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Accelerated patenting of environmentally friendly inventions from the perspective of SMEs This article examines the potential of accelerated patent examination, the so-called fast track system, to incentivise the development and diffusion of environmentally friendly technologies. The fast track system is one of the few universally adopted IPR-related measures to incentivise the innovation of environmentally friendly technologies, and several national intellectual property offices around the world have introduced different applications of the system. The article analyses various national applications of the system and the system’s merits and weaknesses particularly relative to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as they have a notable potential for sustainable innovations. Based on the analysis, the article assesses possibilities to develop the system into greater efficiency when it comes to innovation and deployment of environmentally friendly technology. The article finds that the fast track system per se is an appropriate tool to accelerate the development and diffusion of environmentally friendly technologies. However, the attractiveness and thus the societal benefits of the system could be increased by improving the present systems. This could mean, for example, unifying national requirements set for different fast track systems, lighter procedural requirements or substantive requirements aimed expressly at environmentally friendly technologies. Additionally, binding elements could be included in exchange for strong additional incentives. Particularly for SMEs, it might be beneficial to lower patenting costs and include counselling and guidance in the system. Nevertheless, the fast track system is only one means among others to integrate sustainability approaches in the intellectual property system.

Auditors have an important role in corporate governance, but they are not part of a firm’s management, which consists of the board and the chief executive officer or the general manager. They are not, legally speaking, ‘agents’ for the members of the firm either, although they are often elected by members. On the other hand, auditors are not agents for the management either, despite their fees being based on a contract between themselves and the management – acting on behalf of the firm – whose work they scrutinize. In the case of firms with societal importance in particular, they are seen as guardians of public interests, albeit not directly, by communities of people and institutions relying on auditors’ work (including the state in its many roles). They are also seen as guardians of public interests in a more abstract way, given that auditing contributes to the reliability and orderly functioning of markets and society generally by enhancing the integrity and efficiency of corporate information. In this way, auditors fulfil a particularly important societal role. This role can be also seen as one that ensures accountability to a firm’s non-member constituencies. In these roles, they have an important role in following up on the compliance of rules that ensure good corporate governance. Traditionally, research into auditing in corporate governance has focused on how corporate governance affects auditing, rather than how auditing affects corporate governance. However, the abovementioned regulatory framework shows that the role of external auditors reflects the increasing focus on corporate governance and internal control on the part of companies and regulators, and also the heterogeneousness of the auditor role. In this chapter, I discuss in more detail the different roles of auditors in governance of different kinds of firms, both large and small, multinational and local. What is common to all firms is the auditors’ task of maintaining both the cooperation of the management and their oversight, or in other words, the informal and formal role of auditors in corporate governance structures. I limit the discussion here to external auditors, although internal audits and compliance are no less important. Indeed, successful management requires both. I pay special attention to auditors as overseers of firm management, how they fulfil this role in different kinds of firms, the kind of regulatory framework within which this role is fulfilled and what effect their involvement is likely to have on corporate governance. The main question to be answered is whether the auditors are enhancing good corporate governance and whether this could be done (even) better. The latter part of the question is approached through discussion of the scope of the audit, for example, will it be focused on financial reports only or will the auditors also audit reports on management, governance, environmental and social impact of undertakings. The focus in in this chapter is on European Union legislation on audit and auditors, including the European Commission proposal for a directive on sustainability reporting, expanding the duties of auditors to encompass audits of sustainability reports. Keywords: Audit, Auditors, Auditing, Corporate Law, Company Law, Corporate Governance, European Union, EU Law

Kvinne-, kjønns- og likestillingsperspektiver på retten har en lang tradisjon som forskningsfelt på Det juridiske fakultet ved Universitetet i Oslo. Retten regulerer rettigheter og plikter, rettsvern og straff – den kan skape, opprettholde og endre samfunnets fordeling av makt og ressurser mellom individer og grupper. En viktig del av samfunnsoppdraget til juristutdanningen er å skape forståelse for hvordan rettslige strukturer, regler og avgjørelser kan føre til – eller motvirke – ulikhet og diskriminering. Denne boken bringer ulike typer kjønnsperspektiv inn i en rekke av fagene som inngår i rettsvitenskapen. Artiklene omfatter både privatrettslige og offentligrettslige emner, som familierett, forvaltningsrett, velferdsrett, avtalerett, selskapsrett og strafferett. Boken inneholder også kjønnsperspektiv på tverrgående fag som rettsfilosofi, rettssosiologi, kriminologi, rettsøkonomi og yrkesetikk for jurister. Kjønn og rett: Kvinne-, kjønns- og likestillingsperspektiver i jusstudiet er skrevet primært med tanke på jusstudenter, men er relevant for alle som interesserer seg for forholdet mellom juss, kjønn, samfunn og politikk.

