The Dynamics of Private Equity, Innovation, and the Board of Directors : Empirical Evidence from Finland

The academia and finance professionals have debated for decades over the origin of the private equity funds’ superior returns. The historical returns show that private equity investors have been able to generate higher returns than the markets on average year after year. As a consequence, the focal sector has grown globally rapidly. According to a report by Bureau van Dijk (2019), private equity investments accounted globally 26 % of the total M&A deal count in year 2018 and 16 % in terms of deal value. The development is evident also in Finland. In 2018, Finnish companies attracted the most VC funding of all European countries in comparison to the GDP (FVCA, 2019). The impact of private equity transactions has been studied extensively yet most of the literature focus on economic performance and corporate governance framework. Although innovation is one of the key drivers for economic growth, research on technological change has remained slight. This thesis contributes to the academic literature by trying to fill that gap by combining these three elements. In other words, the purpose is to study the relationships between private equity investments, board members’ social linkages and post-acquisition innovations. The data sample used for the empirical analysis comprises 401 venture capital and buyout deals that completed between years 2010 and 2015 and where the target is a company registered in Finland. The sample contains in total 340 individual firms. The empirical analysis is conducted utilising quantitative methods. Logistic panel regression measures the propensity for a firm to file an eventually granted patent application. In order to measure the post-investment innovation intensity, an OLS panel regression is applied. Finally, to examine whether the private equity investors’ aim is in the end more on spurring innovation or on product development and commercialisation, an OLS panel regression is employed to measure firm performance in term of sales. The results show that increased social capital correlates positively with both innovation and firm performance. However, innovation activities prior to receiving the investment have stronger impact and implies that instead of spurring new innovations, private equity investors focus on developing the existing innovations. The results for firm performance also show that PE investors’ focus is more on financial engineering as there is no correlation between increased innovation and increased sales

Finnish Preclinical and Clinical Medical Students as Strategic L2 English Learners : Language Learning Strategies and Communicating with Patients

This thesis focused on medical students’ language learning strategies for patient encounters. The research questions concerned the types of learning strategies that medical students use and the differences between the preclinical students and the clinical students, two groups who have had varying amounts of experience with patients. Additionally, strategy use was examined through activity systems to gain information on the context of language learning strategy use in order to learn language for patient encounters. In total, 130 first-year medical students (preclinical) and 39 fifth-year medical students (clinical) participated in the study by filling in a questionnaire on language learning strategies. In addition, two students were interviewed in order to create activity systems for the medical students at different stages of their studies. The study utilised both quantitative and qualitative research methods; the analysis of the results relies on Oxford’s Strategic Self-Regulation Model in the quantitative part and on activity theory in the qualitative part. The theoretical sections of the study introduced earlier research and theories regarding English for specific purposes, language learning strategies and activity theory. The results indicated that the medical students use affective, sociocultural-interactive and metasociocultural-interactive strategies often and avoid using negative strategies, which hinder language learning or cease communication altogether. Slight differences between the preclinical and clinical students were found, as clinical students appear to use affective and metasociocultural-interactive strategies more frequently compared to the preclinical students. The activity systems of the two students interviewed were rather similar. The students were at different stages of their studies, but their opinions were very similar. Both reported the object of learning to be mutual understanding between the patient and the doctor, which in part explains the preference for strategies that support communication and interaction. The results indicate that the nature of patient encounters affects the strategy use of the medical students at least to some extent

"Holding all the cards" - the associations between management accounting, strategy and strategic change

siirretty Doriast

Radiojodihoito Varsinais-Suomen sairaanhoitopiirissä : prosessikuvaus ja henkilökunnan koulutustarpeen selvitys

