Beyond categorization: new directions for theory development about entrepreneurial internationalization

Categorizations emphasizing the earliness of internationalization have long been a cornerstone of international entrepreneurship research. Here we contend that the prominence of categories has not been commensurate with theory development associated with them. We draw on categorization theory to explain why earliness-based categories are persistent, and argue that a greater focus on notions related to opportunity can open new avenues of research about the entrepreneurial internationalization of business. We propose and discuss three directions for opportunity-based research on entrepreneurial internationalization, involving context, dynamics and variety

The Nordic welfare model in a European Perspective

Social assistance and minimum income benefits are important indicators for assessing the very basic objective of social policy, namely to mitigate financial hardship and alleviate poverty. The Nordic countries have succeeded well from a comparative point of view in terms of poverty alleviation. However, last-resort safety-nets are changing. Scattered evidence indicate that Nordic social assistance have become less generous. Perhaps are the Nordic countries becoming more similar to the welfare models of Continental Europe or the United Kingdom? This study analyses central dimensions of Nordic social assistance, such as the generosity, scope and effectiveness of benefits. Data for the empirical analyses are from SaMip and LIS. We show that Finland and Sweden, particularly, have suffered from welfare decline, including less generous and effective benefits.Nordic welfare; Europe; Social policy; Poverty alleviation; welfare decline; Sweden; Finland

Benefits and challenges of virtual teams

Virtual teams are a growing phenomenon in both the world of research and business. They have evolved as a response to development in electronic communication technology and various global trends. Businesses started utilizing virtual teams before there was any strong research on the subject. While research has increased exponentially since then, there have been few works that have collected the various results together. This thesis aims to summarize the current research on virtual teams and the various benefits and challenges faced by organizations in utilizing them and compare research with the results from an empirical study that focuses on current top management’s viewpoint. Virtual teams are teams where members rarely meet each other physically. They rely on electronic communication to collaborate and achieve their goals. The members are usually both structurally and geographically separated. The use of an unfamiliar communication medium and other characteristics lead to a number of challenges but also to surprising benefits. Significant benefits lie with cost-savings and efficiency, whereas challenges arise in leadership, communication and trust. As communication technology develops and improves, it is likely that virtual teams will also increase in abundance. Organizations must be prepared for this and be able to differentiate between traditional teams and virtual teams. The results from the study suggest that most top management acknowledge the main challenges as found via research, while stated benefits are mostly cost benefits. The study also suggests a number of targets for potential future research.fi=Opinnäytetyö kokotekstinä PDF-muodossa.|en=Thesis fulltext in PDF format.|sv=Lärdomsprov tillgängligt som fulltext i PDF-format

Kansalaisten osallistuminen kaupunkisuojeluun Porvoon vanhan kaupungin ja Helsingin Puu-Käpylän tapauksissa

This thesis examines the themes of citizen participation and community co-production in the context of urban conservation. If we want to have more effective participatory processes, it is needed to identify how laymen can best supplement professional knowledge. The main research question “what can citizens offer to the process and decision-making related to urban conservation?” is approached through the qualitative research of two Finnish case studies: the Old Town of Porvoo and Helsinki’s Puu-Käpylä. For this purpose, a content analysis of selected newspaper articles was conducted. The results tell us that engaging with the media through writing opinion pieces is very popular, and the media plays overall a very important role in covering the whole conservation process. Strong and transparent democratic institutions remain vital for the fair participation of citizens, as the lobbying of decision-makers and filing official complaints are important ways for citizens to affect the process. Sometimes the conditions are favorable for an Urban Social Movement to form, which can have a strong impact. Overall, to ensure a fair and representative process, a variety of different ways and forums for citizens to participate needs to be offered. It was also noted that citizens can bring knowledge and perspectives to the conservation process that might not necessarily come to light in a purely professional assessment. It seems that contrary to popular belief, aesthetic values are important factors for laymen when evaluating their living environment, as are also historical and cultural significance. Citizens also hold valuable information on the user experience of a neighbourhood (related to e.g., the community feeling or “special character”) that cannot be assessed by an outsider alone. It was also found out that it is usually the same groups of people that take part in the public discussion around a conservation process: the local intellectual elite, civil organizations, and homeowners (as opposed to tenants or other users of the neighborhood). The voices of certain groups are usually left out, which poses a challenge to the representativeness of the discussion and thus to the democratic legitimacy of the whole decision-making process

