<p>Abstract</p><p>The interest in China today is enormous, and media talk about successful firms and entrepreneurs that engage in business with China. This positive image has created a general per-ception that China offers the moon and the stars for Swedish micro and small sized enterprises (MSEs). We still believe that there are many opportunities to extend or build busi-ness upon import from China. However, we question media’s communication that import from China is a straight way to success. If this is an accurate picture of the situation, what is it that makes Swedish companies hesitating about establishing import business from China?</p><p>The purpose of this thesis is to identify the reasons for Swedish MSEs to engage in import from China, as well as recognizing the problems they experience. We will by analysing the underlying factors of the problems describe different ways to handle these issues.</p><p>We have chosen a qualitative approach with semistructured, deep-going interviews, which we have carried out on six companies that have gone through with the import process from China. The empirical findings will be the base in order to verify the theories on this subject.</p><p>We have come to the conclusion that there is a division between production companies and trading companies when it comes to the reason to start importing. Trading firms generally follow the opportunities while production companies are forced to take action because of push effects. Also, the hype about China has helped in choosing China before other countries. The companies in this thesis have generally no trouble in finding a supplier but rather to find suitable suppliers.</p><p>The major problems in trading with China are quality and delivery, which many companies handle by shortterm procedures like over-explicitness, constant reminders and increased specifications. They argue that these problems depend on lack of understanding, variation in outlook, different behaviour, as well as pride and attitudes among the Chinese. However, we believe that these issues have their roots in culture, linguistics and different views of how relationships should be considered. Thus it would be a more long term solution to handle the underlying issues which in the extension is a more successful way of importing from China.</p>

Purpose: The aim of the study is to explore how the digitalization has affected international business relations, with a focus on Swedish and Chinese relationships. This will be studied through a qualitative study of Swedish SMEs with Chinese partners within the manufacturing industry, but also through interviews with Business Sweden and Swedish Chamber of Commerce for an objective approach. Research Questions: The main research question is: How does digitalization affect Swedish SMEs business relations with Chinese partners in the manufacturing industry? The subquestion is: Which positive and negative aspects does the digitalization bring? Methodology: This thesis is a qualitative study conducted with an abductive approach. A multi-case study design was applied, researching four Swedish SMEs and two objective organizations. Conclusions: After accomplishing this research, we were able to draw the conclusion that Swedish SMEs with Chinese business partners are affected by the digitalization on many levels. Areas mainly affected by the digital development are the communication methods and work tasks. The positive outcomes are opportunities to save money and time, as well as maintaining frequent communication which can increase trustworthiness. The negative outcomes are the decreased personal interactions and the risk of sharing sensitive information, because of the fact that information is stored on digital devices.

With the trend of globalization, competition on the 21st century’s global economy is complex and filled with challenges. More and more MNCs realize that effective leadership, as a foundation of competitive advantage, plays a crucial role in better performance of the organizations. Both practitioner and theorists thus pay numerous attention to the study of effective leadership in different countries. However, researchers still report noticeable absence of cross-cultural research in the field of the three major Western leaderships study, i.e. charismatic leadership, transformational leadership and transactional leadership. An urgent need raises to further investigate the major Western leadership styles in non-Western contexts. The study aims to explore the most effective leadership style in MNCs Chinese Subsidiaries and to answer the question “why it differs from the Western world?” through applying the Western leadership theories into Chinese business practices. Eventually, the causes behind these differences have been disclosed and discussed. By reviewing 18 peer-reviewed articles, the attributes of the three major Western leadership styles are identified. Subsequently, all dimensions of the three leadership styles are ranked in terms of effectiveness and activity. As a result of combining the rank and all the identified attributes, a theoretical model of the three leadership styles is proposed. Based on a multi-case study approach in the Chinese context, the empirical data is collected through semi-structured interviews with five Chinese managers and five Chinese followers. The result of qualitative data analysis suggests that the most effective Chinese leaders’ behaviors belong to the transactional leadership style. With reference to the proposed theoretical model, this finding differs from the Western leadership theories. The study further reveals the major causes that lead to the differences between the Chinese practices and the Western theories. Seven implications were thus concluded. The study contribute to better understanding the applicability and effectiveness of the Western leadership theory in non-Western contexts, particularly China, and further address the weakness of cross-culture research reported in existing literature. The implications of this study give advice to MNCs that are paying increasing attention to exploring effective leadership style in China.

