[kand] Kauppakorkeakoulu / BIZ (Open Access)
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- Strategic Insights into Public ICT Procurement
School of Business | Bachelor's thesis(2024) Railo, MillaPublic Information and Communication Technology (ICT) procurement in Finland represents a significant economic activity, while also carrying broader societal implications. Despite the potential, public procurement is often marked by delays, budget overruns, and unmet expectations. Inefficient procurement methods, conflicting requirements, and limited market dialogue deter supplier participation, reduce competition, and increase costs. For ICT vendors, public procurement offers a major business opportunity. However, the lengthy and resource-intensive bidding process requires a careful balance between competitiveness and profitability. Vendors must allocate significant sources to bid preparation with no guarantee of success. Furthermore, the complex regulatory environment and limited communication with public buyers make it difficult for vendors to showcase their capabilities effectively. Procurement laws and procedures are often perceived as overly restrictive and unsuitable for managing complex and innovative ICT procurements. Nevertheless, opportunities for greater flexibility and collaboration exist but are frequently underutilized due to misconceptions, inadequate procurement expertise, and risk aversion. Successful ICT procurement demands expertise in legislation, technology, and market offerings, all aligned with organizational needs and capabilities. The pretender phase offers valuable opportunities for public-private interaction, with early dialogue shown to improve outcomes. Moreover, vendors who understand public procurement and its inherent constraints and opportunities are better positioned to navigate the process and achieve favorable results. This bachelor’s thesis examines the regulatory frameworks, procurement methods, and key challenges shaping public ICT procurement in Finland. It also explores strategies for vendors to better position themselves in the public sector and secure new opportunities. Improving vendor success contributes to wider societal outcomes by ensuring innovation, enhancing competition, and increasing procurement efficiency. - Earnings announcement reactions in bull and bear markets - Insights from OMX Helsinki 25 companies
School of Business | Bachelor's thesis(2024) Katajisto, ArttuI use data from companies listed in the OMX Helsinki 25 index between 2008 and 2023 to examine the impact of market phases on reactions to earnings announcements. Employing an event study methodology, I calculate abnormal and cumulative abnormal returns around earnings announcement dates, categorising surprises as positive, neutral, or negative. Comparing these reactions between bull and bear markets, my results show that market phases significantly influence reactions to both negative and positive earnings surprises. However, statistically significant reactions are generally confined to the announcement day and its immediate vicinity. Specifically, negative surprises during bear markets lead to an initial overreaction followed by partial price corrections, whereas reactions in bull markets are more efficient. In contrast, positive surprises during bear markets exhibit underreaction and a post-earnings-announcement drift, while reactions in bull markets remain more efficient. Reactions to neutral earnings surprises do not have significant differences across market phases. - Psykologinen omistajuus ilmiönä osuustoiminnassa
School of Business | Bachelor's thesis(2024) Gabel, AkseliTämä tutkielma käsittelee psykologisen omistajuuden ilmenemistä osuustoiminnassa. Tässä tutkielmassa vastaan tutkimuskysymykseen: ”Miksi psykologinen omistajuus ilmenee juuri osuustoiminnassa?”. Tutkielma toteutettiin kirjallisuuskatsauksena valtaosin organisaatio- ja markkinointitutkimusta sekä psykologiaa käsittelevien tieteellisten artikkeleiden, lehtien sekä kirjojen pohjalta. Tutkielman avulla voitiin havaita psykologisen omistajuuden merkittävä rooli osana organisaatioiden menestystä, joka korostuu etenkin osuustoiminnassa. Psykologisen omistajuuden syntyminen edellyttää tiettyjen ihmisen perustarpeiden täyttymistä, ja niitä vahvistamalla voidaan edistää psykologisen omistajuuden positiivia vaikutuksia organisaatio sekä yksilötasolla. - Family Ownership and Firm Performance: Evidence from Publicly Listed Companies in the Nordic Countries