English vocabulary in early language learning material

Abstract. Young learners, 1st and 2nd graders in this thesis, start learning a foreign language in the first grade in Finland. This thesis aims to determine how early language learning material promotes learning English through their vocabulary. Young learners have been required to learn a foreign language since January 2020 and teaching a foreign language to young learners is a new challenge for many primary education teachers. Thus, many teachers may rely on ready-made teaching materials such as workbooks. Young leaners are a special group of foreign language learners as they are learning to read and write in one of the national languages of Finland while simultaneously learning a foreign language. The three research questions revolve around the vocabulary content, the frequencies of the words, and how the words are recycled in the material. A corpus was formed by entering all encountered word tokens in five early language learning workbooks into a database. Each appearance of each word type was entered into the database to declare the total number of tokens in the analysed teaching material. The words of the corpus were compared to Paul Nation’s word family lists that are based on the BNC and COCA word lists to define the word families and frequencies of the vocabulary. Teaching young learners some of the vocabulary presented in the learning material was justifiable, while other words were not relevant. The frequencies of the words in the material ranged from the 1st frequency band to the 20th frequency band while some words could not be found from the BNC/COCA word lists. Some of the words presented in the material were recycled plenty of times while other words appeared only once. It can be concluded that the learning material and vocabulary both promoted and did not promote language learning as some of the word choices were less than optimal for young language learners.Englanninkielinen sanasto varhennetun kielenopetuksen oppimateriaaleissa. Tiivistelmä. Suomessa nuoret oppijat, tässä tutkielmassa 1.- ja 2.-luokkalaiset, aloittavat vieraan kielen oppimisen ensimmäisellä luokalla. Tutkielman tavoitteena on selvittää kuinka varhennetun kielen opettamisen oppimateriaalit tukevat englannin oppimista sanaston kautta. Nuoret oppijat ovat alkaneet opetella vierasta kieltä tammikuusta 2020 alkaen ja vieraan kielen opettaminen nuorille oppijoille on uusi haaste monelle luokanopettajalle. Tästä syystä monet opettajat saattavat tukeutua valmiisiin opetusmateriaaleihin, kuten tehtäväkirjoihin. Vieraan kielen oppijoina nuoret oppijat ovat erityinen joukko, koska he opettelevat samanaikaisesti lukemaan ja kirjoittamaan yhdellä Suomen virallisista kielistä ja jollain vieraalla kielellä. Tutkielman kolme tutkimuskysymystä keskittyivät sanaston sisältöön, sanojen esiintymistiheyteen sekä sanojen uudelleen käyttöön opetusmateriaaleissa. Korpus on muodostettu syöttämällä kaikki saneet viidestä varhennetun kielenopettamisen tehtäväkirjasta tietokantaan. Jokaisen sanatyypin jokainen esiintyminen syötettiin tietokantaan, jotta saneiden kokonaismäärä analysoidussa opetusmateriaalissa selviäisi. Korpuksen sanat verrattiin Paul Nationin sanaperhelistoihin, jotka ovat muodostettu BNC- ja COCA-korpusten perusteella, jotta sanat voitiin sijoittaa sanaperheisiin ja sanaston esiintymistiheys selviäisi. Osa oppimismateriaaleissa esiintyneestä sanastosta on perusteltua opettaa nuorille oppijoille, mutta osaa sanoista ei. Sanojen esiintymistiheys vaihteli ensimmäisestä esiintyvyyslistasta 20:nteen, kun taas osa sanoista ei löytynyt BNC- tai COCA-sanalistoista ollenkaan. Osa materiaaleissa esiintyneistä sanoista toistui useita kertoja, kun taas osa sanoista esiintyi vain kerran. Tästä voidaan päätellä, että oppimismateriaali sekä edistää että ei edistä kielen oppimista sanaston kautta, sillä osa sanavalinnoista ei ollut optimaalisia nuorille kielenoppijoille

Prior Experience and Export Performance: The Missing Link of Global Vision

Despite the scholarly interest in the prior experience of entrepreneurs expressed by the field of International Entrepreneurship, empirical investigation linking prior experience with international performance leads to inconclusive and conflicting results. Based on the concept of human capital and resource-based theory, this study provides a supplementary explanation by integrating global vision —the cognitive capital of the entrepreneur related to an international orientation— into this relationship. The study hypothesises that there is no direct relationship between entrepreneurs’ prior experience and export performance; rather, this relationship is mediated by an entrepreneur’s global vision. The hypotheses were tested using structural equation modelling, drawing on a sample of 332 early internationalising SMEs in Bangladesh. To overcome the cognitive inertia resulting from prior experiences, entrepreneurs must focus on their cognitive capabilities, in particular the ability to see the world through a global lens. In order to improve export performance, policymakers must also provide additional support to strengthen entrepreneurs’ global vision

