Title: Enhancing Swedish Large MNEs’ Strategies in Chinese Market -By Analyzing the Perspectives of Consumers in Sweden and China Authors: Cheng Han and Xiaojing Gu Supervisor: Svante Andersson Level: Master Dissertation in International Marketing, 15 credits Keywords: Consumer behavior, Multinational enterprise, Marketing strategy, Swedish and Chinese market Background: With the trend of globalization, multinational enterprises noticed the potential market in China. Base on previous research, researchers indicated consumer behaviors have a sort of relationship and influence on MNEs’ strategies. Purpose: Investigate the distinctions between Swedish and Chinese consumer behaviors, due to the distinction, explore the way to enhance MNEs’ strategies in Chinese market. Research Questions: Q1: What are the differences between Chinese consumers and Swedish consumers evaluating same enterprises? Q2: How Swedish large MNEs develop their strategies for adapting the distinctions of Chinese consumers? Theoretical Framework: The theoretical framework includes theories regarding what factors of consumer behaviors are considered as influencing on enterprises’ strategies and the theories of general enterprise strategies. Methodology: This dissertation is a quantitative study accompany with case study. Empirical Framework: The empirical framework presents case descriptions and statistics. Analysis: The five hypotheses are analyzed and critical examined. Conclusion: Since consumers from different countries have different consumer behaviors, enterprises need to alter their strategies by adapting the distinctions of consumers.

<p>Aim: SMT Wire has noticed that their sales of ESP wire are very low in China compared to India. SMT Wire now wonders how they can increase their market share in China.</p><p>Method: Personal interviews, telephone interviews and interactive conversations.</p><p>Result & Conclusions: SMT Wire should work each tier in the supply chain to gain more orders and increase their market share. It is important to have local representation and work close to the customers so that the customers can feel trust for Sandvik and Sandvik’s employees. The market for spiral discharge electrode material is good in China (the annual consumption is about cccc tonnes) and the market will probably be more and more mature for Sandvik’s high quality materials in a couple of years.</p><p>Suggestions for future research: Is it possible to have a more long-term price on the products on the Asia market? How can Sandvik keep its Chinese personnel? How can the Chinese personnel be trained to make contacting new companies easier for them? How can a foreign company create a guanxi-based selling with a high personnel turnover?</p><p>Contribution of the thesis: A strategy that can be adapted for stainless steel wire companies that want to increase their market share in China.</p>

Aim: SMT Wire has noticed that their sales of ESP wire are very low in China compared to India. SMT Wire now wonders how they can increase their market share in China. Method: Personal interviews, telephone interviews and interactive conversations. Result &amp; Conclusions: SMT Wire should work each tier in the supply chain to gain more orders and increase their market share. It is important to have local representation and work close to the customers so that the customers can feel trust for Sandvik and Sandvik’s employees. The market for spiral discharge electrode material is good in China (the annual consumption is about cccc tonnes) and the market will probably be more and more mature for Sandvik’s high quality materials in a couple of years. Suggestions for future research: Is it possible to have a more long-term price on the products on the Asia market? How can Sandvik keep its Chinese personnel? How can the Chinese personnel be trained to make contacting new companies easier for them? How can a foreign company create a guanxi-based selling with a high personnel turnover? Contribution of the thesis: A strategy that can be adapted for stainless steel wire companies that want to increase their market share in China.

KFC and McDonald’s are two representatives of American fast food brands who are operating in China.Considering the cultural differences between American and Chinese culture, whether and how they adaptthemselves to the Chinese culture caught the authors’ attention. This thesis aimed to explore the culturaladaptation patterns of these two brands, and find out what factors contribute to a successful culturaladaptation model from customers’ perspective.In order to find the answer, the authors based this study on academic theories and studies together withobjective information of KFC and McDonald’s, and carried on a survey based on Chinese market. Aftercombining empirical findings and analysis, two models were derived for KFC and McDonald’srespectively. After the analysis, this thesis also discussed implication and limitation of the results, andsuggestion for future study was presented.

After 1978, China caught up the trend of globalization, the internet was also raised in China. China started to develop the internet in end of 1980. Until 1994, the internet was developed rapidly. With the development of the internet, the relationship between state and society in China had the different situation, which made the influence with Chinese political development. There had been some situations which couldn¡¦t be reported, it can be happened in the public sphere. Since then, the Chinese government noticed the power of the internet, and started to develop and interact, that can help the Chinese government to realize the comment from people. And the internet also helps people to convey their voice to everywhere. Therefore the development of internet helps improvements of civil society and democracy in China as well. This caused a threat to the Chinese government; the Chinese government used various skills to control the internet. When Google entered in China, it also has to follow the rules in China. It had had to delete and filter the searching results; this made Google to decide to leave Chinese market, and also made the international world to concern the internet control in China. This research used Google as a case study to discuss the internet control and the influence of public opinions on internet in China. This research also used the state-society as the theory to observe the transformer of society-society relationship in China.

