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Global sourcing is an important strategy for Swedish businesses since it is a mean to gain competitive advantage which is important on the global market Swedish businesses act on. Consequently it is interesting to investigate the importance of the perceived benefits and challenges with global sourcing since these factors affect the global sourcing decision. Thus, the purpose of this thesis is to investigate how Swedish large businesses perceive the benefits and challenges with global sourcing. To be able to fulfil the purpose primary data was used which was collected through an Internet based questionnaire where the respondents were asked to rank and rate the importance of the benefits and challenges with global sourcing. The data collected was in a quantifiable form and thus quantitative tools were used to analyse the collected data. The result of the study regarding the benefits was that price clearly was perceived as the most important benefit, while counter-trade obligations were seen as the least important benefit. Regarding the challenges, longer lead times and cultural issues were seen as the most challenging aspects, while customs regulations, tariffs and quotas and discrimination from the supplier were perceived as the least important challenges. However since too few responses of the questionnaire were obtained, these results is not generalizable on other Swedish businesses than those that are represented in the sample.

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Palabras claves: liderazgo, cultura española y sueca, liderazgo situacional Durante las últimas décadas, la globalización se ha extendido a todo el mundo. El desarrollo de nuevas tecnologías ha evolucionado rápido y nos ha dado posibilidades para enfrentar nuevos mercados más fácilmente que antes. Las condiciones para las empresas han cambiado y hoy en día no compiten solamente en su mercado local si no también con empresas en todo el mundo. Las empresas que entran en nuevos mercados se vuelven internacionales y diferentes culturas se mezclan en la organización. Esto a menudo es un problema ya que diferentes culturas utilizan distintos tipos de liderazgo. Qué pasa cuando una empresa española entra en el mercado sueco? Hemos realizado esta investigación con el propósito de ver si una organización española, con un liderazgo centralizado, que entra en un mercado sueco, debe adaptarse a las diferencias culturales o puede seguir con la misma estructura de la organización que en el país de origen. Resultado En conclusión hemos notado que pueda haber grandes diferencias entre dos países europeos y que la ignorancia de estas diferencias pueden resultar en grandes problemas y malentendidos para las empresas. Las empresas españolas que abren sucursales en Suecia a menudo se encuentran en problemas en las siguientes situaciones: · El trabajo esta por sobre el bienestar del trabajador. · Un empleado es nombrado en un cargo por sobre otro aunque tenga menos experiencia. · Los empleados son controlados y no pueden tomar iniciativas por el diseño estricto de la tarea del trabajo. · Cuando existe una grán distancía entre jefes y empleados. Esto lo podemos resumir en que las empresas españolas no han implementado un liderazgo situacional, en el que la empresa se adapta a la cultura, al abrir sus sucursales en Suecia. La adaptación del liderazgo ha sido minima y forzada por las experiencias que las empresas han vivido durante su estancia. En conclusión una empresa, aunque tenga el poder centralizado en el país de origen, tiene que adaptarse y conocer hasta cierto punto la cultura del país de destino para tener éxito en el nuevo mercado. / During the last decades the globalization has spread and is now a concern for the entire world. The technological development has exploded and has given us new possibilities and access to information that make it possible to meet new markets. The conditions have changed and the companies not only compete with their closest competitors on the local market but also with everyone in the same business over the world. Companies go abroad with different entry modes to get new market shares and this results in a more international and multicultural organization. This is not always without problems since the companies are confronted with different types of cultures that are reflected in the organization and its work. Different kinds of leadership are used in different kinds of cultures but what happens when two cultures meet? For example in Swedish culture hierarchy and power distance are distant ideas unlike the Spanish culture where it is to a great extent frequent. After finishing the investigation it turned out that the cultural differences inside an organisation between two European countries can be big although in the beginning it’s not noticed. The ignorance of knowledge about the culture in the country of destination, from the employers, often contributes to a lot of problems and misunderstandings. We found that Spanish companies who open branches in Sweden often come across problems in following situations: · When the work task is given priority to the wellbeing of the employees. · When a less experienced person is given a position ahead of a more experienced employee. · When the staff is controlled and can’t take their own initiative or haven’t the possibility to be flexible because of the strictly designed work task. · When big differences in power distance between employer and employee are expressed. We can establish that the implementation of the situational leadership has been rather absent in the beginning when opening in Sweden. The adjustment has come gradually and was strained because of the knowledge the Spanish companies acquired regarding Swedish employees and their culture. The companies were forced to adapt some of their leadership to the Swedish culture to be able to succeed on the Swedish market. The conclusion we come to is that a certain amount of situational adjustment is necessary even for the centralised governed company when opening branches in other countries.

