This thesis presents a system called RETRO, which has the capability of solving a number of retrograde-analysis chess problems of varying degrees of difficulty. Retrograde-analysis problems are exercises in deductive reasoning, entirely different from conventional 'mate-in-n-moves' chess problems, their nature being such that any type of question, together with perhaps an assortment of associated initial conditions, may be presented to the solver, whilst their solution lies in asking pertinent questions at each step of the deduction process. The aim has been to investigate the extent to which the deduction of past events may direct attention to these questions, a key concept being that of a 'Significant Event' (SE), which is an event of significance that must have occurred at some time in the history of the game. An SE is akin to a frame, the usual slots being replaced by the questions that the SE prompts, to which the answers may either provide a solution to the original problem or point to another SE, together with its association questions. It is shown that a small number of SEs possess widespread application. RETRO maintains an explicit knowledge base of rules, grouped according to function, which are used both by the SEs and the system. This knowledge base is designed for easy amendment. RETRO also maintains an explanation facility, which provides an account of its deductions, including a listing of rules utilised. A number of examples are presented which demonstrate the effectiveness of the SE approach. There is also a discussion as to how the concept may be expanded, and its possible limitations.

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This study was conducted to look at the impact of Multinational Enterprises (MNE’s) and their Role in Economic Development as in the case of the Gambia and specifically the telecommunication sector. Results of the study show that contribution by the Multinational Enterprises (MNE’s) in economic development of the country goes beyond enhancing the level of competition. The Gambia Telecommunication sector had got a robust way of partnership between competing companies which has gone a long way in increasing the productivity of the telecom companies’ service delivery, fast innovation, adapting newer technologies in order to stay relevant in the competition. Multinational Enterprises (MNE’s)as are a huge development partner to the Gambia government as a matter of fact it makes them a reality that will stay within the country for a foreseeable future as means to complement government efforts whiles the environment remain conducive. We are in the generation where countries that have been taken advantage of to start working on improving the way they do business for the rapid economic development and the faster they do it the better it is. The world have globalized and investors have no barriers to where they will invest as far as there are business opportunities and for that reason multination companies have penetrated across the globe and developing markets has been a concentration for those companies in recent times and the Gambia is not an exception. This would lead them into further grazing their way into the inner workings of weak governments and increase their socio-politico-cultural influences. However, the growing trend of the of multinational companies shouldn’t be given a blind eye as they have both positive and negative impacts in those developing economies. Instead policies have to be put into place to better utilize them as those developing countries sees them. Foreign capital is one amongst the first catalyst of encouraging development. The influence of Multinational Enterprises (MNE’s has always been a topic of discussion in Africa especially to the Gambia because of the role they play in economic development of those countries. Developing nations need to grow more indigenous ventures that can compete on a worldwide scale, in a market loaded with many foreign players. This is impossible if local businesses are considered infant ventures and given subsidies so they could play safe, rather they ought to be compelled to reveal the best of them, which would empower them to build their ability. Less developed nations should concentrate inside and enhance fundamental zones, to better go up against multinationals and keep them from commanding the market. This can only be done if they are made to come to economies of scale and plan on operating on a global scale, rather within the confines of a few local markets.

Consumption is a process of consumers selecting and using goods and services. It is influenced by external elements such as cultural, social and economic factors, but also a consumer’s own internal preferences, values and motivation. In the past decades, rapidly accelerated globalization and technological evolvements, among other major changes in societies, have developed the overall consumer behavior. In this thesis consumption is considered especially from the point of view of fashion. The thesis examines the attitudes and meanings consumers have towards fashion and how the developing digitalization effects on their fashion experience. In this thesis, fashion consuming is pictured as an ongoing process which is triggered by all the time developing new trends. The fashion experience is seen highly affected by digital solutions. As a theoretical framework, there is used a modified version of EKB decision model. The empirical research of this thesis is conducted with a qualitative research method and all together seven Finnish consumers were interviewed. Fashion has evolved along consumption and today it takes a large portion of the topic. Fashion is more than just a clothing as it represents a sociological phenomenon which concerns several consumers. Over the last centuries and decades fashion has transformed from slowly changing dresses into fast phased garments. From today’s fashion types, fast fashion stands as the most purchased one, however, due to its bad quality and unethicality, it is also the most unvalued. The meaning of fashion depends on the interest consumers have towards it. In this thesis, three types of fashion consumers were considered; 1) fashion forerunners, 2) fashion followers and 3) consumers with no interest in fashion. In the research all the mentioned fashion consumers are represented. The major differences between these fashion consumers were the extent fashion was followed and the frequency new clothing was purchased. Digitalization is a big part of fashion consumers’ everyday lives. Online shopping has become beside the traditional brick-and-mortar shopping, and it has grown its popularity. The most valued benefit of online shopping is convenience, whereas brick-and-mortar stores offer face-to-face service and physicality. Digitalization overall has changed the fashion shopping experience but it also effects on consumers’ way to follow fashion, which has turned into more social media centered.