School of Business | Bachelor's thesis(2025) Gullichsen, EdvardThis study examines how family ownership affects the performance of publicly listed companies in the Nordic countries, including Finland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark. Family-owned companies have been a major focus of ongoing debates in the financial literature as they have both unique strengths, such as long-term engagement and closer control, and potential weaknesses, such as nepotism and conflicts of interest. The Nordic countries provide an interesting context for this study, as the research question has not yet been widely explored in the region. Additionally, the variety of corporate governance models, strong anti-corruption practices, and the high number of family-owned firms make this location particularly suitable for the research. The objectives of this study are to evaluate whether family ownership results in better financial performance compared to nonfamily firms and to contribute to the ongoing debate on this topic. For this analysis, I studied a range of publicly listed companies from different industries and of different sizes in the Nordic countries. The study analyzes firm performance (ROA, ROE, and Tobin’s Q) by applying a two-way fixed effects model, which controls for unobserved heterogeneity across years and industries. In addition, I controlled for risk, size, and age of the firms to obtain the most robust and reliable results on the effect of family ownership. The results confirm that family-owned firms outperform non-family-owned firms on operational metrics, but there is no evidence of superior performance in terms of valuation. This suggests that characteristics of family ownership, such as the stronger alignment of shareholder and management interests, may contribute to improved operational performance, even though markets may not assign a higher valuation to these firms. In brief, this study adds to the ongoing discussion about the influence of family ownership on firm performance, offering important insights for Nordic investors, policymakers and business leaders. - The Impact of Euribor Interest Rates on Finnish Residential Housing Market
School of Business | Bachelor's thesis(2024) Salo, JarkkoThis thesis studied the relationship between Euribor interest rates and Finnish apartment prices across six major cities: Helsinki, Espoo-Kauniainen, Vantaa, Tampere, Turku, and Oulu. Utilizing multiple linear regression models and controlling for macroeconomic variables such as GDP growth, inflation, and past price appreciation, the research aimed to investigate whether interest rates could serve as a predictive tool for movements in the Finnish apartment housing market. The findings confirmed that interest rates play a significant role in determining apartment prices, particularly in highly urbanized areas like Helsinki and EspooKauniainen, where higher liquidity and greater reliance on debt instruments amplify the effects of interest rate changes. The significant impact of lagged variables highlighted the inherent sluggishness of the real estate market in reacting to economic changes and the momentum-driven nature of the Finnish housing market, with past price appreciation emerging as a dominant predictor of housing price movements. The study also revealed city-level variations in market responsiveness. Smaller cities like Turku and Oulu displayed a more gradual influence from Euribor interest rates and other economic control variables, indicating that local economic conditions may play a more substantial role in influencing housing demand in these regions. This contrast underscores the complex nature of the Finnish housing market, where urban centres are predominantly shaped by macroeconomic factors and speculation, while smaller cities are more sensitive to localized economic growth and trends. While the study provides meaningful insights while contributing to limited existing literature, it acknowledges its limitations such as the exclusion of certain variables like building permits, regional policy measures, and other localized factors, which limit the generalisation value of the analysis. Future research could expand by incorporating a broader range of variables to provide a more comprehensive understanding of housing market dynamics. In conclusion, this study reaffirms the critical role of Euribor interest rates in influencing Finnish apartment prices and underscores the importance of incorporating lagged variables and the momentum effects in Finnish real estate price modelling. - Any magic left in domestic cup competitions? Comparative Success of Teams Across League Tiers in the FA Cup, DFB-Pokal, and Coppa Italia
