Master thesis in Business Administration, 15hp, School of Business and Economics, LinnaeusUniversity, Växjö, Marketing, 4FE02E, spring 2011 Authors: Jenny Andersson and Julia Borgvall Tutor: Engelbert Weiss Company contact person: Peter Samuelsson, Gunnebo AB Title: Securing the global brand strategy – global standardization or local adaptation Background: The infrastructure available today provides opportunities for companies allaround the world to transcend national boarders easily and to operate on the global market. During the preceding decades, brand management in the international environment hasbeen frequently discussed. The choice of a clear branding strategy and clear goals of what acompany wants to achieve is of great importance. Furthermore, companies that act in a globalenvironment need to decide upon whether to be standardized across these markets or to adaptto each specific market. Purpose: To reach an understanding of the factors influencing the choice of internationalbranding strategy by global standardization or local adaptation. Methodology: A case study has been used in this research in order to meet the purpose. Sincethis thesis is of a qualitative character the empirical data has been collected through semi-structured interviews within three respondent segments in the case organization: management,communication and sales. Conclusion: A conclusion drawn from this research is the importance of internalcommunication, when it comes to the formulation and implementation of brand strategies. - Factors influencing the decision of a global standardize brand strategy can be; the possibilityto become a strong global player, decreased expenses of marketing, economics of scale. - Factors influencing the decision of a local adaptation strategy can be; cultural differences,history and heritage, better knowledge of the local market. Suggestions for further research: Further research could be to conduct a more thoroughstudy with more respondents from different multinational companies and also to look at thecustomers' point of view.

Much research has shown that Born Global firms are an important component of the global economy today. The Born Global firms bring innovations and welfare to the nations that they establish themselves in as well as make the world a more integrated place. Since these firms are important, they also face many difficulties on the global market, and in general the survival rate of these firms is considered lower, in comparison to the firms that use the more traditional way of internationalize. Therefore the motivations behind these firms can be useful to bring more welfare and development to the world market, as well as an understanding of the main factors behind the fast internationalization process. This thesis is based on the work of Andersson and Wictor (2003), model of the four influence factors governing Born Global firms; the globalization, the entrepreneur, the industry and the network. This thesis incorporates two other aspects of motivation, the resource perspective and the governmental, and has viewed four cases from four different industries in a qualitative case study.     This thesis demonstrates that there are two motivational factors which are above the others, The Entrepreneur(s) as well as the Industry and Market factors. Besides these two, three other sub - themes, the strategic alliances, the resource orientation as well as the knowledge as a resource of the entrepreneur, were found to be of importance. This thesis examines the main motivating factors of fast internationalization, as well as establishing the roles of the influence.

We examine a model of social learning in networks following the lines of Bala and Goyal (1998, 2001). As a model of agents' behaviour we have chosen the model of informational cascades of Bikhchandani et al (1992). Similarly to Bala and Goyal we find that the higher the 'degree of integration' within the society is, the more likely it is that conformity of actions will arise. However, unlike their results our model suggests that in the presence of informational externalities globalisation of informational flows, expressed in the increasing density of communication channels in a network, may drive down the expected social welfare. (author's abstract) / Series: Working Papers Series "Growth and Employment in Europe: Sustainability and Competitiveness"

This thesis demonstrates how two literary works ? Arnold Stadler's <em>Ein hinreissender Schrotthändler</em> (1999) and Andreas Maier's <em>Klausen</em> (2002) ? can be read as part of the globalization discourse. As a theoretical basis for the textual analysis the thesis first develops an understanding of the concept of globalization which forms a background against which the two literary works can be read. By embedding literature into the sociological theories of globalization it is possible to examine to what extent the two novels reflect and/or generate particular aspects of globalization. <br /><br /> Both texts are set largely in provincial towns, and the regions themselves play commanding roles in the stories being told. This focus on the provincial takes on an ironic appearance in the era of globalization where one would assume that localities have lost meaning. It is therefore useful to look at theories that broach the issue of the tense relation between globality and locality. Since no universally accepted definition of globalization exists, it is necessary to establish the crucial aspects of the phenomenon to be applied in the analysis of the novels by examining the work of various theorists on the topic. <br /><br /> The prominent model of 'glocalization,' originated by the sociologist Roland Robertson to refer to 'global localization,' offers useful categories for the analysis of the provincial in the era of globalization. In this model the simultaneity of global and local processes is assumed and with it the alleged antagonism of the 'global' and the 'local' is overcome. Claiming those dynamics Robertson's model can serve as a confirmation of the arguments put forward in this thesis which looks at literature about the 'local' through the prism of globalization. Other theories relating to explicit local dynamics are presented to round out the model of 'glocalization. ' In addition, the thesis takes into account normative ideas regarding the province in the global era. <br /><br /> The textual analysis that follows the delineation of the model of 'glocalization' demonstrates how the novels illustrate the global and local processes postulated by the model. The investigation also explains how the literary texts themselves evaluate the provinces portrayed. The results of the examination show that selected aspects of the globalization discourse have found their way into two contemporary German-language novels and therefore into German literary discourse. Even though the two novels deal with different ideas from the discourse, and even reject to a certain extent some of these concepts, they each reveal a particular literary manner of echoing the processes of globalization. Finally, the thesis demonstrates that the globalization discourse is of use for the interpretation of literary texts.

