Flexibility in Investments: Exploratory Survey on How Finnish Companies Deal with Flexibility in Capital Budgeting

Flexibility is an important issue when investments are being planned and valued. How flexibility inherent in investments is utilised and exploited is, therefore, of great importance to the accuracy of the plans and the valuation. This paper describes an exploratory survey, done with leading Finnish companies, exploring the use of Real Option Valuation (ROV), and the methods that Finnish corporations use to take flexibility into consideration, when planning and valuing investments. We found that real options exist in Finnish investments, but there are very few companies that have an established methodology of identifying, categorizing, or valuing them. We also found that Finnish managers have mixed views about the value of flexibility in investments. Very few Finnish managers seem to be aware of research done in the field, but most seem to have an intuitive understanding of how different variables affect the value of flexibility in an investment.flexibility; real options; capital budgeting

Exploring origin of food as a source of meanings for Finnish consumers: A qualitative comparison of meanings in Swedish, German and French food

The findings show that Finnish consumers attach partly overlapping partly distinct cognitive, affective, and normative meanings to Swedish, German, and French food. Swedish and French foods are perceived healthier than German food. Finnish consumers also think that Swedish and French food is of high quality, safe and pure while in the case of German food consumers were more doubtful

Organizational Culture: Case of the Finnish Construction Industry

Academic literature has long recognized the correlation between a company’s organizational culture and its quality performance. The Finnish construction industry is still a highly human powered industry, and thus, organizational culture is seen to have a significant effect on an organization’s efficiency as well. The aim of this study is to examine and determine organizational cultural profiles of organizations in the Finnish construction industry as they are currently perceived and preferred by professionals themselves. In all, 121 professionals working in organizations in the Finnish construction industry were surveyed using the Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI). The reliability of characteristics was tested by calculating Cronbach alpha reliability coefficients, and the found differences between the response characteristics were analysed in-depth with paired and independent t-test analyses. The findings show that, on average, construction industry organizations in Finland currently operate with a mixture of clan and hierarchy cultures. Thus, the current organizational culture stresses the point of view of internal focus and integration. However, the organizations desired to emphasize more flexibility and discretion toward individuals. The novelty value of this paper is presenting existing and preferred culture profiles in the Finnish construction industry. These found profiles have the potential to improve management of organizations, which results in better efficiency of the industry through better performance of organizations in the construction industry

Horizontal Price Transmission of the Finnish Meat Sector with Major EU Players

The integration of the Finnish meat market in the EU has important implications for domestic agricultural policy. Our aim is to estimate the characteristics of the Finnish pork and beef markets in relation to those of Germany and Denmark. Our analysis uses symmetric and asymmetric threshold error correction models. Both pork and beef prices in Finland are found to have slowly cointegrated with German prices, but the cointegration relationship of the two counties is only found to be symmetric for pork prices, while it is asymmetric for beef prices. The producer price for pork in Finland is symmetrically cointegrated with the Danish price, but the Finnish and Danish beef prices show a random walk. This implies that the price transmission to the Finnish pork producer market from the EU market is smoother and more efficient than for the beef market. However, the speed of transmission is still slow compared to that between the Danish and German markets.cointegration, asymmetric, error correction, thresholds, pork and beef prices, Demand and Price Analysis, Livestock Production/Industries,

Horizontal price transmission of the Finnish meat sector with major EU players

The integration of the Finnish meat market in the EU has important implications for domestic agricultural policy. Our aim is to estimate the characteristics of the Finnish pork and beef markets in relation to those of Germany and Denmark. Our analysis uses symmetric and asymmetric threshold error correction models. Both pork and beef prices in Finland are found to have slowly cointegrated with German prices, but the cointegration relationship of the two counties is only found to be symmetric for pork prices, while it is asymmetric for beef prices. The producer price for pork in Finland is symmetrically cointegrated with the Danish price, but the Finnish and Danish beef prices show a random walk. This implies that the price transmission to the Finnish pork producer market from the EU market is smoother and more efficient than for the beef market. However, the speed of transmission is still slow compared to that between the Danish and German markets.cointegration, asymmetric, error correction, thresholds, pork and beef prices, Agribusiness, Demand and Price Analysis, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, International Relations/Trade,

Finnish pupils’ success in mathematics: factors that contribute to Finnish pupils’ success in mathematics

This report focuses on the factors that contribute positively to Finnish pupils’ success in mathematics and considers the implications for policy and practice in England. Includes examples of items from the PISA and TIMSS test

Loanwords in Finnish Quiz

A nine-part quiz that features words that have been borrowed into the Finnish language before the 20th century. The quiz helps students to learn to recognise loanwords. Students will also acquire new vocabulary and have fun. The quiz is suitable for students attending tasters, complete beginners or A1/A2 learners

ICT Production and Productivity in Sweden and Finland, 1975-2004

This article compares the development of labour productivity in the Swedish and the Finnish business sectors and the role of the information and communication technology (ICT) sector in this process. The results show that the Finnish productivity level has been converging towards the Swedish level, but that there is still a significant difference. This trend has coincided with the growing importance of the ICT sector, especially since the mid 1990s. Due to higher productivity and employment growth, the Finnish ICT sector has contributed to this convergence. This is explained by the electrical engineering industry. The Nokia effect has been stronger than the Ericsson effect.Productivity, Convergence, Finland, Sweden, ICT production

Introducing Class Actions in Finland: an Example of Lawmaking without Economic Analysis

Finnish Parliament accepted in February 2007 a new law on class actions (literally group actions), which entered into force 1 October, 2008. The legislative process was particularly slow. Finland has been preparing a law on class actions since the early 1990s and this was - depending on the criteria of counting - the fourth try. Some fifteen years ago the idea of class actions was something new in Europe. Time passes quickly however, and the new Finnish law cannot be described as radical by any meaning of the word. Many European countries have changed their existing procedural codes and enacted new laws to make class action litigation possible. This article analyses the Finnish lawmaking process from comparative and economic policy viewpoints.class actions, Finland, public choice