Browsing by discipline "Skogsekonomi och marknadsföring"
Now showing items 1-20 of 94
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(2019)The purpose of this master’s thesis is to evaluate the reliability of forest products forecast information produced by United Nations Economic Commission for Europe member States. The study also aims to answer which dimensions of data quality are the most important when producing these predictions This study is carried out as quantitative research and it focuses on the predictions made by the 27 member States, produced between 2002 and 2017. This research aims to find out what methods are used by different member States and which methods produce the most reliable results. This research also aims to find out if there are any differences in reliability when assessing different product flows (removals, production, exports or imports) of the various products analyzed. There were clear differences visible between different products in the results of this research. In some products, almost all member States had managed to produce reliable predictions, while for others majority of member States didn’t manage that. There were also differences between member States and some were clearly more reliable than others. The biggest factor affecting reliability was volume: for most parts, bigger volumes meant more reliable predictions. Production and removals were more reliable product flow than imports or exports. This is due to the nature of imports and exports, as they are more easily affected by outside impacts. Although all member States were able to be sorted into four groups based on how different product flows looked like, no clear patterns were visible when observing how different member States produce predictions. Almost all of the interviewed representatives of member States reported that they were using almost or exactly the same methods to produce predictions.
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(2016)India is a fast growing economy with a high rate of gross domestic product that has improved the local spending power and has turned the country into a potential player in the global economy. In terms of wood products, India has been a net importer and currently is one the largest consumers of hardwood sawnwood in the world. The demand for sawnwood is rapidly growing in India and due to this situation, the country is a potential destination for Finnish and foreign exporters able to reach this market. The research attempted to increase the understanding of the importance of the demand for sawnwood in India. Thus, the purposes of this study are to: 1) provide a general description about the market environment of sawnwood in India and its situation at global level; 2) model and estimate potential factors impacting the demand level for Indian imports of sawnwood; 3) draw general conclusions about key opportunities and challenges for Finnish and major foreign exporters of sawnwood in the Indian market. Despite there is valuable information published about India’s wood market, empirical research on the Indian sawnwood market is scarce and unreliable. Hence, based on descriptive and explanatory methods, this study gathered secondary data from official and international sources for background and statistical information. The purpose was to analyze the sawnwood market through empirical modelling. Thus, econometric time-series modeling, for the period of 1992-2013, was used to explain the demand for imports of sawnwood in the Indian market by testing the conventional demand model, for income and price variables, and ad hoc models, for several explanatory variables. In addition, Engle and Granger, MacKinnon and Johansen methods were used to test cointegration among variables. The results suggest that the demand for imports of sawnwood is positively related to consumer income and negatively to prices. In addition, it depends on other factors such as population density, unemployment and economic openness. However, based on the elasticity estimates, the Indian sawnwood demand seems to be income and price elastic. The knowledge obtained in this study provides a valuable tool for foreign wood-based industries searching for market prospects to export their products as well as for public authorities involved in formulating forest and economic policies. However, further modelling is left for future research in this area.
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(2019)This study aimed at discovering whether using a Virtual Reality (VR) educational platform can result in better learning outcomes compared to a more traditional form of instructional technology, video. In addition, this study aimed at providing information of VR’s ability to transmit credibility, and especially to transmit trustworthiness, competence, and sense of goodwill. Several studies regarding the use of VR and more traditional technologies in education provided the theoretical foundation for this thesis. Additionally, credibility and affordance related theories were involved in the theoretical background. This experimental study was executed as a quantitative study that employed randomized, controlled crossover experiments within test subjects. Three forestry related contents (1) Harvester head, (2) Tree cell, and (3) Laser scanning point clouds, were exposed to test subjects and questionnaires were used to gather information of the experiment and to measure i.a. credibility, affordances and other variables. Pre- and post-test were used to measure learning. The data consisted of N=100 test subjects of which 49 experienced video treatment and 51 experienced VR treatment. Learning results were not better in VR treatments. Conversely, learning results were significantly better in video treatments. There was a significant difference in learning results between the Harvester head content and the other two contents. In Harvester head content test subjects gained significantly better learning results in VR and video conditions. Credibility of the experts was perceived equally high in both VR and video treatments. However, Competence and Goodwill were perceived higher in VR treatments. The expert in the Harvester head content was perceived least competent in both treatments. Finally, the results indicated the chosen affordances (Opportunities, Multi-sensory, Three-dimensionality, and Commitment and Motivation) were significantly more suitable to VR treatments than video. In the light of the obtained results, adapting a VR technology to educational or training purposes should be done with a careful consideration. VR enables visualization in an immersive way that increases motivation and engagement towards the content taught. However, compelling visuals nor the novel media alone do not necessarily result in better learning results. Focusing on presenting specific contents and tasks in VR will enhance its use for educational and training purposes. In the future studies, attention should be paid to avatar credibility and VR’s ability to transmit sense of Competence and Good-will better than traditional media. Additionally, based on the results of this study, the interactive functions of VR ought to be emphasized when focusing on promoting learning.
