Today, all companies face a challenge to cope with the globalized market, where organizations continuously establish on new markets in new countries. Different cultures meet and must be able to collaborate in an organization. The increased economic growth as well as the explosive Swedish tourism in Thailand today attracts more and more Swedish companies to the Thai market. It is likely that this can lead to different cultural challenges where people from different cultures meet and are forced to adapt to each other's established norms and behaviors. Our study aims to investigate the cultural challenges experienced by Swedish executives in Thailand. Our purpose is to identify the largest cultural challenges experienced by Swedish executives and to understand why this may be perceived as a cultural challenge among the Swedish executives. A qualitative method and a semi-structured interview form have been used in the conduct of the survey. The result showed that the main cultural challenges experienced by the Swedish executives were hierarchy, view of a leader, crosscultural leadership and collectivism. The Buddhist religion, the strongly established norms of Thai culture and the executives own positive and adaptable attitude towards cultural challenges proved to be the reason why these cultural challenges were experienced by the Swedish executives.

Close to two million of Sweden's population are born abroad. Within this population group, many people fall under the target group "elderly". This means that there is a large group of elderly people with a different cultural background. In recent years, professional elderly care has been challenged by cultural frameworks of interpretations. It is therefore possible, with the help of a cultural interpretation framework, to claim that the professional elderly care work should consider how individuals and groups make decisions about their background, beliefs and culture. The aim with this study is to highlight the meaning of treatment in the professional elderly care work with regard to cultural challenges. In elderly care, a good treatment is crucial to promoting good health, care and well-being. The treatment is an important determining factor for elderly care experiences. Listening, responding and prioritizing the elderly's needs can be a challenge for the care staff, especially within cultural interpretation frameworks where background, beliefs and culture can differ from how it is in Sweden. With the help of a cultural interpretation framework, it can therefore be argued that care staff in their treatment must take into account how individuals and groups define themselves in relation to origin, religion and culture. It is an important care practice to highlight the meaning of treatment in the professional elderly care work with regard to cultural challenges.

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