with a better optimized system may yield different results. On the subject of conflict, several aspects, proposed by Ware et al. (2012), were evaluated separately. Results were inconclusive, with the aspect of directness showing the most promise.

Flipped classroom technology from teachers’ perspective: implementation experience, barriers and perspectives

Blended learning approaches rise their popularity, however not all professors apply them and find them useful and appropriate. This research focuses on study of flipped classroom arrangement and effectiveness of this concept implementation. The Master’s Thesis explores impact of flipped classroom implementation on resource savings for proffesors. The research is based on the literature review of different education arrangements and results of their implementation, on the survey conducted among proffesors from different Universities and on two experiments of flipped classroom implementation. The results reveal advantages and disadvantages of the concept, professors’ attitude to it and possibility to future research and practice in this field

Finland's security in a changing Europe : a historical perspective

Finnish Defence Studies is published under the auspices of the National Defence College, and the contributions reflect the fields of research and teaching of the College. Finnish Defence Studies will occasionally feature documentation on Finnish Security Policy. Views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily imply endorsement by the National Defence College.

The new geopolitics : the world system and Northern Europe seen from a modern geopolitical perspective

Finnish Defence Studies is published under the auspices of the National Defence College, and the contributions reflect the fields of research and teaching of the College. Finnish Defence Studies will occasionally feature documentation on Finnish Security Policy. Views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily imply endorsement by the National Defence College.

The impact of companies’ demergers to the stock prices: a Finnish perspective

Tässä kauppatieteiden kandidaatintyössä tutkittiin millaisia vaikutuksia julkisesti noteerattujen yhtiöiden osakekurssissa tapahtuu, kun jo valmiiksi Helsingin pörssissä listattu yritys jakautuu kahdeksi uudeksi pörssiyritykseksi. Molempien yrityksien osakkeita voi tämän jakautumisen jälkeen vapaasti ostaa tai myydä. Aikaisempi tutkimus on pääsääntöisesti keskittynyt Yhdysvaltojen markkinoille ja näiden tutkimusten tuloksien perusteella on monessa tapauksessa havautta, että on mahdollista saavuttaa ylinormaaleja tuottoja, kun pörssiyritys jakautuu kahdeksi uudeksi pörssiyritykseksi. Tässä analyysissä jakautumiset ajallisesti tapahtuivat vuosien 1994 ja 2013 välisenä aikana Suomessa ja näitä jakautumia oli yhteensä 16 kappaletta. Tutkimuksessa on hyödynnetty tilastollisten menetelmien analyysiä sekä CAP-mallia, jotta voitaisiin löytää vastauksia seuraaviin kysymyksiin: Vaikuttaako pörssiyrityksen jakautuminen kahdeksi pörssiyritykseksi alkuperäisen yhtiön ja uuden yhtiön osakekursseihin? Onko vaikutus positiivinen, negatiivinen vai onko jakautumisella mitään havaittavaa vaikutusta? Tämän tutkimuksen tulokset antavat uutta tietoa tutkijoille, analyytikoille, opettajille, opiskelijoille, yrityksille ja yritysten johdolle sekä erityisesti sijoittajille. Tulosten mukaan on nähtävissä monia vaikutuksia osakekursseissa, kun pörssiyritys jakautuu. Vaikutus näyttää kuitenkin olevan jossain määrin yritys-riippuvainen. Kun sijoitetaan oikeaan aikaan, on monia jakautuvia yrityksiä, jotka antavat hyvän tuoton keskimäärin, mutta kuten tavallista ja tyypillistä osakemarkkinoille, on myös jakautuvia yhtiöitä, jotka antavat negatiivisia tuottoja tai tuotot ovat nollassa

A service perspective to digital innovation: exploring the emergence of autonomous shipping