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(2020)Suomessa metsätilojen pirstoutuminen on jatkuvaa ja sen seurauksena pienten metsäkiinteistöjen lu-kumäärä kasvaa. Ajan kanssa ja isossa kuvassa tällainen kehitys saattaa johtaa puunkorjuun mahdolli-suuksien heikkenemiseen ja sen tehokkuuden huononemiseen. Tutkimuksen tavoitteena on selvittää pienten metsäkiinteistön omistajien arvosuuntautuneisuuden vaikutuksia omistuksesta koettuun hyö-tyyn. Omistuksesta koettu hyöty perustuu ekosysteemipalveluluokituksen mukaan tuotanto-, säätely-, kulttuuri- ja ylläpitopalveluihin. Tutkimuksessa arvosuuntautuneisuutta mitattiin Schwartzin kehittämän arvoteorian pohjalta laaditun mittariston avulla, jonka pohjalta vastaajat ryhmiteltiin eri arvosuuntautuneisuusluokkiin. Koettua hyö-tyä mitattiin rahamääräisesti luopumishalukkuudella kiinteistöstä, käyttäen ehdollisen arvottamisen menetelmää. Kohderyhmänä oli pääkaupunkiseudulla asuvat sähköpostiosoitteen omaavat alle 20 heh-taarin metsäkiinteistön omistajat. Tutkimus toteutettiin kvantitatiivisena tutkimuksena ja tulokset ana-lysoitiin tilastollisen menetelmin SPSS-ohjelmaa hyödyntäen. Tutkimuksen perusteella vastaajat (n=268) jakaantuivat eri arvosuuntautuneisuusluokkiin seuraavasti: Individualistit (25,6%), Idealistit (29,3%), Traditionalistit (25,6%) ja Opportunistit (19,5%). Vastaajien arvosuuntautuneisuus ei juurikaan vaikuttanut omistuksesta koettuun kokonaishyötyyn. Eroa syntyi eri ekosysteemipalveluluokkien välillä. Idealistit arvostivat muista poiketen säätely- ja ylläpitopalveluita enemmän. Individualistit poikkesivat muista arvostaen tuotantopalveluita muita enemmän. Muutoin arvosuuntautuneisuusluokkien profiilit olivat melko yhdenmukaiset. Hinnanlisällä mitattiin luopumis-halukkuutta, joka tarvittaisiin kompensoimaan omistajan kokema omistuksen arvon menetys markki-nahintaan verrattuna. Luopumishalukkuudessa Individualistien ja Idealistien välillä oli noin 15 pro-senttiyksikön välinen ero hinnanlisissä. Traditionalistien ja Opportunistein välillä hinnanlisissä ero oli reilut 2 prosenttiyksikköä ja ne sijaitsivat hinnanlisissä noin puolivälissä Individualisteja ja Idealisteja. Vaikka tutkimuksessa eroja löytyi, niin niiden tilastollinen merkitsevyys jäi verrattain alhaiseksi. Se saattaa johtua tutkittavan aineiston vähyydestä. Tutkimuksen ansiot ovat enemmänkin kohdeilmiöön liittyvässä lähestymistavassa, jossa koettua hyötyä ja luopumishalukkuutta pyrittiin selittämään ar-vosuuntautuneisuuden avulla. Tämän takia tutkimus toimii parhaiten esitutkimuksen laajemmalle val-takunnalliselle selvitykselle, jonka tuloksia voitaisiin hyödyntää yhteiskunnallisessa päätöksenteossa ja vaikutusarvioinneissa.
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(2016)Nowadays, the companies all over the world have increased the importance of customer measurement. However, in most cases, the measuring methods are only concentrating on the customer satisfaction. Furthermore, those companies are also developing services and products, in hopes of improving the satisfaction of their customers. Although these developments are aiming a customer orientated business, it is difficult to make profit if expanded the services and products are not projecting the final price and the customer profitability. The constant adaption of the needs of every customer leads to very inefficient result and a low productivity which won’t generate in the best possible outcome. This thesis is concentrating on the first part of the managing customer profitability, measuring how much each customer segment is using resources from the company. That is put into perspective on how much each customer segment is profitable. When both incomes and costs can be targeted to each customer group, the customer profitability can be measured. Furthermore, the customer satisfaction is compared to how much one has used resources from the company. When the company has knowledge on how to satisfy their customers, it can develop this satisfaction and additional operations can be terminated. This will improve the efficiency and productivity, leading to a better profitability. This is a public version of the final work where all confidential information concerning actual business figures has been removed.