This dissertation intends to describe how small Swedish companies experience the handling of financing in China. Which include describing how small Swedish companies have chosen to finance their establishment, and whether Myers Pecking order theory is applicable. Further more, to show the inquired companies attitude towards external equity, and if any problems are experienced, connected to reaching long-term external finance. The specifikation of the problem for this dissertation is, How do small Swedish companies established in China experience the handling of financing? And to answer the specification of the problem a quantitative approach has been used. The data was gathered through a survey sent out to a number of small Swedish companies established in China. The definition of small Swedish companies has been set to less than 100 employees, and furthermore, established in China under any of the entry modes WFOE, FICE, Joint Venture or Rep/Sales Office. The over all conclusions for this dissertation, are that internal finance is preferred, and in general is the use of external finance insignificant among small Swedish companies established in China. What can be concluded from this is that Myers Pecking order theory is applicable. Further more, there are strong indications that the inquired companies do not experience any financial gap, or in general any imminent problems surrounding reaching external finance. Important to add to the conclusion is that just because there are no imminent problems, does this not signify that companies do not experience any problems at all reaching external finance.

The aim of this research is to study how the Swedish service sector measures and develops Human Capital. It consists on five parts. The first part will be compounded by the background, problem, purpose and limitations. We will detail the goal of the project; we will introduce the research question which we will answer at the end of the thesis. The second part deals with the Methodology; we will use the necessary methods in order to conduct properly this study. After that, in the third part, Theoretical Framework, we will develop the model in order to know how Human Capital is measured and developed, that is to say, the theoretical aspects of our research in order to acquire enough knowledge and from here, to be able to answer the research question. The fourth part will regard the Empirical Findings with the results of the questionnaire. Analysis will be the fifth part, where we will apply the theory studied in the previous part throughout the questionnaire. It will be based on making Conclusions, last part where we will answer the research question launched in the introduction.

Internationalization is a key concept in today’s globalized world. Globalization has brought about a major shift in the way firms internationalize. Previously, large firms were thought to follow an incremental internationalization process. However, as a result of the rise of international new ventures, the internationalization process has seen a dramatic shift in the internationalization process of firms. Firms no longer follow the traditional models of internationalization. Instead, there are three general phases an international new venture may pass through which are identified by Leonidou and Katsikeas (1996, p. 524): namely: pre-engagement, initial, and advanced.   The change in the internationalization process of firms has led firms access networks to internationalize. The use of networks have been shown to help international new ventures to skip the traditional phases of internationalization  and expand rapidly by linking themselves to established networks (Coviello & Munro, 1995, p. 53). Participation in networks, among other benefits, includes acquiring the necessary knowledge for international operations.   Several important network forms have been identified by different authors. This raises the question what effect these network forms have at the phases of the internationalization process. Three major networks were identified, namely, social, business and intermediaries where each form has its own benefits in the internationalization process of an Small-to-Medium-Size Enterprise (SME). The forms of networks are often described as positive drivers for internationalization. We, however, think that there might also be negative aspects concerning the use of network for internationalization. This study sets out to find what the benefits of each form of network is and also how the networks are used in the internationalization process of an SME. We take into account the perspective of the entrepreneurs as to how they perceive network forms affecting SMEs’ performance at each phase of the internationalization process.  Along with that, we also aim to find out how the forms of networks interact with each other and how they evolve from one network to the other.   We use qualitative methods, in our study, by interviewing six SMEs located in northern Sweden. Multiple case studies were developed, in order to analyse the collected data from the semi-structured interviews. The collected data was transcribed and categorized in order to find the phases of internationalization, benefits of networks, interaction between networks and the negative aspects of networks. It was then analysed using the three predefined forms of networks: social, business and intermediaries.   The findings of the study show that business networks were the most widely used network form throughout the phases of the internationalization process. Social networks and intermediaries were used equally. However, social networks had a greater influence than intermediaries. Our research also identified three phases in the internationalization process. Networks were found to influence each other at all the phases of internationalization and therefore cannot be seperated from each other.

