Abstract Title: Influence of Cultural Difference on Self Employment: Chinese people living in Gävle, Sweden. Level: Final assignment for Master Degree in Business Administration Author: Ruihan Lei, Xi Chen Supervisor: Ehsanul Huda Chowdhury Examiner: Maria Fregidou-Malama Date: 2014－09 Aim: This study aims to analyse the influences of cultural differences on self-employment for Chinese people in Gävle, Sweden. The study further discusses the opportunities for Chinese entrepreneurs to do business in Gävle, Sweden. Method: We used qualitative approach as our research method. We focused on one to one interview as the tool for data collection. Eight respondents were selected as there are only eight Chinese entrepreneurs running 10 businesses in Gävle, Sweden at present. Result & conclusions: The individual factors influence more on the decision making of being self-employed, especially the family, age, and education background factor. Furthermore, the risk taking attitude and the ability of information collecting can also impact the self-employment success. Cultural differences are not exactly a hinder for the entrepreneurship of self-employment, but rather are perceived as an opportunity by the respondents. Suggestions for future research: This study was restricted to geographical limitation. It will be better if future research can concentrate on the relationship between problems and opportunities for studies in the field of cultural differences in other locations and other countries. Contribution of the thesis: This study shows how cultural difference impact self-employment from individual perspective and environmental perspective. It fills the gaps of related literatures; it is a detailed study of cultural influences on Chinese self-employed people living in Gävle, Sweden. It is helpful for Chinese who want to do self-employment in other countries, by understanding which specific factors to take into consideration in the process of conducting self-employment to succeed. Keyword: Self-employment, China, Sweden, Cultural differences.

“When in Rome do as the Romans do” – this hundreds years old proverb is still very actual today. Even more, nowadays you don’t even have to go to Rome to feel cultural differences. The communication technology have changed the world economy, thousands of people work now for multinational companies, interacting daily not just with a culture, but possibly with as much as 5 or 6 different ones. Some teams even work in different geographical locations communicating exclusively by electronic means. Today’s managers just have to deal with culture whether they like it or not, but the whole employee-manager relationship may be turned upside down on another side of the globe. So what should we do and what do we do about it? Ho do we manage effectively? These are the questions that this study aims to answer at. The main research objects of this study are rather small software engineering teams and companies that are working in cross-cultural environment, but do have little or no special company policies and other formal ways to manage cultural differences. Yet we found out that managers develop there own understanding of cultural issues and are practicing different methods to deal with them. / mkitsul@yahoo.com; seza@km.ru

Many teachers of international students in the United States are challenged to address cultural differences in a classroom. International students often experience psychological, physical and cultural stress when they study abroad, due mainly to unfamiliar environments and a diverse culture. The question this study asks is: Are there any strategies that can be used to benefit these students? This grounded theory study will examine a purposefully-selected group of subjects from China and Taiwan who are currently studying at a large metropolitan university in the Southeastern United States. After data collection and analysis procedure, I hoped there are some things valued for international student who just arrived at the new environment and provides the reference to those students and college with the similar situation as UCF all over the world.