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(2019)The aim of this study is to assess future export markets for the Finnish industrial wood construction sector. This is done by analysing secondary materials, previous studies and creating a future vision of Finnish industrial wood construction sector and particularly its exports by the year 2030. This analysis is based on qualitative individual expert interviews and a backcasting analysis using expert panel data. In addition, the study compares the current status of the forest industry exports and future assessments between Finland, Sweden and Estonia by analysing secondary materials, previous studies and expert views. The study was implemented using two different qualitative data sets. Semi-structured thematic expert interviews were collected from Finland, Sweden and Estonia. Expert interviews were used to get an in-depth understanding of the current status of the domestic industrial wood construction sector and the related export opportunities in Finland, Sweden and Estonia. A panel made up of Finnish experts were invited to create an ideal vision of the industrial wood construction sector in Finland and its exports for the year 2030. The panel gathered at a workshop, where their visions were created. In addition, pre- and post-event-questionnaires were part of the expert panel data collection, and this data was used to identify the most promising export countries/regions and the entities of exports in the industrial wood construction sector (e.g., whether to export materials, modules or construction projects). The results emphasised that concrete collaborative actions are needed as soon as possible in knowledge sharing and the industrial wood construction marketing. Based on the International market selection model (IMS), which is employed in this study and combining all the information from the workshop, interviews, literature and questionnaires have proven that the most promising future markets would be Central Europe, the UK and the Nordics by 2030. Otherwise the Finnish expert views of most promising export entities by 2030 varies between products, know-how and projects. During the research process it was realised that future markets need to take a closer look especially from the companies’ perspective. Finnish experts have varying views of the industrial wood construction export in their ideal vision for 2030. The study proved that the experts’ views were divided. Many of them desired that Finland should export more know-how and projects in 2030. Others believed that Finland should concentrate on the export of value-added materials. However, all the experts agreed that Finland should activate the local market and harmonize the regulations, which has had a positive influence on competence and know-how. In the ideal vision for 2030 Finland has improved its networks and co-operation inside the forest industry but also together with other fields. Finland has an open digital platform for knowledge sharing and the standards and regulations are more advanced. The wood construction industry is ideally in 2030 more attractive for students and experts than now, domestic market is wider and Finland has gained more experience and knowledge in the field of industrial wood construction. Finnish experts saw that the future exports markets for industrial wood construction are China, the Nordics, Germany, Russia and Central Europe. China was seen as an attractive market due to the size of the market, rising environmental awareness, wealthier middle class and increasing urbanization. However, China and other emerging countries have to be treated with caution, because they were not highlighted in the Estonian, Swedish or literature-based data analysis. Secondly, the Nordics construction culture is similar, location is nearby and the use of wood is increasing. Also, the harmonization of standards with Nordics came up in the expert data. Overall, the practise of industrial wood construction and environmental awareness are increasing in Europe, especially the countries where there are traditions in wood construction like countries in Central Europe. Swedish experts saw market potential and competitiveness in Central Europe and Eastern Europe, but the data from Sweden is limited to researchers’ opinions. The Estonian experts saw market potential in the UK, Germany and Ireland by 2030. However, the future markets for industrial wood construction needs a closer look as well as export entities, which divided the expert’s views.
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(2016)The purpose of this study is to understand how to utilize forests as a climate change mitigation method. This thesis introduces practical forest management methods that increase the carbon sink of forests in Finland. The perspective of this thesis is market-based and voluntary-based. The research method of this thesis was to simulate two forest estates from different regions of Finland. The forest estate data consisted of two forests, one of which is located in Eastern Finland and the other in Western Finland. Both forests are pine dominated, although the one in Western Finland contains quite a lot of spruce as well. The forest in Eastern Finland is sub-xeric and the one in Western Finland is mesic. The changes in increment, harvesting, growing stock, carbon sink and the cost of carbon sink were analyzed comparing different scenarios. The best practice guidelines by Tapio were used as a baseline and two carbon cases were created for both forest estates. The changes in forest management included altering the rotation and the amount, timing and volume of thinnings. For example fertilization and planting density were not included in creating the two carbon scenarios. The result is that it is possible to increase the carbon sink in forests. The yield from total harvesting over the analysis period of 80 years increased compared to the baseline, however the changes in assortment distribution were considerable. The rotations were shorter, which decreased the harvesting yield of logs and increased the harvesting yield of pulpwood. It takes decades for the benefits of forest carbon management to start to show, which is a long time period to commit to. The results depend on the state of the forest, i.e. the development and age class distribution. As this thesis compares different cases, no generalized practice guidelines can be derived based on the results of this study. How the results change in different forests should be examined. The cost of the forest carbon management depends on the payment method, but in these forest estates it was possible to keep the cost reasonable: under 50 euros. The main conclusion of this thesis is that CO2 sequestration can be increased cost-efficiently in Finland. The benefits begin to show after decades, which is a long time to commit to. Some market mechanisms to increase CO2 sequestration in forests have emerged at a global level, but so far in the Nordics only some private companies have taken voluntary action to mitigate climate change.