La toma de decisiones empresariales internacionales en las pequeñas y medianas empresas familiares

Family firm internationalization has become a topic of interest over the last few decades. However, there has been surprisingly little research about the actual international business decision-making in the family firm literature. The purpose of this article is to highlight specific family firm factors which affect the international business decision-making. Based on examples on international market entry, target market choice, entry mode choice, and entry timing decisions, it is suggested that long-term and regional orientation, knowledge-base and its transfer, bifurcation-bias, and perseverance of family managers are important factors affecting international business decision-making among family SMEs.La internacionalización de las empresas familiares se ha convertido en un tema de interés en las últimas décadas. Sin embargo, la literatura sobre empresas familiares ha investigado sorprendentemente poco sobre la toma de decisiones en el ámbito internacional. El objetivo de este artículo es destacar los factores específicos de las empresas familiares que afectan a la toma de decisiones en el ámbito internacional. A partir de ejemplos sobre la entrada en el mercado internacional, la elección del mercado objetivo, la elección del modo de entrada y las decisiones sobre el momento de entrada, se sugiere que la orientación regional y a largo plazo, la base de conocimientos y su transferencia, el sesgo de bifurcación y la perseverancia de los gestores familiares son factores importantes que afectan a la toma de decisiones empresariales internacionales entre las pequeñas y medianas empresas familiares (PYMEs)

Raskauden aikainen ravitsemus : Opaslehtinen odottaville äideille suomeksi ja venäjäksi

Tiivistelmä Ravitsemus on olennainen osa ihmisen terveyttä ja hyvinvointia. Raskauden aikana tämä korostuu entisestään, sillä sikiö kehittyy ravintoaineilla, joita äiti saa ravinnostaan. Sikiön kasvun ja hyvinvoinnin lisäksi myös äidin hyvinvointi ja terveyden ylläpitäminen vaativat erityistä huo-miota. Tämän vuoksi ravitsemustiedon saaminen ja hyvän ravitsemuksen toteutuminen raskausaikana on tärkeää ja merkittävää. Tämän toiminnallisen opinnäytetyön tarkoituksena oli antaa tietoa terveellisestä ravitsemuksesta odottaville äideille ja näin tukea tulevien lasten terveyttä. Opinnäytetyön tehtävänä oli laatia sekä suomen- että venäjänkielinen opaslehtinen neuvolaan vanhemmille jaettavaksi. Opinnäytetyössä käsitellään yleisten ravitsemussuositusten lisäksi joitakin raskauden aikaiseen ravitsemukseen liittyviä erityistilanteita, joita ovat vegaaniruokavalio, raskausdiabetes, keliakia sekä raskauspahoinvointi. Opaslehtinen ”Raskaus ja ravitsemus” käsittelee tiiviisti raskauden aikaisen ravitsemuksen perusteet ja ravitsemussuositukset raskauden aikana. Opaslehtiseen sisältyvät lisäksi erityistilanteista yleisimmät eli raskausdiabetes ja raskauspahoinvointi. Opaslehtisessä kerrotaan myös lyhyesti alkoholin haitoista sikiön terveyteen. Jatkotutkimusideat voisivat olla raskausdiabeteksen hoito, erilaisten kulttuurien ravitsemustottumukset raskauden aikana sekä liikuntasuositukset raskauden aikana.Abstract Nutrition is a relevant part of human health and well-being. During the pregnancy, this is emphasised even more, because the foetus uses the nutrients taken in by the mother for its development and growth. Besides the growth and well-being of the foetus, maintaining the well-being and health of the expectant mother require special attention. To achieve this, it is important and significant to receive nutritional information and follow a healthy diet during the pregnancy. The aim of the thesis was to give information on healthy nutrition for expectant mothers and thus support the health of future children. The aim was to compile an information leaflet in Finnish and Russian languages to be distributed at maternity clinics for parents. The thesis discusses the official nutrition recommendations and besides this, a few special cases related to nutrition during pregnancy are described. These are vegan diet, gestational diabetes, coeliac disease and nausea during pregnancy. The information leaflet entitled “Pregnancy and Nutrition” includes compact information on the basics of nutrition during pregnancy and nutrition recommendations during pregnancy. The information leaflet includes the most common special cases related to nutrition, which are gestational diabetes and nausea during pregnancy. Additionally, harmful effects of alcohol use on the health of the foetus are discussed briefly. Ideas for further development could be the treatment of gestational diabetes, various cultural nutrition habits during pregnancy and physical activity recommendations during pregnancy