Current research describes digital innovation largely similar to product innovation. Digital innovation is seen as an object of coherent activities, however in reality digital innovation results from convergence of variant technologies and those related actors with versatile business goals. To account for the dynamic nature of digital innovation, this study applies a service perspective to digital innovation. The purpose of the study is to understand how digital innovation emerges within a service ecosystem for autonomous shipping. The sub-objectives of this study are to 1) identify what factors motivate and demotivate actors to integrate resources for autonomous shipping, 2) explore the key technology areas to be integrated to realise the autonomous shipping concept, and 3) suggest how the technology areas are combined for mutual value creation within a service eco-system for autonomous shipping. Insights from autonomous driving were also included. This study draws on literatures on service innovation and service-dominant logic. The research was conducted as a qualitative exploratory case study. The data comprise interviews of 18 marine and automotive industry experts, 4 workshops, 4 seminars, and observations as well as various secondary data sources. The findings revealed that the key actors have versatile motivations regarding autonomous shipping. These varied from opportunities for single applications to occupying a central role in an autonomous technology platform. Thus, autonomous shipping can be seen as an umbrella concept comprising multiple levels. In technical terms, the development of the concept of autonomous shipping is largely based on combining existing technology solutions, which are gradually integrated towards more systemic entities comprising areas of the autonomous shipping concept. This study argues that a service perspective embraces the inherently complex and dynamic nature of digital innovation. This is captured in the developed research framework that describes digital innovation emerging on different levels of interaction: 1. strategic relationships for new solutions, 2. new local networks for technology platforms, and 3. global networks for new markets. The framework shows how the business models and motivations of digital innovation actors feed the emergence of digital innovation in overlapping service ecosystems that together comprise an innovation ecosystem for autonomous technologies. Digital innovation managers will benefit from seeing their businesses as part of a larger ecosystem of value co-creating actors. In orchestrating digital innovation within a service ecosystem, it is suggested that managers consider the resources, roles and institutions within the ecosystem. Finally, as autonomous shipping is at its infancy, the topic provides a number of interesting avenues for future research.

Fiscal policy and private investment: latin america in a comparative perspective

The main objective of the paper is to assess the impact of fiscal variables on private investment comparing some Latin-American economies to other advanced ones. For such purposes, the authors carry out an econometric analysis for the period 1990-2008. They make use of two dynamic panel models in which they group countries with similar characteristics and development levels. In one of them, they include Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Uruguay; whereas in the second one the countries accounted for are the U.S., Canada, Spain, Korea, Ireland and Japan. They specify in both models an investment function using as arguments a wide range of variables, including those related with fiscal policy. From their results the authors infer that governments can, with higher spending, boost up the economy even when they finance spending with higher taxes. In Latin America, where income concentration is enormous, a proposal to boost up the economy through higher government expenditure financed with a progressive income tax, is even more justified.

Education and development projects in Brazil (1932-2004): political economy perspective

This paper discusses the long-run history of education policies in Brazil. It is suggested that the main reason for the educational backwardness was the existence of strong political interests over education. It is also defended that these interests can be empirically observed in the allocation of public resources between the different levels of education, with political choices favouring specific groups in society. It was not a matter of lack of investment in education, but of inadequate allocation of resources. This pattern of political-based policies created a strong negative path dependence of misallocation of resources in education in Brazil, particularly with significant underinvestment in secondary education.

Travel changes thought and men : a fresh perspective on the travels of a literary icon

Kirjallisuusarvostelu

Triadic Perspective to Sport Sponsorship Relationships

Often the empirical studies about sport sponsorship co-operation have concentrated on the relationships between the sponsor and the sponsored target excluding the phenomenon sports manager, i.e. the intermediating actor from further examination. In this study the purpose was to contribute to the research gap in the current literature by thoroughly describing the roles and relationships in the sport sponsorship co-operation that includes an intermediating actor, that is a triad. The main objective was pursued to fulfill with the help of two sub-level research questions that were identified as ”What is the nature of the sport sponsorship triad?” and ”What is the role of the intermediating actor within the sport sponsorship triad?” First, the theorethical framework was constructed based on the existing literature of business relationship triads and sponsorship co-operation that were integrated in the synthesis of the theories the purpose of which was to produce a framework for empirical research. Then a qualitative research was conducted by using a single-case study approach. The data was collected through a semi-structured theme interview in person with the sports manager. Similar questionnaires were sent out to the sponsor and the athlete and answered in writing. After collecting the data, the actor roles’ and their relationships were examined individually, after which the analysis of the results was carried out and divided according to the research questions. The nature of the sport sponsorship triad was found to be a serial triad that could be likened to a system of two dyads connected by the intermediating actor. Each actor seemed to occupy a specific justifiable position within the co-operation, even though the relationships were found to be unbalanced in terms of resources, power/strength, interaction patterns and interconnectedness. The core role of the intermediating actor was found to be the role of a mediator, which was seen to increase the other parties’ dependence of the manager’s performance. Therefore, the role of the intermediating actor should be considered crucial for the very existence of the sport sponsorship co-operation, especially in cases where the nature of the triad is a serial triad.

Livre de perspective de Jehan Cousin, senenois, maistre painctre à Paris ([Reprod.]) / Jean Cousin

Collection : French books before 1601 ; 213.1