<p><strong>Problem:</strong> How do the born global firms overcome challenges and sustain performance in international markets through their competences, routines, and corporate governance structure?</p><p><strong>Purpose:</strong> The purpose of this thesis is to explore the competences, routines, and corporate governance structure of born global companies, and understand their role in overcoming challenges of early internationalization and sustaining performance in international markets from early days.</p><p><strong>Method:</strong> This research is conducted as multi-disciplinary, consisting of literature from International Business and Strategic Management. Relevant data is collected through six in-depth interviews with executives of born global companies from Sweden and Norway. Qualitative analysis has been used at data analysis stage.</p><p><strong>Originality: </strong>This study contributes to literature by examining relatively neglected areas of born global companies; competences, routines, and corporate governance structure. It is also original in distilling a wide literature to explore challenges of born globals.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Our research reveals that despite their small size and limited resources, born global companies engage in competence building and leveraging activities, establish early international routines, and construct flexible governance structures to overcome challenges and achieve performance in the global arena.</p>

No description available.

<p>Background: During the past years the increasing internationalisation has not only affected companies but also universities. This development is due to the Bologna Declaration which prescribes a harmonisation of the higher education in Europe. The declaration implies a tougher competition, but also a higher degree of co-operation among European universities. </p><p>Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to examine how LiU can make use of thenetwork approach in the process of internationalisation, in order to cope with the changes that the Bologna Declaration implies. </p><p>Realisation: We have carried out a total amount of 17 interviews. To complement these interviews, secondary data about the Bologna Process and LiU have been extracted from the internet and other information material. </p><p>Results: LiU should take advantage of the opportunities provided by the Bologna Process in order to further internationalise. The most favourable way of networking for LiU would be to be a part of relatively small and complementary networks. The promotion and facilitation of the communication between partners, but also within the university, is crucial. Use, and constantly develop, the competitive advantages in order to seek possible network partners and to attract students, teachers and researchers.</p>

<p>Syfte: Denna uppsats syftar till att göra en undersökning bland Länsförsäkringars kunder, vilket är intressant då försäkringsbranschen säljer en produkt som det inte går att ta på och som kunden betalar för trots att han eller hon troligtvis aldrig kommer att använda produkten och faktiskt helst inte ens vill utnyttja densamma.</p><p>Syftet med arbetet är att undersöka följande:</p><p>• Varför stannar Länsförsäkringars befintliga kunder kvar inom företaget?</p><p>• Varför väljer en person att bli kund hos Länsförsäkringar?</p><p>• Tycker kunderna att det är viktigt att ha bank, försäkring och liv inom samma bolag?</p><p>• Tycker kunderna att det är viktigt med en ”egen” personlig kontakt hos sitt bolag?</p><p>• Vad är det för likheter samt olikheter mellan Länsförsäkringars kunder i Gävle, Bollnäs och Söderhamn?</p><p>Metod: För att utföra studien har ett flertal olika tillvägagångssätt utnyttjats:</p><p>1. Litteraturstudie</p><p>2. Enkätundersökning</p><p>3. Statistisk bearbetning av enkätsvaren</p><p>Resultat & slutsats: De viktigaste slutsatserna som jag har kommit fram till är följande:</p><p>• Länsförsäkringars nya kunder värdesätter priset mest medan däremot de befintliga kunderna värdesätter personal och service mest.</p><p>• Länsförsäkringar måste marknadsföra fördelarna med konceptet bank, försäkring och liv inom samma bolag för att det ska kunna fungera som ett konkurrensmedel.</p><p>• För att Länsförsäkringar ska lyckas med att införa en ”egen” personlig kontakt måste fördelarna med detta marknadsföras till kunderna.</p><p>• Några väsentliga skillnader kan inte utläsas mellan orterna Gävle, Bollnäs och Söderhamn.</p><p>Förslag till fortsatt forskning:</p><p>• Att genomföra djupintervjuer eller en enkätundersökning bland de kunder som har lämnat Länsförsäkringar för att se varför de lämnade företaget.</p><p>• Att genomföra ytterligare studier på de 40 procent av de nya kunderna som valde Länsförsäkringar för prisets skull. Verkar de representera en grupp människor som ofta byter bolag för att få lägsta pris?</p><p>Uppsatsens bidrag: Uppsatsen ger dels Länsförsäkringar, men även andra som är intresserade, möjlighet att få en inblick i vilka av Länsförsäkringars konkurrensmedel som uppskattas av deras kunder.</p> / <p>Aim: This thesis aims to study customers of Länsförsäkringar. This study is interesting because insurance companies sale invisible products. Even the customer who pays for a product, is not probably going to use or want to use it.</p><p>The aim of my paper is to investigate the followings:</p><p>• Why do the existing customers of Länsförsäkringar stay with the company?</p><p>• Why does a person chose to become a customer at Länsförsäkringar?</p><p>• Do the customers find it important to have bank, insurance and life with the same company?</p><p>• Do the customers find it important with a personal contact of their own at their company?</p><p>• What similarities and differences are there between the customers of Länsförsäkringar in Gävle, Bollnäs and Söderhamn?</p><p>Method: To conduct this study I have made use of several different procedures:</p><p>1. Study of literature</p><p>2. Questionnaire survey</p><p>3. Statistical work on the questionnaire</p><p>Result & Conclusions: The most important conclusions that I have come to see are the following:</p><p>• The new customers of Länsförsäkringar seem to value price the most while the existing customers value staff and service the most.</p><p>• Länsförsäkringar has to market the benefits with the concept bank, insurance and life within the same company in order to make it work as a competitive advantage.</p><p>• To succeed with implementing a “personal contact” Länsförsäkringar has to market the benefits of it to the customers.</p><p>• No major differences can be found between the localities Gävle, Bollnäs and Söderhamn.</p><p>Suggestions for future research:</p><p>• To carry out more thorough interviews or a questionnaire survey among the customers who have left Länsförsäkringar in order to see why they left the company.</p><p>• To conduct further studies of the 40 percent of the new customers who choose Länsförsäkringar for the sake of the price. Do they seem to represent a group of people who often switch companies in order to get the lowest price?</p><p>Contribution of the thesis: The thesis gives not only Länsförsäkringar, but also others that are interested, an opportunity to get an insight in which of Länsförsäkringar competitive advantages that are appreciated by their costumers.</p>

