As one of the most important means of globalization for companies around the world, mergers and acquisitions (M&As) have been adopted as a core growth and expansion strategy. M&A integration involves combination in various areas, in which cultural integration has an important role. Nevertheless, the potential positive and negative impact of cultural dimensions on the success of M&A activity is somewhat less acknowledged in the business community. The purpose of this paper is to explore problematic cultural issues in order to get an understanding of the characteristics and outcome of cultural integration as influenced by both national culture and organizational culture in M&A. In order to fulfil the purpose a qualitative case study approach was chosen. Semi-structured phone interviews were made with the top managers who were responsible for the deal and employees that worked for both companies during the transition period. In addition, two survey were conducted among KPMG and Andesen members. It could be summarized that KPMG and Andersen deal result in a great loss of ex-Andersen employees, due to the resistence from employees to the new culture after integration.

Increasing numbers of foreign firms are holding cross-border IPOs in attempts to raise capital in markets outside of their home nation. Within the United States cross-border IPOs consistently experience greater amounts of underpricing than domestic IPOs. This paper examines the effects of SIC industry classifications on cross-border and domestic IPO underpricing from 2004-2010. Analysis demonstrates that in various industries, SIC classification has a significant impact upon underpricing in comparison to other industries. While in other industries, significance is solely exhibited through the differing impacts of domestic and cross-border IPOs, within the industry itself, upon underpricing. The most significant industry effect is seen in high-technology industries which display a significant impact on underpricing on both the inter-industry and intra-industry level.

This paper explores the daily life of female Japanese spouses and the performance of their cultural citizenship under the constraints of the Taiwanese mainstream culture and social structure.. With in-depth interview of fifteen female Japanese spouses marrying Taiwanese men in Taiwan, and observation of two field sites where these spouses teach their children, this research finds that the ¡§cultural citizenship¡¨ of these Japanese spouses is not a static concept which marks the differences between Taiwanese and Japanese cultures, but a dynamic process that these Japanese spouses need to negotiate the daily Taiwanese cultures in everyday life, especially in the domain of language use and maternity performance.

Taiwan ¡¥s mergers and acquisitions activities are more and more frequent in recently. The transaction cases grow from 1999¡¦s seventh to 2005¡¦s fifty-one. Although in the past research, our nation scholars seldom pay attention to this topic. From 2002 to 2005 our nation important management Journal has only four articles. Therefore, Taiwan ¡¥s researchers have many research space to expand it. Prior research on M&A founded that in nation ¡¥s enterprises M&A success opportunity are more bigger than M&A in the across nation. For this reason, many scholars suggest the key success or fail factor is ¡§culture different¡¨. Beside this answer, I want to find the others factor by case study which is including BenQ Thunder Tiger and Yageo that will affect Taiwanese enterprises M&A European and American enterprises. Then Taiwanese enterprises which are horizontal M&A(M&A that take place within one industry, often between direct competitors)can reference the research result. The results indicate that: Merger and acquire between European and American famous enterprise often over reliable result in due diligence not exactly. Thinking difference and nation superiority are main reason which cause conflict between acquire and acquired firm. Taiwanese enterprises generally do not take ground for human due diligence, Taiwanese enterprises which lack of international people are not good for postmerger integration. Mergers and acquires strategy is the least choice to enter overseas market.

