abstract: The purposes of this dissertation are two-fold. First, it aims to re-examine the new generation of Chinese students in the United States (U.S.) in light of the changing international and educational contexts. Second, the dissertation seeks to understand the new generation of Chinese students’ experience in First-year Composition (FYC) classes in a public U.S. university. A model of dynamic sociocultural approach is developed and applied to explore this new generation of Chinese students. Compared to previous generations of overseas students, the new generation is substantially different in their backgrounds and shares their own unique characteristics. Taking a sociocultural approach, this dissertation undertakes a systematic examination to delineate Chinese overseas students’ demographic trends over time, the backgrounds and characteristics of the new generation, the motivations for them studying in the United States, and the pathways these students take to come to the U.S. universities. Furthermore, this dissertation explores the experiences of 23 Chinese undergraduate student participants in FYC classes at a U.S. university. In the past decade, with a soaring number of Chinese undergraduate students, there is a dramatic rise in the number of Chinese students in FYC classes. Compared with their previous English education and learning experience in China, what these Chinese undergraduates are experiencing and how them adapting to in their FYC classes will shed light to better understanding of this new generation, as well as how their previous educational experience in China overlap, facilitate, or collide with their current studying in the United States. This dissertation enriches the literature on understanding the new generation of Chinese students, their background, and their adjustments to foreign countries and new educational environments. Using the dynamic sociocultural approach, the study provides teachers and administrators an approach for viewing Chinese and other second language (L2) students in a more holistic way. To a greater extent, the study has implications on how to meet the challenges of diversity in our universities and how to help students with different home cultural backgrounds to succeed in class. The results can also be used to improve the services and programs in the U.S. higher education institutions. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation English 2020

In the past decade, the financial industry has been criticized to lack a faster digital transformation to provide more efficient services, where FinTech (a neologism generated from the contraction of “(Fin)ancial” and “(Tech)nology”) start-ups or fintechs represent a paradigm shift to reinvent the industry. FinTech is gaining attention in multiple academic disciplines, however, it was found that it has been neglected from the international business discipline to understand the internationalization process of fintechs. Furthermore, as the financial industry is an important cornerstone to foster economic growth and social welfare, particularly in the context of Latin American emerging countries, lack of studies in this context also motivated the development of this thesis. The purpose of this study is to accommodate FinTech in the international business discipline drawing from network theory and born-digital firms’ characteristics, emphasizing on core activities within the digital value chain to analyze the internationalization process and identify the main challenges. A conceptual framework was developed to analyze the internationalization process of Ecuadorian fintechs and the challenges faced. The research has a qualitative approach, employing multiple case studies strategy, where semi-structured interviews with founders and senior managers of four Ecuadorian fintechs were conducted. Empirical findings showed that despite having a high digital value chain and take advantage of internet technologies to internationalize faster, Ecuadorian fintechs followed a gradual regional expansion within Latin American countries and their internationalization process was mostly network-driven. Furthermore, besides the most prominent internationalization challenges such as liabilities of outsidership (LoO) and institutional regulations, additional resource-related internationalization challenges were found such as funding, skilled IT talents and innovation, which raise the importance to emphasize in such challenges for further research.

This thesis analyzes how the institutional environment of the Chinese market affects market entry by foreign PC video game developers. The thesis utilizes a qualitative, multiple case study of five independent PC video game developers from around the world. The results of the thesis finds that despite China’s strict rules regarding video game publishing by foreign developers, culture and language are stronger influences on market entry strategies than Chinese regulations for the PC platform. This is due to the prevalent use of Steam, not only by foreign developers, but also their Chinese partners who publish the game to bypass the approval process mandated by the State Administration of Press and Publication (SAPP). The study also finds that, despite being in a leveraged market position due to regulations, Chinese publishers provide host of services for the developer partners for a revenue share deemed within industry standards. Additionally, localization strategies are discussed by each of the cases and this thesis finds that, while a basic translation can have success in the Chinese market, utilizing native Chinese speakers has a significant impact on a game's success, regardless of the professional level of the translation. Finally, despite the notoriety of piracy in China, developers expressed indifference to the practice, however, several methods have been identified to help mitigate the activity.