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(2016)This qualitative study focuses on the future of wooden multi-storey construction through the use of the Delphi Method. The study uses a dissensus approach, with two rounds, and gives explorative results of the subject. The aim of the study is to find crucial factors, which the industry experts see as shaping the value chain of WMC in the future. The study proposes, that the main factors that are crucial in the shaping of the future value chain of WMC are related to knowledge transfer, technological aspects and co-operative ways of creating value. The study also suggests that at least in the WMC part of the forest industries, there is a shift in strategic orientation taking place towards the so called Service Dominant Logic. The study also finds that though seen as desirable development for WMC, the growth of importance of sustainability is not seen as a likely future view. This study suggests that further research should be directed at uncovering ways in which potential benefits can be grasped as well as to finding new ways to facilitate co-operation in the value chain.
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(2020)The use of plastics has remarkably increased during the last 50 years. Due to its multi-use possibilities, durability and low cost the use of plastics is expected to double within the next twenty years. Despite the many benefits of plastics, the negative impacts to the environment, such as marine plastic, have raised the public attention and accelerated the demand for legislative action. To respond to these challenges, the European Commission (EC) engaged in developing a set of policies, such as the action plan for circular economy in 2015 which aimed to reduce the use of plastics and to enhance the recycling and reusing of plastics already in circulation. In 2018 the EC introduced a set of revised directives regarding the extended producer responsibility (EPR). I wanted to understand how this revised EPR scheme would be implemented into national legislation, and how it would be confronted by organisations such as ones dealing with wood products. Additionally, I also mapped the potential managerial implications for stakeholders resulting from the implementation of the scheme. I operationalised Primmer's (2011) framework of institutional adaptation which builds on two complementary strands of literature; policy implementation and organisational adaptation. The two focal research questions that derived from the framework were: How did the involved actors recognise and perceive the challenges in 1) implementing and 2) adapting to the extension to the existing EPR scheme in the use of plastic packaging of wood products? The data were collected by conducting seven semi-structured interviews with representatives of stakeholder organisations. The insights were explored and reported from these data via the means of qualitative content analysis. Considering the complexity of policy and the diversity of organisations across Finland – and the European Union, legislators are in a rush to implement the new requirements of the directives into the national legislation. Based on my studies the involved actors recognised the various challenges in the implementation and adaptation processes. There were also expectations that the policy will drive learning and innovation among organisations. Currently, legislation is the major driving factor in the development of plastic recycling and EPR schemes can be a robust legislative tool in attaining the targets, when developed and maintained accordingly.
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(2019)Abstract Strategic development in the forest sector has been slow and not until the 21st century stake-holder focus came as a part of the strategic development. New innovations are now having important role while renewing forest sector into bioeconomy. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)has traditionally been as a target for development in forest sector because of the high usage of natural resources, but from the 1990s it has gained more attention inspired by the global megatrends and now CSR can be seen as the base of the consept of bioeconomy. The study explored the citizen’s perception towards forest sector innovation efforts from the year 2000 and within the next 20 years. The results were drawn from an analysis of two data sets. Data one consisted of multivariate survey data based on 218 valid responses where current state of forest industry innovative-ness was disclosed by using 13 bioeconomy products and services. Data two consisted of qualitative managerial interviews where forest industry professionals’ opinions of forest in-dustry contributions to sustainable innovations through the lens of three-dimensional innova-tion model/pyramid. Additionally, the aim was to get some reflections from survey results. Concluding the results of this study, the public opinion of forest sector innovations seemed to focus on constructions related innovation efforts and biofuels. In addition, results showed that perceptions of material substitution with wood and reducing environmental impacts of industry were improved since year 2000. The image of future innovation targets of forest sector was quite wide and most heavily it was pointed towards wood building systems, con-struction materials, brand development and material substitution with wood. Statistically sig-nificant differences found between the “past” and “future” innovativeness inquire strengthen-ing of both industry R & D and functioning of innovation systems.