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Som ett resultat av globaliseringen har produktionen av textila produkter flyttat utomlands, ett faktum som idag är mer en regel än ett undantag. Att hantera leverantörsledet med kulturella skillnader likväl som språkliga och fysiska avstånd har därför blivit en allt större del av företag- och leverantörsstyrning. Att använda dokument i form av en leverantörshandbok kan vara ett sätt att skapa hållbara och stabila samarbeten beställare och leverantör emellan. Genom att använda idén av en uppförandekod och ytterligare applicera andra viktiga faktorer i produktionen, exempelvis orderläggning, leveranser och dylikt, är det möjligt att skapa ett konsekvent arbete med alla företagets leverantörer. Denna uppsats utforskar leverantörshandböcker, vilka problem de kan lösa, hur de ska utformas samt vilken effekt de kan ha för det beställande företaget. Studien är genomförd genom en kombination av litteraturstudie, intervjuer, fallstudie samt studie av existerande leverantörshandböcker. Resultatet förtydligar olika aspekter gällande implementerandet av leverantörshandböcker, inklusive ett förslag på ramverk till fallstudieföretaget. Slutligen konkluderas att en leverantörshandbok kan vara bra hjälp till att lösa vanligt förekommande problem, exempelvis när företag arbetar med en mängd olika leverantörer då det är ett sätt att förbättra kommunikationen företag emellan. Handboken bjuder också på möjlighet till effektivisering, förutsatt att berörda interna rutiner anpassas där efter. / Due to the increasing globalization companies working across borders with suppliers in foreign countries is more a rule than an exception. Managing the cooperation regarding cultural differences as well as language barriers and physical distance is therefore becoming a larger part of company and production management. Using documents in the form of a Suppliers Guide could be an answer to making the collaboration solid and sustainable. By utilizing the idea of a Code of Conduct but incorporating other relevant parts of the production, such as routines in ordering, delivering etc, it is possible to provide a handbook for consistent work with all the companies’ suppliers. This article explores the matter of Suppliers Guides, what problems they solve, what they should include, as well as what effect they could have on the ordering company. This study was conducted through a literature study combined with interviews, a case study and a study of suppliers guides. The conclusion makes clear different aspects of implementing a Suppliers Guide including a suggestion of a framework for the subject of the Case study. Finding that Suppliers Guides could be a good help in eliminating common issues when working with a variety of suppliers, as they are a way of improving communication. Suppliers guides give possibilities of efficiency as long as surrounding internal routines are adapted.

This research aimed to investigate game developers' preferences and graphical differences between Chinese and Western female game characters. Parts of the survey were conducted in China and in cooperation with Game Hub Scandinavia (2015). For this research, an image analysis and two models were made. The image analysis analyzed common elements that exist between different female characters from Chinese and Western game toplists. One model was based on a Chinese game toplist and the other model was based on a Western game toplist. The survey was conducted through Internet surveys and interviews. Results showed that there were graphical differences between games from Chinese and Western game lists, but there is not a significant difference between game developers' preferences.

Thesis (B. Tech. (Tourism management))--Vaal University of Technology. / In recent years there has been a considerable interest in the cultural aspect of tourism (Reisinger & Turner 2003:1 ). Culture in its various forms and dimensions has a significant impact on tourism planning and development, management and marketing. Unfortunately literature that examines the impact of culture on tourism concentrates mostly on expressions of material forms of culture such as the arts, music, architecture or crafts. Research regarding the variables of national cultures such as values, perceptions, rules of behaviour and satisfaction has been neglected. The importance of cultural variables for tourist holiday experiences is important and affects satisfaction and consequently repeat visitation. Thus the cultural variables which influence the quality of the interpersonal interaction between tourists and hosts, can significantly add to tourist holiday experiences and satisfaction. The past few years has witnessed a dramatic change in the composition and nature of domestic tourism in South Africa (Futter & Wood 1997:1 ). Black tourists are emerging as the largest travelling group within South Africa and it is important to the tourism industry that cultural variables of this group be examined. Tourism has experienced a growing internationalization and considerable attention has been paid to the issue of cultural diversity as a result of this growth in international travel. Tourism is a service industry where people from all nationalities meet and the crossing of different cultures takes place. This cross-cultural interaction leads to socio-cultural impacts which affect both the tourist and the host community. By understanding the cultural characteristics of various travelling groups to and around South Africa, socio cultural impacts will be minimised and the benefits of tourism can be appreciated. The target group for this study was black tourists to Vanderbijlpark. This is a large domestic tourism group and understanding the cultural characteristics of this group will enable the tourism industry to better plan, develop and market specific tourism packages. Research for this study was undertaken at a jazz festival in Vereeniging. Field workers randomly interviewed respondents using a questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of five sections, namely demographic particulars, personal values, rules of behaviour, perceptions and satisfaction. The data was analysed to provide information regarding the cultural characteristics of the black tourism market in Vanderbijlpark. Respondents were categorised using the demographic data, the culture sections of the questionnaire were analysed in order to give descriptive results of each of the cultural variables. Each variable was analysed to determine its importance to respondents, thus categorising respondents according to their cultural characteristics. A factor analysis was completed in order to synthesise the large amount of data and for each cultural variable smaller, more descriptive factors were identified and used to describe the black tourism market in Vanderbijlpark.

