Entrepreneurship in a Unionised Economy

This paper shows that labor market institutions are important for the formation of new enterprises. The effects of labor market institutions on entrepreneurship, wage determination, and firm size are analysed analytically and illustrated numerically. The main result is that an increase in union power reduces the equilibrium rate of entrepreneurship and reduces the average size of enterprises.Entrepreneurship, labor market institutions, occupational choice, unions

Small corpus, great institution - and an attempt to understand them

The New Year\u27;s speech by the President of the Republic is one of the most important political speeches in Finland. We have gathered all the speeches from 1935 to 2007 into a corpus containing the speeches in writing. Our objective is to explore what the speeches are like in terms of linguistic choices and as a set or type of texts. We are also interested in the social dimensions of the speeches and the ideological meanings produced in them. This paper presents an analysis of our research questions and methods of analysis, rather than going into empirical results. We present the method and project we have decided to call "Teko\u27; (from text to corpus), based on the compilation and structuring of small, mutually comparable corpora, as well as on detailed quantitative (corpus linguistic) and qualitative analysis (based on text analysis, applying, e.g., the process analysis of the Systemic Functional Grammar). We are considering the following research positions and questions of analysis related to them: the uniformity of the speeches as compared to another set of texts, i.e. that of news (e.g. based on their morphological features that have been analysed semiautomatically), the internal uniformity of the speeches judging by how the speakers refer to themselves (differences arising from the speakers on the one hand and the topics on the other hand) and the uniformity of the speeches on the basis of process analysis (distribution of processes by presidents and topics). Our fundamental question in this paper is how the quantitative analysis of a small corpus can be connected to a qualitative analysis of individual texts

Disability, Perceived Discrimination and Political Participation

Disability affects the lives of hundreds of millions across the world. People with disabilities often experience discrimination and unequal treatment. Sometimes the mere categorization of people into groups, that is, ‘healthy’ vs. ‘disabled’, is enough to trigger discriminatory behaviour against people with disabilities. Previous studies show that in general disabilities depress political participation. However, the effect of disability-based discrimination on participation has received little scholarly attention. We study how perceptions of discrimination affect three forms of political participation: voting; contacting politicians; and participating in demonstrations. Results show that disability decreases voting, especially when associated with perceptions of discrimination. The analysis points in the opposite direction when the other two forms of political participation are analysed. People with disabilities are more likely to partake in demonstrations and contact politicians than non-disabled. Thus, disability-based discrimination is not always a hindrance to participation. It sometimes further motivates people with disabilities to participate.Peer reviewe

Financial institutions and the allocation of talent

The paper shows that uninformed finance gives rise to excessive entry, both in human-capital-intensive and in conventional industries when the financial institutions cannot identify the entrepreneurial talent. Introduction of informed capital (eg venture capital finance) with superior screening ability results in an institutional equilibrium with efficiency gains in human-capital industries. Contrary to received wisdom, the institutional equilibrium with informed capital is characterised by more limited entry to an industry, which requires highly talented human capital. Unexpectedly, the total welfare effect is ambiguous, as the allocation of non-informed capital is now less efficient in the conventional industry. The institutional equilibrium is shaped by investors’ risk preferences, costs of establishing uninformed and informed capital, and the initial distribution ot talent in the economy.allocation of talent; asymmetric information; financial institutions; venture capital; institutional equilibrium

Participatory Budgeting Case Studies throughout the Ages: A Longitudinal, Thematic, Systematic Literature Study

Budgeting (PB) is often utilized to initiate citizen involvement in governmental processes and familiarize them with public spending. It can help to increase transparency, communication between citizens and government and improve quality of lives of the communities. Other times, it can increase costs with little returns. Overall, we have limited knowledge about PB development trajectories, practices, state of art, and future research possibility. Hence, we have conducted a systematic, longitudinal, thematic literature review, that has examined 92 case studies of PB, and reveals that interest in PB research has been reflective of global movements e.g., the Arab Spring, Occupy Wall Street, and the like. The field, however, is also growing in maturity and needs specialized research on PB tools, sustainability, inclusion, amongst other topics

Renewing a University to Support Smart Manufacturing Within a Region

This chapter focuses on the topic of renewing a university in order to be able to support the adaptation of smart manufacturing and Industry 4.0 within a region. The chapter introduces Industry 4.0 as a framework for regional development. Factors related to Industry 4.0 related renewal in the region are identified and discussed further. An idea of how to apply Industry 4.0 as a framework for renewal of a multidisciplinary university’s structure and curricula is introduced. Also, a case study for applying Industry 4.0 as a framework for increasing competitiveness in the region is introduced

Understanding the multidimensional nature of student engagement during the first year of higher education

In the description of the complex relationship between individual students and their education context, as well as understanding of questions related to progression, retention or dropouts in higher education, student engagement is considered the primary construct. In particular, the significance of the first year of higher education in terms of engagement is decisive. We aim at developing a multidimensional conceptualization of engagement and utilized network analysis. Data were collected as part of the annual Student Barometer survey in Finland during the 2012-2013 academic year, and we gathered a nationally representative sample (n = 2422) of first-year students in different disciplines at 13 Finnish universities. Network analysis confirmed the multidimensional process model of engagement and its six dimensions. The central dimensions of engagement are identity and sense of belonging, which develop in the interplay between individual and collective dimensions as a long-term process. Additional network analyses with covariates identified positive and negative factors that affect engagement. The study adds new perspectives to existing knowledge of engagement. It is important to understand the process-like nature of engagement and make visible factors affecting the process. Based on these findings, we provide novel practical recommendations for interventions for university students who struggle with engagement during their first year.Peer reviewe

Collaboration in Software Development: Lesson Learned from Two Large Multinational Organizations

Collaborative software development, through inter-organizational collaboration or outsourcing, has become increasingly attractive for organizations. However, little is known about the problems associated with collaboration. Therefore, organizations engaging in collaboration need to be aware of the potential pitfalls involved. For this purpose, this study explores problems and important factors for successful collaboration in relation to inter-organizational collaboration in software development in Nokia and Philips. The problems in collaborative software development were communication, unclear agreements, security policy issues, inflexibility over changes, adaptation to the environment, team coordination, misunderstanding of the goals, lack of human resources, difficulties monitoring the work, and commitment. The results suggest that the success factors of collaborative software development are effective communication, careful preparation, technical experts, managers and legal experts involved in contract negotiations, a clear understanding of cultural differences, clear specifications, logical architecture, efficient information distribution between the parties, and the right competences