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(2018)The aim of the study was to investigate cornerstones of a communications strategy for a start-up specializing to wood-based packaging materials. These include packaging materials, which are produced in a sustainable way and decrease environmental load with their biodegradability. These cornerstones are basis for a globally profitable and competitive business. Literature review and qualitative interviews were used as a method. The circular economy business model enables a new way to operate and generate competitive advantage for a start-up. The plastics industry claims biodegradability of some forms; the communication challenge of the competitors is to prove these arguments false. Launching world-wide renewable wood-based packaging material to consumers and to packaging industry requires co-operation between all stakeholders. To be a true alternative to plastics, the product must be based on sustainability principles, recyclability and compostability. To avoid greenwashing, all communication must be based on reliable and verifiable information. The developed communications strategy addresses all the aforementioned challenges. The communications strategy focuses on younger generation consumers and rely on their ability to utilize social media in their communications. A circular economy start-up company must outperform plastics packaging manufacturers economically, environmentally and socially with sustainable packaging solutions. Nevertheless, based on this thesis, sustainability is a valid selling and communications argument. The interviews conducted by this thesis support this finding.
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(2018)Purpose of the study: The purpose of the study is to research the usage of different mixed reality devices in sales and marketing. The technology is improving fast and has now abled the mixed reality devices to be more accurate and precise. They can now deliver the expectations that they have not been able to do in the past. Growing number of companies are using this technology in their sales and marketing activities. There are numerous studies made on mixed reality devices but not in the area of sales and marketing. This study wants to find out how MR technologies work in sales and marketing and in different phases. Methods: The study consists of two parts. Study one investigates three groups: customers, companies that want to use MR technologies in sales and marketing and developers who design and create programs to these MR technologies. The groups answered series of marketing and sales related questions after using VR device called HTC VIVE. The first study compares three groups, companies, developers and customers. The second study seeks the differences between developers that an- swered questions related to MR, VR and AR. After these two studies there is a part to find out the goals of using these devices on sales and marketing. Results: The results in the study 1 showed that VR technology works in marketing when customers attention is wanted. In sales, closing a deal and making more profitable co-operation with customers, VR was preferred. The customers were more pessimistic towards VR than companies and developers. In the study two The MR technology was dividing companies and developers the most. VR was the most preferred in both marketing and sales activities. Still overall image of all the groups was positive towards these devices in sales and market- ing. Factor analysis test demonstrated that the goals of the usage of MR devices where loaded in three factors. 1. At the end of the sales and marketing funnel 2. Beginning of the sales and marketing funnel. 3. Branding. Overall the test revealed that MR technology had a positive image among all groups when used in sales and marketing. VR was preferred the most in every sales and marketing activity. AR and MR had differences among developers and companies. Companies preferred MR over AR and developers had an opposite opinion.
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(2016)The importance of the computer and information technology has increased significantly with the introduction of the Internet. The technologies should not be reduced to selling and purchasing functions but should also be used as research and business intelligence tool, as well as information source. This study compares the performances of the Finnish and German sawmilling & paper industry by evaluating their public communication. The forest sector has been traditionally important for the economy of both countries and they belong to the global players. In conjunction with the performance analysis, a neural network tool is compiled, optimized and tested. It combines a study related categorization application and the Kohonen’s self-organizing map (SOM). The objective of the automated categorization is to lower manual work and to evaluate text contents more accurately – by taking also the possible future use into account. The research includes two interlinked approaches: web page and performance analysis. The web page analysis compares the design and content of the forest industry companies’ Internet sites. In addition, it is used to select and define the relevant enterprises for the performance analysis. 14 Finnish and 10 German sawmills, as well as 5 Finnish and 12 German paper and paperboard producers fulfilled the research requirements (data collection 2013). The performance analysis is implemented by a content analysis and SOM Tool. The word count data of the content analysis is sorted with a customised classification frame based on the Global Reporting Initiative Guideline and evaluated with the SOM. The SOM algorithms reduce multidimensional, large and complex data to lower dimensional maps which visualizes the distribution of the companies’ performance categories. The results indicate that the business cultures of the selected companies are similar. A closer examination reveals that the clustering by sector is more emphasized that by country. The more detailed determination of the SOM divides the paper sector further by their origin. Most obvious are the differences between sawmill and Finnish paper industry. The sawmill sector highlights especially product, service and macro-environment related aspects. Small German sawmills emphasized further tradition and history The paper sector stressed social responsibility, corporate structure, external activities and environmental issues. Inside the paper sector, the Finnish companies point out corporate strategy, development, organizational profile categories and economical performances. The German paper sector highlights in particular environmental issues and public relation. The web page analysis and related studies evaluate the corresponding categories similarly to the present research and thus support the results of the SOM approach.
