In the Master Thesis research is carried out into the influence of national culture on the implementation of knowledge management (KM) systems, as well as providing the actions which should be carried out for successful implementation. Research was conducted in the Ukraine and the Czech Republic. The Master thesis starts with an explanation of the problem area, a review of the main definitions necessary for understanding the studied field: foundation of national culture and knowledge management are reviewed. Relevance of the topic is explained by the fact that usually more attention is paid to knowledge sharing than its creation, and if we ignore the fact of national culture, the used theories may lead to a collapse of the system of knowledge management, as they should be modified from country to country. Theoretical framework contains a literature review with information about the concept of knowledge and how to create it within an organization, properties of the knowledge base from which stems knowledge management system and its development. Aspects of national culture and organizational models are also described. Typology of culture proposed by Geert Hofstede, is presented, which is taken as a basis for conducting the research. Individualism and Collectivism dimension from his typology are descried in detail. Because of widespread criticism of Hofstede’s work, the main arguments “against” it were provided. Typologies of such researchers as Triandis, Kim, Kagitcibasi and Berry were reviewed to explain why they are not applicable to this study. Soft System Methodology, rich picture, is used to describe the process of implementing Knowledge Management Systems, as well as the processes required for solving problems and eliminating the identified barriers. Through Kotter's 8-Step Change Model reflected actions for implementing of Knowledge Management System and they are showing in rich picture what in addition with concomitant actions creates complete model for KM system implementation. As a philosophical worldview of the research, Social Constructivism was selected. For data collection, it was decided to create a survey which gave qualitative and quantitative data. Steps of survey creation and how it was delivered to respondents are explained, as well as data analysis and sampling methods. Paper provides practical application of gained knowledge. It explains identified barriers to the implementation of KM system, comparison of Ukrainian and Czech Republic companies in the context of KM, as well as KM on a national level. Described in detail is the creation of rich pictures which reflects the model of implementing KM System. While conducting the research it was proved that national culture affects the style of doing business and the process of implementing a knowledge management system in particular. In order to go deeper into the details of the differences that can exist between countries, the discussion talks about features of the national cultures in Europe, where research has been conducted, and Asia, as Chinese culture is one of the most influential countries. In conclusion, different levels of individualism are found in the studied countries. According to the results of the study and received data, it is safe to say that the question of the influence of national culture on the process of implementing a KM System exists and plays an important role. Opportunities for further research are given.

Gender equality is one of the most topical issues of all. Many researchers around the world are addressing the issue of equal opportunities in the labour market and are looking for ways to ensure this in all sectors of the economy. This paper addresses this issue and aims to gain a deep understanding of the influence of a national culture on the implementation of gender equality policies within companies. With the help of a qualitative research method, the various factors of culture were examined and their relationship to the gender-specific understanding of a society analysed. The findings show the effects on companies operating in Switzerland and combine the experience of case companies with the literature already available. In order to test and further explore this combination, the authors of the thesis opted for an abductive research approach to repeatedly expand understanding with new literature and develop a more relevant comprehension of the influence of culture. The entire literature research finally created a framework that shows the links between the various theories and provides a clear overview of the background. With the help of selected case companies, important insights could be gained and with this empirical data, a detailed analysis for a better understanding of the influence of cultures on the implementation of gender equality policies could be achieved. These findings, combined with the existing theory and theoretical synthesis, provide a clear analysis and finally provide the reader with an insight into the implications, recommendations and limitations as well as suggestions for further research. Culture has a major influence on the implementation of gender equality policies. This paper shows how the various companies in Switzerland approach this influence and how Swedish companies with business operations in Switzerland in particular are pushing ahead with the implementation of policies for equality between women and men. This can give companies in Switzerland an indication of how they have to deal with cultural conditions within a country and how they can make optimum use of these for their human resource management.