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The existing studies of mutual organizations help us understand what it means at the strategic level for an insurance company to be owned by its customers. At the same time, there is limited literature illustrating what customer ownership means at the operations level and how operative activities contribute to achieving the strategic goals. By taking a managerial perspective, we explore and identify how managers of mutual insurance companies understand and communicate the influence of customer ownership in organizing operative support activities. For a thematic analysis of annual reports, we identified 18 mutual insurers in seven different countries (Finland, Ireland, The Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, UK, and United States). As the first a"empt to provide analytical meaning and approach to managing support activities in a customer-owned mutual company, the findings point to several new and interesting research avenues, and they informed the creation of a tentative framework that mutual insurance managers can exploit.

The existing studies of mutual organizations help us understand what it means at the strategic level for an insurance company to be owned by its customers. At the same time, there is limited literature illustrating what customer ownership means at the operations level and how operative activities contribute to achieving the strategic goals. By taking a managerial perspective, we explore and identify how managers of mutual insurance companies understand and communicate the influence of customer ownership in organizing operative support activities. For a thematic analysis of annual reports, we identified 18 mutual insurers in seven different countries (Finland, Ireland, The Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, UK, and United States). As the first a"empt to provide analytical meaning and approach to managing support activities in a customer-owned mutual company, the findings point to several new and interesting research avenues, and they informed the creation of a tentative framework that mutual insurance managers can exploit.

Non

Law & Economics is the hegemonic framework in mainstream corporate governance theory and praxis. It permeates how legal scholars see corporations, how they must be managed, and to which ends they should be geared to. Because large amount of power is concentrated and exercised through corporations, the fact that law & economics is both a descriptive and a normative theory has an impact on the shaping of the world. This research aims at asking: is there an alternative normative jurisprudence to law & economics in corporate governance? In order to approach this task, the methodology used is hybrid, leaning towards a hermeneutical qualitative non-doctrinal approach, inspired by the mapping and criticism analysis of Roberto Mangabeira Unger and Dworkin s interpretivism all within the greater context of critical legal theory. This allows the research to make a detailed exploration of current structures and unearth its ideological underpinnings. The research starts by pinpointing the importance of corporate governance in the context of development theory, and it dissects its ideologically charged significance within an economicist view of the world. Then, corporations are analyzed from both historical and ontological perspectives in preparation for an alternative corporate legal theory. Such a jurisprudential approach takes, first, a descriptive form, though it then evolved into a normative one, gravitating around the goal of corporate law and the contrast between the theory of the firm and political philosophy. The tenets of law & economics are then critically dissected. The main findings are that law & economics appeal arises from its sound epistemological construction. It takes off from an ethical position (i.e. utilitarianism) which then serves a methodological path (i.e. positivist empiricism), on top of which a theoretical framework is developed (i.e. neoclassical economics). Its