<p>Background:</p><p>The Swedish fashion market today quickly becomes too small, even for the new companies, and they are quick to take the step abroad and launch their internationalisation process. With a focus on the four Swed-ish fashion companies Filippa K, Acne Jeans, Nudie Jeans and Whyred, we have analysed how these representatives of the industry have interna-tionalised themselves. The companies have chosen different ways to promote their brand and how to control the perceived image of the brand. As there is a lack of earlier in-depth studies into this particular question of the Swedish Fashion industry, we have set out to investigate how this is done.</p><p>Purpose:</p><p>The purpose of the thesis is to look at the internationalisation process of Swedish fashion companies, with a focus on the growth and the penetra-tion of the international markets in order to determine the key success factors for successful international expansion. We will also investigate to what extent branding, country of origin (COO) and psychic distance to geographical markets has an influence on the internationalisation process and its success.</p><p>Method:</p><p>We used a qualitative approach and conducted a case study consisting of four Swedish fashion companies. The data have been collected through interviews and secondary sources. The information has been put into dif-ferent models for internationalisation, branding and key success factors.</p><p>Conclusion:</p><p>We have interpreted the collected data together with the theories used, thereafter drawn the conclusions that the key Success factors that have taken these firms so far and have been important in the building of the successful brands/companies, are in fact to a large degree COO, rela-tions in the Swedish fashion Industry and the creation of superior prod-ucts. The companies have both similar and specific factors for their suc-cess on the international market.</p>

By the later decades of the twentieth century, retail internationalization was no longer the activity of a few multi-national retailers; revising the traditional view of retailing as a national business and the need to understand the process of internationalization. Academic research enriched the understanding of this activity, moving away from the early use of surveys to delve into the specific processes of the retailers in order to properly analyze foreign expansion activity. Initial research focused on the perspective of the firm, contributing to knowledge of the why, where, and how of the internationalization process. As this research expanded its scope, it became necessary for researchers to explore when internationalization occurs and to document what was the impact of internationalization on the host country. This call for research was made by Dawson (2003), who proposed a framework for the study of foreign impact on the domestic retailers of a host country. This study utilizes the Dawson model to measure, analyze, and explain the when and what of the retail internationalization process. In recognition of the complexity of the retail internationalization process, it was determined that the study would focus on one type of impact: changes in sectoral competitiveness. It was also determined that this study should be undertaken in a market and retail sector where substantial foreign entry had occurred and could potentially be measured, analyzed and explained. Therefore, the study is undertaken in the Canadian apparel sector between 1989 and 2007. The study was conducted as a mixed method research in two stages: an empirical study of market data and an interview study of industry experts. Since retail functions at the local level, the shopping centre was used as a microcosm of the market and provided empirical evidence to measure impacts in a temporal sense and by intensity. The interviews with industry experts were used to collaborate and explain the mall data, providing important first-hand context to explain the retail internationalization process. This study contributes to the validation of the Dawson model as a tool to measure and explain the impacts of foreign entry on a host country’s sectoral competitiveness, and through its methodology will provide the necessary modifications to the model for continued study of the retail internationalization process.

Magistro darbe nagrinėjama universiteto dėstytojų tarpkultūrinės kompetencijos užsienio kalbų dimensija kaip internacionalizacijos asmenio lygmens aspektas. Darbo tikslas - teoriškai pagrįsti tarpkultūrinės kompetencijos užsienio kalbos dimensijos svarbą ir empiriškai ištirti Šiaulių universiteto dėstytojų užsienio kalbos kompetencijos, kaip vieno iš sėkmingos internacionalizacijos faktorių, raišką. Išanalizavus mokslinę literatūrą bei sudarius specialų klausimyną kalbinei kompetencijai nustatyti buvo apklausti Šiaulių universiteto dėstytojai. Identifikuojant viso universiteto internacionalizacijos problemas, papildomai atlikta antrinių duomenų apie dėstytojų mokslinę ir pedagoginę veiklą analizė. Gauti tyrimų rezultatai, patvirtina hipotezę, kad nepakankamas dėstytojų užsienio kalbos mokėjimas trukdo sėkmingai integruoti tarpkultūrinį aspektą į pedagoginę ir mokslinę veiklą. / Foreign language dimension of university teachers intercultural competence in the context of higher education. / In der Masterarbeit wird die fremdsprachliche Dimension der interkulturellen Kompetenz als persönliches Bereich der Internationalisierung untersucht. Das Ziel der Arbeit ist die theoretische Begründung der fremdsprachlichen Dimension der interkulturellen Kompetenz und die empirische Erforschung des Fremdsprachenkompetenzausdrucks der Lektoren von Universität Siauliai. Diese Kompetenzen gelten hier als Faktoren der erfolgreichen Internationalisierung. Nachdem die wissenschaftliche Literatur analysiert und Fragebogen für die Feststellung der Sprachkompetenz entwickelt worden waren, wurden die Lektoren der Universität Siauliai befragt. Zwecks der Identifizierung der Internationalisierungsprobleme für die ganze Universität, wurde daneben die Analyse der Sekundärdateien über die wissenchaftliche und pädagogische Tätigkeit durchgeführt. Die Ergebnisse der Forschung bestätigen die Hypothese, dass die ungenügende Fremsprachenbeherrschung der Universitätslektoren bei der Einbeziehung des interkulturellen Aspekts in die wissenschaftliche und pädagogische Tätigkeit hindern.