The aim of this diploma work was to analyse business culture of a chosen company and to propose possible innovations and changes. The first part of this thesis contains theoretical knowledge from the sphere of business culture and related areas. The second {--} practical - part deals with the description and analysis of business culture of a particular organization. The subject of the research was Výstaviště České Budějovice, joint {--} stock company. The main sources of information for the analysis of business culture of this firm were questionnaires, interviews with the representative of company{\crq}s management team and intradepartmental documents. At the end of this thesis there are proposed measures which could contribute to the empowerment of business culture of the analysed company.

The main task of my thesis was to define and analyze conditions of the entry of foreign company on Chinese market, the current state of Chinese economy and the country's position in the global economy in the 21st century, to define the problems and risks of entering the Chinese market and analyze the business, which appear promising for foreign firms entering the Chinese market. The thesis also describes the basic cultural differences that affect the business relations between Chinese and foreign partners. Further I characterize the status and strategy of the selected company on the Chinese market and its SWOT analysis.

As more Swedish companies are turning towards China, a common challenge when establishing sustainable business relationships with Chinese companies is the requirement to spend a lot of time locally, as the Chinese business culture usually focuses on building a personal relationship before the business relationship. This study will focus on the Swedish perspective on how to cope with these challenges from a geographical distance, as the authors seek to facilitate Swedish business in China. Through a qualitative research by interviewing eight Swedish managers, the authors found that there are different perceived challenges if the business relationship was established on site versus established from a distance. This study shows that for managers who lacks the resources to establish the business relationship on site, there is a lack of trust, respect and potential misunderstandings. These challenges can be overcomed by using a distributor or an agent for a fee. For the managers that possessed the resources to establish the relationship on site, other challenges appeared such as Guanxi and cross-cultural competence, but by paying attention to these challenges the managers could achieve trust, respect and avoid misunderstandings. These managers also needed an occasional local presence in order to manage the business relationship, which was due to Guanxi and that China is a high-context culture.

Businesses are seeking international market opportunities more than ever before. The growing activities of international business has given rise to the globalisation of markets which in turn creates more economic, political, social and cultural interconnectedness among countries. A few decades ago, most Swedish companies had limited trade with African countries due to the sluggish economic growth, low market size, political instability and redundant regulations. However, there have been recent developments in Africa and the continent is now home to growing economies. Today, Swedish companies trade with African countries such as Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa. Africa is the most heterogeneous continent; culturally, linguistically and ethnically. In order to successfully operate in African markets, foreign businesses need to develop an understanding of the African cultural value system. The purpose of this degree project is to explore how two multinational Swedish companies; Electrolux and Scania adapt their business culture when operating in African markets. We chose a qualitative research strategy with an inductive approach and conducted semi-structured interviews with Electrolux and Scania, which are currently active in Africa. The respondents hold various positions within these companies. A thematic analysis was used to analyse our data.  Our empirical findings suggest that Electrolux and Scania are very similar in how they adapt their business cultures in African markets. Although there are some commonalities, business culture can vary widely from country to country in Africa and what is true in one country might not be true in another. African markets have a relationship-based business culture and Electrolux and Scania have been successful in Africa by building good and long lasting relationships with business entities. Building relations, coupled with strong company core values, help both companies tackle corruption related issues. Our findings also indicate that Electrolux and Scania have an understanding that Africans have different time perception and consequently, adapt by understanding, accommodating, and being flexible and patient towards their business counterparts. The only major difference about how the two companies adapt their business culture in African markets regard how local talents are used. Whereas Electrolux appoint local people to take leadership positions, Scania send expatriates to the countries they have business operations in. In conclusion, Africa has a unique business culture environment that requires foreign business people to have a sense of flexibility and freedom to respond to subtle or major difference in the various and diverse African countries.

With the rising importance of environmental sustainability, there is a growing need for solutions. Some research indicates that Sweden is performing well in environmental sustainability and the Swedish concept of lagom has been trending in recent years due to its usefulness in leadership. This thesis aims to determine if‘lagom’ can be the key to a sustainable business by examining how the concept is implemented in Swedish companies and how it affects them. Based on the literature review, five semi-structured interviews were held with Swedish business professionals, where questions regarding sustainability, lagom, business culture, and leadership culture were covered. After an analysis of the empirical findings, a correlation between lagom and improved sustainability was found in various aspects. The implementation of trial-and-error was found to be a contributing factor that promotes sustainability. Further, the subconscious cultural influence was also a contributing factor to promote sustainability as the Swedish cultural values promote Laget före jaget (The team before the self), which is incorporated on a societal level. The results would indicate that ‘lagom’ could be a useful aspect to improve sustainability, and potentially of the keys (not the only one) for sustainable business. Although lagom as a concept could be implemented in non-Swedish companies, it is rooted as a Swedish cultural value and is likely not as effective if implemented somewhere where these values are not present. However, due to the nature of the research, this cannot be concretely verified and a need for a case study with several non-Swedish companies would be required to find the true usefulness of lagom.