weakness, though, consists of simplistic and erroneous elemental assumptions. Based on these findings, the research proposes an alternative to the law & economics theory of corporate governance built on top of a model which mirrors its sound epistemological construction, though centers around a normative jurisprudence analysis of individual and corporate personhood and to the core of corporations, what they really are, and what they should be used for. Yrityksillä on valtaa. Vuonna 2011 Sveitsin teknillisen yliopiston systeemiteoreetikot vertasivat maailmanlaajuista tietokantaa, joka käsitti 37 miljoonaa yritystä, tietoihin kaikkiaan 43 060 monikansallisesta yrityksestä ja näihin kytköksissä olevista osakkeenomistajista, ja saivat aikaan kaavion talouden valtarakenteista. Löydökset olivat hätkähdyttäviä: 80% verkoston omaisuudesta oli 737 yrityksen hallussa, ja niiden tuotosta 40% kertyi vain 147 yrityksen tilille. Jos yritysten tuottoja verrataan valtioiden bruttokansantuotteisiin, McDonald s on vauraampi kuin Latvia, Amazon on vauraampi kuin Kenia, Apple on vauraampi kuin Ecuador, Microsoft on vauraampi kuin Kroatia, Berkshire Hathaway on vauraampi kuin Unkari, General Electric on vauraampi kuin Uusi-Seelanti, Chevron on vauraampi kuin T ekin tasavalta ja Wal-Mart on vauraampi kuin Norja. Ei siis ole ihme, että yrityksillä on ollut merkittävä rooli kaikissa talouden mullistuksissa jo 1700-luvun Etelämeren kuplasta lähtien. Hallinnointikoodi (engl. corporate governance), on tästä syystä tähdellinen tutkimusala, ja sen luulisi herättävän vilkasta monitieteellistä keskustelua. Alaa hallitsee kuitenkin sekä teoriassa että käytännössä vain yksi koulukunta: oikeustaloustiede. Tämä tutkimus tarkastelee oikeustaloustiedettä kriittisessä valossa, pyrkii määrittämään sen vahvuudet ja heikkoudet, sekä pohtii, olisiko vaihtoehtoinen malli mahdollinen. Tulokset viittaavat siihen, että kyllä olisi. Koulukunta, joka perustuu uusklassiseen taloustieteeseen, positivistiseen empirismiin ja utilitarismiin, näkee ihmiset vain voiton maksimointiin tähtäävinä yksikköinä ja yritykset ainoastaan osakkeenomistajille heruvan voiton tuottajina. Tämä on oikeustaloustieteellisen koulukunnan selkeä vahvuus, mutta myös sen rampauttava heikkous. Oikeustaloustieteen etiikkaan pohjautuvaa teoriaa horjuttaa pelkistettyihin ja virheellisiin olettamuksiin nojautuminen. Hallinnointikoodin monitieteellinen tarkastelu sen sijaan antaa yksipuolistuneelle koulukunnalle uutta näkemystä, ja luo tieteenalalle suuresti kaivattua monimuotoisuutta. Väitöstutkimuksen päättää tähän tähtäävä teoreettinen malli.

1. Introduction The subject of this study is the tax treatment of share-based incentive schemes. The objective of the study is to establish the tax treatment of various share-based payment instruments including, among others, stock options, stock appreciation rights (SAR's), employee offerings and restricted stocks. The study covers both the tax treatment of employees and employers. The latter is more interesting as there are no earlier studies on this subject. In addition, the IFRS 2 has required the quoted companies to recognise all share-based payments at least in their consolidated accounts as of 2005. The approach of this study is primarily that of a traditional tax law study. The study considers primarily de lege lata treatment of share-based payment. However, especially concerning the tax deductibility of the share- based payments, the situation is also evaluated in the light of tax policy goals and has de lege ferenda considerations. The study includes also e.g. a wide accounting section and short company law and labour law sections. It has to be mentioned here that the Supreme Court (korkein oikeus) earlier this year found that also employee stock options are classified as salary under the labour law. The arguments used in favour of the corporate tax deduction on share-based payments are widely based on the IFRS 2. For equity-settled payment transactions, the IFRS 2 requires an entity to measure the fair value of the goods or services received, and corresponding increase in equity, either directly, at the fair value of the goods and services received, or indirectly, by reference to fair value of the equity instruments granted, whichever value is more readily determinable. 