Cette thèse a pour objectif de comprendre la nature et les bases de développement de l'intégration des Supply Chains dans le contexte de l'industrie des équipementiers automobiles marocains. Elle vise ainsi à démontrer que la nature de l'intégration de la Supply Chain nouée, dépend étroitement de la nature de la confiance développée envers le partenaire, qui est elle aussi fortement déterminée par les caractéristiques de la culture nationale. Sur le plan méthodologique, la thèse se fonde sur un processus séquentiel qui allie une phase exploratoire qualitative menée auprès de sociologues, anthropologues et historiens pour la compréhension des variables sur la culture nationale marocaine, ainsi qu'une étape menée auprès des équipementiers automobiles marocains. Dans un deuxième temps, un processus confirmatoire de confrontation de notre modèle conceptuel s'est établit sur la base d'une enquête quantitative analysée avec la méthode des équations structurelles sous l'approche PLS. Les résultats de la recherche suggèrent que les caractéristiques de la culture nationale marocaine favorisent le développement d'une confiance de nature affective qui permet de favoriser le développement d'une intégration relationnelle de la Supply Chain / The objective of this thesis is to understand the nature and the basis of supply chain integration development in the context of Moroccan automotive suppliers. Thereof, it will demonstrate how the nature of supply chain integration depends very closely on the nature of trust developed towards the partner. This trust is closely determined by the national culture's characteristics. Methodology wise, the thesis is based on a sequential process that starts with an exploratory qualitative phase conducted with sociologists, anthropologists and historians to understand the national culture's variables, and with Moroccan automotive suppliers. In a second confirmatory phase, the theoretical model was confronted to an empirical quantitative investigation. The results were analyzed using structural equations under the PLS approach. The research results suggest that the national culture's characteristics in Morocco favor the development of an affective type of trust that in turn favors the supply chain integration

The objective of this thesis is to discuss the influence of national culture in leadership within military organizations and also to explore the effectiveness of a specific leadership model in a multinational context. Developmental leadership (DL) is a model used by the Swedish Armed Forces (SAF) since 2003. However, the aim is not to answer the question of if a certain leadership model has an effect or not and therefore legitimize or discard the use of it. It rather raises the question of why this leadership model has been chosen to become such an integral part of an organization. This thesis analyzes DL by classifying its components using Hofstede’s theory of cultural dimensions as a basis and compares the results with Sweden’s cultural dimensions to find a correlation. The results show a high correlation between DL and Sweden, but DL does not correlate with Belgium’s cultural dimensions. Sweden’s characteristics are also complemented by empirical data collected for the purpose of this thesis. According to this interview study with Swedish officers, even though DL is not consciously applied to their leadership styles, it coincides with the characteristics of their vision of an ideal leader. Moreover, DL consists of components that are suitable foundations for an effective multinational leadership.

Individuals in the UAE and Abu Dhabi Emirate, in particular, have become increasingly concerned about their private information. This is mainly due to the use of technology, which makes accessing, transmitting and editing personal information faster and easier. Besides the use of technology, and the awareness and understanding of the privacy of expatriates, working in Abu Dhabi Emirate has had an impact on UAE citizens in terms of their rights to privacy. There is a need for organisations to comply with international bodies in protecting individuals rights to privacy and to increase the exploration of culturally sensitive information in the media. These issues have all led to the importance of and need to explore and identify Abu Dhabi Emirate employees perceptions, and the factors influencing their behaviour, towards privacy. The aim of this research was to investigate and analyse factors influencing employees information privacy behaviour and employees perceptions, awareness and behaviour on the handling of private information in the Abu Dhabi Emirate public sector, ADEC, as well as to provide practical recommendations to improve the privacy. The research methods used in this project are based on a mixed-method approach comprising both quantitative and qualitative strategies. Qualitative data collection in this research included face-to-face interviews and focus groups with Abu Dhabi Education Council. Quantitative surveys for all the Abu Dhabi Education Council were also utilised. The research identified the types of information that were considered private and defined privacy in the context of UAE culture. The main factors influencing privacy in Abu Dhabi Emirate employees were identified and analysed such as national culture, organisation culture and perceived benefits as examples. Following this, practical recommendations for changes to promote and enhance privacy in Abu Dhabi Emirate were offered. A model has been developed and designed based on the factors influencing individual information behaviour regarding private information handling, interrelated and influenced. This is essential to provide a practical model capable of acting as a guideline to help organisations, decision makers, and strategic planners in the Abu Dhabi Emirate public sector decide how best to approach privacy policy.

