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The diploma thesis is focuses on the evaluating of the impact of product innovation on business opportunities and barriers in the European market. We gradually analyzed the external and internal environment of the company, which influences product innovation. Subsequently, a proposal was made to measure the company's performance using the Balanced Scorecard method. The last part of the work is focused on the evaluation of the created proposal.

With increasing globalism, most firms are expanding operations into many different countries. Company operations are not single location; the plants, warehouses, and distribution centers are located in terms of the proximity of the resource base and the cost benefits derived from the most advantageous locations. Multinational enterprises were resulted because of markets of products in a specific nation were too mature to increase the sales volume. Firms could no longer gain profits from domestic markets and revenue from the domestic markets were shrinking. The development of a multinational enterprise must be relevant to its different foreign entry modes. Its selection is a complex process in that the firm must evaluate multiple factors, such as the extent of the risk of investing in a nation and how much the firm is involved in the host countries. The research aim of this thesis is to compare the cases ACER of Taiwan and Samsung Electronics co. (SEC) of Korea in terms of how each firm dealt with barriers to entry in the electronics industry and thus become strong competitors in the world. The thesis also focuses on the selection of foreign entry mode to achieve success in business expansion. This research focuses on the internationalization process of Acer, a Taiwanese firm and Samsung Electronics Co. (SEC), a Korean firm, in European markets.

Submitted by Maximilian Schlechtriem (maxschlechtriem@gmail.com) on 2016-03-08T13:21:35Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Master_Thesis_Maximilian_Schlechtriem.pdf: 1583113 bytes, checksum: bc7e488f36ce3dcbf9258334e963ef4d (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Janete de Oliveira Feitosa (janete.feitosa@fgv.br) on 2016-03-11T14:03:08Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Master_Thesis_Maximilian_Schlechtriem.pdf: 1583113 bytes, checksum: bc7e488f36ce3dcbf9258334e963ef4d (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Maria Almeida (maria.socorro@fgv.br) on 2016-03-14T17:07:15Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Master_Thesis_Maximilian_Schlechtriem.pdf: 1583113 bytes, checksum: bc7e488f36ce3dcbf9258334e963ef4d (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-14T17:07:26Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Master_Thesis_Maximilian_Schlechtriem.pdf: 1583113 bytes, checksum: bc7e488f36ce3dcbf9258334e963ef4d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-01-28 / Moving into a new and foreign market can be challenging, especially when such market has a different culture and working environment in comparison to the home market. Thus, it is of utter importance to adjust a company’s strategy to the new market conditions. Currently, there are no concrete guidelines of what aspects are most important when moving from a developing market such as Brazil into a more sophisticated market like Europe, or vice versa. The present study will examine two companies from the same industry, but with different cultural backgrounds and its strategic similarities and differences for operating in multiple international markets. The data was collected via semi-structured interviews with the Chief Executive Officers (CEOs’) from both companies, using an interview guideline that is based on three different theoretical frameworks. The aim is to give recommendations to these two industries of how to efficiently use existing theoretical frameworks and which aspects are most significant when moving into a new market while keeping in mind a company’s size and background.

The field of financial derivatives is rather complicated and usually not familiar to general public. Financial derivatives are used for three different reasons: arbitrage, speculation and hedging. This paper focuses mainly on the last one - hedging. The goal of the thesis is to clarify the heart of the matter, to explain the reasons why derivatives exist and to systemize their individual types and classification. It compares basic types of derivatives and summarizes their advantages and disadvantages and possible practical usage of them. Apart from companies as final users, the paper remembers also external subjects, such as clearing. It explains the terms of risk and uncertainty and goes into their identification, the risk management and its hedging. It also analyzes the current situation on OTC (over the counter) market and brings output from interviews with experts and consultants about their experience from working with their clients dealing with derivatives. The thesis also covers information about recently passed law called European Market Infrastructure Regulation, which is closely connected with working with financial derivatives. Furthermore, it includes a case study of L'Oréal Company, describing procedures and principles, based on which the Company deals with derivatives, and analyzing problems which L'Oréal has to face.

Introduction  Globalization has opened up for opportunities, as well as challenges, for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to distinguish themselves in a competitive environment. A branding strategy that aims to develop a strong reputation and recognition can be an attempt for Swedish SMEs to create awareness and differentiate themselves in the European market. This thesis is composed of three major bricks; branding, and how the firms exercise it; SMEs resource constraints, in terms of employees and financial assets; and internationalization. All these combined become special challenges for SMEs. Purpose The purpose of this thesis is to examine how Swedish SMEs exercise branding internationally in order to develop a strategic model of how they can continue their brand expansion in the European market. Method In order to fulfill the purpose of the study, a qualitative study based on four Swedish SMEs were included in the sample. Through semi-structured interviews (six face-to-face and one telephone interview). The respondents were the owners, external CEOs, product or marketing managers of the SMEs. The collected data was categorized and each SME was analyzed in order to finally construct a model. Conclusion  The findings in this thesis show that all the investigated SMEs, to different extents, use branding strategies in order to succeed in the international market. Generally the findings conformed to a certain degree to previous findings concerning branding. Further, the importance of international fairs and networking while developing the brands outside the Swedish market was found. The authors came forward with the SME European Brand Expansion-model, which is strongly influenced by the empirical findings in this thesis.

The aim of my thesis is to describe the automotive industries of the most significant countries in the Asian region. The whole thesis is focused on passenger cars. The thesis is focused on the following countries: Japan, South Korea, China and India. Another aim is to analyze the impact of selected auto makers from these countries to the European market. One of the aims is also introduction of the future trends in the Asian automotive industry, related to Europe. The last aim is to determinate when the Chinese automaker will belong to the world's car manufacturers.