2. Corporate Tax Deduction The comparative method is used to evaluate the Finnish tax treatment especially concerning the tax deductibility of share-based payments. The countries covered in the comparison are the United States, the United Kingdom and Sweden. In each of those countries the share-based payments are generally tax-deductible. In Finland the Working Group 2005 set up by the Ministry of Finance proposed that the tax deduction on the share-based payments (other than cash payments to employees) should be totally abolished. Currently the corporate tax deduction is possible at least based on the use of old shares (in which case the tax basis of those shares is in practice deductible) or by the use of recharge by the parent company. It is, however, questionable whether the recharge based on the issue of new shares by the parent company is deductible. Just recently the Finnish Central Tax Board gave a negative advance ruling on this, but the case is now pending before the Supreme Administrative Court (korkein hallinto-oikeus). The arguments used by the Working Group were those already hammered by IASB in the past. The argument that there is no cost to the entity is unsound as every time an entity receives resources as consideration for the issue of equity instruments, there is no outflow of cash or other assets, and on every other occasion the resources received as consideration for the issue of the equity instruments are recognised in the financial statements; and the expense arises from the consumption of those resources, not from an outflow of assets. In Finland the Supreme Administrative Court has decided that the tax basis of assets received as contribution in kind is the fair market value of those assets despite the lower value potentially recorded in the accounts under the Finnish GAAP. There is no doubt that the company is able to depreciate in taxation e.g. machines and buildings received as contribution in kind. Why the situation should be any different when share-based payments are used to acquire services instead of machines? De lege ferenda, an answer may come from the state treasury. In Finland this is a question of billion euro which may even have reflections in the tax rates. In Finland the amount of earned income realised from employee stock options over the period of 1998-2005 was almost 4 billion euro. The tax deduction received by the employers is likely closer to zero than one billion euro which it should be. In the tax practice the corporate tax deduction has not been granted when new shares have been issued to employees e.g. based on employee stock options. However, this has never been tested in the court. The tax deduction can easily be received by the use of stock appreciation rights or phantom shares. There are various techniques to hedge those cash payments, either economically or in accounting or both. The whole share-based incentive scheme may also be purchased from a third party outside of the corporate group. The Ministry of Finance should look what happened in the United Kingdom and in Sweden before the corporate tax deduction was allowed. 3. Tax Treatment of Employees The taxation of restricted shares or performance shares is based on general tax rules. Based on the case-law any benefit from the subscription or purchase of shares is taxed as earned income when the subscription or purchase takes place despite any restrictions. There seems to be no differences whether those restrictions are just lock-ups or whether there is also substantial risk of forfeiture. De lege ferenda, this kind of distinction should be done as generally is the case in the United States, in the United Kingdom and in Sweden. According to the OECD report on taxation of employee stock options in cross-border situations, the employment benefit attributable to the stock option should be attributed to