Nas últimas décadas, pesquisadores como Geert Hofstede e Fons Trompenaars começaram a estudar o papel da cultura nacional no desenho do controle de gestão das organizações pressupondo que a cultura nacional configura-se como fator importante na administração das empresas. A assim chamada corrente divergente propôs analisar o impacto dessas diferenças sobre os estilos de liderança, processos de negociação, gestão de pessoas, motivação e gestão de conflitos sob a premissa de que condições particulares, de maneira geral, demandam soluções específicas, que podem se tornar inadequadas se aplicadas em outros contextos. O presente estudo tem como objetivo identificar se o elemento cultural é considerado no desenho do controle de gestão das empresas estrangeiras. Para tanto, foi analisado o caso de duas organizações de controle acionário estrangeiro localizadas na cidade do Rio de Janeiro pertencentes às dimensões: alta distância hierárquica, coletivismo, feminino, alta fuga à incerteza, proposta por Hofstede. Os resultados obtidos para os casos analisados sugerem que alguns aspectos da cultura brasileira são preservados, mas em contrapartida, verifica-se uma transferência de práticas gerenciais desenvolvidas em países de culturas diversas que por conseqüência, geram alguns conflitos nas organizações. / In recent decades, researchers as Geert Hofstede and Fons Trompenaars began to study the role of national culture in the design of management control of organizations on the assumption that national culture appears as an important factor in managing the company. The so-called " divergent current " proposed to examine the impact of these differences on leadership styles, negotiation, people management, motivation and conflict management on the premise that the particular conditions, require specific solutions, which can become inadequate when applied in other contexts. This study aims to identify if the cultural element is considered in the design of management control of foreign companies. It was examined the case of two organizations of foreign share control located in Rio de Janeiro that belong to dimensions: high hierarchical distance, collectivism, feminine, high uncertainty control, proposed by Hofstede. The results obtained for the analyzed cases suggest that some aspects of Brazilian Culture are preserved, but on the other hand, there is a transfer of management practices developed in countries of different cultures that consequently generate some conflicts in organizations.

Dans ces travaux de recherche, nous proposons une méthodologie de l’approche Lean prenant en compte les aspects socioculturels dans un contexte globalisé. Cette méthodologie englobe à la fois des éléments culturels et techniques du Lean (facilitateurs et outils), afin de répondre aux besoins concurrentiels des organisations. Pour atteindre cet objectif, un sondage a été réalisé auprès de 115 gestionnaires originaires de différents pays. Ce sondage a permis d’évaluer l’intégration de facilitateurs Lean dans les entreprises et d’analyser les relations entre les facilitateurs Lean et les dimensions culturelles. Les résultats d’analyse quantitative du sondage nous ont fourni des aspects clés pour l'élaboration de la méthodologie. / In this research, we propose a methodology of Lean approach taking account socio-cultural aspects in a globalized context. This methodology relates the culture and Lean technical elements (enablers and tools), in order to meet competitive needs of the organization. To achieve this goal, a survey was conducted among 115 managers from different countries. The survey had assessed the integration of Lean enablers in companies and to analyze the relationships between Lean enablers and cultural dimensions. Quantitative analysis of surveys has helped develop an implementation methodology.

National culture has a significant influence on how innovations are adopted and diffuse throughout society. Existing innovation literature often employ Hofstede’s cultural difference dimensions to predict technology diffusion, which is critical to international marketers who are interested in tapping into this region. However, whilst Hofstede initially clustered the Arab nations into one region, past works have failed to compare and predict the diffusion of innovations amongst the Middle East and North African (MENA) nations. To address this research gap and to challenge Hofstede’s assumption of the MENA region as one cultural homogenous group, this study proposes to 1) measure the cultural differences of the seven nations, including Kuwait, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Iraq, Libya, and Lebanon within the MENA region and 2) explore the relationship between national culture and the diffusion of innovations amongst the seven countries. Using Hofstede’s latest national culture instrument, the Value Survey Model 2013 (VSM13), 775 survey data is collected from university students based in the seven nations to obtain new national cultural profiles on six dimensions, which are power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism, indulgent versus restraint, long-term orientation and masculinity femininity index. Empirical evidence shows that all seven nations differ significantly on each of Hofstede’s national culture dimensions, particularly on the power distance, uncertainty avoidance, indulgent versus restraint, and long term orientation dimension. The Bass Model is employed to estimate each of the seven nation’s diffusion patterns based on their mobile subscription data, and then correlated with their national culture ranks along with other variables such as socioeconomic indicators and telecommunication sector specific variables. The findings indicate that out of the six national culture indices, only the power distance index, indulgent versus restraint, long term orientation, and uncertainty avoidance dimensions show significant correlations with the innovation and imitations levels on the national level, suggesting that these particular cultural scales can effect and limit the innovation levels and the speed of the diffusion process of innovations. Results also indicate that literacy rate and urbanization are significantly correlated with the speed of the diffusion process and imitation levels on the national level. This research sheds new light on cross national diffusion literature by empirically revealing the innovative and imitative profiles of seven Arab States that were previously underrepresented and untested. The present study also provides fresh insights into the diffusion and national culture relationship by analysing the MENA region, which presents a theoretical contribution to cross cultural diffusion studies by advancing our understanding of the process by which Hofstede’s dimensions are associated with innovative and imitative levels. International marketing managers are thus advised to adopt a waterfall strategy when approaching the MENA region, in which innovative countries, such as Kuwait, are first targeted for introducing innovative products and services, through mass media and advertising. Whilst imitative countries, such as Egypt, are targeted for last entry, with a marketing communication plan that utilizes brand ambassadors and influencers, so as to reduce the risk and uncertainty of the innovation in question.