School of Business | Bachelor's thesis(2024) Ihalainen, AaronFor many people, football is the greatest and most glorious sport. This thesis examines domestic football in three great footballing nations – England, Germany and Italy. More specifically it delves to the traditional domestic cup competitions of these three nations. FA Cup, DFB-Pokal and Coppa Italia are examined. Even more specifically, the focus is in matches where the teams playing are from different league levels. The format of the study is a data analysis with a literature review included. The main research question for the thesis is “How do football teams from different league levels compare in competitive matches?”. I analyse what have been the outcomes in the cup matches between teams on a range from first to eighth division. The secondary research question is “How does football in England, Germany and Italy differ from each other in terms of the results in cross division matches?”. After looking at matches from the three competitions and after analysing the results I compare the possible differences between English, German and Italian domestic football. This thesis only includes matches from the three competitions mentioned earlier, possible friendlies or other matches are not included in the analysis. The tournament editions that are analysed in this study are the cups from the ten previous football seasons, from 2014-15 to 2023 24. The qualifying rounds for the FA Cup are also excluded, as the format is different in Germany and Italy, so the data would not be comparable. There is not (or at least the author was not able to find) any previous literature about this exact topic. There are a lot of data analytical studies regarding football, but they are done from other perspectives. Since there is no previous literature regarding match outcomes in domestic competitions, the only thing to dispute is the public opinion. The public opinion naturally is that the teams in higher divisions succeed on average in their games against lower division teams. The results of this study hopefully confirm or undermine that opinion. The data source for this paper was Wikipedia, as it was found to be the best source to get decently formatted data about all the competitions. From Wikipedia the data was pasted to Microsoft Excel, where data was half-manually edited to suitable form. The data analysis and calculations were then done in RStudio. RStudio was used to calculate some indicators and combine the data from different nations. The end products of the data analysis are tables and graphs answering the main and secondary research questions. The results of the data analysis were quite expected. The teams from the higher division level had a better win ratio than their lower division opponent in every divisional pairing. That was the case in the combined data and also individually in England, Germany and Italy. - The Role of ESG in M&A Announcement Returns: Global Analysis from 2002 to 2023
School of Business | Bachelor's thesis(2024) Kivistö, JuhaThis thesis investigates the relationship between environmental, social, and governance (ESG) scores and acquirer announcement returns. Using a sample of 1,044 transactions from 2002 to 2023, it examines the link between ESG metrics and cumulative abnormal returns (CARs) around the announcement date for acquirers. For the full sample, the mean return is significant (0.39%), but ESG score grouping produce mixed results. By dividing the sample into pre- and postfinancial crisis periods, the results show that high ESG acquirers consistently perform better in the post-crisis period. When analyzing ESG dimensions individually, the governance score emerges as particularly significant in both periods. These findings align with prior research, such as Deng et al. (2013) on corporate social responsibility (CSR) and Masulis et al. (2007) on governance, highlighting the role of ESG in acquirer returns. The results remain similar after accounting for deal and firm characteristics. - A disambiguation of the role of consumer communities in fashion consumption
School of Business | Bachelor's thesis(2024) Remes, KalleThe many ways that social consumers interact in the marketplace have been a major interest in international marketing research in the past few decades, and have been used to explain some of the social aspects of fashion consumption. However, the findings of this research appear fragmented, with the academic field missing a clear typology of the effects that membership in consumer communities have on consumer behavior in the context of fashion, with which to compare consumer behavior between members of different communities. The writer of this thesis aims to help streamline future marketing research by providing a comprehensive typology on the effects of membership in consumer communities on fashion consumption by adapting the fashion self-concept -framework to explain different dimensions of consumer motivations. In this thesis, the three distinct kinds of consumer communities are defined by the author, along with a set of defining characteristics which affect consumer behavior within those groups. Then, the concepts of symbolic consumption and extended self