Previous literature has stated that few mergers are successful and many fail to meet the set expectations. This study aims to compare cross-border mergers, between corporations from Sweden and from the United States of America, with in-border mergers between Swedish corporations to explore possible differences in synergy gains. The synergy gains are proxied by abnormal returns 80 trading-days post the merger completion date. The results in this study are not statistically significant, however it indicates that cross-border mergers have a negative average cumulative abnormal return while in-border mergers have a positive average cumulative abnormal return. Therefore, this study argues that the result could be a consequence of greater cultural differences for cross-border mergers than in-border mergers and imply that in-border mergers could be the better alternative for Swedish corporations in comparison to cross-border mergers. Additionally, cultural differences should be investigated before a merger decision is taken. Future research should investigate how cultural differences affect synergy gains with a larger sample and include corporations from more nations.

Following the necessity for spatial planning to focus on ‘what works’ in terms of implementation and policy delivery, during the last decade, the notion ‘soft’ spaces of cooperation have been in the spotlight of many academics working on territorial cooperation units. ‘Soft’ spaces of cooperation have been introduced mainly to explain what was happening for real through the continuous attempts to promote new policy scales, initially through the device of fuzzy boundaries. However, despite the necessity to address interests beyond existing rigid administrative boundaries, still issues related to financial power, infrastructure coordination and investment, ecological and environmental concerns, etc., all are situated within hierarchical structures of government and governance. Challenges arise and affect the interaction of actors in these areas, given the different institutional and cultural settings. This research investigates ways in which governmental institutions influence the coordination between non-governmental actors, points of interests that can foster the cooperation between governmental institutions and, more specifically the main challenges that non-governmental actors face while trying to cooperate due to cultural differences and institutional set-up in a ‘soft’ territorial cooperation. The research has been carried out in the Dutch-German border area, focusing on a common natural linkage and asset such as the Rhine river. While coordination between different sectoral policies exists in both sides of the border, different social context, planning mode and different legal and political conditions make the implementation of common projects a challenge.

Submitted by Maria Eduarda Migliora (dudamigliora@hotmail.com) on 2018-06-19T14:02:06Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao-MEMFinal.pdf: 1643910 bytes, checksum: fb11ec62d942932ab497502d61dc676a (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by ÁUREA CORRÊA DA FONSECA CORRÊA DA FONSECA (aurea.fonseca@fgv.br) on 2018-06-22T18:14:13Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao-MEMFinal.pdf: 1643910 bytes, checksum: fb11ec62d942932ab497502d61dc676a (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-07-02T19:52:36Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao-MEMFinal.pdf: 1643910 bytes, checksum: fb11ec62d942932ab497502d61dc676a (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-04-10 / Purpose: his study aims to understand, from an exploratory approach within the context of an acquisition operation of a Brazilian language education company, the impacts of an organizational change in the perception and attitude of the employees. Design/Methodology/Approach: We used a qualitative exploratory approach. The context of this paper is the acquisition of language education company in Brazil. We used references from organizational cultures and organizational change theories as background for the analysis. Ten employees were interviewed through open questions and the results were found by the content analysis method. We discovered two final categories and thirteen subcategories. Findings: As a conclusion, it was possible to understand this phenomenon from the perspective of these collaborators, through the schematization of the employees’ perspective of the organizational change and its effects on their motivation, sense of belonging, coordination and the impact on the organization and its results. Research limitations: The main limitation of the study is the active participation of the author on the context of this study, which can, not intentionally alter some of the interpretations of the interview. Practical implications: The categories found can be used in other studies regarding the same subject. In management practice, the study may help future acquisition operations as it raises relevant impacts of the organizational change for the group of employees within this context. It can also be useful as background for the conception for organizational change plans built by the companies going through the same situation / Objetivo: O estudo busca compreender em que medida uma mudança organizacional com a introdução de uma nova cultura impacta nas atitudes e percepções dos funcionários. Metodologia: A abordagem utilizada foi exploratória e o contexto estudado é da operação de aquisição de uma empresa brasileira de educação de idiomas. Foram utilizados referenciais teóricos sobre os temas de cultura organizacional e mudança organizacional. Com o embasamento destes, foi possível observar os impactos do fenômeno em campo, onde foram entrevistados através de perguntas abertas, dez funcionários da empresa recém-adquirida. Posteriormente foi realizada a análise do conteúdo coletado, com a definição de duas categorias finais e treze subcategorias, detalhadas através de trechos retirados das entrevistas. Resultados: Como conclusão, foi possível entender o processo de mudança organizacional pela ótica dos funcionários e mapear os impactos na motivação, senso de pertencimento, coordenação e consequente impacto para a organização e seus resultados. Limitações: A principal limitação do estudo é a presença da autora como participante no contexto estudado, o que pode, mesmo que não intencionalmente, viesar as interpretações. Contribuições Práticas: As categorias levantadas poderão servir como base para estudos posteriores sobre as categorias definidas. Na prática da administração, o estudo poderá auxiliar futuras operações de aquisição, na medida que levanta os impactos da mudança organizacional mais relevantes para o grupo de colaboradores dentro deste contexto e, funcionando como insumo para planos de mudanças organizacionais e mapeamento de riscos destas mudanças.