<p>The world economy is in a transition period never experienced before, One of the main realising factors, boosting economy growth, is the catch up of many emerging countries. The emerging countries impose new competitive dimensions to the global economy, forcing well established multinational corporations into new competitive situations, brining both opportunities and threats.</p><p>The construction equipment industry has entered a condition of unprecedented growth. The total market demand has increased significantly and the demand development is prospected to continue for many more years. To keep up with the market demand and the sales opportunities, it is important to have machines available in the market. This impose that the logistic strategy is getting more important for companies in order to keep up with the prospected sales opportunities.</p><p>This Masters thesis is initiated by our case company, Volvo Construction Equipment International, currently suffering from an inefficient logistics strategy constraining international growth.</p><p>Based on our analysis and conclusion, Volvo Construction Equipment is recommended to move from transaction selling, spot market like international logistics strategy towards a relationship marketing based logistics strategy establishing in-depth collaborations with key account shipping suppliers. Furthermore, we recommend that Volvo CE should consider a logistics management function in order to facilitate the inter-organizational flow of logistics information.</p>

<p>The international environment today has been undergoing unprecedented change and many companies are seeking new ways to stand out from the competition by sustaining their competitive advantage. Internationalization and firms’ consolidation increase competition in the dynamic marketplace .Companies are no longer staying competitive simply through focusing on product quality and pricing as customers are becoming more high-demanding related to customer service offer. This issue directs the companies’ main focus today to address the customer needs in the ever-changing environment.In order to be the winners in the marketplace, timing and superior customer service are becoming the keys to attain competitive advantage for a company. Time-based competition is an important issue that many companies are facing currently as customers are becoming more time-sensitive and time-oriented in terms of better services, reliability and delivery. To keep up with the changes in demand from customers, it is important to satisfy customers’ objectives and needs in order to provide superior customer service, thus, establish good relationship with them. In the ever-changing and dynamic business environment company needs to adapt and exploit the changes in order to meet the new challenges in the marketplace. It is crucial for the company to respond to changing needs of existing customers and seeking to serve new customers externally. The ways to renew the customers’ services and how they are delivered are critical capabilities for many companies to acquire nowadays. This leads to increasing interaction between marketing and logistics where logistics is considered a platform for supporting new strategic moves on the market.This master thesis originates from a need to research the links between customer service improvement and Just-in-time distribution in order to sustain competitive advantage. We propose to extend the Just-In-Time concept to incorporate a customer perspective, which results in changes the warehousing, ordering and delivering routines. Subsequently, this creates timing ability as well as coordination of information and material flows through timely decisions, which are difficult for competitors to emulate. Based on our analysis and conclusion, companies are recommended to shift from the traditional production-oriented to market-oriented focuses through incorporation of customers' perspective into the value chain. To deploy this, companies should start from the customer end and understand customers' needs and establish mutual beneficial relationships with customers. Long-lasting business relationships ultimately determine the success of the company. Furthermore, we conclude that successful learning to change the routines requires time for the transformation of traditional delivery practice to perform direct deliveries activities. They are based on the common understanding of the tasks and rules as well as common codes of internal coordination processes.</p>