In view of globalization, technology and the influence of the technological progress in transportation, after the opening of the high-speed railway in 2007, the distance from north to south becomes much shorter, thereby pushing through the formation of the one-day living circle. What¡¦s more, due to the development of the metropolitan areas, the gap between urban and rural areas is shortened. Therefore, the primary mission for Taiwan¡¦s administration in the future should be not only to rethink the distribution of the current 23 counties and 358 township cities, but to figure out the appropriate adjustments. With more than 50 years of H.R.(Home Rule) in Taiwan, the relationship between the central government and local ones has been inconsistent. Local governments actively seek to build the major public constructions, such as setting up the Science Park, ports, airports, one characteristic for one town¡Kand so on. However, these phenomena lead to the reduplication of administrative resources, the unequal distribution of social resources, the excessive personnel costs caused by the operation of the system, and the heavy financial burden to local governments. Hence, we must rethink how the regions should be redrawn in coordination with such ways as national land planning, city planning or establishment of divisional laws for administrative regions. This policy-making process not only involves political, administrative, social, legal, and economic dimensions, but also attracts many politicians¡¦ attention. Only through the theories and practice will the sustainable development of Taiwan's system be established. As a result of the necessities and urgency for the redistribution of the administrative regions, this paper, in conclusion, takes the viewpoint of land-planning framework and network , as well as proposes to use the idea of regional government to help all counties solve cross-border governance issues. Furthermore, owing to highly political attention, the issue for the adjustment of administrative division may be settled by civic awareness, promotion of civic accomplishments, or even a referendum in the end.

This study adopts a variety of research methods widely used in professional academic fields covering regional science, management science and policy science. The essence of each method is selected for cross-field analysis that is beyond the framework of different fields, departments and layers. Through the public affairs management (PAM) method, the reference architecture is integrated for analysis, and the output of regional analysis (including comparative analysis, economic foundation analysis, variance appropriation analysis, time series analysis and cross-sectional analysis, gravity model) is used as input data for the project analysis (the nominal group technique). The outputs of regional analysis and project analysis are used as input for the interactive management (IM) method in a policy analysis; the outputs of the first three analyses are further used as the input to the social judgments theory (SJT) of the judgment analysis. A set of proposals is then created using VCS, and the survey questionnaire is created using SJT and multi-attribute utility theory (MAUT) by IM participants in generating strategies. These are sent to 53 public administrators in the Penghu County Government for them to fill out. The results are analyzed using the serial intention structure of the SJT method to identify the cooperation elements among all units. The historical data in Penghu is then further analyzed using appropriate research methods to calculate a set of objective and mutually supporting data. The participants¡¦ psychological perception are further quantified with all kinds of resource links swept across each node, enabling different types of energy to diffuse to their maximum for creation of the greatest possible public values. This study was conducted by a team of three students taking an interactive approach to exploring issues regarding the impact of strategy in cooperation between Penghu and China's Economic Zone on the Western Side of the Taiwan Strait. The team worked together to conduct literature research, examining issues related to public living within the aspects of economy, society and government. The study uses the interactive management (IM) method widely used in policy analysis, together with process analysis methods such as the nominal group technique (NGT) method and the interpretive structural modeling (ISM) method, with 26 participants from various sectors. In the NGT process, starting from idea generation, problem clarification, and voting on problems, the issues were compared pair-wise. ISM software was used for generating an enforcement structural diagram, which was reviewed by participants; over half approved on the twelve strategies in the governmental aspect of cooperation between Penghu and China¡¦s Economic Zone on the Western Side of the Taiwan Strait study, in addition to the revised and approved enforcement structural diagram. This paper focuses on using the IM method for analysis. During the planning stage, information generated by varieties of research methods was used for deliberate review by the parties of interest. During the interactive test stage, the purpose was to make sure that the 26 participants are representative of the public. Therefore, 15-20 observers came from the same population for simultaneous voting and pair-wise comparison of rules. The results produced were almost identical, indicating that the participants invited in the IM method were representative enough. In the follow-up stage, the Penghu Cable Company was supportive to air the promotional interactive DVD, with contents connoting public welfare and social education, for free for one month from April 1, 2009 to April 30, 2009. Afterwards, the twelve major strategies as voted were sent to 10 administrative units, of which five replied and agreed to adopt; More voices of the majority of people will then be heard, effective opinions adopted and, together with cross-border governmental policies and people¡¦s needs, the public opinions will be blended into public policies. The method will serve as a bridge between the Government and the public, enabling people to do a final evaluation on the government's performance or even facilitating the Central Government to listen to people¡¦s responses when allocating subsidy funds to cities and counties. tThis study will propose a concrete strategy on ¡§competitiveness in cooperation between Penghu and China's Economic Zone on the Western Side of the Taiwan Strait¡¨, by surveying county government public administrators with SJT and MAUT questionnaires. A total of 53 county government public administrators generally agreed that the Government should proactively expand services to improve the employment rate. In summary, if the governmental sector is able to take the public interests and county public services as the top priority issues, as well as expressing a willingness to listen to people¡¦s opinion and incorporate people¡¦s needs into the policies, a flourishing and peaceful realm of the people, by the people, for the people and based on the people is achievable in the near future.

