Browsing by department "Metsätieteiden osasto"

Tavoitteet. Työnantaja toimii henkilöstöalalla, jossa henkilöstön saatavuus on onnistuneen liiketoiminnan kulmakivi. Rainmaker aloitti loppuvuodesta 2018 oman työnantajamielikuvan rakentamisen ja hakijoiden lisäämiseen tähtäävän rekrytointimarkkinoinnin. Tapaustutkimuksen tarkoituksena on tarkastella miten työnantajamielikuvan rakentamiseen liittyvät markkinoinnin toimenpiteet ovat vaikuttaneet työntekijöiden saatavuuteen hakijamäärissä mitattuna tiettynä ajanjaksona. Menetelmät. Aineistona tässä tutkielmassa käytettiin työnantajan valmista dataa. Aineistoon kuului vuoden ajanjaksolta työnhakijat ja sekä ulkoisesti että sisäisesti tuotettujen mainoskampanjoiden määrä kuukausittain. Lisäksi aineistoon kuului kesäkuusta 2018 maaliskuuhun 2019 rekrytointisivuston istuntomäärät. Pääasiallisena menetelmänä tarkasteltiin markkinointitoimenpiteiden määrän korrelaatiota hakijoiden määrään. Tulokset ja johtopäätökset. Aineistosta ei pystytty luotettavasti osoittamaan korrelaatiota sisäisesti tuotettujen markkinointitoimenpiteiden ja hakemusten määrän välillä. Seuratulla ajanjaksolla oli kuitenkin huomattavissa samassa suhteessa kasvanut rekrytointisivuston istuntojen määrä ja hakijamäärä sisäisesti tuotettujen mainoskampanjoiden ajalta. Sisäisesti tuotettujen rekrytointimainoskampanjoiden aikana työhakemuksia saatiin merkittävästi enemmän kuin ulkoisen kumppanin tuottamien mainoskampanjoiden aikana. Johtopäätöksenä voidaan katsoa markkinointitoimenpiteiden nostaneen työnhakijoiden määrää. Myös tässä tutkimuksessa selittämättömiä tekijöitä on taustalla vaikuttamassa hakijamääriin, kuten vuodenaikaan liittyvät vaihtelut. Lisätutkimuksia aiheesta kaivataan.

Single Photon LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) is a novel and promising technology that can make laser scanning faster and cheaper. Compared to typical linear mode LiDARs (LML), SPL (Single Photon LiDAR) can be operated from higher altitude which means wider bandwidth on ground and a larger scanning area at once. Due to capability of SPL systems to create denser point clouds than current typical LML systems, the flight altitude can be higher in SPL which means quick remote sensing data collations abilities over large areas. Additionally, SPL can penetrate thin clouds and fog which gives airborne ALS better time frame as flight can be operated earlier in the morning than with LML. To the best of authors knowledge, this is pioneering research in Finland to analyse the applicability of SPL in Finnish forests and compare it with LML dataset. This thesis focuses on applying and comparing two LiDAR systems (SPL and LML) for extracting individual tree level (ITD) forest inventorying attributes and generating canopy height models in mature forests. Results were validated over 49 field measured plots, located in southern boreal forest. Additionally, the suitability of two crown segmentation methods (local maxima and watershed) were tested in both datasets. Watershed segmentation method yielded more accurate results for tree density and height estimation in both LML and SPL datasets. Tree density was underestimated by 4.7% (rRMSE: 32.3%) for all species. Comparing tree density estimation in different species, it was most accurate in deciduous plots (rRMSE: 17.0%, rBias: -9.5). Tree height estimation with SPL was highly correlated (R 2=0.93) with field-measured height and reliability accurate with underestimation of 3.4% (rRMSE of 7.0%). Comparing the tree height estimation in different species, it was most accurate between pine plots (rRMSE: 1.1%, rBias: 4.9%). In this research, SPL represented reliable and usable point cloud data for forest remote sensing and quality similar to LML. As expected, SPL had more deviation and higher bias compared to LML in tree density but yielded more accurate results for height estimations. Further studies with more accurate geolocated plots and individual tree maps are required. The hypothesis, the applicability of SPL data for forest inventorying and extracting tree density and tree height in mature forests, is valid.