<p>Regional integration is being proposed as a means to development in Southern Africa. As a part of the formal agreements regarding this cooperation, a Protocol on Education in the Southern African Development Community region has been signed. This research set out to compare the higher education systems of two Southern African countries and to examine the extent to which this Protocol has had an impact on national policies and practices. The research sought to investigate this by means of exploring the extent to which the Protocol has provided an institutional frame which is guiding the development of higher education policy in each of the two countries. The findings of the study indicate that the Protocol, rather than providing leadership in the area of education policy, is to a large extent a symbolic document, reflective of norms already existent in national policy in the two countries studied.&nbsp / &nbsp / &nbsp / &nbsp / &nbsp / &nbsp / </p>

L'objectif de la recherche est d'étudier le démarrage de l'internationalisation de la petite entreprise (PE) française et le frein induit par le conservatisme. Une approche comportementale met en lumière un processus de facilitation d'internationalisation et le profil du facilitateur. La littérature sur l'internationalisation par les réseaux est aussi mobilisée. D'un point de vue théorique, nous réalisons une articulation des théories de la PME, de ses comportements organisationnels et des réseaux avec les théories de l'internationalisation y compris l'entrepreneuriat international. Une première analyse fondée sur une étude descriptive vise à montrer le conservatisme et la découverte du processus de facilitation d'internationalisation de la PE. La seconde analyse étudie l'influence négative du réseautage et de la facilitation d'internationalisation sur le degré de conservatisme de l'organisation. Nous établissons quatre variables : le conservatisme, le réseautage, le processus de facilitation d'internationalisation et le profil du facilitateur.

Les villes frontalières thaïlandaises et leurs doublets urbains laotiens sont engagés depuis les années 1990 dans un processus d'internationalisation. Ce dernier, lié à l'intégration transnationale promue par la coopération régionale, se caractérise notamment par l'augmentation du nombre d'acteurs internationaux qui conjuguent, à l'échelle urbaine, leurs stratégies à celles des autorités centrales et locales. Dans ce contexte de régionalisation de la mondialisation, ces petites villes, jusqu'alors à l'écart des flux en raison de leur position périphérique par rapport aux têtes de réseaux, se voient dotées de fonctions inédites en support de l'intégration régionale. Leur organisation spatiale se trouve ainsi reconfigurée avec l'apparition de nouvelles formes internationalisées, comme les infrastructures de transport transfrontalières ou les zones économiques en tête de pont. L'étude à l'échelle urbaine montre cependant que ces formes varient de part et d'autre du Mékong en raison de contextes nationaux et de stratégies d'acteurs différenciés. De la même manière, les interactions à l'échelle des doublons urbains chevauchant la frontière internationale et situés sur les corridors économiques de la Région du Grand Mékong diffèrent, créant des configurations allant de la juxtaposition de villes à l'émergence de systèmes urbains transnationaux. Ces villes frontalières représentent donc à la fois une échelle d'analyse privilégiée pour l'étude des dynamiques contemporaines de la régionalisation affectant, à différents degrés et selon des rythmes variables, les villes d'Asie du Sud-Est, mais aussi un outil des gouvernements pour renforcer l'intégration nationale et régionale.

The importance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the economy should not be overlooked. The main function of SMEs is to contribute to the economic activities in a country, through the provision of goods and services to the public or other firms. These goods and services could be traded internationally, thus increasing a country?s export performance. It is important for economic growth that SMEs grow within their respective economies. One way that SMEs can achieve growth is through internationalisation. Firms are internationalising faster than ever before (because of advances in telecommunications and transportation) and internationalisation theories that can provide practical guidance to firms are more important today than in the past. A firm?s ability to internationalise no longer only depends on the quality of the product, the delivery terms and competitive prices. Internationalisation increasingly depends on the ability and willingness of financial institutions to grant credit. Obtaining trade finance has become a major hindrance to SME internationalisation, especially in Africa. By overcoming the difficulties in obtaining trade finance, African SMEs will be able to expand into foreign markets. The purpose of this study is to determine how African SMEs can overcome trade finance barriers to internationalisation. SMEs can do so by mitigating the risks involved in every international transaction and by becoming ?trade finance ready?. A trade finance facility that is well suited for African SMEs (because it revolves around identifying and mitigating the risks involved with their international transactions) is structured trade and commodity finance. In trading with China, African SMEs can obtain structured trade and commodity finance from a specialist financial institution that focuses on the Chinese market (which is the focus of this study). China Construction Bank (Johannesburg branch), through their association with Rand-Asia Trade Finance, provides structured trade and commodity finance to African SMEs. The key to receiving structured trade and commodity finance is that these SMEs, together with China Construction Bank (Jhb) and Rand-Asia Trade Finance have to mitigate the risks involved with their international transactions so that the SMEs can become ?trade finance ready?. / Thesis (M.Com. (International Commerce))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

