Contributing to the available literature on the cross-cultural management between China and the Czech Republic, this thesis is examining the factors influencing the performance and success of Czechs working and living in China. It firstly defines the cultural settings of China and the Czech Republic, their key aspects and cultural specifics. Secondly, it describes the desired qualities of a successful expatriate - the so called global mindset. Thirdly, the thesis focuses on the specifics of working in China and on the potential culture shock a Czech expatriate is likely to face after relocating there. In the practical part of the thesis, the methods and results of an original primary field research conducted among more than 30 Czech expatriates in China are outlined. Using correlations and content analysis, the final results are drawn and the prior hypotheses either confirmed or disproved. The summary of the thesis offers then a set of recommendations for an expatriate-to-be who is coming to China - an ancient land surrounded by mysteries even in our modern times.

The purpose of the diploma thesis is to analyse Dutch cultural standards and develop a handbook for Czech citizens, comprising of useful tips on how to succeed in a Dutch environment. The work is divided into three main parts - theoretical, practical, and empirical. The theoretical part is focused on such terms as culture, cultural standards, and cultural dimensions as defined by different authors. The practical part is dedicated to the characterisation of the Netherlands with emphasis on the Dutch-Czech economical cooperation and Dutch cultural specifics. The empirical part attempts to assess the Dutch cultural standards from the Czech point of view. The synthesis of all three parts mentioned above is embodied in the Dutch-Czech cooperation handbook.

The main aim of the diploma thesis is to analyse corporate culture in selected companies and to propose changes that will help them to reach desirable cultural dimensions of the knowledge economy. The thesis consists of two main parts. The first one is devoted to the theoretical background and the second one to the practical part. The content of the first part is literary research, which consists of basic knowledge about company culture and related subjects. The second part is dedicated to an analysis of company cultures in selected companies. The data for this research was obtained by the VSM 94 & 2013, TBSD test, observation and unstructured interviews with the employees, which were used to help us fully understand this problematic. Results of each method in cultural dimensions were compared and final results determined in which cultural dimensions they have problematic areas. At the end of the thesis, proposals that will lead the companies towards desirable knowledge economy were made.

The quest to comprehend how cultural differences can impact learning is one of those intriguing challenges that continue to beguile some scholars and educational leaders even at a time that is characterized as globalized. This dissertation is a qualitative case study about teaching to culturally diverse populations and is primarily based on the interviews of seven accountants designated as instructors and the direct observation of those instructors while teaching accounting principles to other accountants. The English language was used despite the fact that all participants, including the instructors, spoke English as a second or third language and came from diverse cultures around the world. It brings to light how an American company (American World Trade or AWT) felt they succeeded in teaching to the diverse population of students though not purposely providing accommodations for the diverse cultural differences in the classroom. During the year 2009, AWT took the materials USU developed around the world and presented conferences in regional offices of Bangkok, Budapest, Santo Domingo, Pretoria, and San Salvador. The pilot study interviews took place at the end of 2009. This study was based on the conference that took place in February 2010 in which 16 of the 70 countries were represented. This dissertation does several things: First, it looks at the cultural dimensions of students and instructors from 16 different countries, in an international setting, and examines if lack of knowledge about cultural dimensions and accommodating for them could interfere with learning. Second, it looks at the strategies and behaviors used by the instructors who were not knowledgeable of cultural dimensions to reveal if they were unconsciously adapting their teaching for the culturally diverse. Third, this study offers an in-depth look at several additional factors, including cultural intelligence (CQ), which could explain their ostensible teaching successes.