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(2013)China’s high-speed economic growth has accelerated consumers’ disposable income evidently. With the improvement of living standards, people have increasingly been concerned about their life quality, especially when buying consumables like food, toys and clothing as well as durable commodities like furniture for their children. In the past ten years, the Chinese children's furniture market has developed rapidly, making up 9% of total furniture market. However, no studies concerning the analysis of consumer behavior in this market segment exist so far. The objective of this study is to fill this gap by examining Chinese consumers’ perceptions of children’s furniture based on their socio-demographics, their attitudes towards product, supplier and environmental attributes. The empirical part of the study focused on analyzing quantitative data, which were collected by using a structured questionnaire in Shanghai and Shenzhen of China.The data were analyzed by a wide array of statistical analysis methods using SPSS software package. The final sample size was made up of 299 respondents. The data reveal that females accounted for 67% of the total respondents, with 63% of all respondents being in the range of 31-40 years old and 23% in the range of 20-30 years old. The results indicate that safety and environmental friendliness were the primary consideration for parents to purchase children’s furniture. And supplier quality was detected as the central dimension when respondents perceived different attributes of children’s furniture. In addition, 83% of the respondents chose solid wood as the primary raw material for children’s furniture, and 35% of them stated that they were willing to pay 6-10% more for environmentally friendly children's furniture. The choice of environmentally friendly products was closely connected with consumers’ lifestyle and majority of respondents expressed positive attitudes towards healthy and sustainable lifestyle. However, Chinese consumers showed low brand awareness in the children’s furniture market and their price expectations on solid wood furniture were below current market levels. Nevertheless, the Chinese children’s furniture presents a tremendous market potential not only for wooden furniture producers but also for both domestic and international wood raw material suppliers.
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(2020)Yritysvastuullisuus metsäsektorilla on noussut viime vuosina entistä tärkeämmäksi aiheeksi ilmastonmuutoksen ja viimeisimpänä hiilinielukeskustelun takia. Tämä tutkimus tuo lisää tietoa siitä, kuinka metsäyritysten vastuullisuusraportointi on muuttunut ja kuinka YK:n vuonna 2015 lanseeraamat kestävän kehitykset tavoitteet ovat vaikuttaneet metsäyritysten raportointiin. Tutkimuksen tavoitteena on sisällönanalyysiä hyödyntäen selvittää, kuinka suomalaiset metsäyritykset UPM, Stora Enso ja Metsä Group käsittelevät vastuullisuutta raportoinnissaan ja miten se on muuttunut tarkasteluaikavälillä vuosina 2009 – 2018. Lisäksi tutkitaan sitä, kuinka YK:n kestävän kehityksen tavoitteet näkyvät yritysten raportoinnissa ja kuinka yritykset suhtautuvat tavoitteisiin. Tutkimus toteutettiin laadullisena tutkimuksena. Aineisto kerättiin yritysten vuosi- ja vastuullisuusraporteista ja niitä täydennettiin yritysten asiantuntijahaastatteluilla. Analyysin perusteella vastuullisuusraportoinnissa käytetyt peruslähtökohdat pysyivät tarkasteluajanjaksolla samoina, mutta uudemmissa raporteissa oli nähtävillä, että lähtökohdat oli sidottu globaaleihin näkökulmiin paikallisen sidonnaisuuden sijaan. Lisäksi raportoinnissa korostui sidosryhmien merkitys. Yritykset kokivat kestävän kehityksen tavoitteet merkityksellisiksi, mutta ei täysin ongelmattomiksi. Merkittävimmät motiivit liittää kestävän kehityksen tavoitteet raportointiin liittyvät sidosryhmiin sekä mahdollisuuksiin hyödyntää kestävän kehityksen tavoitteita yrityksen vastuullisuusviestinnässä.
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Digitalization in Action : ERP Implementation in Financial Management : Case Leppävaaran Laskenta Oy (2019)Accounting firms need to stay along in the development of financial management digitali-zation. An important part of that is to implement new systems and develop a high-level expertise in them, creating a major competitive advantage. That way the growing demands of modern customers can be fulfilled. One part of the development is ERP expertise and implementations as new service products. The purpose of this research is to find out how those service products could be built to be as functioning as possible for different types of customers of an accounting firm and what are the main challenges to be considered. The research was conducted as a case study in a Finnish accounting office. The case was their own implementation project. Challenges occurred in the project were used to build up a suggestion on how to avoid the same ones in future projects. Based on the results of the research it can be said that the main challenges in an ERP im-plementation, for a company operating in Finland, relate to automation and especially monetary transactions and usage of reference numbers and their automatic allocations, foreign consultant’s understanding of the Finnish business environment, understanding the importance of testing and resourcing, process and system reengineering, change manage-ment, motivation and commitment of the employees and management as well as staying in budget and schedule.