are addressed to lay a foundation for understanding the way that consumers use fashion to construct their personal and social identities. The framework of the fashion self-concept is then introduced, and used to address the lack of a comparative framework for analyzing fashion consumption. Finally, the author uses the four key areas of fashion self-concept to create a comparative analysis on how membership in different consumer groups affects different dimensions of consumer motivation. In concluding this thesis, the findings are outlined in a visualization of the typology of effects consumer communities have on fashion consumption. The managerial implications and academic uses for this framework are then discussed, and the limitations of research alongside opportunities for future research are identified. - Effect of temporary VAT suspension on local public transport in Finland
School of Business | Bachelor's thesis(2025) Sinisalo, KimmoDuring the post-Covid-19 recovery period in 2023 Finland suspended the 10% VAT for public transport for 4 months. The different implementations of the discount in otherwise similar urban regions created an experimental setup for analysing the demand effects from a temporary price reduction. The study looks at the expected and observed results of the campaign in light of literature on the price elasticity of demand in local public transport and recent studies about changes in PT demand during and after the Covid-19 pandemic. Despite a promising setup for DiD analysis with a clear treatment group and control group of PT regions, the empirical results of a small positive net effect after the campaign are neither plausible nor statistically significant. The effect of pricing changes is overwhelmed in the data by the strong underlying recovery growth in all regions. The literature review identifies recently observed changes in travel behaviour and modal choice that suggest older models for predicting PT demand using own-price elasticity are now in need of updates considering new modal factors, such as inertia in use of car, and permanent changes in patterns of commuting trips and local travel demand. The cost efficiency of fare discounts as policy for increasing ridership is found questionable, unless modal choice for PT supported by improvement of level-of-service attributes. - Johdon viestinnän vaikutus psykologiseen turvallisuuteen muutosprosessissa
School of Business | Bachelor's thesis(2025) Do Minh, HangTämä opinnäytetyö tarkastelee johdon viestinnän vaikutusta työntekijöiden kokemaan psykologiseen turvallisuuteen muutosprosessien aikana. Tutkielmaa ohjaa tutkimuskysymys: ”Miten johdon viestintätyyli muutosprosessissa vaikuttaa työntekijöiden kokemaan psykologiseen turvallisuuteen?”. Tutkielma toteutettiin kirjallisuuskatsauksena, hyödyntäen henkilöstöjohtamista, sovellettua psykologiaa ja viestintää käsittelevien kansainvälisten akateemisten lehtien ja kirjojen aineistoja. Tulokset osoittavat, että johdon viestinnällä on keskeinen rooli työntekijöiden psykologisen turvallisuuden rakentamisessa ja ylläpitämisessä, erityisesti muutostilanteissa, joissa epävarmuus ja pelot voivat heikentää työyhteisön ilmapiiriä. Näin ollen johdon viestintätaitojen kehittäminen ja muutosviestinnän huolellinen suunnittelu ovat avainasemassa onnistuneen ja turvallisen muutoksen mahdollistamisessa. - Challenges of ESG Investing: Between Ethical Intentions and Practical Limitations
School of Business | Bachelor's thesis(2024) Abibo Baptista Balde, DaniThis thesis investigates the challenges of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) investing, focusing on how investors use ESG data to make invesment decisions and the impact of issues like greenwashing and fragmented sustainability reporting on investment credibility and outcomes. A structured literature review and a performance analysis of mutual funds is conducted to explore the rise, complexities, and limitations of ESG as an investment model. The findings reveal that while ESG investing aligns with ethical and sustainability goals, it faces significant barriers, including inconsistent reporting standards, greenwashing, and financial trade-offs. The paper underscores the need for transparent ESG practices and standardized reporting frameworks to improve decisionmaking and investor trust. This research contributes to increase the understanding of ESG’s role in the financial markets and it provides actionable insights for improving the credibility and effectiveness of sustainable investing practices. - Varallisuus ja eriarvoisuus - Taloustieteen näkökulma