Problematization: Studies  indicate  that there  is  a  lack  of  strong  brands  among  the  Swedish mobile  network  operators.  Problems  of  retaining  customers  are  common  among  the  big operators. Few studies on brand equity for intangible products have been done.   Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate which factors  influence  brand equity in the Swedish service sector of mobile network operators.   Theory: This  paper is  limited  to  one  aspect  of  brand  equity,  namely  customer  based  brand equity. Common  constructs of  customer  based  brand  equity are:  brand  awareness,  brand associations, brand loyalty, and perceived quality.    Methodology: The  data  was  collected  with  self-administered  delivery  and  collection questionnaires, which were distributed among university students.   Data: 400 questionnaires were handed out and 363 responses were valid.   Results  and  Conclusion: This  study  indicates  the  importance  of  brand  associations,  brand loyalty, and brand trust for establishing customer based brand equity among the Swedish mobile network operators.

The title of this study is: The Swedish assimilation of Scania during the period 1658-1720 - In descriptions of Danish and Swedish popular historians` during 20th century to current view. View of history, nationalism and science .                                                                                                          The study concerns the Swedish, after the conquest of Scania 1658, attempts to induce feelings of Swedish nationality to the people in former Danish province of Scania 1658-1720. The goal of this study was to analyze 20th century and present Swedish and Danish historians’ descriptions of the Swedish and Danish treatment of the native Scania population. The aim was further to describe this historians` view of native rebellious group called “snapphanar” and which measures were taken to assimilate the Scanian population to Swedish realm. Lastly, the historians view above concerning a presence of a native Scanian regional or national identity was studied.                I studied writings of three popular historians from Denmark and from Sweden respectively. To compensate for the influence of nationalism on historiography, sources from three periods during the 20th and the current century was used.                                            In the attempt to reach these main goals I have analyzed the authors’ books and the Swedish and Danish versions of the website Wikipedia. All the popular historians´ mean that the people of Scania felt national identity, except Åberg which mean that they also had a regional identity. The Swedish scholarship had a big influence of making the native population citizens of the Swedish crown. Also the punishment had a big impact, which mainly affected the partisan group called snapphanar. This is in detail described by Wikipedia. 20th century Danish popular historians` describe the abuses on the natives by the Swedish realm while the Swedish historians mostly describe snapphanars rubies on them.

The point of departure for this study is the meeting-place between an author and his times. Both in his youth and in later years, August Strindberg was in bitter conflict with the Swedish Establishment. At the turn of the century, however, when the fifty-year-old author returned to Stockholm after many years of exile, he was able to be accepted by the cultural community in the country of his birth. This fact is studied here both from the point of view of a change in Strindberg's own attitudes, and of the changes that had taken place in Sweden during the author's exile. In the early 1880s, Strindberg had challenged accepted truths by writing a work of considerable proportions dealing with the history of the Swedish people, this in conscious opposition to the established view of history which was primarily concerned with the history of its monarchs, Strindberg was criticised both by the Press and by history scholars, and the reaction contributed to his decision to leave the country. By the turn of the century, considerable changes had taken place. Sweden had become an industrialized country, and the emerging middle class had made its mark on the philo­sophy of the time and also gained control of the organs of public opinion. Because Strindberg only wrote plays at this time, a considerable amount of attention is given in the dissertation to the development of the Stockholm theatre. Privately-owned theatres had now come to replace the earlier Royal theatre monopoly. On his return, Strindberg set about writing historical dramas. He was now willing to cater to the conservative views that he had fought against twenty years previously. He wrote of the Swedish monarchs and tried to satisfy the demands of an earlier period for dramas with historical facts that were completely correct. In the autumn of 1899 while he was busy writing "Gustaf Adolf " (Gustavus Adolphus), his recently-completed plays "Gustaf Vasa" and "Erik XIV" were being performed at the Svenska teatern in Stockholm. It now became apparent that the majority of critics regarded esthetic considerations as being more important than those of historical accuracy, and that they also prefered to see the monarchs portrayed as psychologically credible figures rather than as impersonal, glorified hero figures. Only the most conservative critics failed to hold this view. Despite the resounding success of both "Gustaf Vasa" and "Erik XIV", Strindberg tried in his new play to cater even to his few adversaries. He engaged in deep historical studies and peppered the play with historical details, resulting in a play that is inordi­nately long and very difficult to manage. However, concerning the main character, Strindberg was unable to pander to con­servative criticism. Fundemental artistic characteristics reemerged and transformed the 17th century monarch into a problematic individual who undergoes a personal develop­ment, laboriously seeking the right road. He has to battle with religious intolerance, his role as monarch, his understanding of the world, and his personal dreams of power. When "Gustaf Adolf" appeared in the bookshops in autumn 1900, the critics were unanimous in the belief that Strindberg had succeeded in his depiction of history. On the other hand, many felt that he had degraded the hero-king by giving him personal problems / digitalisering@umu