Constituents in the judicial process such as jurors and lawyers who often play a critical role in the aftermath of an alleged financial reporting fraud have largely been ignored in the accounting literature. Literature in psychology suggests that both laypeople and highly trained professionals frequently over-attribute causality of an observed behavior to the disposition of the person performing that behavior. In doing so, these individuals underestimate the power of situations and fail to recognize important environmental factors that lead to a particular behavior. Within the context of fraudulent financial reporting, there is little understanding of how jurors and lawyers initially perceive and react to fraudulent behavior. Consequently, it is possible jurors and lawyers who are asked to evaluate the causality of a suspected fraudulent event, are inaccurate in their assessment of the causality of that event. This study addresses the question of whether or not the various constituents in the judicial process are biased in their attributions when evaluating causal factors related to financial reporting decisions. More specifically, it focuses on how individuals outside the profession of accounting, laymen jurors and corporate lawyers, make attributions when observing decisions related to fraudulent financial reporting, and whether or not these attributions differ from those made by corporate accountants. Further, after identifying differences in attributions, this study attempts to determine the causes of these differences; and whether recent changes in business culture have been effective in curbing financial reporting fraud. The late 1990s and early 2000s saw a proliferation of high profile financial reporting frauds, and as a result, numerous changes have been made within the regulatory environment governing financial reporting. Many of these changes targeted overall business culture and a commitment to ethical financial reporting. By studying the attributions of corporate accountants we learn about their perceptions of the current environment and better understand their willingness to report something in a manner that would constitute financial reporting fraud. Evidence demonstrates that laymen, corporate lawyers, and corporate accountants differ in their attributions and that laymen are typically more biased when observing individuals and their financial reporting decisions. Laymen are also shown to lack awareness of recent changes in the financial reporting environment, have unrealistic expectations of the likelihood accountants are willing to intentionally misreport something, and are not as good at identifying appropriate and inappropriate financial reporting behaviors. Results also suggest recent changes in business culture and governance around financial reporting have been effective in convincing corporate accountants that environmental factors should not lead to, and are not a viable excuse for, fraudulent financial reporting. / Ph. D.

<p>Over the last few decades trends such as globalization have sharpened up competition on the worldwide open market and in order to meet customers demand high level of technological and competitive uncertainties have increased the pressure of reducing R&D budgets, reduce innovation cycles and shorter time to market as a consequence of the rising competition and as a result, forced companies to source external knowledge. One way of doing this is by tapping external information and knowledge from universities.China is a country with a steady rapid growth on science and technology, but also with a progressively increasing R&D. Today they have the highest input level in the history and this is an opportunity for Western MNCs to establish collaborations in order to gain competitive advantages and create new technology. This study focuses on Industry-University collaborations in China for high technological companies and the process of finding knowledge and establishes networks at Chinese universities with the aim of establish Industry-University collaboration. Based on literature review and a qualitative study of Chinese universities, this thesis explores how a MNC can build a network of local universities connection in a fast growing market and use this network as a source of technology scouting.Over the last few decades trends such as globalization have sharpened up competition on the worldwide open market and in order to meet customers demand high level of technological and competitive uncertainties have increased the pressure of reducing R&D budgets, reduce innovation cycles and shorter time to market as a consequence of the rising competition and as a result, forced companies to source external knowledge. One way of doing this is by tapping external information and knowledge from universities.China is a country with a steady rapid growth on science and technology, but also with a progressively increasing R&D. Today they have the highest input level in the history and this is an opportunity for Western MNCs to establish collaborations in order to gain competitive advantages and create new technology. This study focuses on Industry-University collaborations in China for high technological companies and the process of finding knowledge and establishes networks at Chinese universities with the aim of establish Industry-University collaboration. Based on literature review and a qualitative study of Chinese universities, this thesis explores how a MNC can build a network of local universities connection in a fast growing market and use this network as a source of technology scouting.</p>