The importance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the economy should not be overlooked. The main function of SMEs is to contribute to the economic activities in a country, through the provision of goods and services to the public or other firms. These goods and services could be traded internationally, thus increasing a country?s export performance. It is important for economic growth that SMEs grow within their respective economies. One way that SMEs can achieve growth is through internationalisation. Firms are internationalising faster than ever before (because of advances in telecommunications and transportation) and internationalisation theories that can provide practical guidance to firms are more important today than in the past. A firm?s ability to internationalise no longer only depends on the quality of the product, the delivery terms and competitive prices. Internationalisation increasingly depends on the ability and willingness of financial institutions to grant credit. Obtaining trade finance has become a major hindrance to SME internationalisation, especially in Africa. By overcoming the difficulties in obtaining trade finance, African SMEs will be able to expand into foreign markets. The purpose of this study is to determine how African SMEs can overcome trade finance barriers to internationalisation. SMEs can do so by mitigating the risks involved in every international transaction and by becoming ?trade finance ready?. A trade finance facility that is well suited for African SMEs (because it revolves around identifying and mitigating the risks involved with their international transactions) is structured trade and commodity finance. In trading with China, African SMEs can obtain structured trade and commodity finance from a specialist financial institution that focuses on the Chinese market (which is the focus of this study). China Construction Bank (Johannesburg branch), through their association with Rand-Asia Trade Finance, provides structured trade and commodity finance to African SMEs. The key to receiving structured trade and commodity finance is that these SMEs, together with China Construction Bank (Jhb) and Rand-Asia Trade Finance have to mitigate the risks involved with their international transactions so that the SMEs can become ?trade finance ready?. / Thesis (M.Com. (International Commerce))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

