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.

Aim: The aim of the study is to investigate the impact of national culture on female’s career advancement and different barriers that females may confront in University of Gävle and GuizhouUniversity   Method: Both qualitative and quantitative methods are employed in the current study. Qualitative data is collected by sixteen interviews including ten participants from University of Gävle and six participants from GuizhouUniversity. And the quantitative data is collected by one hundred questionnaires in the two universities.   Result and Conclusions: The study finds out that Hofstede’s six cultural dimensions: power distance, collectivism vs. individualism, uncertainty avoidance, masculinity vs. femininity, long-term orientation vs. short-term orientation and indulgence vs. restraint could affect female’s career advancement in varying degree in which power distance and masculinity vs. femininity differentiate the two universities to a large extent. Moreover, the study shows gender stereotyping, lack of networking, and lack of mentorship are most obvious barriers for female’s career advancement while the impact of glass ceiling, opportunities and self-confidence is relatively.   Suggestion for further studies: Future studies could take more cultural models into consideration. Bigger samples in two countries should be collected to view a whole picture of female’s situation in Swedish and Chinese tertiary education field.   Contribution of the thesis: The model of relationship between national culture and female’s career advancement provides a framework for the further studies relating to female’s under-representation in tertiary field. Barriers identified by the authors remind the universities to improve their organizational management.

The objective of this thesis is to discuss the influence of national culture in leadership within military organizations and also to explore the effectiveness of a specific leadership model in a multinational context. Developmental leadership (DL) is a model used by the Swedish Armed Forces (SAF) since 2003. However, the aim is not to answer the question of if a certain leadership model has an effect or not and therefore legitimize or discard the use of it. It rather raises the question of why this leadership model has been chosen to become such an integral part of an organization. This thesis analyzes DL by classifying its components using Hofstede’s theory of cultural dimensions as a basis and compares the results with Sweden’s cultural dimensions to find a correlation. The results show a high correlation between DL and Sweden, but DL does not correlate with Belgium’s cultural dimensions. Sweden’s characteristics are also complemented by empirical data collected for the purpose of this thesis. According to this interview study with Swedish officers, even though DL is not consciously applied to their leadership styles, it coincides with the characteristics of their vision of an ideal leader. Moreover, DL consists of components that are suitable foundations for an effective multinational leadership.

The main aim of this work is to analyze human resource management and knowledge economy in a selected company and to propose steps to improve the situation. I divided the thesis into two parts. In the first part I concentrated on theory. After the study of technical literature I described the basic theoretical concepts regarding human resource management and knowledge economy. I then conducted a questionnaire survey. I used a questionnaire VSM 1994 and 2013 by Geert Hofstede for determining the desirable cultural dimensions. I used TBSD to identify the most shared words in the chosen company. Finally there were proposed some steps to improve the situation.

The main aim of this work is to analyze the impact of corporate culture on customer satisfaction and propose recommendations for change. In the first part of the thesis is the theory of corporate culture and customer satisfaction. In the practical part, I conducted a questionnaire survey using questionnaires VSM 1994 and 2013 and TBSD. With this questionnaire survey I defined the cultural dimension of employees in company. The same survey was carried out among customers. I conducted survey focused on customer satisfaction with the services of the company. Following these questionnaires were suggested possible changes and improvements that a company can take to improve its corporate culture.

CSR, Corporate Social Responsibility, is growingly being adopted in Brazilian companies and other organizations. The literature about the phenomenon suggests that in Brazil, like in many developing countries, the nature of CSR is strongly based on philanthropic culture for historical, political, and social reasons. Another explanation is the weak institutional framework, practically forcing non-governmental actors such as the private sector to take responsibility over social issues. This study aims to explore and analyze the values and culture behind CSR decisions and practices in Brazil. The method used is qualitative, a descriptive content analysis, interpreting the GIFE Census 2014 with Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, and the World Values Survey 2014 of Brazil. The study findings show a strong tradition of collectivism, hierarchies, and power distance, the claimed institutional weakness, but also some cross-sectoral alignment of CSR practices. In CSR decisions, companies and corporate organizations seem economically more effective, but socially less inclusive. Individual and community organizations, and quite extensively also family organizations practice larger stakeholder inclusion, yet are more bureaucratic in their operations. Stakeholder participation could be described partly superficial and quite philanthropic, seen in the nature of social investments and activities. Values and culture can be combined to the decisions and practices of all management formats, but probably for different reasons. International influence is visible through the presence of MNCs, but also as a part of individual and community organizations through stakeholder activism and investments.

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.

The Master Thesis analyses the unified corporate culture and its impacts on the international company T.P.C.A. where employees of three different cultures cooperate together. The concept of culture and national culture together with cultural standards and dimensions is described in the theoretical part of the thesis. Last but not least, there is defined the concept of the corporate culture, its elements and some basic typologies. The practical part analyses specifics of the corporate culture of Toyota Peugeot Citroen Automobile with the special focus on the communication and visualization practices. The last chapter of the thesis deals with expatriation and shows the impact of an international company on the tourism industry.

These Spanish-Czech cultural standards could be useful as a part of intercultural trainings made for Czech managers and workers who want to be prepared for a stay in Spain or any contact with Spanish culture. The theoretical part explains different related terminology necessary for a correct use of the standards. It involves terms like social interaction, communication and intercultural communication. The practical part describes the basic characteristics of the country, political and economical system, business dealings and diplomatic protocol. The core of the thesis is the chapter Czech-Spanish cultural standards which analyzes the main differences of Czech and Spanish cultures elaborated according to the executed interviews.

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.