<p>Many firms are today established in China via intermediaries, such as distributors or agents. However this establishment is not valuable in a long-term perspective if the industry environment offers a possible higher return on investment by establishing on its own. Furthermore, when a firm establishes more committed in a foreign market, it gain control over the marketing activities and the sales channel. When entering new markets, problems occur in cases of cultural barriers, institutional distances and lack of contact with the customers within the market. The focus of this master thesis is the establishment of relationships in order to achieve competitive advantages through enhanced understanding of market specific factors and the adaptation towards the market.</p><p>The thesis is initiated by our interest for firms expanding in international markets. We have recognized the importance of the relationship establishment when entering China. Based upon the identified problem we build a theoretical framework and apply the empirical findings from our case company Dako A/S, which are about to establish in the Chinese market with more commitment.</p><p>We have for this master thesis collected data from our case company. We have, via semi-structured interviews, conducted the material within the division for the establishment in China. The purpose of the thesis is to introduce findings that will help Western firms to enhance their understanding of the importance of establishing, developing and maintaining customer relationships in China in order to gain a competitive advantage. The central phases of the thesis, is our theoretical framework, the findings from the case company and the establishment of competitive advantages through relationship and choosing the right entry mode.</p><p>Throughout our research and our seeking towards answering the above purpose we can draw the following main conclusion; it is crucial for a foreign firm to develop its capabilities in order to establish a competitive advantage. The organizational capabilities have to be addressed the market specific knowledge and the feedback towards the organization in order to exploit the competitive advantages. We summarize the findings in a conclusion, which can be applied for Western firms in different industries, in order to establish competitive advantages in China. Finally, we provide recommendations to our case company and their establishment in China, within the research area of this thesis.</p>

<p>This thesis applies the dynamic capabilities framework to identify and examine the dynamic capabilities creating sustainable competitive advantage in the context of a developing economy. The attempt to explain sustainable competitive advantage by reacting to environmental changes has at all times been a highly discussed topic for research. The globalized and unstable environment often found in developing areas increases the need for more dynamic models when analyzing how to gain competitive advantage. To meet this demand, the dynamic capability framework introduces a very promising effort to better understand superior enterprise performance over time.</p><p> </p><p>This thesis intends to increase the understanding of the role of dynamic capabilities and analyze the knowledge of successful entrepreneurs in small and medium enterprises effectively can outperform competition in the unstable South African environment. More specific, the focus is mainly on strategic decisions and the empirical study consists of qualitative case studies of four successful entrepreneurs. This data is collected through semi-structured interviews in Cape Town. The strategic decisions are first analyzed within each case – applying selected parts of an existing framework – and thereafter a cross-sectional analysis is done in order to find both the similarities and differences between entrepreneurs. The findings suggest that all entrepreneurs in the analysis have the characteristics and skills to create dynamic capabilities within the process of sensing, seizing and reconfiguring opportunities. Furthermore, three main factors – maintaining a consistent long-term vision, placing the customer need in focus, and using the competence and resources wisely – are identified as features, which made these four entrepreneurs successful and helped them sustain the superior firm performance over time. In addition, these three factors must be adaptable to rapid and unexpected changes. Overall the findings suggest that when analyzing competitive advantage, the sensing, shaping and reconfiguration of opportunities must be seen as constant.  Lastly, the complete process containing different fundamental classes of dynamic capabilities should not be separated.</p><p> </p><p>The study demonstrates the relevance of the dynamic capabilities approach in identifying competitive advantage, which is based on the firm’s dynamic capabilities. The fact that small and medium enterprises are important for the economic growth in developing countries makes this study an important field for research.</p>

Thesis (Ph.D. (Business Management))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2005.

Background: It is necessary for a company to hold some unique and irreplicable competitive advantage in order to be able to succeed in a market. In a market where public procurement is an important part the competitive advantages will be characterized by the fact that some of the participants on the market are public organizations and that their actions as for procurement fall under the legislation LOU. The characteristics of competitive advantage also depend on and change with continuous changes on a market. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to study the competitive advantages that are presenton a current market characterized by public procurement and how these are created. The purposes is also to based on the trends on the market today study and predict the nature of the competitive advantage on the market in the future as well as the changes that we think will occur on the relevant market. Realization: We have performed a case study of the market for enteral nutrition where data have been gathered from interviews with participants in the market and from studying the law of public procurement. The data is gathered and analysed based on an adapted model that we have derived from two theoretical perspectives of competitive advantage. The model that looks to the nature and the origin of competitive advantage has been tested and evaluated through application on the market. Results: Strategic assets are of great importance in order for a company to create a competitive advantage in the form of being established, relations, being established in municipalities and the offer on the market of enteral nutrition today. These strategic assets and competitive advantages will in the future be characterized by the trends that are present on the market today. These trends are identified as an increasing knowledge, products for specific diseases, cooperation, limited procurements, alternative distribution channels and working towards the patients. The creation and the nature of competitive advantage is shaped by an interaction between the resources and capabilities of the firm and the needs and the needs and the demands of the market.