In today’s fashion market there are a great number of actors that offer a huge selection ofproducts. The fashion world today covers the whole world and a result of this, the competitionamong fashion companies are enormous, leading to a tough climate for companies in today’sfashion industry. There is an overproduction of goods on the market and companies mustcompete for customers because of today's homogeneous goods and prices. Caused by theglobal competition, there is an increased need for fashion chains to get to know their marketsand strategically meet the challenge to win the consumers attention.We have chosen in our study to research, describe and analyze what the main differencesbetween the clothing markets affecting a Lindex audience in Sweden and Norway are. Wehave defined ourselves to product group women’s wear. Our intention is to gain an insightinto how Lindex clothing market differs between Sweden and Norway but also to find anydifferences in culture and perception about fashion and trends.The essay has a hermeneutical approach because the aim was to interpret and analyze theempirical material we collected through our case study of Lindex and its markets. We chosean abductive approach because we, in our survey have assumed from our empirical material,i.e. inductive approach, and then linked together with our observations from the surveys andinterviews with the theories, based on the deductive approach. The focus of our essay isdescriptive because we have chosen to explain the differences between the Lindex Swedishand Norwegian market through the company’s perspective, but also from a consumer’s pointof view. We have carried out a qualitative study by gathering the material for our report fromboth interviews and surveys, together with theory to create an overall picture.In our theoretical frame of reference, we have chosen to focus on a number of key areas fromour material. We chose to primarily focus on consumer behavior, as it is central in our studies.The studies involve verbal interviews with marketing manager Nina Haugen from the LindexOslo office and Lena Renman from the Gothenburg office. Surveys on both markets provide asnapshot of the consumer view of Lindex. In the analysis part of the essay we have focusedon the similarities and differences between theory and empiri. By our study of the LindexNorwegian and Swedish market, we have found out that the concepts are similar to oneanother, but that the markets differ in important areas. We have identified the differences inhow the Norwegian and Swedish Lindex consumers view and understand their products.Simultaneously cultural aspects such as traditions and celebrations can also affect consumerbehavior. Furthermore, there are differences on how trends and fashions are perceived andassimilated by consumers. Another problem to take into account are the different demandsand needs within the market. / Program: Textilekonomutbildningen

This Study examines some cross-cultural differences in conveying good and bad news in Australian English and Vietnamese. Three major aspects are taken into consideration: address forms, modality, and directness-indirectness. Theoretical issues are raised and discussed, and questionnaire data collected and analysed. Chapter I shows why it is important and necessary to study crosscultural differences and sets up the aims of the study. Chapter II deals with address forms in general and the use of address forms in conveying good and bad news in the Australian and Vietnamese cultural contexts in particular..The similarities and differences between the two systems are also discussed. Chapter III dwells on modality and its devices: modals, modality markers, subjunctive mood (in English) and lexico-modal operators for subjunctive mood (in Vietnamese). The use of these devices in communicating good and bad news in the two cultures is discussed in detail. Chapter IV is concerned theoretically with directness-indirectness, and the relationship between indirectness and politeness. How directness and in-directness are actually used to convey good and bad news in Australian and Vietnamese cultures is also analysed. Chapter V concludes the Study and suggests implications for ELT.

<p>En ökad handel med Kina har inneburit att fler svenskar arbetar och bor där tillfälligt. Det betyder att det finns intresse att undersöka kulturella skillnader för att underlätta anpassningar vid arbete och fritid. Åtta personer med erfarenhet av att arbeta och leva i Kina intervjuades. Resultatet visade på betydande skillnader i kommunikation, tidsuppfattning, organisation, relationer och socialt beteende. Kommunikationssvårigheter fanns både under arbete och vid fritid vilket berodde på språket i sig samt olika kommunikationsstilar. Den hierarkiska organisationen bidrog till att saker tog längre tid, men goda relationerna upplevdes minska tidsåtgången. Socialt beteende skiljde sig till exempel vid bordskick. För att motverka skillnaderna underlättar ett gott tålamod samt en kulturell förståelse och acceptans. Resultatet diskuteras utifrån skillnaderna i de kulturella samhällsvärderingarna.</p>