services performed in a particular country in proportion of the number of days during which employment has been exercised in that country to the total number of days during the employment from which the stock option is derived has been exercised (i.e. vesting period). According to the Finnish practice based on the case-law (related to the domestic law and tax treaties), the period up to the exercise of employee options has been taken into account. Under the current situation the employees may have an opportunity to choose the most beneficial method. Julkisesti noteeratuilla yhtiöillä oli Suomessa vuonna 2000 käytössä lähes 200 optio-ohjelmaa, joiden yhteenlaskettu perusarvo oli Etlan tutkimuksen mukaan elokuun 2000 lopussa lähes 6 miljardia euroa. Nykyisin julkisesti noteeratut yhtiöt laativat Suomessa vuosittain noin 40 uutta osakeperusteista kannustinjärjestelmää. Optiotulot Suomessa vuosina 1998-2005 olivat noin 3,8 miljardia euroa. Optiotuloja on verotettu palkan tavoin ansiotulona, mutta yritykset eivät ole saaneet verotuksessa vähentää työntekijöille ansiotuloksi luettua etua. IFRS 2 -standardi aiheuttaa kuitenkin julkisesti noteeratuille yrityksille optioista pakollisen kulukirjauksen kirjanpidossa. Kysymys yritysten verovähennysoikeudesta onkin merkittävä. Työsuhdeoptioiden verotukseen liittyy paljon tulkinnallisia kysymyksiä. Optio-ohjelmien lisäksi erityisesti yhdysvaltalaiset ilmiöt, kuten rajoitetut osakkeet (restricted stocks) tai muut vastaavat järjestelyt, ovat alkaneet yleistyä Suomessa. Näiden verokohtelusta ei Suomessa ole nimenomaisia säännöksiä, mutta oikeuskäytännössä erilaisten rajoitusten merkitykseen on otettu kantaa. Käsittely ei kuitenkaan monilta osin vaikuta perustellulta. Esimerkiksi rajoitetut osakkeet verotetaan normaalisti työntekijän tulona jo työntekijän saadessa osakkeet, vaikka niihin olisikin liitetty merkittäviä rajoituksia, kuten palautusvelvollisuus työntekijän erotessa tietyn ansainta-ajan kuluessa. Myös uusi osakeyhtiölaki muuttaa käytettäviin instrumentteihin liittyviä pelisääntöjä. Väitöskirjassa tarkastellaan osakeperusteisia kannustinjärjestelmiä koskevia vero-oikeudellisia säännöksiä, niihin liittyviä tulkintaongelmia sekä verosuunnittelumahdollisuuksia. Ajankohtaisesti EVAn lahjoituksien vähentämisoikeuden laajentamista puoltavan raportin kanssa väitöskirjassa esitetään, että työsuhdeoptioiden lahjoittaminen yleishyödylliseen tarkoitukseen tulisi lainsäädäntöä muuttamalla sallia ilman, että lahjanantajaa verotetaan optioiden käytöstä. Väitöskirjassa selvitetään mm. miten työntekijää verotetaan erilaisia osakeperusteisia kannustinjärjestelmiä käytettäessä ja mikä on yhtiön vähennysoikeus verotuksessa niitä käytettäessä. Väitöskirjassa tarkastellaan osakeperusteisten maksujen käsittelyä yritysjärjestelytilanteissa, henkilöstöantia, omien osakkeiden luovuttamista sekä kansainvälisiä tilanteita. Tarkastelun kohteena ovat myös Yritysverotuksen kehittämistyöryhmä 2005:n tekemät ehdotukset osakeperusteisten maksujen osalta erityisesti yritysten verotukseen liittyen. Työryhmän tehtävänä oli selvittää IFRS:n ja uuden osakeyhtiölain aiheuttamia muutostarpeita verotukseen. Työryhmän esityksiä analysoidaan kohta kohdalta myös hyvän verojärjestelmän tavoitteiden ja erityisesti neutraalisuuden valossa. Yritysten vähennysoikeuden epäämistä voidaan pyrkiä perustelemaan fiskaalisilla syillä. Tämäkään peruste ei ole kestävä, sillä rahana suoritettavat osakeperusteiset maksut olisivat kuitenkin vähennyskelpoisia. Tämä johtaisi siihen, että vähennysoikeus kuitenkin saavutettaisiin synteettisten optioiden ja muiden vastaavien instrumenttien sekä erilaisten ulkoistamisjärjestelyiden kautta. Vähennysoikeudella on merkitystä myös Suomen verojärjestelmän kansainvälistä kilpailukykyä ajatellen. Sellaisissa merkittävissä maissa kuten Yhdysvalloissa ja Isossa-Britanniassa yritykset voivat normaa-listi vähentää osakeperusteiset maksut saman määräisinä kuin ne luetaan työntekijän tuloksi. Ruotsissa vastaava vähennysoikeus saavutettiin Ericssonia koskevan Regeringsrättenin ratkaisun kautta vuonna 2004.

