Explaining variance in market shares in the Finnish grocery trade 1985-2005

Red Queen theory (Barnett and Hansen 1996; Barnett and Burgelman 1996; Barnett and McKendrick 2004; Barnett and Pontikes 2004 and 2008; Derfus et al. 2008) posits that firm rivalry is an evergoing progress, where reciprocal learning–development action dyads affect the whole industry. However, Red Queen theory has largely omitted the impact of the wider business environment and has left unanswered questions about the effects of contextual forces on Red Queen competition. Hence, in this study, a historical case study perspective is employed to examine Red Queen competition and its effects on market share variation of Finnish grocery trade companies between 1985 and 2005. This study explores Red Queen competition in a business environment setting that represents a food retailing ecosystem, specifically describing how evolving context affects firm rivalry and firm performance. Assuming that organizational performance is a process, an outcome of action and dynamism in the market, this study reconstructs five different development paths and shows the interlinkages between them, describing the causal complexity behind firm performance generating processes. In particular, this study identifies a wider infrastructure for processes contributing to firm performance. The study expands the previous research by showing how firm performance is created by internal development, external market behavior, and is affected by the events and development in the contextual political, macro- and microeconomic environment as well as technological and social factors in the wider environment. In addition, this research identifies and explains the multiplicity of bifurgative performance development by showing how competition is dispersed into different managerial arenas (Teulings 1985; Tainio et al. 1983 and 1984). This study argues that the variation in market shares was an outcome of improving the competitive position by developing customer preferences and customer loyalty, and gaining technical, operational and/or institutional superiority. Market share increase or decrease was an outcome of a layered spectrum of events, the combined effect of a number of phenomena in changing causal chains. Companies focused on the continuous improvement of their own capabilities and their own activity by internal development efforts. In addition, there was action, which was targeted at transforming the external structures of the competitive field, in order to modify the operating framework conditions favorable to the focal company. Besides company initiated competitive action there were also significant external environmental changes, which the company itself had a limited possibility to influence, and which could appear on the horizon at short notice. Such external forces, however, had a major impact on companies' market share development and thus on their future efficiency

Digestibility Estimates Based on a Grass Growth Model Are Distributed via Internet to Finnish Farmers

Optimising the harvesting time of grass in primary growth is difficult under Finnish climatic conditions, because the digestibility of grass decreases on average by 0.5 percentage units daily. We constructed a model based on cumulative temperature and geographical location which estimates the digestibility of grass. This model is used to produce estimates utilising real time weather information. The estimates are presented as a map, which is revised daily. Farmers have free access to the maps via Internet

Catalyst-free growth of In(As)P nanowires on silicon

The catalyst-free metal organic vapor phase epitaxialgrowth of In(As)P nanowires on silicon substrates is investigated using in situ deposited In droplets as seeds for nanowiregrowth. The thin substrate native oxide is found to play a crucial role in the nanowire formation. The structure of the nanowires is characterized by photoluminescence and electron microscopy measurements. The crystal structure of the InPnanowires is wurtzite with its c axis perpendicular to the nanowire axis. Adding arsenic precursor to the gas phase during growth results in a bimodal photoluminescence spectrum exhibiting peak at the InAsP and InP band gap energies.Peer reviewe

Enhanced luminescence from catalyst-free grown InP nanowires

The surface effects in the optical properties of catalyst-free grownInPnanowires are investigated. Both as-grown nanowires and nanowires treated with hydrofluoric acid are studied using low- and room-temperature continuous-wave and time-resolved photoluminescence measurements and transmission electron microscopy. It is shown that the room-temperature photoluminescence intensity is increased by two orders of magnitude after the surface treatment, and that there is also a significant increase in the double-exponential photoluminescence decay time.Peer reviewe