Varsinais-Suomen sairaanhoitopiirissä radiojodihoitoa saavan kilpirauhassyöpää sairastavan potilaan hoitoon osallistuu useita yksiköitä; isotooppiosasto kliinisen fysiologian, isotooppilääketieteen ja PET-toiminnan yksiköstä, syöpäpoliklinikka ja syöpävuodeosasto. Opinnäytetyössä selvitettiin radiojodilla hoidettavan kilpirauhassyöpäpotilaan hoitoprosessin kulku ja toimijat. Lisäksi selvitettiin hoitoprosessiin osallistuvan henkilökunnan säteilysuojelukoulutuksen tarvetta ja heidän näkemyksiään potilaslähtöistä hoitamista edistävistä ja estävistä tekijöistä. Opinnäytetyö on toiminnallinen ja tutkimuksellinen. Toiminnalliseen osuuteen kuuluu hoitoprosessi kilpirauhassyöpää sairastavan potilaan hoidosta. Tutkimuksellisessa osiossa selvitettiin kyselyn avulla millaista säteilysuojelukoulutusta henkilökunta haluaisi. Tätä selvitettiin monivalintakysymyksillä, jotka analysoitiin taulukkolaskentaohjelmalla. Potilaslähtöisyyden edistäviä ja estäviä tekijöitä selvitettiin avoimilla kysymyksillä, ja nämä analysoitiin sisällönanalyysillä. Hoitoprosessista tehtiin sekä kirjallinen kuvaus että prosessikaavio. Kyselyllä saatujen tulosten mukaan radiojodipotilaan hoitoon osallistuvan henkilökunnan olisi tärkeää saada säteilysuojelukoulutusta vähintään kahden vuoden välein, ehkä jopa useammin. Koulutuksen tulisi pitää sisällään ainakin säteilyturvallisuustoimenpiteitä työpaikalla ja säteilynkäyttöä omissa työtehtävissä. Suurin osa hoitoon osallistuvista työntekijöistä kokee osaamisensa varmaksi tai melko varmaksi, mutta epävarmuuttakin esiintyy jonkin verran. Säteilysuojelutentin todettiin olevan vahvasti yhteydessä koettuun varmuuteen säteilytyössä (p= 0.004). Säteilysuojelutentin tehneet hoitajat kokivat osaamisensa selkeästi varmemmaksi kuin ne, jotka eivät ole sitä tehneet. Myös iän ja työkokemuksen todettiin lisäävän varmuutta työtehtävissä. Potilaslähtöistä hyvää hoitoa edistäviksi tekijöiksi ilmoitettiin resurssien riittävyys, oikeanlainen asenne, yhteistyö ja onnistunut ohjaus. Estäviksi tekijöiksi lueteltiin resurssien puute, vääränlainen asenne, yhteistyön sujumattomuus ja potilaasta johtuvat tekijät.There are plenty of units involved in the treatment of a patient having thyroid cancer and treated with radioiodine in the Hospital District of Southwest Finland; Nuclear Medicine Department in Clinical Physiology, Nuclear Medicine and PET Centre unit, Inpatient Ward and Outpatient Ward in Department of Oncology and Radiotherapy. The course of the radioiodine treatment process of a patient with thyroid cancer and the persons involved in it were clarified in this thesis. The need for personnel training for radiation protection and the personnel´s impressions about the factors which advance and which prevent patient-centered care were also researched. This thesis is both functional and exploratory. The patient radioiodine treatment process diagram of a patient having thyroid cancer was made in the functional part. In the exploratory part the aim was to clarify which kind of training for radiation protection the personnel would like to have. This was found out by a questionnaire with multiple-choice questions and analyzed by spreadsheet program. Factors which advance and prevent patient-centered care were researched with open questions and analyzed by the methods of content analysis. The patient treatment process was made out both in a written description and a process diagram. According to the results given by the questionnaire, the personnel should have training for radiation protection at least at intervals of two years, maybe even more often. The training should include radiation protection measures in the personnel´s own working environment and use of radiation in their duties. The majority of the personnel involved in the patient radioiodine treatment process find their know-how certain or quite certain, but there also is some uncertainty among the personnel. The exam of radiation protection was found to have a strong correlation with certainty experienced by personnel in radiation work (p= 0.004). Those who have taken the exam found their know-how explicitly more confident than those who have not. Age and work experience were also found to increase the certainty in the personnel's duties. The factors which advance patient-centered care and good nursing are sufficiency of resources, good attitude, cooperation and successful guidance. The factors which prevent patient-centered care and good nursing are lack of resources, wrong attitude, difficulties in cooperation and factors due to a patient

Olemassa olevan tuoteperheen modularisointi

This Master of Science Thesis was made for Cargotec Oy. Variability of products and the different customer needs have increased the amount of part numbers that have to be maintained. This thesis seeks to find a solution for the problem. The aim of the thesis is to demonstrate how an existing product family can be modularized. Modularity has been studied a great deal in recent years and a number of different methods have been developed for modularizing product structures. This thesis introduc-es the Design Structure Matrix, Function Heuristics and Modular Function Deployment methods. The study of these methods, however, indicates that none of these are suitable as such for the modularization of an existing product family. The Brownfield Process is studied in more detail, because it is developed specifically for the modularization of existing product families. The thesis works as an instruction manual for the case company, in which modulariza-tion is explained and the different steps of the Brownfield Process are clarified in detail. The Brownfield Process was applied to the case company’s products and a proposal on how the company could modularize their product family was created. In the example case the existing product structures were analyzed and the customer requirements, which cause the need for variation in the products, were studied. Good results were obtained in the example case, even though the scope of the case was focused on a limited number of crane models and structures. By applying of the process the part numbers could be reduced significantly. Also other benefits for the company could be obtained. During the example case some problems arose, which must be taken into account during a modularization project. The cooperation with the various experts in the company turned out to be very important. The process requires a great deal of information on products, product structures, design principles and customers. The com-pany’s marketing, sales and engineering teams have to participate in the process. It was also noticed, that by modularization alone, long-term benefits cannot be achieved. The company has to make sure, that the manufacturing of the products is made in a way that benefits from modularity. The sales persons have to be trained to sell modular products as well. In order to make sure, that the modular product structure is maintained in the future, the company has to have a certain person or group who owns the modules and interfaces. Their tasks include, for example, ensuring that changes in the products do not violate the modularity