This monograph is a multidisciplinary doctoral dissertation under the socio-legal umbrella. The topic dictating the chosen methods is Contract Management. The context is large and complex project type of business contracts between global corporations and other large international private sector businesses. Although the underlying perspective is from inside of an operating business organization and its professional in-house Contract Management department mainly on the sell-side, examples on the buy-side are also utilized. The industry field is primarily ICT, but sources from construction and military are also used. Via utilizing, inter alia, the goal-oriented teleological method, the values underpinning the study are looking at a contract and contracting through the so-called Contract Management lens and proactively seeking coherence, collaboration, and mutually beneficial contract outcomes between the parties on a long-term basis. The study defines Contract Management as an international systemic business contract approach to manage the contract lifecycle and to orchestrate a corporation's legal, commercial and contractual business contract activity in a coherent manner, on a high-end maturity level. Such an approach brings significant direct monetary value and strategic competitive advantage to companies that apply it. Contract Management aims to increase the contractual quality, efficiency and risk/reward balance of a company’s business contracts, and decrease the amount of wasted money, time, resources and quality. This leads to a better relationship between the parties, and fewer disputes and contractual conflicts. Contract Management provides the parties, inter alia, with a flexible framework to agree upon changes and settle claims and proactively prevent risks over the contract lifecycle. Contract Management achieves this via utilization of so-called war stories and lessons learned and developing them further to produce best practices, processes and policies, and via using tools, such as software systems, to facilitate the Contract Management modus operandi. This study acknowledges that there is no one-size-fits-all Contract Management applicable globally and approaches the broad topic of Contract Management via the following research questions: 1. What is Contract Management and why does it matter? 2. How does Contract Management lead to the expected benefits in the contracting practice? 3. Are the legal aspect and passing the legal test sufficient to constitute a large and complex project type of a business contract? 4. What are the other aspects of a contract? Are they needed to constitute a coherent ‘contract (as) integrity’ (ex analogia Ronald Dworkin’s iconic law as integrity)? 5. One underlying question of the research is asked by an American philosopher, pragmatist William James: “What concrete difference does it being true make in any one’s actual life…?” Translated into the legal and business language: if what this dissertation argues is true, what difference would enhanced adoption of Contract Management modus operandi make to the legal quality of contracts and to the businesses that apply it? What should companies start doing differently tomorrow? The study is structured as follows. The Prologue sets the scene by presenting the scandalous Enron case and its relation to Contract Management. Chapter 1 introduces the study. Chapter 2 explains various definitions of Contract Management. Chapter 3 presents an example of contracts in action via the scope creep problem and Contract Management solutions to it, and explains how the choices over the commercial model, delivery model and contract strategy affect the likelihood for scope creep to arise. It also explains how to mitigate the impact of scope creep. Chapter 4 explains why the legal aspect of a contract is not sufficient in itself, and Chapter 5 explains what the other contractual aspects are and how they affect the coherence of contract. Chapter 6 concludes the study by presenting a contract as a multi-aspect, multidisciplinary, coherent ‘contract as integrity’. Contract Management is the glue, or mortar, between the bricks, that binds all aspects of a contract and a company’s contracting activity together. This study proposes several solutions that can be implemented in the contract practice to mutually benefit both parties. In addition, the study has resulted in the creation of a visual metaphor, showing a contract as a multi-cup scale (inspired by the scales