The university role in society and economy is currently shifting from mere education and science to applied research and academic entrepreneurship. Highly competitive universities tend to signal about their entrepreneurial orientation by increasing rate of commercialization of the researches, technologies and inventions created by scholars within the institution. Nevertheless, despite this trend being very powerful nowadays, there are multiple hurdles in a way to successful commercialization. Certain criteria are required to transfer research or technology from university to industry which can be categorized in individual/inventor, institutional, technology and market perspectives. This research is mainly concentrated on studying commercialization of science based technological inventions from the market or business model perspectives. It also suggests that business model could be used by academic entrepreneurs and technology transfer offices as an effective tool to evaluate business opportunity created by the invention and endeavors to prove this suggestion on practice. In addition, this thesis reviews academic literature and provides in-depth view on following topics: university research commercialization and academic entrepreneurship, business model and business opportunity to build theoretical background for further analysis. The empirical part of the research was carried out on the ground of real case of commercialization project conducted within University of Oulu aiming to commercialize 3D solid-state laser scanner and create a university spin-off with this technology as main asset. The study follows qualitative approach based on action research. Selected method is especially beneficial in analyzing data collected during multiple meetings and discussions of project team in a period spanning around six months. The findings of the research revealed that examining the commercialization opportunity of science based technological invention is not an easy task — the evaluation process can be time consuming and requires comprehensive market research on each business opportunity. Proposed business model framework can be used to evaluate and, thus, identify most promising commercialization opportunities created by university based technologies, but under certain conditions. First, important market information on each application area should be available, so researchers should engage themselves into active information search from early stages. Second, real data from potential customers is required especially in case of emerging industry domains in order to answer the main questions making the evaluation process by academic entrepreneur possible — can the opportunity be considered as feasible and desirable. Addressing these queries carries predictive and very subjective nature, but positive assessment enables decision making, thus, being extremely important in entrepreneurship.

This study aims at finding out how ecosystems affect the development of startups. This is a current topic because startups are a prominent phenomenon, the development and growth of which studies have not been able to fully describe or explain so far. Furthermore, it has been noted that more research should be aimed at providing insights and guidelines for startup managers on how to grow their company, especially in the international markets. We are looking at the business ecosystem because it is a good way of describing the complex business environment of the startups today. By looking at the ecosystem that the startup is a part of, we can find out how the characteristics and interactions, as well as other actors and their actions can affect the development of a startup. Therefore, we need close observations on the ecosystem. The study approaches the startup development from a case study point of view and utilizes qualitative interview data as its primary source for analysis. The interviews are recorded and transcribed and the transcription coded. Within case analysis is utilized to get a more comprehensive and reliable understanding of the phenomenon. This study supports the view that ecosystems are important for startups and can offer them opportunities for development. It is noted that startups should take the ecosystem realities into consideration when strategizing and planning the activities and actions of the company. The specific ecosystem structures and ways of interaction and participation are important indicators on how a startup should participate in the ecosystem, what kind of information is available, what areas are to pursue and with what kind of strategies. It is also noted that different ecosystem actors, also other than for-profit companies, can be important for company development in the ecosystem. All, in all, the study offers support to the notion that business ecosystems are important these days, and that startups can benefit from knowing, participating in, and adjusting to these ecosystems. The results of this study can be used by startup managers to gain insights for planning and strategizing. The results can be used as guidance on what the managers should take into consideration when entering new international markets, but also point out the ways in which the ecosystem can affect the company development. The results can be generalized to some extent, even though this is a case study into a certain ecosystem and a certain startup as a part of that ecosystem.

Currently, more and more Chinese tourists choose to have outbound tourism as a way to relax themselves from daily stressful work. The purchasing power of Chinese tourists is noticeable, so that they strongly boost local economy and promote the development of tourism industry. Consequently, an increasingly number of countries realize the great potential of Chinese tourists and take measures to attract Chinese tourists. Finnish government also make great efforts to attract more Chinese tourists, such as setting up more visa centers in China and strengthening the marketing of Finland from tourism perspective by launching many campaigns. Accordingly, this thesis is aimed to contribute to the branding of Finland as a destination to attract more Chinese tourists. The thesis has a very solid theoretical background. It is supported by numerous previous academic achievements and main schools of thoughts in its field, featured by relational network destination branding model, image forming agents’ theory, framework of destination competitiveness. Many related concepts have been mentioned under the three main ideas, structured by destination branding, destination image, destination competitiveness. From this perspective, the thesis exhibits the comprehensive understanding of past literatures and paves the way to the empirical study. The study applies to in-depth interviews to collect data. The interviewee can be classified as two groups. One is from the actual tourists, the other is from practitioners who work in Finnish tourism bureau and are responsible with marketing Finland as the destination. The common findings are expected to generate in the aspect of Chinese tourists and Finland as a destination. Since this thesis is abductive by nature, a new model of destination branding process is proposed to enrich the knowledge in this field. It acknowledges the great importance of Word- of-Mouth in the process of destination branding and connects destination competitiveness with destination branding. Moreover, the study figures out how the destination branding of Finland is conducted in China and examines the effect of current destination branding channels. Suggestions have been proposed in order to get an effective destination branding, represented by expanding the content of destination branding, building psychological link between Chinese tourists and Finland as destination, strengthening the cooperation with destination management organizations. This study has not only theoretical implication in destination branding research field, but also it offers practical and adaptable tools to improve the tourism development of Finland to Chinese tourists.