The present thesis provides a theoretical overview, including a neurobiological perspective, of well-being (WB), eudaimonic well-being (EWB), optimism, pessimism and cultural differences between Western and Eastern societies.  In addition, an empirical study investigated these concepts in Japanese and Swedish participants. Definitional problems and scarce neurobiological findings are two current problems to date within research on WB, EWB and cultural differences especially when looking at comparisons between Europe and East Asia. Interpretations and conclusions are therefore hard and tentative to make as more research is yet needed. This thesis empirical part therefore investigated the association between these concepts. In the best of the authors knowledge have this type of explorative study never been done before. 142 Swedish participants and 68 Japanese participants between the ages of 20 to 40 answered the self-reporting questionnaires; revised life orientation test (LOT-R), psychological well-being scale (SPWB) and the minimalist well-being scale (MWBS). The findings demonstrate that Swedish people report higher levels of optimism compared with Japanese people whom in turn report higher levels of pessimism when measured with LOT-R. Findings further demonstrate that Swedish people report higher levels of EWB when measured with SPWB. In comparison do Japanese people report higher levels of EWB when measured with MWBS. A difference was found in response pattern between MWBS and SPWB. And last did the findings suggest correlations in total scores of MWBS, SPWB and LOT-R but not within all sub-dimensions. Discussion of the results, limitations of the thesis and suggestions for future research concludes the thesis.

Aim: The aim of this study is to investigate how relationships are built in a cross-cultural setting and to identify which interpersonal factors need to be taken into account to guarantee the successful creation of relationships.   Methodology: The method of this study follows a qualitative approach through the gathering of empirical data. The case of the healthcare equipment company Elekta is selected for data collection from employees of the Brazilian and Swedish office. Interviews have been conducted face-to-face and through videoconference tools. The selection of interviewees is based on the role of the individual within the company and the involvement in the market expansion from Sweden to Brazil. Secondary data from scientific articles and academic journals is compared and analyzed with primary data.   Findings: The establishment of relationships during an international market expansion is bounded to the cultural differences present between two parties. Among these differences language, communication, trust and local business practices play a role in the relationship building process. The use of local employees can reduce risks of an unknown market and give access to business networks. Relationships are essential for Brazilians and personal connections are more important than institutional relationships. Cultural differences should, however, not be completely adapted to the local market, since a mix of Brazilian and Swedish business practices has been shown to be advantageous. This is due to high reputation of the Swedish country of origin of Elekta and the favored Swedish business practices. Therefore, foreignness and cultural differences do not necessarily imply negative effects on relationship building, but can have a positive outcome on the development of trust.   Contribution: The study contributes to relational theories by providing new theoretical insight in the phenomenon of relationship building in a cross-cultural environment. It contributes to current academic studies, focusing on strategies to successfully conduct market expansions and establish physical presence in a foreign county. Furthermore, it gives new insight in relationship building practices in the healthcare sector. The study emphasizes the positive effect of culture in an international environment, which has been neglected in previous studies.   Limitations: Since cultural aspects play a large role in this study, findings are specific to the Latin American continent. Responses obtained during the interviews were a product of questions aimed to the specific geographical area, in regards to the healthcare sector. Therefore, including additional countries in a same sector study may result in dissimilar results.   Suggestions for further research: This research involves Brazil and Sweden as a cultural framework. Therefore, perception of the reputation of country origin and perception of cultural business practices may differ between other geographic locations. Further research should investigate on the differences of relationship building in other nations. This could give insight in positive and negative aspects perceived per country of another culture.

This study examines the role of race, socioeconomic status, and individualism-collectivism as moderators of the relationship between selected work and family antecedents and work-family conflict and evaluates the contribution of energy-based conflict to the work-family conflict (WFC) research. The study uses data obtained from a survey questionnaire given to 414 participants recruited from an online labor market. Study hypotheses were tested through structural equation modeling. The results indicate that while moderating effects were slight, a proposed model where energy-based conflict is included outperforms traditional time/strain/behavior-based models and that established variables may drop to non-significance when additional variables are included in prediction. In addition, novel individual difference variables such as individualism and collectivism were demonstrated to have effects beyond moderating antecedent-outcome relationships in the model. The findings imply that WFC models would benefit from the inclusion of variables found in the current study.

My diploma thesis is focused on the culture, interculture comminication and cultural differences, especially in south-east Asia - with focus on Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore. I made my own research on the perception of cultural differences. The target group was young people from the whole World, who are working in south-east Asia. At the end of my thesis I am combining the knowledge I got from the research and the theoretical part.

The thesis deals with an attractive economic environment of India and its market capacity. Besides, it is focused on people's mentality and specific cultural differences. Their knowledge together with cultural respect forms the ground of international trade negotiation. Basic territory characteristics are debated afterwards as well as bilateral foreign trade between India and Czech Republic. Nevertheless, the main attention is devoted to the mentality of Indian businessmen -- a questionnaire, filled out by employees of travel agency Adventura, reveals similar experience of both regular tour guides and international managers when doing business in India. Negotiation belongs to Indians body and soul, no matter how "important" the deal is.The objective of this work is to underline the importance of intercultural perception that assumes always more attention in times of swift globalization.

The aim of the thesis is to research the differences between Czech and Chinese culture. The specific features of Czech and Chinese culture were examined in two questionnaire surveys. The first survey was focused on fundamental values of Czech and Taiwanese young people, the second survey targeted the problems in cooperation between Czech and Chinese people while working together. There are measures for effective cooperation mentioned in the conclusion of the thesis.

My diploma thesis will bring a detailed view of business environment in the Democratic Republic of Congo, including characteristics of business and culture differences of the country. After introducing some basic facts about Congo I will use PEST analysis to assess political, legal, social, cultural and economic environment of the country. I will also make some recommendations for Czech exporters to the Congolese market based on the previous experience of Czech companies with doing business in Congo. My goal is to bring comprehensive information about Congo, which can help to the investors in making decision about whether to enter or not the market.