The world has grown increasingly globalized and competitive which has made it crucial for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to look beyond their native market in order to thrive. Although internationalization is considered somewhat uncertain in the face of corporate unfamiliar environments, non-internationalization in a globalized economy can be an even more risky task because it can cause the company to lose competitiveness. The business environment of the world is changing from time to time and in recent times there have been several market turbulences. Market turbulence increases the ambiguity and risk of a company's business process, and it is important to maintain a link between corporate strategies and changes in the environment due to turbulence. The main purpose of conducting this study is to examine the internationalization process of SMEs operating in Sri Lanka and Sweden and the impact of recent market turbulence on those enterprises. The study will also discuss how those businesses have sought to manage these turbulent situations. This study, which aims to learn through multiple cases, focuses primarily on Sri Lankan and Swedish businesses engaged in the manufacturing sector. The study's theoretical framework is structured in such a way that it incorporates the theories contained in the internationalization process theory and the market turbulence. The theories applied to the study in the analysis of empirical findings are compared and the analysis and conclusion are made as a result of the study. The study concludes by comparing the recent market turbulence experienced by the Swedish and Sri Lankan SMEs. The study identified that this turbulence had a major impact on SMEs operating in Sri Lanka. Further, It was identified that these market turbulences have had a severe impact on the supply chains of both countries, mainly as a factor common to both markets.

This study examines the influence of host country economic development and cultural distance on the creation of firm value by UK-based firms through cross-border acquisitions, analyzing the announcement effect. To assess the announcement effect, the cumulative abnormal returns (CAR) of a seven-day trading window around the announcement date are used. The sample consists of 839 acquisitions by 280 firms in 41 countries from 1997-2019. The results show that more value is created when acquiring a target firm from a developing country and cultural distance negatively influences value creation. Further research is required to investigate if cultural distance has a moderating effect on the relationship between host country economic development and value creation.

An organization’s information technology (IT) infrastructure capability is increasinglyrealized as a critical part to business effectiveness and efficiency. IT infrastructure servicesare particularly important for organizations looking to deploy business processes indeveloping markets. There has also been an interest from many small and medium sizedorganizations whose core business is not in IT to outsource and manage these servicesthrough third party service providers. However there is a need to create an understanding forthese organizations to deploy the right infrastructure services in order to enable easierimplementation or reengineering of the business process. There has been little researchfocusing on the patterns of the IT infrastructure capabilities in the small and medium sizedorganizations in the developing markets.The research aims for a comprehensive coverage by analyzing the requirements in thedeveloping markets and proposing a selection model for the organizations to choose ITservice provider in case they decide to outsource the infrastructure services. The effect of theIT infrastructure services on the business process implementation is presented with anemphasis on the boundary crossing services. Using empirical case study, the research analysesa firm in developing markets and compares it against four strategically similar organizationsfrom different industries. Data collection was primarily qualitative and ably supported bysecondary data.The requirements in developing markets reflect the same as in mature markets. The pricing isseen to play a major role in the selection of the service providers with service security notvery much organization’s priority. The number of boundary crossing services effectivelyenables information sharing and control. These services are the drivers in simplifying thebusiness process implementation. The findings have implications for both business andtechnical managers in regard to planning the IT strategy in the long term and developingappropriate infrastructure according to the process needs. / Program: Magisterutbildning i informatik

<p>Developed countries have built wealth and prosperity on the strength of their manufacturing sectors, with China’s success story of lifting 800 million people out of extreme poverty in 30 years a sterling and most recent example of how manufacturing-led industrialization can foster economic development. Sub-Saharan Africa, unfortunately, find itself today in a similar situation as China did in 1990, with over 50% of the world’s desperately poor 719 million people living in the region. But unlike China, Sub-Saharan Africa is faced with the additional challenge of overcoming poverty in a world with stricter constraints to global trade and climate change limitations to modern-day industrialization. Compounding the challenges further is the region's limited know-how and human capital — a consequence of years of underdevelopment, creating a classic chicken and egg dilemma where the lack of industrialization perpetuates the dearth of know-how and human capital, and vice versa.</p><p>Considering these challenges, we investigate how chemical manufacturing and what chemical manufacturing approaches can be leveraged to effectively drive industrialization and economic development in Sub-Saharan Africa. We propose chemicals manufacturing using prefabricated modules – which are constructed offsite in places with available human capital and transported to be assembled in places where they are needed – as a flexible and needed approach. However, Economy of Scale, which generally favors large-scale chemical manufacturing, poses as a major constraint to such modularization approach, especially given the presently small serviceable market sizes in Sub-Saharan Africa due to low purchasing power parity. We thus utilize mathematical modeling techniques to determine and establish scenarios for economic viability of the proposed approach, providing modeling frameworks and introducing measures for further studies in the process. We also provide and analyze exemplary flowsheets synthesized for a net-zero carbon emissions chemical manufacturing paradigm in the region.</p><p>This work concludes with a prefeasibility study of a chemical manufacturing project in Nigeria, as part of the author’s quest to build prefabricated modular plants across Africa. <i>Modular plants are attractive as they can be tuned to market demand of a developing market and region that needs them, putting less capital at risk.</i></p><p>This thesis is intended to be a vanguard of potential solutions to the complex challenges to industrialization in Sub-Saharan Africa. It endeavors to pave the way for addressing these issues through chemical manufacturing, offering valuable insights for sustainable progress.</p>