The purpose of this master’s thesis is to enter into the context of service sector internationalization in Finland by examining one Finnish multinational enterprise offering professional services for consulting and planning. The company under my examination is FCG Finnish Consulting Group Ltd. (FCG) and international operations of the company are mainly focused on international development consultancy sector. In the beginning of 2016 FCG established the new subsidiary in Singapore to offer the best Nordic and international expertise to a growing number of clients in Asian development consultancy markets. The Singapore office has been running in full effect since summer 2016 and it’s derived by Finnish and Chinese employees and managers. The Singapore office is meant to work as an Asian hub that allows FCG to work closely with already existing and future customers in Asia. The goal of this master’s thesis is to research the market position legitimacy of FCG in Asia. The study will focus on the processes that in the early phase of internationalization affect the FCG’s position in the Asian markets and how these processes eventually legitimize FCG to be reliable operator in the market and end up overcoming the entry barriers. The research represents the qualitative research tradition in international business studies. In this master’s thesis the empirical primary data was collected through two semi-structured interviews. The secondary data consists of written documents and reports forming the framework for FCG’s international business and international development consultancy industry. With the systematic qualitative analysis this research offer holistic picture about researched phenomenon. The competitive bidding process and especially high requirements for previous references from previous development projects were identified to be crucial element in achieving market position legitimacy. Primary networks between consultancy firm and international development financiers and international professionals working for the development projects appear to be central networks affecting market position legitimacy formation. Also secondary networks between competitors and local governmental actors in project target countries are identified to have role in legitimacy formation. Mutual trust between consultancy actor and international development financiers creates organizational legitimacy for consultancy firms in new markets and local presence and high quality works carried out in previous projects affect the legitimacy formation. The results of this research can be used in managing and coordinating internationalization processes in international development consultancy sector. The findings are useful for also other type businesses in which public and highly structured and regulated bidding processes determine the transactions.

Nowadays, the great importance of tourism and its impact on the wide range of aspects of progress and globalization, development and international relations promotion does not ask for argumentations. The responsibility of providing this impact lays on every company in the sector: in addition to making profit, enterprises are in charge of satisfying the customers. Furthermore, the key mean to reaching these goals is to be found in experiences that people are so keen on receiving. Consequently, companies representing the tourism industry must focus on creating the best possible experiences, which will ensure them satisfied visitors, who will be willing to return again, and again. Theoretically the discussion is supported by the experience economy theory, which performs as a solid base to investigate the phenomenon of customer satisfaction. However, since the topic is multifaceted and should be analyzed appropriately, the study refers also to such notions as service quality, marketing destination and brand. Additionally, the issues connected to cross-cultural differences cannot be omitted while considering a company that belongs to tourism industry, and therefore serves the international flow of customers. The study is devoted to the exploration of customer satisfaction in an entertainment park in Finland, with the focus on visitors from Russia. The goals and objectives of the research were possible to be realized by using interviews and observation as methods of the study. In total 16 groups of people (mostly families) participated in data collection. The questionnaire was structured around three main topics: expectations from holidays, experience in the Park and Finnish Lapland as a touristic destination, therefore enabled to form a detailed understanding of the four realms of the experience, service quality, destination brand and marketing. Thus, the data analysis allowed evaluating current customer satisfaction level in the organization and offering the recommendations for developing it in the future seasons. The study contributes to customer satisfaction, tourism and cross-cultural research. The results of this research demonstrate the complexity of the analyzed phenomenon and endeavor to present the relation and mutual influence of the simultaneously considered notions. Thus, four realms of experiences appear to have different importance for the interviewed audience and therefore influenced the overall satisfaction accordingly. Next, service quality was planned to be measured on the base of expectations, but the insufficient amount of them led to the conclusion that it is not possible to rely only on expectations in this case. However, the ones that were discovered should be carefully followed in the developing of the services and customer satisfaction in general, in the future. Lastly, the insights about the perception of Lapland and opinion of the brand retrieved from the target group, can be used for improving the destination facilities, infrastructure and overall image, as well as correcting the destination marketing strategy.