Background: Subsidiaries to multinational enterprises encounter pressure to fit the national cultural context as well as to keep consistent with the global corporation. For a Swedish multinational enterprise to be able to seize business opportunities in Thailand, an important aspect to take into consideration is the difference in national culture. It is the responsibility of the leader in the Swedish subsidiary in Thailand to manage the multinational enterprise corporate culture while also taking into account the Thai national culture. Global leadership competencies can enable this, although there is a lack of a unified framework of global leadership competencies. Aim:  The aim of this study is to gain a deeper understanding as to which global leadership competencies leaders in subsidiaries to Swedish multinational enterprises in Thailand should possess in order to manage the Swedish corporate culture while taking Thai national culture into account.   Methodology: The study has applied a qualitative research strategy and an abductive research approach. The data has been obtained from eight semi-structured interviews with four Swedish companies present in Thailand. Conclusion: Through a deeper understanding of global leadership competencies, this study concludes and provides evidence of six global leadership competencies that are of extra importance for leaders in Swedish subsidiaries in Thailand when managing the Swedish corporate culture and taking the Thai national culture into account.

The purpose of this thesis is to provide information and a deeper understanding of how the Russian cultural phenomenon blat affects the possibility for Swedish companies to conduct business in the Russian market. In order to conduct this research, relevant aspects of the phenomenon has been demonstrated, identified and analysed in relation to culture, networks and internationalization. This thesis follows a deductive approach, as the research topic is considered rather unexplored. In an attempt to acquire deeper information, a qualitative research method provides deeper understanding how the topic affects Swedish companies. The literature review chapter forms the base of this thesis as it includes theories related to culture, networks, the cultural phenomenon of blat and internationalization. Theories have formed the conceptual framework in an effort to demonstrate connections between theories. The empirical findings have been collected in order to analyse the data in relation to the theories, where the empirics drive from multiple case studies upon Swedish companies. The analysis chapter is structured in accordance with the conceptual framework, where a discussion of the differences and dissimilarities between theories and empirical findings are included. In the following chapter, the conclusion constitutes from theory, empirical findings and analysed data. Moreover, the final chapter consist of implications, recommendations, limitations and suggestions for further research. The main theoretical implications, engage in fill the research gap and addresses blat in an international situation connected to social networks and culture. The main practical implications indicate that the cultural phenomenon blat is not a necessity for Swedish companies when internationalizing to the Russian market although it may facilitate the process. It becomes more important to understand blat as companies increase their market commitment.

I examine whether cultural differences in trust towards others, materialism, and risk aversion lower financial statement comparability between countries that require International Financial Reporting Standards (“IFRS”). Evidence from various academic disciplines suggest that cultural beliefs and values affect individuals’ estimates and judgments and their consequent decisions, including economic and financial decisions. I posit that certain cultural beliefs and values also affect the estimates and judgments of corporate managers, resulting in inconsistent reporting decisions for given economic events and lower financial statement comparability. I find that two countries have lower comparability when there are greater cultural differences in trust towards others, materialism, and risk aversion. In cross-sectional tests, I find weak evidence that stronger enforcement of IFRS moderates the cultural effects on cross-country financial statement comparability. Stronger enforcement of regulations and law does not moderate the cultural effects. These findings suggest that having a strong IFRS, regulatory, or legal enforcement does not effectively moderate the impact of culture on cross-country financial statement comparability. A possible explanation is that cultural influence on financial reporting is also manifested through enforcement officials; in other words, those in charge of the enforcement are also subject to the same cultural beliefs and values as others involved in the reporting process, making moderation less likely.