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(2018)Biological diversity has been decreasing since industrial revolution, and the loss of biodiversity has become a com-mon topic in different groups from environmental organizations to consumers worldwide. Different goals for biodiver-sity conservation have been set both at the global and domestic level, but the continuous postponement of the tar-gets indicates that the government institutions establishing rules for protecting biodiversity are no longer sufficient, and new methods must be developed. One way how biodiversity can be protected is different ecological compensa-tion mechanisms. Ecological compensation is a process where project developers compensate for conservation efforts by creating ecologically equivalent profits or credits elsewhere. Globally, different ecological compensation mechanisms have been used for a long time as a part of nature conser-vation activities. In many countries, these activities are often based on legislation and regulations, such as in the US, Australia, and Germany. Additionally, every EU member state belongs to Natura 2000 network, where various com-pensation regulations have been implemented by the EU’s Habitat Directive. Voluntary-based compensation activi-ties on the other hand are newer way to protect nature and this study focuses on the use of these voluntary activities in Finland. One target group of potential users of ecological compensation mechanisms in Finland are companies that weaken or use different natural resources in their operations. Each company undertakes environmental responsibility in different ways, but ecological compensation as a way to conserve nature could be a powerful tool for companies to show their environmental responsibility. The aim of this study is to determine companies' perspectives on voluntary ecological compensation and analyze critical factors that affect companies’ willingness to participate in voluntary compensation projects in Finland. Three main objectives of this research include: 1) identifying the attractiveness of voluntary ecological compensation from private companies’ perspective 2) defining the most attractive compensation mechanisms and structures from the companies’ point of view and 3) further analysis of the risks and opportunities affect target companies that partici-pate in voluntary compensation projects. This study was conducted by using a qualitative research method. Re-search material was collected in the meetings with companies by using the participant observation mechanism. Study results highlighted, that the attractiveness of ecological compensation is based on multiple different factors that companies consider as important and which should be included in the compensation project. These factors are such as specific location of compensation area and certain ecosystem services in the compensation area. Most importantly, compensation must be related to companies’ operations at some level. Businesses do not get involved if the projects are not targeted to them, and especially if those are not approved by the relevant stakeholders.
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(2017)This study aimed at conducting a baseline for optimal harvesting schedules with economic criteria for Scots pine, Norway spruce and silver birch in Estonia. Additionally, this study aimed at providing comparison to previous findings about optimal schedules in boreal forests and recommendation for practitioners. Faustmann’s (1849) forest rotation theory provides the theoretical foundation for the thesis. The study was performed by including Estonian whole-stand forest growth models and local timber prices and forest regeneration costs in the optimization, which was based on the Hooke and Jeeves’ (1961) direct optimization method. Scots pine was found to be the optimal species in most site classes, silver birch being the optimum in the most fertile site. The schedules for silver birch were found to be less sensitive to changes in the rate of interest, site fertility and timber price than the conifers. The current legal restrictions lead to longer rotations, more thinnings and economic losses when compared to the unrestricted optimal scenarios. The optimal number of thinnings in most scenarios for all species turned out to be three, if the legal restrictions are followed. In general, the optimal rotation periods were found to be shorter and the timing of the first thinning earlier in many scenarios than in Finland. Also the optimal number of thinnings was found to be more stable in Estonia than in Finland. It was found that if the initial stand stocking for the main tree species falls below a certain threshold in mid-rotation mixed-species stands including less valuable broadleaves, it is optimal to clear fell the stand immediately and regenerate the stand according to the optimal stocking recommendations. From the practical point of view, given the current limitations regarding the timing of clear fell, forestry practitioners have the most value creation potential in improving the forest regeneration methods and thinning schedule. In comparison to Finnish studies, it was found that there exists many similarities regarding the schedules and the suitability of species for different forest sites between the findings of this study and previous Finnish studies and the Finnish silvicultural recommendations. Thus, the extensive Finnish recommendations and findings provide a good basis for practitioners also in Estonia. However, given also the found differences, harvesting schedules in Estonia should be developed in more detail for more sophisticated recommendations for local practices.