The spread of information technology and the dissolution of international borders have had a significant impact on the challenges and opportunities faced by today's small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Innovative behaviour on the part of SMEs is a prerequisite for a successful transformation of the opportunities offered by these structural changes into growth and profitability. Thus, the overall aim of this thesis is to advance the understanding of small firms' innovative behaviour as manifested in the adoption of online channels and internationalisation. This doctoral thesis consists of an introductory chapter and six self-contained essays. The introductory section develops a general analytical framework for the thesis by reviewing the literature on innovation and organisational innovativeness and identifying key determinants and processes. The first four essays seek to explain a firm's propensity to adopt online channels and suggest that firm size and a firm's willingness to cannibalise, i.e. a firm's readiness to reduce the actual or potential value of its earlier investments, differentiate between adopters and non-adopters of online channels. Expectations of alienating resellers through online channel adoption may prevent a firm from adopting. Customers' pull, competitors' push and previous use of the Internet turned out to be strong drivers of online channel use. The fourth essay employs a two-wave research design and highlights that changes that occur in the technological and economic environment in which firms operate can, over time, change a firm's pattern of decision-making from innovation adoption to conventional cost-benefit approach. Essays five and six focus on the internationalisation of SMEs. In particular, essay five focuses on the process aspects of internationalisation and suggests that early importing has a modest direct influence on exporting, and that early importing activity indirectly enhances a firm's international experience and capabilities. Essay six investigates how competitive interactions affect internationalisation and suggests that cooperation with competitors, or coopetition, is a noteworthy internationalisation motive. This thesis contributes to the literature on innovation, internationalisation, electronic marketing and small business management and demonstrates that the dynamic forces associated with innovative behaviour affect SMEs adoption of online channels and how they work with customers and suppliers abroad. / Spridningen av informationsteknik och en kraftig ökning av handel och samarbete över ländergränser har haft en betydande effekt på de utmaningar och möjligheter som dagens små och medelstora företag (SMF) står inför. De små och medelstora företagens innovationsbeteende är dock en förutsättning för att de framgångsrikt skall kunna ta tillvara de möjligheter som dessa strukturella förändringar skapar för att åstadkomma tillväxt och lönsamhet. Således är det övergripande syftet med denna avhandling att utveckla kunskap om innovationsbeteende i små företag, så som detta manifesteras i användande av onlinekanaler och deltagande i internationaliseringsprocesser. Denna avhandling består av ett inledande kapitel och sex fristående essäer. I det inledande kapitlet utvecklas ett övergripande analytiskt ramverk för avhandlingen, utifrån en litteraturöversikt av begreppen innovation och organisatorisk innovativitet där de viktigaste determinanterna och processerna identifieras. De första fyra essäerna försöker förklara ett företags benägenhet till adoption av onlinekanaler och föreslår att företagets storlek och vilja att kannibalisera, dvs ett företags beredskap att minska det faktiska eller potentiella värdet av dess tidigare investeringar, skiljer sig mellan de som använder respektive de som inte använder kanaler på nätet. Förväntningar att återförsäljare skulle bli negativt inställda om företag börjar använda onlinekanaler kan hindra företag från att investera i dem. Karaktäristika hos kunderna, utmaningar från konkurrenterna och tidigare användning av Internet visade sig vara starka drivkrafter bakom användningen av onlinekanaler. I den fjärde essäen, som baseras på data insamlad under två olika tidsperioder, visas att de förändringar som sker i den tekniska och ekonomiska miljö i vilken företagen är verksamma, kan med tiden innebära att beslutsfattandet skiftar från innovationstänkande till traditionellt kostnads​​-nyttotänkande. Essä fem och sex fokuserar på internationaliseringsprocesser i små och medelstora företag. Den femte essäen studerar i första hand internationaliseringsprocessen och visar på att tidig erfarenhet från importverksamhet enbart har en mindre inverkan på omfattningen av företagets framtida export. Tidig importerfarenhet har emellertid även en indirekt positiv effekt på företagets proaktiva attityd till internationalisering. Essä sex undersöker hur interaktion med konkurrenter påverkar internationaliseringen och visar att samarbete med konkurrenter, eller ”coopetition”, kan ha en betydande effekt på motiv till internationalisering. Denna avhandling bidrar till litteraturen inom områdena innovation, internationalisering, digital marknadsföring och ledning av små och medelstora företag. Den visar att de dynamiska krafter som ligger bakom innovationsbeteende påverkar små och medelstora företags användning av onlinekanaler samt hur denna företagsgrupp arbetar med kunder och leverantörer utomlands.

How do we help students to integrate their tertiary education with their development as " wise" global citizens and professionals? The study engages with this question through exploring the use of Reflective Journals as a central and integrating strategy for learning and assessment for a socially and culturally diverse group of students in a large, compulsory, first year, one-semester Engineering unit [BNB007: Professional Studies] between 2000 and 2004. The study supports the hypothesis that Reflective Journals can be an effective strategy for improving the often-criticised poor communication skills of domestic and international students in technical fields. For many students, the process of reflection also became a means of learning about their learning. Attitude surveys administered to students pre and post the teaching intervention in the years 2000-2002 showed positive changes in anticipated directions that encouraged further research. If attitude change was occurring in BNB007, what was the nature of the change? The research showed that at a deeper, longer term and more complex level, this new self-awareness supported many students to develop the kind of futures thinking and social learning " that will be necessary to navigate the transition to sustainable futures" (Raskin et al., 2002). The study contributes to the literature and to methodology through the first complementary use of two new methodologies, Sense-Making and Causal Layered Analysis. Thirty in-depth Sense-Making based interviews, including four with staff, indicate that 'meta-reflection' and transformative learning did take place. Expressing these qualities in the discourse of internationalisation as " global portability" or even " global competence" is unsatisfactory because these popular terms do not embody the qualities graduates need to create sustainable futures. As currently used, they mainly serve a market-dominated version of globalisation and its allied internationalisation-as-profit discourse. Raskin et al proposed a more appropriate term, " sustainability professionals", emerging from a preferred, valuesbased globalisation inspired by a vision of humane, sustainable futures that see " rights assured, nature treasured, culture rich and the human spirit animate" (p.70). This more challenging concept of a graduate for the 21st century is expressed here through the term Globo sapiens, whose qualities are identified in this study. Such professionals are willing to think critically and to assume responsibility for their impact on communities and the planet. This is the critical-futures oriented, transformative and therefore radical notion connoted by the title Towards Globo sapiens. This research identified some of the terrain and challenges of a post-development vision in a vocational area of teaching in Higher Education. It explained how particular students resisted or reconstructed their worlds when challenged at fundamental levels, but within a supportive atmosphere. Thus the study contributes to what educators might need to know, be and do, in order to teach effectively for the transformations urged by Sustainability Scientists, among others, and upon which any sustainable alternative futures depend. The study is underpinned by transdisciplinary syntheses that help to illuminate each area in new and fruitful ways.