School of Business | Bachelor's thesis(2024) Lindberg, SaraTämä opinnäytetyö tutkii varallisuuden ja taloudellisen eriarvoisuuden jakautumista Suomessa vuosina 1987–2019. Tutkimusmenetelmä on kirjallisuuskatsaus, jossa hyödynnetään kansainvälisiä tutkimusartikkeleja ja suomalaisia tilastoja sekä niistä tehtyjä analyysejä. Tutkimusten tulokset osoittavat, että varallisuus on jakautunut epätasaisesti Suomessa, mutta kansainvälisesti verrattuna varallisuus ei ole erityisen keskittynyttä. Varallisuuserot Suomessa kasvoivat merkittävästi 1990-luvun lopulla tuloerojen kasvun myötä. Kotitalouksien varallisuudesta suurin osa koostuu asunnoista ja rahoitusvarallisuudesta, mutta varakkaimmat kotitaloudet hallitsevat suurinta osaa rahoitusvarallisuudesta. Työ tuo esiin myös varallisuuden mittaamisen haasteet, kuten puutteelliset aineistot ja tietojen kattavuuden ongelmat. Suomessa ei ole käytössä enää varallisuusveroa ja siksi Tilastokeskus tutkii varallisuutta tekemällä varallisuustutkimuksia muutamien vuosien välein. Tutkimusmenetelmien kehittäminen ja kattavampien aineistojen kehittäminen on tulevaisuudessa keskeistä, jotta varallisuuserojen pitkän aikavälin vaikutuksia esimerkiksi talouskasvuun ja hyvinvointiin voidaan ymmärtää ja arvioida luotettavammin. - Insider Advantage? Examining Excess Returns in Investments Linked to U.S. House Committees
School of Business | Bachelor's thesis(2025) Mattson, DanielThis study investigates the performance of investments made by the members of the House of Representatives. More specifically the links between politicians’ committee assignments and investments into industries under those committees’ legislative power are analysed. Although some of the portfolios that were constructed managed to generate slightly higher returns than the market index overall, the results do not show any strong evidence for insider trading in the House due to the lack of statistical significance. The lack of significant alphas suggests that investments made by the House members in industries under their committees’ jurisdiction do not systematically generate excess returns beyond market and factor exposures. - AI's impact on wage inequality and skill premium
School of Business | Bachelor's thesis(2024) Shogin, IliaIn the past decade, AI technology has spread rapidly across companies in different sectors, and generative AI models such as ChatGPT have gained enormous popularity among the masses. However, the impact of AI on the labor market is non-trivial, as it differs from previous technological changes. In this paper, I will investigate how AI impacts wage inequality and skill premium, and how this affects different occupations. Based on recent literature, I conclude that the exposure to automation is distributed more equally across workers in comparison to pre-AI technologies. Research on the topic is only emerging and predictions of the outcomes still vary significantly. Nevertheless, AI can provide opportunities for lowskill workers, and this is the path institutions, policy makers and researchers should focus on. - The Influence of Rational and Irrational Factors on Consumer Choice of a Private Healthcare Provider
School of Business | Bachelor's thesis(2025) Lempiäinen, LauraChoosing a private healthcare provider is a complex decision-making process influenced by rational and irrational factors. This thesis aims to understand the factors that shape consumer behavior when selecting a private healthcare provider. Moreover, it focuses on the challenges and barriers consumers face and the role of emotional and psychological influences. The method used for this thesis is a literature review, which synthesizes findings from the existing studies and theories. The research highlights that rational considerations like the cost of healthcare, waiting times, previous care experience, and recommendations are critical. However, emotional, and psychological factors, such as perceived risk, fear of regret, and cognitive overload, often complicate decision-making. These multiple factors affecting the choice of healthcare provider can sometimes lead to delays in treatment or nonoptimal decisions for the consumer. The findings provide valuable insights of patient decision-making process and encourages the private healthcare providers to assist consumers in making informed decisions. Although the study is not region-specific, it is particularly relevant to the Finnish private healthcare sector. - From Growth to Fragility: Analyzing the Dual Impacts of Banking Com petition
School of Business | Bachelor's thesis(2024) Tuominen, TomasThis literature review examines the impact of banking competition on financial stability and economic growth, looking at theoretical and empirical studies done on the topic. The findings indicate that while increased competition boosts efficiency and growth, it can also lead to riskier lending practices, potentially undermining financial stability. This literature review underscores the need for effective regulatory frameworks to maintain economic stability, while encouraging competition. - Risk Mitigation in Sponsoring Global Sporting Events