of justice). Further, the dissertation takes steps towards creating a theory of contractual balances. As Contract Management is a very broad theme, it also proposes topics for future research. The Epilogue ponders whether it will be possible to close the circle started by the Enron case. If yes, what would that imply? What did we learn from the Enron case, if indeed we learned anything? Key words: Contract Management, Contract Lifecycle Management, Enron, scope creep, change management, contract as integrity, coherence Vuonna 2006 mahtavan Enron-korporaation aiempi toimitusjohtaja Jeffrey Skilling tuomittiin yli 24 vuodeksi vankeuteen yrityksen liiketoiminnassa tapahtuneista rikoksista. Yhdysvaltojen seitsemänneksi suurin yritys ja ns. uuden talouden airuena tunnettu Enron meni konkurssiin, ulottaen seurannaisvaikutuksia Yhdysvaltojen lisäksi kaikkialle maailmaan. Tämä monitieteinen ja monografiamuotoinen väitöstutkimus lähtee liikkeelle tästä tilanteesta. Se esittelee sopimusjohtamisen alun perin angloamerikkalaisessa käytännön liike-elämässä kehittyneenä systeemisenä toimintatapana, jonka tavoite on parantaa sopimusten juridista ja kokonaistaloudellista laatua, kustannustehokkuutta ja riskitasapainoa. Hyvin organisoitu sopimusjohtaminen tukee sopimusosapuolten välisen suhteen toimimista mahdollisemman sujuvasti koko sopimuksen elinkaaren ajan, ja sen avulla voidaan varautua sopimuksen kohteen muutoksiin sekä paremmin ennakoida sopimuksesta johtuvat väitteet ja vaateet. Eräs sopimusjohtamisen tärkeä tavoite on vähentää sopimuksen arvon alenemista sopimuksen koko elinkaaren aikana ja tästä johtuvaa arvovalumaa ulos yrityksestä. Sopimusjohtaminen toimintatapana saavuttaa nämä tavoitteet luomalla parhaita käytäntöjä ja kehittäen niitä edelleen prosesseiksi ja yrityksen sisäisiksi toimintalinjoiksi. Väitöstutkimuksen konteksti on kansainvälinen sopimustoiminta: globaalit korporaatiot ja niiden laajat ja monimutkaiset projektisopimukset. Tutkimus lähestyy sopimusjohtamista ja sopimuksen elinkaaren hallintaa toimivan liikeyrityksen sisältä käsin, sen Contract Management –osaston näkökulmasta. Tutkimuksen pääteollisuudenala on informaatio- ja kommunikaatioteknologia (ICT), myös rakennusalan ja sotateollisuuden esimerkkejä on käytetty soveltuvin osin. Huolimatta tärkeästä käytännön merkityksestään kansainvälisessä oikeus- ja liike-elämässä ja siinä toimivien yritysten sopimuskäytännöissä, sopimusjohtaminen on ollut akateemisesti toistaiseksi niukalti tutkittu aihe. Kyseessä ei ole asemansa vakiinnuttanut oikeudenala. Tutkimus on ensimmäinen suomalaisessa oikeustieteellisessä tiedekunnassa laadittu Contract Management –toimintatapaan keskittyvä väitöskirja, ja ensimmäisiä maailmassa. Väitöskirja etenee Enronista tähän päivään tutkien, mitä Contract Management on ja miksi se on tärkeää. Lisäksi tutkimus selventää, miten sopimusjohtamista ja sopimuksen elinkaaren hallintaa voidaan nykyistä paremmin hyödyntää yritysten sopimustoiminnassa. Tutkimus perustelee, miksi oikeudellinen näkökulma sopimukseen ei yksinään ole riittävä, ja valottaa, millä muilla tavoilla sopimuksen aspekteja tulisi hahmottaa, jotta sopimus voi saavuttaa täyden potentiaalinsa ja sopimusintegriteetin: sisäisesti koherentin ja oikein punnitun sopimuksen, eheyden sopimuksen elinkaaren hallinnassa ja optimaalisesti tasapainotetun sopimustoiminnan. Johtopäätökset raportoivat lukijalle, mikä yritysten sopimuskäytännöissä muuttuu ja miten, jos sopimustoimintaa lähestytään Contract Management –toimintavan kautta. Miksi yritysten kannattaisi tehdä niin? Tämän tieteellisen väitöskirjatutkimuksen tuloksia voidaan suoraan soveltaa käytäntöön suomalaisissa yrityksissä sekä suomalaisten yritysten ja niiden kansainvälisten sopimuskumppaneiden välisissä suhteissa, kotimaassa ja kansainvälisesti. Samalla voidaan ennaltaehkäistä ja vähentää sellaisia valitettavia seurauksia puutteellisesta sopimusjohtamisesta, joita on nähty meillä esimerkiksi Olkiluoto- ja Länsimetro-projekteissa. Koska Contract Management –toimintatapa on erittäin laaja aihealue, johtopäätösten lisäksi väitöskirjatutkimus ehdottaa useita mahdollisia jatkotutkimusaiheita. Prologi pohtii, voiko Enronista alkanut ympyrä jonain päivänä sulkeutua. Jos kyllä, mitä se edellyttää? Jos ei, jatkammeko loputtomiin samojen virheiden toistamista, vai opimmeko jotakin Enronista? Avainsanat: Contract Management, sopimusjohtaminen, sopimuksen elinkaaren hallinta, Enron, sopimusintegriteetti Julkaistu painettuna: Helsinki: Unigrafia, 2021