This paper examines the moderating effect of national culture on the relationship betweenboard gender diversity and corporate financial performance. To test the hypotheses, FixedEffects regression is used in combination with a sample of 1,499 firms from 23 countries and7,125 firm-year observations over a time frame of seven years. This paper provides evidencefor a significant positive effect of board gender diversity on firm performance if there are atleast three females seated on the board. Furthermore, a significant moderating effect ofnational culture on the relationship between board gender diversity and firm performance hasbeen found.

Die herausragende Arbeit von Hofstede et al. über Unternehmenskultur (1990), die in den 1980er Jahren in Dänemark und den Niederlanden durchgeführt wurde, konnte teilweise in Österreich mit einer unterschiedlichen Stichprobe rund 25 Jahre später repliziert werden. Fünf der sechs Dimensionen konnten repliziert werden, eine Dimension(P3) zeigte keine signifikanten Ergebnisse. Eine Replizierung von Hofstede's angewandter Methode einer Faktoranalyse brachte erneut sechs Dimensionen, wobei eine Hofstede Dimension mit beiden Ausprägungen aufschien(P2), und die Hofstede Dimension P3 wiederum keine signifikanten Ergebnisse brachte. Die neuen Dimensionen wurden mit den empirischen GLOBE Österreich-Ergebnissen (Szabo & Reber, 2007) in Verbindung gebracht. Da zwei der neuen Dimensionen sehr gut mit den österreichischen GLOBE-Ergebnissen übereinstimmten, wurden sie "Leistungsorientierung" und "Partizipative Führung" genannt. Die gute Übereinstimmung mit den GLOBE-Ergebnissen unterstützte die Hypothese vom nationalen Einfluss auf Organisationskultur. Die neuen Dimensionen wurden mit einem Leistungsindikator (Umsatzentwicklung der befragten Unternehmen) in Zusammenhang gebracht, um eine mögliche Organisationskultur/Performanz-Verbindung zu untersuchen. Die Arbeit besteht aus einem Literatur- und einem empirischen Teil. Im Literaturabschnitt untersucht der Autor aktuelle Modelle der Organisationskultur und Studien, die sich mit der Beziehung zwischen Unternehmenskultur und Leistung befassen. Der empirische Abschnitt präsentiert die Methoden und die Analyse der quantitativen Forschungsdaten. In der Folge wird ein adaptiertes Organisationskultur-Modell mit Bezug auf österreichische Kultureinflüsse entwickelt. Die Ergebnisse werden mit den etablierten Forschungsergebnissen von GLOBE (Szabo & Reber, 2007) und Sagiv und Schwartz (2007) zur Organisationskultur in Österreich in Beziehung gestellt. Weiters vergleicht der Autor die Ergebnisse von Hofstede's (2001) Nationalkultur-Werten für Österreich mit den denen seiner Stichprobe auf experimenteller Basis. Die Verbindung dieser neuen Skala mit finanzieller Leistung als Leistungsindikator resultiert in einer moderaten Korrelation (erklärte Varianz von rund 7%), was sich aus dem Einfluss zahlreicher Variablen erklärt. Diese Arbeit wird mit einer Diskussion über die Resultate und die damit verbundenen Management-Empfehlungen abgeschlossen.