School of Business | Bachelor's thesis(2024) Annaniemi, KerkkoThis thesis aims to identify the risks associated with the sponsorship of global sporting events and find ways to mitigate them. This objective is to be achieved based on the existing literature. Evaluating the risks of sponsorship requires a solid foundation in its fundamental principles. Sponsorship is recognized as an effective marketing strategy; it can increase brand visibility, foster emotional ties, build consumer loyalty, and increase sales. Sponsorship of sporting events is perceived to be highly effective because it involves high levels of emotion, which sponsors seek to transfer to their brand during the event. The most common risks associated with sponsorship are reputational, ethical, legal, and financial. Sponsorship risks are rarely isolated but often interact with each other, increasing the negative consequences of the risks. The study's key finding is that a "perfect fit" between sponsor and event must be achieved for sponsorship to be most effective and for the associated risks to be effectively mitigated. A perfect fit combine’s event and sponsor fit, emotional appeal, and product relevance. This thesis will highlight two case studies, Coca-Cola's long-term Olympic sponsorship and Adidas' behavior in the FIFA scandals. These cases illustrate effective risk management and lessons learned from failures. This study also presents practical recommendations that emphasize prioritizing long-term sponsorships, using measurement tools such as ROI and KPIs, and integrating ethical considerations into sponsorship strategies. This thesis offers actionable insights that can help brands optimize their sponsorship performance while reducing risk in global sporting events. - Samastamisen edellytykset suomalaisessa oikeusjärjestyksessä
School of Business | Bachelor's thesis(2024) Parkkari, AarniTyössä käsitellään samastamista eli osakyhtiölain mukaisen erillisyysperiaatteen sivuuttamista suomalaisessa oikeusjärjestyksessä. Työssä käydään läpi samastamisen edellytyksiä sekä periaattellista pohjaa. - Outcome uncertainty and other match specific factors affecting attendance at women’s football in Finland
School of Business | Bachelor's thesis(2025) Niinikangas, JaloOfficials of women’s football attempt to increase stadium atendances by implementing reforms in the highest national competition. On top of generating gate revenue, fans at stadiums are crucial part of the product offered by Finnish National League. By understanding determinants of attendance demand, executives can improve the attractiveness of their competition. This thesis aims to explain variation in attendance by studying match specific factors. The goal is to identify determinants and their effects, with special focus on uncertainty of outcome (UO). Focusing on the effect of UO enables to understand preferences of fans; whether they enjoy witnessing balanced matchups or see their team dominate. Findings are mostly in line with results from similar studies from other leagues. Higher temperature is suggested to have positive effect on attendance, while distance between teams decreases it. If a match is played indoors, it sees lower attendance, ceteris paribus. On the other hand, the first matches of season and matches in higher final series attract more attendance. Some evidence for the positive effect of uncertainty on attendance is found. However, results suggest also a concave relationship between expectations for home team success and attendance. In conclusion, findings justify conducted and planned policy reforms of National League. - Understanding competitiveness of SMEs during Industry 5.0
School of Business | Bachelor's thesis(2024) Honkanen, AnttiThis thesis examines the competitiveness of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the context of Industry 4.0 and the anticipated transition to Industry 5.0. SMEs, which play a critical role in the economy, face significant challenges in adopting advanced technologies due to limited resources and access to skilled labor. Through a literature review and analysis using the Technology-Organization-Environment (TOE) framework, this study identifies how the increasing complexity and resource demands of Industry 5.0 technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), may deepen the competitive gap between SMEs and multinational enterprises (MNEs). While Industry 5.0 emphasizes human-centricity, sustainability, and resilience, SMEs may need to focus on niche markets to maintain competitiveness. The findings highlight the importance of supportive policies and strategic planning to help SMEs navigate this industrial transformation.