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(2017)This study optimizes the management regime of boreal Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) and Scots pine (Pinus sylvestric L.) stands. The aim is to compare the economic profitability of continuous cover management and clearcut management and to study the hypothesis that continuous cover forestry is more favorable in the case of Norway spruce, compared to Scots pine. Additionally, the study analyses the outcomes of two different growth models for these tree species and compares the results with the requirements of the Finnish Forest Act of 2014. Earlier studies comparing the suitability of Norway spruce and Scots pine to continuous cover forestry have applied unclear model specifications and unnecessary limitations in the optimization methods. In this study, the optimization is carried out using a theoretically sound economic optimization model that determines the choice of the management regime as an outcome of the optimization. The model uses empirically estimated ecological growth models and includes both fixed and variable harvesting costs. Two different empirically estimated ecological growth models are used and compared. The optimization model is solved as a bi-level problem where harvest timing is the upper-level problem and harvesting intensity the lower-level problem. The optimization is solved using gradient-based methods for the lower-level problems and genetic and hill-climbing algorithms for the upper-level problems. This is the first study using this method to solve optimal continuous cover solutions for Scots pine. The results show that the main differences in optimal solutions between the two species are independent of the ecological two growth models used. According to both ecological models, continuous cover forestry is less favorable for Scots pine compared to Norway spruce, in both low and average fertility sites. However, the magnitude of this favorability and the characteristics of the optimal solutions strongly depend on the ecological model. Optimal continuous cover solutions for Scots pine are also found to have very low stand densities. Almost all economically optimal solutions are illegal because of their low number of trees or basal area per hectare.
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(2017)Wetlands are one of the most diverse ecosystems in the world. They provide numerous different ecosystem services and their importance has been acknowledged internationally. However, the number and extent of wetlands has continued decreasing globally and the increasing population poses threats on more and more wetlands. The Life+ Urban Oases project (fin. Keidas-hanke), that has made this Masters Thesis possible, has pursued to bring wetlands into urban areas, where the ecosystem services, such as flood control, which they provide can be utilized to compensate for challenges brought about by changes in land use. Urban wetlands provide local population recreational and relaxing green oases. Urban wetlands also provide natural system stormwater management mitigating water quality and habitats. It is predicted that climate change will increase severity of weather extremes. Especially the probability of heavy rainstorms is expected to increase in Finland which will emphasize better stormwater management. The value of ecosystem services provided by stormwater wetlands has not been previously measured in Finland. Furthermore, beliefs of people on constructed or created wetlands in general has been studied very little. This study had two objectives: 1) To evaluate the value of the ecosystem services of constructed urban and agricultural wetlands within the Municipality of Vihti. This was carried out within the Lake Enäjärvi watershed. 2) To study what are the attitudes, perceptions and beliefs of the Vihti residents towards constructed wetlands. The study was conducted with the help of a questionnaire which was sent to 1000 Vihti residents. The valuation was conducted with the choice experiment method. There were four different attributes in total: 1. recreational possibilities, 2. number of plant and animal species, 3. the state of the Lake Enäjärvi and 4. informing. The used payment vehicle was annual stormwater fee for a household. Questionnaires of this study where sent in three different phases during the summer 2016. The survey received 277 responses during the five-week time it was open. The response rate of the survey was 27,7%. Responses were gathered by mail and on a web-based survey. Valuation results of this study were analyzed with the Multinomial Logit-model. All together two different models were made. The first one had only the valuated attributes in it whereas the second model also included different background information. For the valuation we could draw a conclusion that the respondents where willing to pay fairly big amounts for certain attributes. They were the most willing to pay for the improvement in the state of Lake Enäjärvi. The second most valuated attribute was the recreational possibilities followed by informing and the increase in the amount of plant and animal species. Of the valuated attributes, all of them, exept informing, were statistically significant at all times in the level of 1–5%. Background information had an impact on the willingness to pay to some extent. For example a person who had previously visited a constructed wetland was more eager than an average respondent to pay for developing constructed wetlands. The WTP also increased if the respondeds household had higher income and he/she was planning to live more than five years in Vihti. WTP decreased if the respondent was male and he/she lived in a detached house. Results from the questions measuring respondents’ attitudes, perceptions and beliefs reveals that most of the respondents’ attitudes towards constructed wetlands are positive and they believe that constructed wetlands create benefits to the surrounding areas. The most beneficial aspect which urban wetlands were felt to provide was the benefit of views of an augmented landscape. 72% of the respondents indicated willingness to participate in water environment conservation activities during the next five years. Finally, most of the respondents felt that the results of the Urban Oases project and it presence in Vihti were positive.
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