The aim of the thesis is to study how green bond offerings affect the stock price of a listed company. Green bonds are a relatively new form of securities. Their valuation effects, pricing and other effects on company success have been studied only little so far. A green bond differs from a conventional bond only in that the proceeds must be used for projects that contribute to environmental objectives. The thesis also analyses how different characteristics, such as bond credit rating, maturity type or year of issuance, or company industry, listing status and domicile affect the possible valuation effect of Green Bond issuance. This thesis has been commissioned by Indufor Oy. The data for the study were collected from the Bloomberg database with OP’s license and open online sources. Two samples were formed. The first consisted of the details of 219 corporate green bonds issued during 2014–2019. The second sample consisted of the details of 183 conventional bonds. The second sample was formed by identifying nearest neighbour matches for green bonds using the Mahalanobis distance to determine the closest match, based on bond and issuer characteristics. The study was conducted as a quantitative event study. Closing prices of the issuing companies’ shares were used to deter-mine regular returns using four different factor models. The difference between these regular and actual realized returns on the announcement date of the bonds (when a bond was first announced to the public) and ten days surrounding this date were interpreted as abnormal returns attributable to the announcement of the bond. These abnormal returns were tested for statistical significance. Contrary to previous research, the current study finds that announcing a green bond offering results in a statistically significant, negative stock price reaction. The average cumulative abnormal return during [-1,1] surrounding the announcement date is found to be -0.267%. A similar result is not found from the sample of conventional bonds. This leads to the assumption that the abnormal returns are attributable to the “greenness” of a green bond. The geographic location of issuers was found to impact the size of the stock price reaction. Green bonds issued by companies in developed countries were not found to result in significant stock price reaction. Green bonds issued by companies in developing countries on the other hand were found to result in a positive stock price reaction. During 2014–2016 stock prices were found to react more strongly to green bond announcements than during 2017–2019. During both periods, reactions were negative, however. Green bonds issued by financial companies resulted in statistically significant negative stock price reaction, while there were no statistically significant reactions to green bonds issued in other industries. Green bonds with poor credit ratings resulted in steeper negative price reactions than investment-grade green bonds, which was also statistically more significant. The results are surprising, since environmentally sustainable business has been connected to improved financial success in previous studies, and green bond issuance can be understood to signal commitment to environmentally sustainable performance. Based on the current study it is reasonable to conduct further studies on green bonds.