Submitted by Juliana Trad Verissimo (juliana.trad@gmail.com) on 2012-09-24T16:20:08Z No. of bitstreams: 1 DISSERTATION_JULIANA_VERISSIMO.pdf: 6958070 bytes, checksum: b8c2ba13a57f7e7c59bcc1d2b033be9c (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Eliene Soares da Silva (eliene.silva@fgv.br) on 2012-09-24T16:24:14Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 DISSERTATION_JULIANA_VERISSIMO.pdf: 6958070 bytes, checksum: b8c2ba13a57f7e7c59bcc1d2b033be9c (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2012-09-24T16:47:56Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DISSERTATION_JULIANA_VERISSIMO.pdf: 6958070 bytes, checksum: b8c2ba13a57f7e7c59bcc1d2b033be9c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-09-18 / In a dynamic and competitive global environment, many companies realize that continuous development and introduction of new products are key activities to their survival and growth. One of today’s biggest challenges to businesses involves knowing how to act in a world in which both the frame and the basis of competition are constantly changing, and where restructuring and portfolio shifting are central activities for capturing a fair share of global growth. Both the fast pace of technological innovation and the rising affluence of developing economies present businesses with risks and opportunities, and it is not only important that companies pay attention to the launch of top-notch products in developed markets, but also mandatory that they know how to launch old news to new markets. Using the Brazilian market as an example, this dissertation sought to study how multinational companies have been using advertising in the launch of new product categories and subcategories that are already sold elsewhere to new geographies. After reviewing the literature available, developing propositions, and evaluating those with the help of three case studies, it was possible to verify some linearity between the cases and the literature studied. These included the search for category legitimation preceding that of brand legitimation; the usage of expert sources to legitimate new categories; the usage of argument based appeals; and the advertising of more than one product feature per ad. Nevertheless, given some discrepancies noticeable between what was observed in Brazil and the literature consulted, it was also possible to verify that the way advertising cues are conducted in new geographies likewise depends on the competitive scenario faced, as well as on country specific economic and cultural variants. / Em um ambiente global dinâmico e competitivo, muitas empresas notam que constante desenvolvimento e lançamento de novos produtos são atividades-chave para seu crescimento e sobrevivência. Hoje, um dos maiores desafios enfrentados por tais empresas envolve saber como agir em um mundo em que tanto o escopo como a estrutura do ambiente competitivo estão em constante mudança, e em que reestruturações e mudanças de portfólio são centrais para as companhias que visam capitalizar com o crescimento global. Tanto o rápido ritmo de inovação tecnológica quando a crescente afluência de economias emergentes apresentam riscos e oportunidades para as empresas, o que torna importante não apenas que estas estejam atentas ao lançamento de produtos de última geração para mercados desenvolvidos: faz-se também necessário que saibam como lançar produtos antigos para novos mercados. Usando o mercado brasileiro como um exemplo, esta dissertação procurou estudar como multinacionais têm utilizado anúncios publicitários no lançamento, para novos mercados, de categorias e subcategorias de produtos já vendidas em outros países. Após uma revisão da literatura disponível, do desenvolvimento de proposições, e da avaliação destas através de três estudos de caso, foi possível verificar a existência de alguma linearidade entre os casos e a literatura estudada, incluindo: uma busca pela legitimação da categoria que precede àquela pela da marca; o uso de 'especialistas' para a legitimação da categoria; o uso de apelos baseados em argumentos; e a divulgação de mais de uma característica de produto por anúncio. No entanto, dadas algumas discrepâncias entre o que foi observado nos casos e aquilo descrito na literatura consultada, também foi possível verificar que a maneira como os anúncios são feitos em diferentes lugares depende igualmente do cenário competitivo enfrentado pela empresa, bem como de variantes econômicas e culturais específicas da localidade em questão.