Small union with large set of centers

Let $T\subset{\mathbb R}^n$ be a fixed set. By a scaled copy of $T$ around $x\in{\mathbb R}^n$ we mean a set of the form $x+rT$ for some $r>0$. In this survey paper we study results about the following type of problems: How small can a set be if it contains a scaled copy of $T$ around every point of a set of given size? We will consider the cases when $T$ is circle or sphere centered at the origin, Cantor set in ${\mathbb R}$, the boundary of a square centered at the origin, or more generally the $k$-skeleton ($0\le k<n$) of an $n$-dimensional cube centered at the origin or the $k$-skeleton of a more general polytope of ${\mathbb R}^n$. We also study the case when we allow not only scaled copies but also scaled and rotated copies and also the case when we allow only rotated copies

Measurements of muon flux in the Pyh\"asalmi underground laboratory

The cosmic-ray induced muon flux was measured at several depths in the Pyh\"asalmi mine (Finland) using a plastic scintillator telescope mounted on a trailer. The flux was determined at four different depths underground at 400 m (980 m.w.e), at 660 m (1900 m.w.e), at 990 m (2810 m.w.e) and at 1390 m (3960 m.w.e) with the trailer, and also at the ground surface. In addition, previously measured fluxes from depths of 90 m (210 m.w.e) and 210 m (420 m.w.e) are shown. A relation was obtained for the underground muon flux as a function of the depth. The measured flux follows well the general behaviour and is consistent with results determined in other underground laboratories.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures. Submitted to Nuclear Instrum. Methods

Adolescent survey non-response and later risk of death. A prospective cohort study of 78 609 persons with 11-year follow-up

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Non-response in survey studies is a growing problem and, being usually selective, it leads to under- or overestimation of health outcomes in the follow-up. We followed both respondents and non-respondents by registry linkage to determine whether there is a risk of death, related to non-response at baseline.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Sample data of biennial surveys to 12-18-year-old Finns in 1979–1997 were linked with national death registry up to 2001. The number of respondents was 62 528 (79.6%) and non-respondents 16 081 (20.4%). The average follow-up was 11.1 years, totalling 876 400 person-years. The risk of death between non-respondents and respondents was estimated by hazard ratios (HR).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The number of deaths per 100 000 person-years were 229 in non-respondents and 447 in respondents (HR 2.0, 95% CI: 1.5–2.6). The hazard ratios of death were for intoxication 3.2 (95% CI: 1.9–5.4), for disease 3.1 (95% CI: 2.2–4.1), for violence-related injury 2.0 (95% CI: 1.5–2.6) and for unintentional injury 1.8 (95% CI: 1.3–2.4) in non-respondents vs. respondents. The association between non-response and death increased with age at baseline, and the increase persisted after the age of 25.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our study demonstrated significantly increased rates of death among adolescent non-respondents in a follow-up. The highest hazard ratios were seen in disease- and violence-related deaths. The death rate varied between respondents and non-respondents by death type. Increased rates of death persisted beyond the age of 25.</p

The three mouse actin-depolymerizing factor/cofilins evolved to fulfill cell-type-specific requirements for actin dynamics

Actin-depolymerizing factor (ADF)/cofilins are essential regulators of actin filament turnover. Several ADF/cofilin isoforms are found in multicellular organisms, but their biological differences have remained unclear. Herein, we show that three ADF/cofilins exist in mouse and most likely in all other mammalian species. Northern blot and in situ hybridization analyses demonstrate that cofilin-1 is expressed in most cell types of embryos and adult mice. Cofilin-2 is expressed in muscle cells and ADF is restricted to epithelia and endothelia. Although the three mouse ADF/cofilins do not show actin isoform specificity, they all depolymerize platelet actin filaments more efficiently than muscle actin. Furthermore, these ADF/cofilins are biochemically different. The epithelial-specific ADF is the most efficient in turning over actin filaments and promotes a stronger pH-dependent actin filament disassembly than the two other isoforms. The muscle-specific cofilin-2 has a weaker actin filament depolymerization activity and displays a 5-10-fold higher affinity for ATP-actin monomers than cofilin-1 and ADF. In steady-state assays, cofilin-2 also promotes filament assembly rather than disassembly. Taken together, these data suggest that the three biochemically distinct mammalian ADF/cofilin isoforms evolved to fulfill specific requirements for actin filament dynamics in different cell types