<p>As one of the most important means of globalization for companies around the world, mergers and acquisitions (M&As) have been adopted as a core growth and expansion strategy. M&A integration involves combination in various areas, in which cultural integration has an important role. Nevertheless, the potential positive and negative impact of cultural dimensions on the success of M&A activity is somewhat less acknowledged in the business community.</p><p>The purpose of this paper is to explore problematic cultural issues in order to get an understanding of the characteristics and outcome of cultural integration as influenced by both national culture and organizational culture in M&A.</p><p>In order to fulfil the purpose a qualitative case study approach was chosen. Semi-structured phone interviews were made with the top managers who were responsible for the deal and employees that worked for both companies during the transition period. In addition, two survey were conducted among KPMG and Andesen members.</p><p>It could be summarized that KPMG and Andersen deal result in a great loss of ex-Andersen employees, due to the resistence from employees to the new culture after integration.</p>

The most recent couple of years the boundaries of the world have been erased and we have come to live in a more global environment. It has been even more evident since the European Union has got a more prominent role in the society. It appears as obvious for most of us that we live in a changeable time and that a new, global perspective has been developed. Companies have to focus on the effect globalization and differences in culture have, to be competitive in the market today. Because of that business managers more often can come to work in other countries than their country of origin, it becomes interesting whether these managers adapt their management style or if they continue to work the same way as they did in their native country. This thesis aims to investigate if business managers with a foreign background bring along their national culture when managing a company in Sweden. Further more we want to revise which these factors could be and in what way they affect the leadership in a different country than the country of origin. To answer our purpose we have carried out a survey in four French companies in Sweden which are led by a French leader. With these leaders we have performed draught interviews and we have also sent out a questionnaire to two co-workers in each company. We have got an insight in the national distinctive features that characterize the respective culture by going through theories about stereotyped Swedish and French management styles. Besides that, theories about organisational culture have been studied from different perspectives. After we analyzed our empirical data against chosen theories we have been able to draw conclusions to answer our purpose. From the survey it emerged that leadership in different cultures can be problematic if certain adaptation to the host country does not occur. It also came to light that what the managers bring from their national culture is a sort of French base structure regarding how the company is led generally. / Ces dernières années, les frontières nationales sont devenues de plus en plus floues, et nous vivons aujourd’hui dans un environnement de plus en plus global. Ce phénomène est devenu encore plus évident depuis que l’importance de l’Union Européenne dans notre société s’accentue. La plupart de nous voient le fait de vivre dans une ère changeable, comme un fait évident, et nous voyons apparaître une nouvelle perspective globale. Les entreprises doivent par conséquent être attentives aux effets de la globalisation et des différences culturelles pour pouvoir être compétitives sur le marché d’aujourd’hui. Puisque les leaders d’entreprises peuvent être amenés à travailler dans d’autres pays que leurs pays d’origine, il est intéressant de voir s’ils adaptent leur manière de diriger l’entreprise ou s’ils continuent de travailler de la même manière que dans leurs pays natal. Ce mémoire vise à examiner si un leader d’entreprise étranger apporte des éléments de sa culture nationale lorsqu’il dirige une entreprise en Suède. Nous voulons pour cette raison examiner quels peuvent être ces éléments et de quelle(s) manière(s) ils influencent le leadership dans un autre pays que leur pays natal. En vue de répondre à notre objectif avec ce dossier, nous avons effectué une recherche sur quatre entreprises françaises en Suède, dirigées par un leader d’origine française. Nous avons effectué une entrevue avec chaque leader et avons en plus de cela distribué une enquête à deux employés de chaque entreprise. En analysant des théories sur les styles de leadership propre à la Suède et à la France, nous avons eu un aperçu des caractéristiques nationales qui marquent les deux cultures. Nous avons ensuite étudié différentes théories sur la culture de l’organisation sous plusieurs angles. Après avoir étudié les données qui portent sur nos entrevues et nos enquêtes, et les avoir comparées aux théories choisies, nous avons pu en tirer les conclusions suivantes. Il s’est montré que des problèmes peuvent apparaître dans le leadership dans d’autres cultures si aucune adaptation à la nouvelle culture ne se fait. Il s’est également avéré que le principal élément que les leaders emportent de leurs propres cultures nationales est une sorte de structure de base qui porte sur la manière générale de diriger l’entreprise. / De senaste åren har världens gränser suddats ut och vi har kommit att leva i en alltmer global omgivning. Det har blivit än mer påtagligt sedan EU har fått en i högre grad framträdande roll i samhället. Det framstår som självklart för de allra flesta att vi lever i en föränderlig tid och att ett nytt globalt perspektiv vuxit fram. Företag måste fokusera på den effekt globalisering och kulturskillnader har för att kunna vara konkurrenskraftiga på marknaden idag. I och med att företagsledare allt oftare kan komma att jobba i andra länder än deras ursprungsland blir det då intressant huruvida dessa ledare anpassar sin ledarstil eller om de fortsätter att arbeta på samma sätt som i deras hemland. Uppsatsen syftar till att undersöka om en företagsledare med utländsk bakgrund för med sig sin nationella kultur vid styrning av ett företag i Sverige. Vidare vill vi granska vilka dessa faktorer skulle kunna vara och på vilket sätt de påverkar ledarskapet i ett annat land än hemlandet. För att besvara vårt syfte har vi genomfört en undersökning på fyra franska företag i Sverige som leds av en fransk ledare. Med dessa ledare har djupgående intervjuer utförts och vi har även skickat ut enkätfrågor till två medarbetare på respektive företag. Genom att sedan studera teorier om stereotypa svenska och franska ledarstilar har vi fått en inblick i de nationella särdrag som präglar respektive kultur. Därtill har sedan teorier om organisationskultur studerats ur olika perspektiv. Efter att ha analyserat våra empiriska data mot valda teorier har vi kunnat dra följande slutsatser för att besvara vårt syfte. Från vår undersökning framkom det att ledarskap i andra kulturer kan vara problematiskt om inte viss anpassning till värdlandet sker. Det visade sig även att det som ledarna för med sig från sin nationella kultur är en slags fransk grundstruktur som handlar om hur företaget ska styras generellt.