To expand the research base concerning terrorism this study connects terrorist incidents on a global scale with economic and noneconomic institutional factors. Whereas most terrorism studies use social disorganization theory or anomie theory as their theoretical bases, this study uses institutional anomie theory (IAT) to examine the influence of economic and noneconomic institutions on terrorist-incident counts in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. The research employs the following five sources that are linked together: The Global Terrorism Database (GTD), World Bank Database, data from the University of Texas Inequality Project (UTIP), the United Nations (UN), and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) Regression models examine the influence of inequality on counts of terrorist incidents for the decades of 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s net of controls. OLS models also examine the extent to which the influence of inequality on terrorist-incident counts is mediated by the strength of the noneconomic institutional structures of health care and the family. Results from ordinary least squares regression analyses show that for the time period of 1970 to 1979 there was a nonsignificant, negative association between inequality and terrorist-incident counts and neither health care nor number of divorces was a mediating factor. For the time period 1980 to 1989 a significant, positive association existed between inequality and terrorist incident counts, supporting the hypothesis that countries with higher levels of inequality will have higher counts of terrorist-incident counts. However, in the 1980s neither health care nor family mediated the effects of inequality on terrorist-incident counts. For the time period 1990 to 1997 a statistically significant, positive association was found between inequality and terrorist-incident counts as well as successful mediation by health care on the effects of inequality on terrorist-incident counts, which supports the hypothesis that the influence of inequality on terrorist-incident counts will be mediated by noneconomic institutional structures. Implications of these findings are discussed.

The fair trade movement attempts to use the market to bring about social change. Fair trade supports small-scale commodity producers in the global South by paying them a negotiated, fairer price. It also provides consumers with products that meet certain environmental, economic, and social criteria. While the primary goal of some fair trade enterprises is to provide market access for producers, others seek to reform the market, and still others would replace it. Like the fair trade movement, the co-operative movement strives to ensure that the benefits of production and exchange are more fairly distributed. Producer co-operatives in the South and consumer co-operatives in the North use aspects of globalization to create mutually beneficial links between producers and consumers. In some instances, these linkages are brokered by fair trade enterprises that are themselves organized as co-operatives, or are members of second-tier trading and distribution co-operatives.<p>Most intermediaries are involved in fair trade for diverse reasons and act in ways that may have a range of consequences with respect to market reform and market access. This research investigates the activities of large and small co-operatives involved in fair trade to examine whether, and to what degree they contribute to market reform. Based on secondary sources and on interviews with member-owners of first and second-tier fair trade co-operatives, as well as several co-operative specialists, I conclude that although co-operatives rarely transform markets, they can and do help to reform the market while helping producers to gain access to it on more equitable terms. Some leading retail co-operatives actively support the fair trade movement, promoting the interests of producers and consumers through the exchange of good quality products, promoting a critical view of the conventional market, and advocating for change. Although none of the enterprises in this study has been able to substantially change the market through its own activities, they are part of the international movement to achieve a fairer globalization. Fair trades commercial success, however, has attracted transnational enterprises not committed to the philosophy of fair trade, and this may ultimately threaten its ability to achieve lasting market reform.

This thesis examines the relationships between various groups of human rights, and the effect of globalization and the state on human rights protection. Two hypotheses are examined in path analysis of fifty-two African counties. The first hypothesis considers the proposition that economic, social, and cultural rights implemented prior to civil and political rights in Africa meet the needs of the population better than primary implementation of civil and political rights. The second hypothesis is that globalization has a negative effect on protection of all human rights and that its impact on rights is generally larger than the impact of the state. Within the context of a multivariate model, my analysis does not support the hypotheses. These findings are discussed with regard to the existing literature and several suggestions are proposed for future research.

Aim: The aim of this study is to investigate the challenges faced by Pakistan Textiles industry as an emerging market from MNCs of Bangladesh, China and India and to find out the appropriate strategies which should adopted by the managers of this industry to counter these challenges. Method: In this research qualitative data is used that is gathered through unstructured interview and questioners have been used to have desirable results. Results &amp; Conclusion: It is reflected from results that internal problems of Pakistan textiles industry such as energy crisis, high input cost, political instability, low return on investment are the main problems of this industry. To counter these challenges, their strategic approach should be Collaboration in product development and strategic alliance with attacking firms. Suggestion for Future Research: This research is focused on the Problems and challenges faced by Pakistan Textiles Industry. For the future studies research could be done to find out the strategies for the firms from Pakistan Textiles industry to do the business in international market and how these companies can compete in International Market with presence of other MNCs of the world. Contribution of the Thesis: This study provides action plans for the managers of Pakistan textiles industry to design and implement the strategies that build core competencies such as high quality products for their firms. It can also be helpful for researchers and students those are interested to develop the strategies for the firms from emerging markets.

The following thesis is an investigation of the actors, the forces and the conditions contributing to the phenomenon of forced labor in the Brazilian countryside. The paper begins by providing a relevant historical background to the problem of coercive labor, starting with the colonial legacy of slavery, dating back to the 16th century and leading up to the present. The aim is to explore the role of local actors, in particular landowners, gatos and the ‘enslaved’ (or workers coerced into forced labor) in constituting and re-constituting this phenomenon. At the same time the influence of local actors is contextualized in light of broader transnational processes, such as the spread of capitalism and neo-liberal globalization.

China´s ongoing transformation into a consumer-driven economy, could this influence the Swedish society in more ways than just the economic? The purpose of this study is to contribute with qualitative research examples for further research in order to shed some light on, or give significant insights into how contemporary and emerging relations between China and Sweden might influence Swedish society and culture. This study seeks to find a understanding if there is a connection between household consumption expenditure growth and the rise of the middle class in China which might be related to the structural transition to a modern consumer economy, and if this in turn can impact Swedish society in more ways than just the economic in a globalization perspective. The methodology choice for this study is a Sociological exploratory approach with qualitative semi-structured expert interviews. The study shows that the Swedish society could be affected in more unprecedented ways than just the economic.