Corporate social responsibility (CSR), which has emerged as a global trend, has gained increased focus in the everyday media and among practitioners on the political agenda. CSR has also risen as an important research topic in the field of organization. This study investigates European multinational corporations’ tendencies to adapt CSR policies and practices, or more specifically corporate community involvement, to different national cultures. The paper explores if/how and why companies with subsidiaries in different countries differentiate CSR policies. Theories of culture are used to analyze the basis and/or validity of such adaptation. The units of analysis in this research paper are two European multinational corporations, namely, the Husqvarna Group and Nestlé S.A.

MNCs face challenges in developing complex strategic and organizational capabilities to meet their global efficiency and local responsiveness needs. Effective competitive strategy involves different management control over its product, functional and geographic diversity, language and culture. There are many options available for MNCs to use to develop models for business operations in different countries. The planning and executing these competitive strategies have significant impact to MNCs and they must be sustainable and successful. Human resources (HR) in MNCs have been playing an increasingly important role to improve organizational capabilities. Organization structure, responsibility, the practices, functions and professionals in the Human Resource management are key factors in creating the organizational capabilities. Meeting the current challenges and laying groundwork for the future calls for the redesign of roles and new competencies among HR professionals. With the aligning of the skills of HR professionals with the changing HR visions, strategies, structures, systems, and processes, the transformation of HR functions will be of value to their organization. Emerging trends in the strategic partner development of HRM is discussed.

The aim of this thesis is to explore the different forms of global integration and artistic and economic performance factors in order to explain their contribution to the development of film industry as one of the &ldquo / core cultural industries&rdquo / (Hesmondhalgh, 2007, s. 12) accepted as &ldquo / the driver of local economic development at selected locations like cosmopolitan cities&rdquo / (Scott, 2004a, p. 463). In this regard, this thesis attempts to explore globalization process of film industry within different forms of integration and artistic and economic success factors for films and film companies. The main hypothesis of the thesis is that globally integrated film industry is the outcome of artistic and economic successes at film, firm, and organizational level and the function of strong local and global networks, different forms of production strategies and social network structures as well as the high level of social, human, and material capital. Thus, while film, firm and organization specific variables and their effects are tried to be examined for economic performances / human, social, and economic capitals are explored for artistic performances. For the identification of the level of global integration and artistic and economic successes for Istanbul film industry both qualitative and quantitative methods are employed together with social network analysis throughout the thesis. In this way, this thesis describes the types and levels of integration for the case study area and evaluates its relative successes gained in the domestic market with the perspective of global film market. The analyses show that it is a fast growing industry in Istanbul and has managed to succeed in global market at different levels with different strategies. However, the findings demonstrate that production organization of film industry, which is generating economic growth in domestic market / remain incapable against the changing dynamics of film industry in global market. It is still small scale industrial activity and located on the periphery of global film market. For the global integration and sustainable economic growth, it seems very difficult to maintain the existing dynamics of film production in Istanbul.

During the last decades, the world has become increasingly globalized, leading to an increased interdependence between nations. This development has given rise to an increased vulnerability to turbulence created by external events and made it even harder to find the right strategic fit while managing the trade-offs between global integration and local responsiveness. The purpose of this thesis is, therefore, to understand how external events, namely Trade wars, Brexit and Pandemic affect an MNC's international strategy and how an MNC can adapt its strategy and structure to respond to the turbulent environment. Consequently, this thesis follows a case study-based design which helps to provide an in-depth company view and a strong foundation for the analysis of the strategic considerations made by the case company. The findings show that external events affect the company's capacity to produce, reduces trade opportunities, and prevents the continuous supply. Further, a direct response to the turbulent environment is to adapt the strategy and structure towards an adjusted Regional Strategy, with a focus on interdependence within geographical market clusters. This will create more opportunities to find the integral trade-off between global integration and local responsiveness and consequently respond to the arising regional complexities.

This study analyses the manner in which a higher education institution (HEI) – namely, the University of Pretoria – is internationalising, while taking into account the dual imperatives of national development needs and of competing and integrating with an increasingly interdependent and globalised world. These dual imperatives and the challenges they pose are referred to in this study as the “dual development challenge”. By focusing on the responses of one university, the study provides useful insights into how other HEIs might understand their role and ability to internationalise and address both national needs and global issues. The study thus has several key findings relative to HEIs and how they might address the “dual development challenge”, as well as findings regarding the internationalisation of higher education (HE). In terms of addressing the “dual development challenge”, the study demonstrates how one university’s ambitious and enthusiastic pursuit of its international research agenda and its focus on individual agents and collective individual agents as facilitators of that research agenda, allows it to pursue a “developmental settlement” while internationalising. Although it is marked by contestations and contradictions, the pursuit of this developmental settlement consists of a communal ambition that the university’s international activities and actions provide key catalysts to its contributions to both national development and global competitiveness and integration. With regard to internationalisation of HE, the study challenges notions that individualism is negative and that holistic, campus-wide and/or comprehensive internationalisation must be confined to a specific set of criteria. These two findings are linked, and thus the study’s key finding and argument is that a primary method of engaging with internationalisation within the context of the dual development challenge is through the pursuit of a developmental settlement, which can depend greatly on the development of individuals, their research and the building of their individual capacities. As such, the participation in international research activities and networks by individual and collective individual agents at an HEI can build their capacity both in terms of their professional abilities and their influence on other individuals, institutions and the nation, while at the same time allowing them to contribute to the global competitiveness and integration status of the HEI. Ultimately, the central thesis of this study is that internationalisation, via the support and activities of individual and collective individual agents, is a primary facilitator of a university’s abilities to address and contribute to both national and global developmental imperatives. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Education Management and Policy Studies / unrestricted

本論文では、急成長を遂げているインド家電市場を取り上げ、同市場に進出した多国籍企業の競争戦略について多国籍企業論の視点から理論的かつ実証的に考察を行った。主にLG電子インド法人が行った市場参入戦略はじめ、各戦略行動について明らかにした。多国籍企業の現地化とグローバル統合化戦略は多次元的な要素を持っており、現地国の環境要素、産業の特性及び、企業の状況に合わせて現地化のレベルを決定する必要があるという含意が得られた。 / In this paper I have taken up the India consumer electronics market, which has achieved rapid growth, and theoretically and empirically examined the competitive strategies of multinational corporations, which have advanced into said market from the point of view of multinational corporation theory. I have expounded upon various strategic activities centrally including the market entry strategy conducted by LG Electronics India Pvt. Ltd. The localization and global integration strategies of multinational corporations include many multidimensional factors, and I have established the implication that it is necessary to establish the level of localization to fit the environmental factors of the country in question as well as the features of the industry and state of the company. / 博士(商学) / Doctor of Commerce / 同志社大学 / Doshisha University