<p>Abstract</p><p>Purpose:</p><p>The purpose of the study is to describe the internationalization process of one firm when in a country culturally diverse from the firm’s original market.</p><p>Methodology/approach:</p><p>The study is a single case study which examines one firm’s internationalization process when entering the Chinese market. The approach has been an empiric interaction between empirical and theoretical data.</p><p>Findings:</p><p>The theory of the Uppsala model was applied to the case-company to test the model’s completeness. The authors found weaknesses and added three more aspects to the model. These three aspects have all been important in the case-company’s internationalization process.</p><p>Practical implications:</p><p>The practical implications in the case-company’s internationalisation process has been the access to Dr Han Wei’s personal network and his knowledge of the business culture in China.</p><p>Research limitations:</p><p>The study is limited is to one company’s Internationalization process and can therefore not be generalized.</p><p>Originality/Value:</p><p>The study has contributed with a theoretical development of the model.</p><p>Keywords:</p><p>Internationalization process, Uppsala model, establishment chain, psychic distance, personal networks, Guanxi</p><p>Paper type:</p><p>Single case study</p>

Research Question: What are the factors making the enterprises in China and influencing their behavior and development? Aim of Thesis: The thesis was initiated because there are many young people want to have his/her own business in China. The authors aim to discover the key elements of making an enterprise in China and expect the research can help those entrepreneurs to find a most suitable way to start their own venture in China. Method: Semi‐structured interview is used in the qualitative perspective to evaluate the research. The primary data is collected in a qualitative manner by interview with the entrepreneurs of the case companies. Secondary data is collected from company material and web pages. Conclusion: In the study it was concluded that entrepreneurship, national culture and government policy are the major elements that affect the development and behavior of Chinese enterprises. And In China, unlike western world, government policy and national culture are regarded to be more important than entrepreneurship. It is a characteristic of an Asian socialism country.

Aim: The purpose of this study is to find out the human resource managerial problems in medium and small companies. Finally, some suggestions will be given. Method: The case of Unique Clothing Company will be studied to analyse what are the problems in the medium and small companies. The information of Unique Clothing was collected by telephone interview. Results &amp; Conclusion: Lacking of vocational training, low qualified employees and discretional decision making are considered as the three main human resource managerial problems in medium and small companies. Only efforts made by both companies and employees can solve the problems. Suggestions for future research: In this paper, we mainly discuss the human resource managerial problems in medium and small companies. So the specific reasons for the problems in the medium and small companies can be studied by future researchers. Contribution of the thesis: The paper states what are the problems exist in the medium and small companies via the case study of Unique, and some creative suggestions have been delivered. Key words: medium and small companies, vocational training, low qualified employees, decision making, Guanxi

This study has been written to increase our knowledge about Sino-Western business relations and to understand how to successfully embark in China. It aims to create a deeper context understanding of the Chinese consumer and the Chinese market – in order to successfully manage your business in China. A qualitative case study methodology is used, involving the abductive method and a hermeneutic approach. Appropriate interviewees have been selected, i.e. those having valid and reliable insights and experiences to this study. The empirical results are portrayed as short stories along with reflections, to enlighten key findings in the research. Results of the investigation show that a willingness to understand and being humble are key in the creation of a successful business relationship with the Chinese. Certainly, the importance of guanxi and trust are tremendous. Thus, learn the rules and play by them – use them to your advantage. Show empathy and patience and trust the universal law of reciprocity. Indeed, as we understand the underlying forces, the cultural values and traditions, we appreciate how to effectively communicate with the Chinese and ultimately how to deliver value to create a healthy business relationship in our marketing efforts. A plethora of stories are presented that illuminate various situations that experienced Western business managers have encountered, and how to manage these. Key findings in this research may benefit not only academics, as new theory is introduced, but also everyone interested in China and aiming to create a healthy Sino-Western relationship. Finally, top managerial implications are presented that are of relevance to readers both intending to and already doing business in China. Some of the most important ones advise us to remain patient, to gather all the information possible and to never underestimate the Chinese.