This thesis aims at studying customer perceived value in language test training industry through an empirical research on four dominate IELTS training institutes in China. Customer questionnaires are used to get customers’ preferences about language test training service, as well as their perceived value of each institute. Based on that, a measurement of each institute’s performance according to the customer preferences is conducted. After analysis, the strength and weakness of each institute is clearly showed, followed by relative explanations and suggestions for their weaknesses.

The thesis provides an analysis of the possibilities for a foreign enterprise to enter the Chinese market. After the introduction of the Chinese economy and its basic characteristics, the thesis focuses on the analysis of different market entry forms. They are divided into export operations, contractual forms of entry in the form of licensing or franchising, and into the capital entry strategy. For each of these forms the legal regulation is discussed along with the useful tips for businesses. The advantages and potential risks are also highlighted. The final chapter of the thesis focuses on the intellectual property protection in China and its regulation. It affects all businesses, regardless the form they choose. The work is based on the current version of Chinese laws and on the latest commentaries on these regulations. It should serve to all foreign entrepreneurs who decide to start business activities in China and take advantage of the countless opportunities that this country has to offer.

The classical approach to strategy defines strategy as a process of planned calculation and analysis to design long-term advantages. The Structure-Conduct-Performance (SCP) model argues that firms perform and develop strategies based on market structures. These approaches have been seen as the “norm” but are today criticised as outdated since they do not fully suit new emerging markets. The aim of the study is to investigate whether these approaches need modifications for emerging markets and if unique factors need to be emphasized when developing sale strategies for the Chinese market.  The empirical findings are based on two Scandinavian firms with long experience in China. A qualitative exploratory research design is conducted trough the study. As a conclusion a guideline of vital factors for the Chinese market is provided: market knowledge, political and social system, relationships and branding. The knowledge of these factors can help other companies to master the complex environment of the Chinese market.

To become successful in China is a challenge not every international company can cope with. The competition is cruel as everyone struggle for a larger piece of share. Some manage to find the “secret” formula, others simply are left behind. Still, the market is too big to be neglected and extremely unpredictable to be easily handled. Nokia has proved to be foreseeing and wise enough to not only enter that market, but also climb up the ladder of success and stay there for a decade. This work aims to give a clear and thorough picture of Nokia’s successful strategy in penetrating the Chinese market. It follows and explains the steps Nokia took back in the days in building strong brand awareness and thousands of loyal customers in the face of the Chinese consumer. Its purpose is not only to tell the story of success, but also to teach important lesson future investors and perhaps give a precious insight into the topic. The Chinese market needs to be studied and analyzed as well in order to build a better understanding for it. We need to find out how they feel, what they think and what factors influence their behavior and finally how to approach them. A series of different research methods like secondary data, personal and group interviews, and online survey will be used here. The approach in this study will be inductive, where specific theory will be developed based on research.

Problem discussion – we identified the gap concerning the lack of researches in exploring the impacts of both business and social networks in B2B companies’ internationalization process based on the network model proposed by Johanson and Mattsson (1988), especially taking the Chinese environmental factors into consideration. Purpose – The purpose of this study is to explore the importance of environmental factors and networks for B2B companies to internationalize into the Chinese market. Methodology – The thesis adopts the abductive approach and employs a qualitative research strategy. In order to obtain relevant information, multiple case study is chosen. The primary data are collected through semi-structured interviews with three Swedish B2B companies. Secondary data such as scientific articles, reports and books are also used in this thesis. Findings – Firstly, this thesis concludes that B2B companies’ business activities in internationalization process in China are influenced by four environmental factors: cultural, legal, economic and political factor. Secondly, business networks have impacts on the process of international extension, penetration and international integration, whereas the impacts of social networks are clearer in the phase of penetration. Thirdly, in China, there is no clear distinction between business- and social networks, but the building of trust is important in developing networks. Besides, B2B companies have to rely on their local employees when utilizing Guanxi in business activities. Managerial Implications – The managers should not only focus on the advantages, but also constantly perceive the risks in the Chinese market. Besides, managers could also take specific advantages of their Chinese employees’ social networks. Furthermore, managers should connect and coordinate the networks in different countries. Finally, managers could rely on their local employees to utilize Guanxi in business interactions. Theoretical Contribution – Firstly, this thesis identifies four key market environmental factors and their impacts for companies’ business activities in the Chinese market. Secondly, this thesis contributes to Johanson and Mattsson’s (1988) network approach by elaborating on the impacts of both business- and social networks in the three phases respectively. Thirdly, this thesis proposes a new conceptualized model that provides a deeper understanding and a clearer demonstration of the importance of environmental factors and networks when firms internationalize into global markets. Limitations – The results of this thesis might be limited to generalize to all kinds of market segments or industries. Moreover, in this thesis, the impacts of social networks are only identified in the phase of penetration. Keywords - Internationalization process, B2B companies, Environmental factor, Business network, Social network, Network approach, Impacts of network, the Chinese market