<p>Aim: The aim of this research is to formulate India market product strategy for the global multinational corporate Vodafone Inc.,</p><p>Investigate the influence of national cultures in strategy formulation. Applying cultural synthesis in the strategy formulations for target markets. </p><p>Method: The main methods of data collection are individual interviews and discussions and group cultural training. A computer online questionnaire is used past the interview for correlation and analysis of responses. Two sets of interviews pre-cultural training and post-cultural training are conducted. The results are presented, analysed, reflected and related to the research. The research is applied to deliver a reformulated product strategy for Vodafone Inc.,</p><p>Result & Conclusion: This research bought out the implications of national cultures in strategy formulation and how strategy can be delivered by infusing culture as one of the parameter in strategy formulation. The end result is strategy that is closer to local market customer needs and wants aligned with organization business objectives. The conclusion is that global multinationals could deliver better strategy that applies globally to each of the local subsidiaries by embedding ethos of the regional markets in the strategy formulation.</p><p>Suggestions of future research: The research focussed on strengthening strategy formulation by embedding culture as parameter. The theme could be extended to strategy implementation in future research.</p><p>Contribution of the thesis: This research has added value to the strategy formulation, by proposing a new model, where the strategy team comprehends the national culture value of target markets and blends them as one of the parameters in the information’s and data. Thus the final interpretation of the information and data is a collective reflection of own national culture values and the target market cultural values.</p>

As one of the most important means of globalization for companies around the world, mergers and acquisitions (M&amp;As) have been adopted as a core growth and expansion strategy. M&amp;A integration involves combination in various areas, in which cultural integration has an important role. Nevertheless, the potential positive and negative impact of cultural dimensions on the success of M&amp;A activity is somewhat less acknowledged in the business community. The purpose of this paper is to explore problematic cultural issues in order to get an understanding of the characteristics and outcome of cultural integration as influenced by both national culture and organizational culture in M&amp;A. In order to fulfil the purpose a qualitative case study approach was chosen. Semi-structured phone interviews were made with the top managers who were responsible for the deal and employees that worked for both companies during the transition period. In addition, two survey were conducted among KPMG and Andesen members. It could be summarized that KPMG and Andersen deal result in a great loss of ex-Andersen employees, due to the resistence from employees to the new culture after integration.

Aim: The aim of this research is to formulate India market product strategy for the global multinational corporate Vodafone Inc., Investigate the influence of national cultures in strategy formulation. Applying cultural synthesis in the strategy formulations for target markets.  Method: The main methods of data collection are individual interviews and discussions and group cultural training. A computer online questionnaire is used past the interview for correlation and analysis of responses. Two sets of interviews pre-cultural training and post-cultural training are conducted. The results are presented, analysed, reflected and related to the research. The research is applied to deliver a reformulated product strategy for Vodafone Inc., Result &amp; Conclusion: This research bought out the implications of national cultures in strategy formulation and how strategy can be delivered by infusing culture as one of the parameter in strategy formulation. The end result is strategy that is closer to local market customer needs and wants aligned with organization business objectives. The conclusion is that global multinationals could deliver better strategy that applies globally to each of the local subsidiaries by embedding ethos of the regional markets in the strategy formulation. Suggestions of future research: The research focussed on strengthening strategy formulation by embedding culture as parameter. The theme could be extended to strategy implementation in future research. Contribution of the thesis: This research has added value to the strategy formulation, by proposing a new model, where the strategy team comprehends the national culture value of target markets and blends them as one of the parameters in the information’s and data. Thus the final interpretation of the information and data is a collective reflection of own national culture values and the target market cultural values.

Quality management and continuous improvement are well known and many successful implementations of improvements regarding quality has been made over the recent dec-ades by many organizations. This means that there are lots of different tools, strategies and implementation techniques available for organizations today. However, globalism have made this area an interesting aspect for researching cultural impacts in quality management and continuous improvement for organizations operating in many differ-ent countries. The purpose behind this thesis is therefore to study how a multinational company han-dles international quality management and how national culture impacts quality man-agement and continuous improvement efforts in a multinational company. Initially, a frame of reference was developed to examine current available research of quality man-agement and continuous improvements, as well as cultural aspects regarding differences in national culture and how this impacts an organizational culture that operates in sever-al countries world-wide. We used a qualitative research approach and within that performed a case study of Vol-vo Trucks. Primary data was collected from interviews and other material acquired from Volvo Trucks. The results showed that power distance was a value that impacted improvement work the most. This was seen in different stages of improvement efforts.