Abstract Purpose: The purpose of the study is to describe the internationalization process of one firm when in a country culturally diverse from the firm’s original market. Methodology/approach: The study is a single case study which examines one firm’s internationalization process when entering the Chinese market. The approach has been an empiric interaction between empirical and theoretical data. Findings: The theory of the Uppsala model was applied to the case-company to test the model’s completeness. The authors found weaknesses and added three more aspects to the model. These three aspects have all been important in the case-company’s internationalization process. Practical implications: The practical implications in the case-company’s internationalisation process has been the access to Dr Han Wei’s personal network and his knowledge of the business culture in China. Research limitations: The study is limited is to one company’s Internationalization process and can therefore not be generalized. Originality/Value: The study has contributed with a theoretical development of the model. Keywords: Internationalization process, Uppsala model, establishment chain, psychic distance, personal networks, Guanxi Paper type: Single case study

The Swedish town Kalmar suffered from economic cutbacks during the 1990’s and many local companies left the region resulting in a decrease in population. Local authorities therefore set goals of regional development and an economic turn was thought to come with foreign investments. Fanerdun is one of the Chinese firms recently interested in investing in the Swedish market, more specifically in Kalmar. Its business idea is to build a convention centre where ap-proximately 1000 Chinese suppliers will sell light industry products to companies in the Baltic Sea region and Northern Europe. The establishment process is of value to study since the economically strained Kalmar region managed to attract such a large investment and Fanerdun’s reasons behind its choice of location for the establishment are not apparent. The purpose of this thesis is to answer the questions why and how the convention centre was realised in Kalmar. Both given and cre-ated factors are taken into account. To fulfil the purpose, a case study using a qualitative method with an abductive approach was used. Primary data was collected through interviews with different involved actors to give a complete picture from various perspectives. This approach is referred to as triangula-tion and was also present in the frame of reference. Three different theory fields; regional network, internationalisation and guanxi were appropriate to describe the complexity of the establishment process. The conclusion includes the given and created factors that led to Fanerdun’s establishment in Kalmar. The given factors are; location in Europe and the Baltic Sea region, low corporate tax, low investment costs, infrastructure capabilities and small town advantage. From the analysis, created factors became clear. One common feature found to be a central factor was relationships between people, organisations and regions. From Kalmar’s perspective, the regional network anticipation explains why the establishment was realised. To answer how, the three developing regional networks; Changxing-Kalmar, Baltic Sea region and Kalmar region itself together played essential roles. From Fanerdun’s perspective, why and how Kalmar was chosen as location for its international establishment is interlinked. Different internationalisation drives were characterised by commitment, shared knowledge and mu-tual dependency between Fanerdun and Kalmar representatives. The presence of guanxi, a Chinese concept of relationship cultivation, was a specific aspect for the realisation of the convention centre.

Aim: The aim is to explore the Chinese way of marketing activities in township enterprises by linking the formation and implementation of marketing strategies and tactics with the impacts of environmental factors and contextual conditions. Specifically, the aims are: - Identify the managers’ perceptions of their marketing environments; - Explore how their perceptions of the environments shape the formation and implementation of the marketing strategies and tactics; - Explore how social cultural values influence the marketing activities at these enterprises, Method: Fieldwork was conducted in the summer 2007, at three enterprises in Fujian province in southern China. In depth case analysis was employed in this study. Interview guides, designed to learn their experience through their own words were used. Result and Conclusion: The research reveals that unique Chinese social and cultural values are deeply ingrained in the three township enterprises’ marketing practices. It also reveals that a competitor centred orientation, competitive advantages based on low cost labour and marketing expansion, and an innovative imitation strategy are some of the characteristics of marketing practices. Suggestions for future research: One of the disadvantages of a case-based approach is that it may be difficult to achieve generalizability. This research is also limited as it is focused on the three enterprises whose products all fell into consumer goods. Future research could also combine both qualitative and quantitative aspects. Such as looking at data on profits, return on assets and revenue we could also look to see the correlation between performance and market orientation of these types of enterprises. Contribution of the thesis: This research provides a reference frame for township enterprises to make their marketing decisions when they are involved in marketing circumstances similar to those presented in this research. Also, the findings may help global marketers to better understand township enterprises with whom they are competing or will compete in the Chinese market.

