This thesis investigates a generalisable cross-cultural model for brand loyalty by integrating extant theories of personal cultural orientation (of individualism and collectivism), self-congruity (actual, ideal, social, and ideal social self-congurity), customer satisfaction, attitudinal brand loyalty, and behavioural brand loyalty. Creating brand loyalty is a key branding issue in modern marketing. Brands are faced with the challenge of building, maintaining, and increasing their capacity to drive customer loyalty across borders with consumers of different cultures. Notwithstanding the growth of culturally centered brand loyalty research, the focus of research today continues to be on cross-cultural differences, often overlooking the generalisable cross-cultural path to consumer brand loyalty. This study instead addresses this overlooked topic of cross-cultural generalisabilities across nations. To assess the cross-cultural generalisability of the conceptual model, survey data from a non-student sample were collected from middle-class, Generation Y individuals of the relevant nationality who have always lived in China, Singapore, or the United States. After performing data cleaning procedures, 541 usable responses from three countries were analysed with the use of the SEM model. The findings show that the personal cultural orientation of collectivism has a positive effect on behavioural brand loyalty through ideal social self-congruity, customer satisfaction, and attitudinal brand loyalty. These findings extend brand loyalty research by considering how an individual’s personal cultural orientation impacts brand loyalty. Moreover, the findings offer marketers increased insight into consumers’ brand loyalty formation process in cross-cultural contexts. The limitations of the study and suggestions for future research are also presented.

Lifelong learning is known and well-studied in the West, but many times the findings of studies conducted in Europe and USA are simplified to universal findings. Although the world is not that simplistic, it is often argued that the East has a more collectivistic culture while the West is leaning more towards an individualistic. Only a few studies have been conducted on the subject in the East and those studies have a macro-perspective with a focus on political and economic values, while the individual perspective is left unexplored. The aim of this study is to gain a better understanding of what Thai students expect from their professional future from a lifelong learning perspective and how culture in terms of individualistic and collectivistic dimensions influences these expectations. This is a qualitative study where our empirical data come from ten semi-structured interviews, with last year’s university students in Bangkok. The findings showed that the students’ expectations are influenced by the collectivistic culture while at the same time being connected with the rapid moving society around them. This could be seen as a divided thinking between old traditions and new possibilities, between individualistic dreams and collectivistic loyalty. The findings suggest that lifelong learning in Thailand is influenced by more than just the collectivistic dimension, as previous research shows. We offer a consideration of the situation above and believe young adults are finding their own way, trying to please both sides of a complex situation.

O presente trabalho versa sobre os modos de fazer de coletivos e iniciativas coletivas de artistas ou multidisciplinares na América Latina. Foram estudados coletivos atuantes fora dos espaços tradicionais de arte. Com suas práticas eles inventam e ativam outros espaços. O coletivismo como posição política. A criatividade e a arte são as ferramentas principais destas ações conjuntas que se desenvolvem em espaços cotidianos promovendo experimentações, experiências e trocas. / This work discusses the ways of doing from collective initiatives of artists and multidisciplinal groups in Latin America. Particular attention is given to collective agencies that work outside the traditional art spaces. These practices invent and activate other spaces. The collectivism is a political position. The creativity and art are the principal tools of these joint actions. These practices are developed in daily spaces promoting experimentations, experiences and social relations.

O presente trabalho versa sobre os modos de fazer de coletivos e iniciativas coletivas de artistas ou multidisciplinares na América Latina. Foram estudados coletivos atuantes fora dos espaços tradicionais de arte. Com suas práticas eles inventam e ativam outros espaços. O coletivismo como posição política. A criatividade e a arte são as ferramentas principais destas ações conjuntas que se desenvolvem em espaços cotidianos promovendo experimentações, experiências e trocas. / This work discusses the ways of doing from collective initiatives of artists and multidisciplinal groups in Latin America. Particular attention is given to collective agencies that work outside the traditional art spaces. These practices invent and activate other spaces. The collectivism is a political position. The creativity and art are the principal tools of these joint actions. These practices are developed in daily spaces promoting experimentations, experiences and social relations.

O presente trabalho versa sobre os modos de fazer de coletivos e iniciativas coletivas de artistas ou multidisciplinares na América Latina. Foram estudados coletivos atuantes fora dos espaços tradicionais de arte. Com suas práticas eles inventam e ativam outros espaços. O coletivismo como posição política. A criatividade e a arte são as ferramentas principais destas ações conjuntas que se desenvolvem em espaços cotidianos promovendo experimentações, experiências e trocas. / This work discusses the ways of doing from collective initiatives of artists and multidisciplinal groups in Latin America. Particular attention is given to collective agencies that work outside the traditional art spaces. These practices invent and activate other spaces. The collectivism is a political position. The creativity and art are the principal tools of these joint actions. These practices are developed in daily spaces promoting experimentations, experiences and social relations.