Principles of business management are increasingly being used to analyze health care systems. Conceptualizing health care as business networks offers the possibility to apply the ARA model of Actors, Resources and Activities to understand the functioning of the system. We have used this model to study the phenomenon of networking in cross-border care using Uppsala University Hospital as a research case. The aim of the study was to understand actor’s perceptions of networking activities and how these related with international sales of health care services. We collected primary data through five interviews with managers involved in internationalization and a survey study with 26 managers at the hospital. Secondary data on patient flows and research activity was collected from hospital and university records. The main actors identified in the health care networks are doctors with professional identity being an important facilitating factor. Patient´s role as active participators in the system is increasing while researchers, innovators and key opinion leaders are also important. Networking activities consist of knowledge transfer via lecturing, meetings and external consulting activities. Resources in the form of supporting clinics, research centers and administrative services correlate positively with the level of internationalization. The study identifies networking activities as important for internationalization and cross-border sales of health care services. We conclude that the ARA model is a valuable instrument for analyzing cross border activities and internationalization of health care.

We analyze the cross-border effect of tax cuts on R&D activity in the context of profit shifting. A tax cut in one location of a multinational enterprise reduces the user cost of capital for the whole group if profit shifting is possible and exerts a positive cross-border effect on R&D output. Using micro-level data, we find an increase of patent output of 15% upon the implementation of a foreign tax cut for firms with cross-border links. In addition, we find that foreign tax cuts prohibiting profit shifting generate a negative cross-border effect on average patent quality. / Series: WU International Taxation Research Paper Series