Case Hansel

Companies still use existing data and predictive analytics too rarely to support their decision making. The use of analytical models has also been neglected in public procurement research. This thesis addresses the utilisation of time series analytics in supporting decision making, improving budgeting, and forecasting public procurement volumes through a case company. The aim is to examine how well time series models can forecast the volumes of governmental procurement, and whether these models can improve the budgeting accuracy of the case company. Hansel Ltd is a non-profit central purchasing body of the Finnish central government whose purpose is to save public funds by increasing the productivity of governmental procurement. Hansel’s operations focus on tendering and maintaining framework agreements in accordance with the national and the EU legislation. Since around 87 percent of Hansel’s revenue is comprised of framework agreement specific service fees, their allocation is a strategically important decision for achieving zero profit. The level of service fees is based on the budgeted framework agreement volumes, which unfortunately differ from the actual volumes. In recent years, the overall budget has differed from the actual total on average 5 percent, but the differences between the budgeted and the actual volumes vary from few to even 100 percent at the framework agreement level. The ability of time series models to forecast future framework agreement volumes and the effects of the models on Hansel’s budgeting process was studied by modelling 26 framework agreement subtotals. ARIMA models, which predict future values through previous values and forecast errors, were used in the modelling. ARIMA models capture efficiently the temporal dependence of values with a finite number of parameters, making modelling and creating accurate forecasts straightforward. The forecast accuracy of the models was compared to the current budget numerically with the root mean squared error and the mean absolute percentage error as well as graphically. The forecasts of the models were about 6 percentage points more accurate than the current budget. Also, the differences to the actual volumes were decreased on average 37 percent at the framework agreement subtotal level. In addition, implementing the models as a part of the budgeting process would reduce the number of steps and overlapping work in the process and increase the transparency of budgeting when the budget was based on theory rather than on the intuition of the top management. By increasing the budgeting accuracy and enhancing the budgeting process the models would also improve the allocation of adequate service fees and achieving the zero profit objective. As the ARIMA models were found to be competent to forecast framework agreement volumes accurately, this thesis has practical implications also outside Hansel. Framework agreements have established a key role in European public procurement, and the benefits of utilizing time series models for public procurement units other than Hansel should be further studied

Biodiversiteettiraportointi kemianteollisuudessa

Ihmisten hyvinvointia ja toimintaa tukeva luonnon monimuotoisuus eli biodiversiteetti heikkenee uhkaavasti ja se on toiseksi suurin globaali riski ilmastonmuutoksen jälkeen. Luonnon monimuotoisuus tukee ekosysteemipalveluita, joista ihmistoiminta on riippuvainen. Luontopohjaiset ratkaisut mahdollistavat myös uusien, luonnonmukaisten vaihtoehtojen kehittämisen, joilla pyritään korvaamaan nykyisiä luontoa kuormittavia raaka-aineita, jotta luonnon pilaantumista ja kuormittumista voitaisiin ehkäistä ja vähentää. Kemianteollisuudella on merkittävä rooli tällaisten kestävien tuotteiden kehittämisessä. Bio-pohjaisten raaka-aineiden hyödyntäminen tuotteiden valmistuksessa kuitenkin lisää luontokatoon kohdistuvaa painetta. Monet yritykset ovat kuitenkin tiedostaneet tämän ja koettavat kiinnittää asiaan huomiota. Raportoinnin avulla yritykset voivat osoittaa toimivansa vastuullisesti ja huomioivansa biodiversiteetin toiminnoissaan, mikä tukee yritysten legimiteettiä. Tämä tutkielma osallistuu tieteelliseen keskusteluun biodiversiteetin raportoinnista, joka on suhteellisen vähän tutkittu aihe. Tutkielman materiaali on kerätty yritysraporteista ja haastattelemalla globaalisti toimivia kemian alan yrityksiä. Kuvailevaa sisällönanalyysiä hyödyntäen, tämä tutkielma tutkii ja kuvailee, kuinka kemian teollisuuden yritykset ymmärtävät biodiversiteetin ja raportoivat siitä ylläpitääkseen uskottavuuttaan. Biodiversiteetti on käsitteenä monimutkainen ja vaikeasti ymmärrettävissä oleva aihe, jota ei vielä pystytä riittävästi mittaamaan. Tämä voi selittää, miksi kemianteollisuuden yritysten raportointi biodiversiteetistä on vaihtelevaa. Yritysten ymmärrystä biodiversiteetistä tulee tukea, jotta siitä voidaan laadukkaasti raportoita. Laadukas raportointi yritysten vaikutuksista voi tukea monimutkaisten luonnonprosessien ymmärtämistä, luonnonsuojelun edistämistä ja ehkäistä viherpesua.Biodiversity is essential for human wellbeing and activities as it supports a diverse set of ecosystem services. Currently, biodiversity is rapidly declining. Biodiversity loss is the second significant global risk after climate change. To reduce environmental stress, there is a need to find sustainable alternatives to unsustainable raw materials and consumables. The chemical industry has an important role in developing environmentally friendly solutions such as bio- based products and solutions, which require utilization of biomass. However, extraction of bio- based raw materials creates more pressure on biodiversity and contributes to biodiversity loss. It is essential that companies who extract natural resources are transparent about their actions concerning biodiversity. By adequately sharing information in corporate reports, companies can enhance their legitimacy. This thesis contributes to scientific discussion on biodiversity reporting which is researched to a limited extent. Material of the thesis was collected from corporate reports and interviews with globally operating chemical companies. By using qualitative content analysis, this thesis describes how chemical companies report on biodiversity as part of their corporate reporting to maintain their legitimacy and how biodiversity is perceived within the chemical industry. Biodiversity is a complex concept and intangible system, which cannot be sufficiently measured yet. This may help to explain why biodiversity reporting within the chemical industry is varying and inconsistent. There is a need to improve companies’ understanding on biodiversity to enhance biodiversity reporting. Adequate reporting can help to understand complex natural processes, enhance environmental protection, and reduce the problem of greenwashing

Selvitys merileväuutteesta ja sen käyttömahdollisuuksista kasvuhäiriön torjuntaan

4 liitett

Competition and Innovation: Evidence from Financial Services

In this paper we seek to contribute to the literature on competition and innovation by focusing on individual firms within the U.S. banking industry in the period 1984-2004. We measure innovation by estimating technology gaps and find evidence of an inverted-U relationship between competition and the technology gaps in banking. This finding is robust over several different specifications and is consistent with theoretical and empirical work by Aghion, Bloom, Blundell, Griffith, and Howitt (2005b). The optimal amount of innovation requires a slightly positive mark up. Also, we find that the U.S. banking industry as a whole has consolidated beyond this optimal innovation level and that state-level interstate banking deregulation has lowered innovation.competition, innovation, stochastic frontier analysis, technology gap ratio, banking