Tillsammans med e-handelns explosiva ökning under de senaste åren har lager och logistikfastigheter blivit alltmer populära bland investerare. Med den ökade uppmärksamheten för logistikfastigheter har deras avkastningskrav sjunkit, de så kallade yielderna har blivit påverkade. Yielden är den avkastningen som en tillgång producerar, prime yielden är lika med avkastningen för en tillgång av högsta kvalitet i ett bra läge. En ökad efterfrågan har inneburit att logistikfastigheters prime yielder har påverkats markant. De senaste åren har prime yielderna sjunkit i flera marknader och står för närvarande på rekordlåga nivåer. Syftet med uppsatsen är att se hur prime yielderna för logistikfastigheter skiljer sig mellan olika länder. Uppsatsen kommer undersöka vilka faktorer som ligger till grunden av varför olika länder har varierande prime yielder, samt se till hur mycket dessa faktorer påverkar marknaden. Uppsatsen kommer genom litteraturstudier och intervjuer utreda hur prime yielden skiljer sig mellan olika länder i Europa. Uppsatsen reder ut frågan för vilka faktorer som påverkar prime yielden på logistikfastigheter och vilken marknad som har bäst förutsättningar framgent. Resultatet visar att det finns stora skillnader mellan prime yielderna för olika länders logistikfastigheter. Undersökningen gjordes av nio länder som alla har en betydande del av den europeiska logistikmarknaden. Av dessa länder visade resultatet att det skiljer 1,4 procentenheter mellan marknaden med lägst och högst prime yield. Den främsta orsaken till vad som påverkar prime yield nivån är den ekonomiska teorin om utbud och efterfrågan. En högre efterfrågan innebär mer kapital som söker sig till en viss marknad, en effekt av detta är att yielderna på fastigheterna går ned och priserna går upp. De olika ländernas räntenivå visade ha en stor betydelse för efterfrågan då högre räntor dämpar köpkraften från investerare. Efterfrågan styrs även från vardera marknads underliggande förutsättningar vilket inkluderar logistikfastigheters hyres- och vakansnivå, utvecklingen av e-handel, infrastruktur,geografisk placering, samt politiska stabilitet. Resultatet visar att dagens efterfrågan från företag att hyra lager och logistiklokaler är väldigt hög, vilket indikerar på att ett framtida ökat utbud av logistikfastigheter i prime segmentet är av mindre betydelse för prime yielden. / Along with the explosive growth of e-commerce in recent years, warehouses and logistics properties have become increasingly more popular with investors. With the increased attention for logistics properties, their yields have fallen. The yield is the return that an asset produces, the prime yield is equal to the return for an asset of the highest quality in a good location. Increased demand on the segment has meant that the prime yields of logistics properties have been significantly affected. In recent years, prime yields have fallen in several markets and are currently at record low levels. The purpose of the thesis is to see how the prime yields for logistics properties differ between different countries. The thesis will investigate the factors that underlie why different countries have varying prime yields and see how much these factors affect the market. The thesis will, through literature studies and interviews, investigate how the prime yield differs between different countries in Europe. The thesis clarifies the question of which factors affect the prime yield on logistics properties and which market has the best conditions for the future.The results show that there are large differences between the prime yields for different countries' logistics properties. The survey was conducted of nine countries, all of which have a significant part of the European logistics market. Of these countries, the results showed that there is a difference of 1.4 percentage points between the market with the lowest and highest prime yield. The main reason for what affects the prime yield level is the economic theory of supply and demand. A higher demand means more capital seeking into a certain market, an effect of this is that the yields on the properties go down and the prices go up. The interest rates of the different countries proved to be of great importance for demand as higher interest rates dampen the purchasing power of investors. Demand is also governed by the underlying conditions of each market, which includes the rental and vacancy level of logistics properties, the development of e-commerce, infrastructure, geographical location, and political stability. The results show that the current demand from companies to rent warehouses and logistics premises is very high, which indicates that a future increase in supply of logistics properties in the prime segment is of less importance for the prime yield.

This thesis looks into the law and policy implications of law-making within the EU in pursuit of the internal market, while protecting other interests such as those of consumers. The discussion concentrates in the field of services addressed to consumers and more specifically in harmonising at EU level the national liability rules governing their defective supply. This case study is developed on the following strands. Firstly, the withdrawal of the European Commission’s ‘Proposal for a Council Directive on the liability of suppliers of services’ [COM (90) 482 final] is examined from the following aspects: a) the political reactions which have preceded its withdrawal, b) its compliance with the constitutional principles governing the legislative process at EU level and c) the assessment of the substantive regime which it purported to establish. Secondly, having regard to a) the aftermath of the Proposal’s failure, b) the evolution of the constitutional debate concerning the existence, the nature and the exercise of EU competence to set harmonised rules and c) the law-making standards which the Union’s Institutions have set to self-restrict their regulatory power, the perspective of harmonising the liability of suppliers of services to consumers is further explored. Drawing on this case-study, this thesis examines the limits to EU law- making activity which are imposed by primary European law and also considers the policy standards which the EU has set for itself in engaging in its law-making commitments. This examination allows in turn the pursuit of broader reflections I about the law and policy factors which become crucial and deserve particular attention by the EU lawmaker when harmonising national rules governing market transactions – such as the liability for the supply of defective services – with a view to attaining and managing the internal market along with protecting other interests recognised at EU level, such as those of consumers.