The economy of Laos has been growing fast in recent decades, causing profound changes in rural livelihoods, traditional agriculture and the environment. The governments’ land use policies aiming to restrict shifting cultivation are shifting the subsistence farming towards more market-oriented agriculture production. In addition, increased job opportunities, improved infrastructure and increased land pressures are affecting smallholder farmers’ livelihood strategies. Despite the rapid economic growth, income disparities remain high in Laos, with high rates of poverty especially in rural areas remaining common. The rural households are often highly dependent on agriculture and forest resources for the income and food security. Therefore, it is important to study how the rapid economic transition and changes in agriculture affect their livelihood strategies. The four research questions addressed in this study were 1) What are the main changes in households’ livelihoods ( ‒ the strategies households create and follow to improve their livelihoods) and land use at village-level over the past 10 years? 2) How the forests/forest cover have changed in the village over the past ten years and what have been the main drivers for the changes? 3) How the smallholders’ access to and availability of forest resources have changed over the past ten years? 4) What kind of shocks the households have experienced in the past 12 months and what have been their coping strategies to overcome the shocks? Primary data was collected using three different methods. Altogether 90 randomly selected households were interviewed in the three rural villages in Nambak district in Luang Prabang province. In addition, two separate focus group discussions with different gender and one key informant interview were conducted in each of the study village. Household surveys data was collected on households’ demographics, main income sources and changes in capital assets and cropping. In focus group discussion data was collected on most important environmental resources, forests and landscape changes. In key informant interview data was collected on main characteristic of village infrastructure, history, forest cover and land use. The study showed that the households have introduced many valuable cash crops and trees to their farms in the last 10 years. Improved access to markets and high demand for crops, (such as cardamom, galangal, broom grass and rubber) from neighboring countries has changed crop production, livelihood strategies and livelihood outcomes in study villages. The shift from subsistence agriculture to more cultivation of cash crops and more labour opportunities in large-scale cash crop plantations has increased household income. In addition, cash crop cultivation requires less labour input than replaced upland rice production. Livelihood shocks experienced by households were mostly crop failures due to drought, livestock losses due to diseases and severe illnesses of household members. It was found that households mainly coped with shocks by using cash savings, indicating that shocks were either relatively minor, or increased incomes allow them to overcome shocks without having to sell assets or other actions. In terms of changes in availability of forest resources, some of the non-timber forest products are reportedly over-harvested in the villages and there are less trees now than 10 years ago, especially in production forests, since local people have been cutting them for domestic use. In addition, forest cover has decreased, since forests have been cleared for rubber plantations and farmland. The changes in crop production and intensification of land use has improved the households’ overall income-level. Over 80% of the respondents thought their incomes have increased over the past 10 years. However, the cash crops price fluctuations and potential decline of sale prices can have negative impacts to the smallholders’ livelihoods and food security. The households’ resilience to cope with livelihood shocks is often dependent on the capital assets they possess. The relatively poor households are generally more vulnerable to livelihood shocks; therefore, having sustainable and diverse livelihood strategies is important in rural villages. In addition, the increasing land pressures from agricultural intensification and population growth, overuse of NTFPs, and large-scale cash crop plantations can lead to deforestation and forest degradation in the village areas.

The importance of corporate responsibility (CR) has increased, and it has become significant for all industries and companies. The Finnish sawmill industry has acknowledged the issue of environmental impact and responsibility for many decades. As the general awareness of CR has increased on the global level, the management and understanding of CR have developed as well in the sawmill industry. The focus of this thesis was to reveal the medium size sawmills’ managers attitudes to CR, and how the CR goals have been realized in the sawmills, and how the UN’s Sustainable development goals (SDGs) are represented in the sawmills’ CR strategies and realizations. The second target was to exam the development of CR in sawmill industry in the last ten years. The thesis is a qualitative research. The empirical data was collected by interviewing the managers of medium-sized sawmills in Finland between January and March 2020. The interviewing method based on semi-structured theme interview and the data analysis combined the qualitative and the thematic analyse methods. Based on the results, the interviewed managers perceive CR generally positive, and they see CR as a positive push-effect on the companies’ research and development processes. The managers found out that the most efficient way for medium size sawmills to execute CR is by integrating CR into the company’s strategy and daily operating processes. According to the sawmill managers, CR and business should be seen as a whole, and CR should be seen in every business sector of the company. The focus of sawmills’ CR actions is based on environmental and social responsibility. The economic responsibility was hard to define by the sawmill managers. The executed CR actions on sawmills are compatible with SDGs. Based on the findings, the most important SDGs in sawmills industry are Good health and well-being, Decent work and economic growth, Responsible consumption and production, Climate action, as well as, Life on land. The most significant change has happened in the shareholders’ awareness of CR. Furthermore, climate change and the loss of biodiversity have become more visible in general discussions and in companies’ CR actions. However, there is lack of CR marketing resources in Finnish medium size sawmills, which could be solved by cooperating with other companies and the Finnish sawmill federation. After the comparison of the findings to the previous literature, it could be concluded that Finnish sawmill industry is still on the reactive CR level with their CR, even if their attitudes have turned slightly more towards proactive CR level during the last decade.