The problem of this thesis is that the investigation is tied to a country that is not fully explored to Volvo Car Corporation at the present time. Differences within culture and attitudes will be important for Volvo Car Corporation to be aware of. Will the new customers emphasize the importance of social or functional needs or do they care for the same attributes as the Swedish buyers do? The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the consumer trends within interior design in the front row of the car among young potential car buyers in China. This will be done in order to gather information that can be interpreted and valuable for Volvo Cars future business decisions. To fulfill the purpose of this theis a deductive approach have been implemented with theories that are drawn from previous research. The theories will be integrated with quantitative findings that the authors have received through a conducted Internet survey. The study was implemented on a group of Chinese students and were then compared to a sample of Swedish students. This was done in order to investigate the different tendencies for the two samples regarding the interior design within a car. The findings shows that there are both similarities and differences between the two samples which dismiss the concept of a Global Teenager. The tendencies that the authors found through the conducted research shows that the hedonic and social factors are emphasised while the utilitarian needs seem to be accounted for as obvious in the majority of cases. The findings further states that there are no strong feelings concerning Roominess and Daily Life Usage. The liking of the smaller car do give a signal that roominess and storage is not of highest importance. These two concepts were not the most preferred interior attributes and were placed in the region from three to five in the ranking. The authors conclusion for Volvo Car Corporation is that the focus should lie on the aspect of a car that generates an emotional attachment to the customer.

Some authors have identified different cultural dimensions that could be used to classify people from different cultures in terms of values, believes, and behaviors which are defined by the environment where they are brought up. Among these dimensions, power distance is hi-lighted in this research in order to identify how the relationships of power among individuals would be a cause of cultural barriers that could ultimately prevent managers from the successful accomplishment of objectives. In the field of project management is during the project implementation when the interaction among stakeholders will reach its highest point of importance. This is due to the fact that all plans formulated in previous phases will be transformed into real actions. International project management required special skills and knowledge in order to achieve the right implementation of the strategy to accomplish a proper project completion. Therefore, this research is made in response to the need within the project management field for having a practical tool that could be applied to overcome cultural barriers. By gathering the point of view of managers from different backgrounds and ages, Chinese and non-Chinese, a list of practical guidelines is provided for foreigners to follow in order to avoid conflicts which could be initiated by cultural issues related to the way relationships of power are established in China. In order to develop these guidelines, a qualitative research method has been applied in this study by carrying out semi-structured interviews to a diversified group of people, Chinese and non-Chinese, in order to get the information from their experience to achieve the final objective of this research. After collecting the necessary information conveyed by interviewees, the suggested guidelines have been developed based on the findings which performed the factors of power and mechanism that describes how Face and Guanxi define the relationships of power among Chinese individuals.

Public Diplomacy has been around for decades, in some parts of the world more than others. Despite that, research related to public diplomacy has mainly focused on approaches serving governments’ policy concerns. A large part of the research has also surrounded efficiency aspects: the level of impact culminating from public diplomacy activities. This tunnel vision has undoubtedly contributed to the limitation of theoretical and methodological development. From that standpoint, this study attempts to contribute and fill the existing theoretical and methodological gap. The study builds on the research by Yun (2005), directed by J. E. Gruing, and examines the reliability of her framework and sheds light on some potential shortcomings and eventual amendments. Suggesting the convergence of public diplomacy and public relation, the model is composed of two theoretical frameworks. Public diplomacy as the dependent variable is anchored in Grunig’s excellence theory and national culture as determinants (independent variable) is anchored in Hofstede’s cultural dimensions theory. As did Yun, the study finds that cultural dimensions as determinants for South Korea’s public diplomacy do not possess sufficient explanatory power to understand South Korea’s public diplomacy management. A historical lens and additional contextual factors would hypothetically better explain Korea’s public diplomacy, paving the way for future studies.

Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are one of the fastest strategic options that companies choose to face the global competitive market. This is evident from the number and the amount of growth in the value of the deals, as well as the occurrence of the 'mega–mergers' in recent times. If companies do not adapt to the fast moving and evolving business environment, they will run the risk of becoming obsolete. The key principle behind buying a company is to create shareholder value, which will give the organisation a competitive advantage. The reasoning behind M&A is that one combined company may be more valuable than two separate companies. Despite the popularity of M&A, 60–80% of M&A fail to create value. There are several reasons why M&A fail, such as the insufficient analysis and examination during the planning and early stages of the transaction, overpayment and poor management in the integration phase. In the past 20 years, the volume of cross–border acquisitions has increased nearly three times faster than the volume of domestic acquisitions. Although cross–border M&A have become more popular, it comes with its own challenges and problems. The companies that enter into cross–border acquisitions need to face the issue of cultural differences, which is one of the common reasons of M&A failure. The participants of both companies need to integrate with the national and corporate cultures of the new company. In order for companies to be successful, the management needs to consider the impact and importance of these cultural differences. Organisations frequently struggle with cross–cultural issues and it has been argued that the cultural distance between the country of the acquirer and the acquired is an important determinant of the success of cross–border acquisitions. In the example of the German company Daimler Benz and the American company Chrysler Corporation the fact that these two companies have very different cultural backgrounds and that their structures differed significantly complicated the merger. The company's choice of languages, images, metaphors and rhetorical strategies had a huge impact on the acceptance of the merger by the employees. Hofstede investigated the social dimensions of culture in order to develop a comprehensive model of culture. The model was developed on data collected from the IBM study of work–related attitudes of 116,000 employees in over 50 countries and three regions. The first four dimensions of culture were derived from this study namely, Power Distance Index (PDI), Individualism (IDV), Masculinity (MAS), and Uncertainty Avoidance Index (UAI). Gray extended Hofstede's earlier cultural framework to an accounting perspective and suggested that accounting values are derived from cultural dimensions. Gray summarised his accounting values as: Professionalism versus statutory control, uniformity versus flexibility, conservatism versus optimism and secrecy versus transparency. The research question and objective of this study was to investigate the potential impact of cultural differences of cross–border acquisitions on companies from an accounting perspective. In order to answer the research question there were three objectives set. The first objective is to investigate the impact that cultural differences have on a company using Hofstede's cultural dimensions, the second objective is to investigate the impact that cultural differences have towards an accounting perspective using Gray's accounting values. The third and final objective of this research is to interpret the potential impact of a cross–border acquisition on a company taking the cultural differences into account. Considering the cultural differences, it was evident that there are differences between cultures, which may lead to cultural conflict and may hamper the success of cross–border mergers or acquisitions. The cultural differences that were observed, which was extended to an accounting perspective indicated that cultures do have an effect on the way accounting is done form one country to another. The conclusion can be made that companies do need to take the cultural differences into account before entering into cross–border mergers and acquisitions, and that proactive measures needs to be in place in order for the cross–border merger and acquisition to be a success. / Thesis (M.Com. (Management Accountancy))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

Girls’ withdrawal from school is posing a major challenge to female literacy in Afghanistan. The aim of this research was to examine the influence of Afghan traditions and cultural norms on girls’ school withdrawal by parents or guardians in Khinjan District of Baghlan Province. To achieve this aim the accounts of 12 mothers with daughters pulled out of school were obtained through semi-structured interviews and analyzed via the theoretical lens of Existentialist Feminism and Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions Model. The findings suggest that in order to address the problem of girls’ withdrawal from school in Khinjan, the informal communication networks that reinforce the tendency of parents/guardians, especially male ones, to withdraw the girls from school should be influenced by communication channels in the district. Grounded on Paulo Freire’s concept of dialogue for liberation, it is recommended that credible members in the community should initiate and engage in a transforming dialogue about education of girls, with Khinjanis.

This master thesis aims to put an abstract view on culture and leadership in China considering the context of a Chinese society, which is adapting and transforming within the age of globalization and a rapid economic development. The goal of our research is to investigate on influences, trends and manifestations, which help to characterize the foundation and exercise of leadership in China. In order to be able to answers our research questions, we travelled for six weeks to China to conduct in-depth interviews with 15 Chinese leaders in Shanghai and Beijing in order to draw conclusion from the utterances we were able to grasp. Many researchers try to oversimplify the Chinese culture and society as well as its approach to leadership. For this reason we tried to underline the complexity of conducting business in China, and what factors need to be taken into consideration in order to have a successful encounter. The key findings of our thesis are that it is hard to simplify the phenomenon leadership in China, since it highly depends upon the observed company, and also the generation of the leader or follower one is dealing with. Furthermore, it is important to keep in mind the complex and rich culture of China, which goes several hundreds of years and has still a huge impact on behavior of today’s Chinese.