Aim: After discussing marketing issues with representatives from a number of companies established on the Chinese market, we came to the conclusion that it would be interesting and useful to further investigate relationship marketing models from a Swedish perspective when doing business in China.   The aim of the study is to highlight, by examples and experiences from firms dealing with or on the Chinese market, what makes up successful marketing between Swedish and Chinese businesses.   Research question: Is relationship marketing with a dash of guanxi the recipe of success for Sino-Swedish businesses?   The result of successful relationship marketing is a marketing network and it is an important asset for companies today. Competition is not between single business units or entities any more but between marketing networks (Kotler et al., 2006).   To get a full view of relationship marketing between Sweden and China, we have also studied the Chinese culture context.   Method: We interviewed 10 firms in various industries. Common for all respondents is an extensive experience of over 5 years of doing business in China. A questionnaire was used as a foundation for the interviews.   In the analysis findings regarding how the respondents have handled their internationalization process are highlighted. Also how they handle the relationship marketing on a market, where guanxi have been a dominating way of doing business.   Result and conclusions: Relationship marketing with a dash of guanxi is the road that most companies take already today and should take if not yet doing so. As we can see from the study, China is not under as strong influence of guanxi as it used to be. Our respondents offer insights and examples of that Chinese businessmen and women are adapting a more global approach to business negotiations. Operating on the Chinese market requires a relationship marketing approach although it is more personalized to better suit the Chinese culture context.   Suggestions for future research: * Relationship marketing in China and corruption: how is it handled, avoided, viewed. * Relationship marketing in Sweden by Chinese firms: How can Chinese firms succeed on the Swedish market? * Deeper research into relationship marketing strategies for Swedish companies in China. * Study Swedish firms on the Chinese market today and how they experience the paradoxes mentioned by Fang and Faure (2008).   Contribution of the research: The study offers insights in the actual marketing strategy implementation and how firms with extensive experience from China and the Chinese market approach it.

China as an Asian country has now an ever growing importance to the world economy and Sweden as a western country is having more and more collaboration in business with China. Due to the cultural differences between Sweden and China, managing relationships in B2B market has been challenging for Swedish companies doing business in China. Our study aims to find out what cultural differences are perceived by the Swedish companies and what adaptations they have made to the cultural differences so as to manage the business relationships. This study is based on the theories of Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner’s dimensions of human relations and Marx’s cultural shock triangle. Also we have referred to theories on Chinese relationships, Guanxi. We have used deductive method and conducted seven interviews, namely five with Swedish companies that have business in China and two people respectively from the Swedish Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai and the Regional Court in Kalmar of Sweden. We have come to the result that the Swedish companies are mainly challenged by the cultural differences such as the language difficulty, time orientation of Chinese and the personal approach in business relationships management. In this case the companies have made efforts to increase knowledge in the Chinese culture but also to establish local sales offices and carry out a joint venture with the Chinese business partners.

The emerging cleantech market in China will bring new business opportunities for Swedish cleantech SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises). In such an internationalization process, business network building is an important approach that Swedish entrepreneurs should consider about. Guanxi is a culture pattern in China and plays important role in business of Chinese context. The purpose of the thesis is to find how business network and guanxi affect on Swedish SMEs’ internationalization, especially their business with China in the cleantech industry. Based on market information from pre-study, four propositions connected with business network and guanxi are generated for Swedish SMEs in their business with China. Later, four cases are selected to match raised propositions for deeper analysis. By the theory of guanxi and business network internationalization, each proposition and case gives a specific view to analyze and understand this topic from an explorative way. Several conclusions are drawn by the analysis. First, guanxi plays an important role in network building for China market, and the native Chinese can provide great help in such a guanxi building process. Second, the business network can bring valuable information and business opportunities for Swedish SMEs in their business with China. Third, it is beneficial for Swedish cleantech SMEs to cooperate with Chinese state owned companies in their business network. Fourth, Chinese local SMEs cannot gain competitive advantage by guanxi building because the foreign competitors can copy or imitate with proper strategy to learn the skill to connect with Chinese people in the market.