CoordenaÃÃo de AperfeiÃoamento de Pessoal de NÃvel Superior / A propriedade de Gilberto Freyre (1900-1987), situada no bairro de Apipucos, subÃrbio da capital do Estado de Pernambuco, adquiriu a qualidade de PatrimÃnio Nacional Brasileiro, em 1988. Residindo por mais de quarenta anos na casa de Apipucos, Gilberto Freyre, paulatinamente, acumulou objetos e sentidos como forma de delinear as suas ancestralidade e intelectualidade. Frente a este colecionismo, o presente trabalho procura compreender a construÃÃo, historicamente situada, de uma memÃria particular e ao mesmo tempo coletiva, gestada nas dependÃncias de uma construÃÃo de Ãpoca. / The writerâs property was situated in Apipucos, a suburban area of the state capital of Pernambuco. It acquired the status of Brazilian national patrimony in 1988. Having lived for more than 40 years in his house in Apipucos, Gilberto Freyre (1900-1987), collected, little by little, objects and senses as a way of delineating his ancestrally and intellectuality. This way, the house in Apipucos, is marked by the colectionism. By memory wish, facing such panorama, the present research aimed at understanding the construction, situated historical, of a particular memory, with collective intention and managed inside a time construction space, from where a âmemory place is bornâ.

This paper covers the JRPG subgenre as it compares to the greater RPG genre. These will be compared through how games can, through their mechanics, be traced back to which types of society the games originate from. These societal types are collectivism and individualism, as defined by Richard Brislin (2000). The games are divided into Japanese games and Western games, and are examined for evidence of societal ties in their gameplay mechanics that tie them to their country of origin, or evidence that contend those ties. / Detta examensarbete täcker JRPG-subgenren och jämför denna med den bredare RPG-genren. Dessa jämförs genom hur spel kan, genom deras mekaniker, spåras tillbaka till vilka typer av samhälle spelen härstammar från. Dessa samhällsformer är kollektivism och individualism, enligt definitionen av Richard Brislin (2000). Spelen är uppdelade i japanska spel och västerländska spel och undersöks för bevis på samhällsband i deras spelmekanik som knyter dem till sitt ursprungsland eller bevis som strider mot dessa band.

This research contributes to an understanding of Japanese Foreign Investment (JFDI) in Poland, by using a Variety of Capitalism approach and drawing on literature from employment relations. It examines firstly, the extent to which Japanese production and managerial institutions and practices can be transplanted to different economic and cultural environments; and secondly, the character of workers' response towards these practices, in the context of JFDI in Poland. It draws on primary data drawn from interviews conducted with the managers and workers in five firms in a Japanese electronics manufacturing cluster in Toruń, Northern Poland, as well as the policy makers, researchers and journalists on a regional level. First, the transfer of Japanese management 'style' is considered in terms of recruitment, training practices, issues of monitoring and discipline and quality assurance policies. This study reveals that the transfer of Japanese typical practices is of minor importance to Japanese corporations based in Poland, and the character of these practices in the Polish workplace is peripheral. However, the subordination of labour is brought by the precarisation of employment, rather than the implementation of Japanese quality policies. Second, the focus of the research is on the response of workers and finds that they did not remain passive actors in this process and resisted the adapted form of Japanisation in Poland. Although the role of formal trade unions was limited, the data pointed to other forms of resistance, both conventional and novel, from sabotage, absenteeism, humour to insubordination and the use of blogging sites. In the context of the researched labour process, the empirical findings point to markers of collectivism in all forms of worker resistance and hence identified that the collective worker not only has not disappeared from both the labour process debate and the workplace itself, but, even if not evidently, is present through the resistance to management practices and control.

This master thesis focuses on the impact of Chinese culture on marketing strategies of selected companies in China. According to statistics, a large number of subjects coming to China and aiming to conduct business here faces failure and is forced to leave this market subsequently. Considering significant differences between the western and the Chinese culture, we have to think of the question if this failure is a consequence of these subjects not being able to understand the Chinese culture and the way it affects consumers in China. The aim of this thesis is to evaluate the influence and importance of the Chinese culture on marketing applied to Chinese market, including concrete description of how can the Chinese culture affect the work of marketers in China.

This study explored the experiences of employed South African Hindu mothers. The purpose of the exploration was to better understand the coping strategies that these mothers used to deal with their work and family role expectations. South African Hindu mothers are a subset of people who originate from traditional or collectivistic, cultural backgrounds, yet, live in a society in which workplaces subscribe to mainly, Western business practices. By exploring the coping strategies of this collectivistic cultural group in South Africa, the implications are relevant to what is known about coping with work and family demands. Secondary analysis of qualitative data led to the findings of this research. Twenty, unstructured, in-depth interviews allowed participants to share their stories as they wanted. From these stories, findings were that South African Hindu mothers used internal psychological processes, and, external processes to cope with their family and work demands. Internal processes included, reappraisal, ideals on duty, guilt, gratitude and acceptance. External processes included coping by externalising feelings, being supported by others, and, planning and organising. The research considers the influence of cultural norms and traditions juxtaposed by a modern way of living in relation to coping with the demands of work and family expectations. Future studies may benefit from building knowledge on how collectivism shapes coping and what is known about coping for additional, collectivistic cultural groups, particularly, within the South African context