This thesis aims to research on the concept of national culture in regard to project management. We mainly aim to find out whether national culture poses an influence on the conduct of innovation management in the microfinance sector in Kenya and Germany.  The motivation for our choice of sector and aim are multiple; culture, particularly national culture, in projects and project management, is to  our understanding still an undeservedly under-researched area. Furthermore, the integration of solutions and concepts developed in countries other than the own increasingly takes place in the globalized world. We therefore consider research on the integration ability of such “imported” concepts into a national culture’s existing frame of reference a valuable, yet under-researched area.   This led to the development of our research aim as addressing two aspects: firstly, whether national culture poses a perceivable influence to product innovation approaches, and secondly, how the integration of culturally foreign, “imported” concepts might be undertaken in the two countries. The selection of product innovation in Microfinance was informed by the assumption that this would allow us to study the multifarious interrelationships between culture, innovation, and project management in a dynamic context; and hence pose a favourable setting to study the approach towards novelty and integration of culturally foreign concepts. Kenya and Germany were selected due to our personal backgrounds, being our countries of origin.   A perceived lack of differentiated scientific sources covering our needs led us to develop our own theoretical culture model which reviews cultural aspects from a joint African-European perspective. The model was developed based on seminal works in the field of culture and intercultural research. It is comprised of six dimensions deemed influential for innovation. Each of these six dimensions is based on the works  of two to four authors. This model comprises an African-European perspective and merges existing concepts into a novel conceptual model with a clear focus on culture and  innovation. In order to derive empirical findings, a qualitative multiple case study has been conducted in Microfinance institutions in Kenya and Germany. The findings of these case studies were consecutively analyzed based on the theoretical culture model in due consideration of the research aim.    We consider our research offering a contribution in a field that is still coming to the fore; that is, a novel perception of project management as being “more” than simply a temporary endeavour determined by scope, cost and time. The perception of innovation in the service industry is furthermore delved into, and it offers extensive insight into the national cultures of Germany and Kenya and the development and contribution of Microfinance in developing and industrialized nations.

<p>As one of the most important means of globalization for companies around the world, mergers and acquisitions (M&As) have been adopted as a core growth and expansion strategy. M&A integration involves combination in various areas, in which cultural integration has an important role. Nevertheless, the potential positive and negative impact of cultural dimensions on the success of M&A activity is somewhat less acknowledged in the business community.</p><p>The purpose of this paper is to explore problematic cultural issues in order to get an understanding of the characteristics and outcome of cultural integration as influenced by both national culture and organizational culture in M&A.</p><p>In order to fulfil the purpose a qualitative case study approach was chosen. Semi-structured phone interviews were made with the top managers who were responsible for the deal and employees that worked for both companies during the transition period. In addition, two survey were conducted among KPMG and Andesen members.</p><p>It could be summarized that KPMG and Andersen deal result in a great loss of ex-Andersen employees, due to the resistence from employees to the new culture after integration.</p>

Grounding on institutional theory in organizational studies and e-commerce adoption literatures, this dissertation discusses the impact and effect of institutional environment on B2B e-commerce adoption. The institutional environment in question includes industrial, governmental, legal and national cultural factors. The study has been conducted in two phases. Phase I was in 2001-2003, as the infant stage of B2B e-commerce adoption. Phase II was in 2006-2007, reflecting the latest status of B2B e-commerce adoption. In both phases, the study collected and analyzed both secondary data at country-level and primary survey data at firm-level. The research methodology is a mixed approach of multi-time point, multilevel, multi-data source, multi-method, and comparative study. The cross-validated results of the study suggest that 1) the industrial pressure and/or encouragement is always the most powerful external facilitator for B2B e-commerce adoption; 2) at the beginning stage of e-commerce, the supportive government policy was a prime force to encourage private sector to adopt e-commerce; 3) as e-commerce becomes more prevalent and routine in business, e-commerce adoption becomes more business-driven, governmental policy loses its effect, and the legal environment becomes an important factor. The study is one of the first cross-country studies on the institutional environment in MIS research and fills the knowledge gap of understanding the external environment of e-commerce, especially from the temporal perspective. The research also offers empirical evidence to industrial practitioner and public policy-makers to develop e-commerce strategies.