The Scandinavian country of Sweden is a huge facilitator of startups through its’ large network of incubators where Born Global residents are becoming a more frequent sight. The Born Global firm is a novel type of company that contradicts the traditional means of internationalization. In order to realize startup potential, the obtainment of resources of varying amounts and scope is essential. But for a Born Global startup, achievement of its internationalization prospects requires making use of a unique set of resources that facilitate and enables the fulfillment of such global capabilities. The purpose of this paper is to identify the resources that are crucial for a Born Global in an internationalization context and whether or not Swedish incubators can provide these crucial resources to Born Globals. The analysis is based on the findings from semi-structured interviews with members from 3 Incubators and 4 Born Global companies in the incubation process within their respective incubators. Using a comparative study, alignments and gaps have been identified between what incubators have provided and what Born Globals consider crucial for internationalization. The conclusion of this study leads to an addition to the theory of the Incubator Best Practice Model, elaborated by Bergek and Norrman where the facilitation of the unique resources required by Born Global companies is emphasized. Additionally, the authors provide suggestions on managerial implementations for Born Global managers. These suggestions concern thorough assessments of their individual resource needs, and policy recommendations to incubators about the facilitation of the specific resources required for a Born Global and its effort to internationalize.

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The purpose of this study was to investigate motivational factors and worldview dimensions associated with perceptions of global education initiatives by college professors in the United States. The concept of "perceptions of global education initiatives" is used in this study to refer to attitudes toward institutional support for global education, internationalizing curriculum, campus and community activities to increase global awareness, and international experiences and cooperation. The term college professor in this study is used to designate full-time assistant professors, associate professors, and full professors teaching at a regionally accredited private or public four - year college or university in the United States. The sample included 418 U.S. college professors at U.S. accredited colleges and universities. Data were collected using four measures: (a) the Faculty Motivational Factors toward Global Education Survey (FMF/GES), (b) the Global Mindedness Scale (Hett, 1993), (c) the Global Education Initiatives (Genelin, 2005), and (d) a Demographic Questionnaire (DQ). The findings of this research suggest that more than two-third of participants have at least experienced another culture in addition to that of the United States. This multicultural frame of reference is favorable to a global mindedness oriented worldview. Also, the study identified U.S. faculty dominant intrinsic and extrinsic motivational factors that can influence their participation in internationalizing the curriculum, their dominant worldview dimensions, and their perceptions of global education initiatives. Analysis of variance revealed there are significant differences in intrinsic motivation of assistant professors, associate professors, and full professors. There were no significant differences in extrinsic motivation, worldview dimensions, and perceptions of global education initiatives (except for internationalizing curriculum), among assistant professors, associate professors, and full professors. Multiple regressions were run and suggested that motivational factors and worldview dimensions are significant predictors of the perceptions of global education initiatives by U.S. college professors. This study can help policy makers and college and university administrators adopt policies, which can create an environment that fosters global education engagement required to promote cross-cultural understanding, produce global competent graduates on the global market, and meet the challenges of a globally interdependent world.

Background: Growth and innovation are two well-known words in particular for the 21st century, however, no previous studies are focusing on the growth of an innovative firm.  Research question: How does an innovative firm enter the European market? What factors makes the internationalization process on the European market successful for an innovative firm?  Purpose: The purpose of this dissertation is to identify initiatives implemented by innovative firms in order to ensure successful growth in the international market. It will also highlight the important aspects of an innovative firm internationalizing on the European market.  Theoretical framework: The traditional Uppsala internationalization model is used as a framework for suggestions on how a firm should enter new markets. Furthermore, a theory about internationalization is used and continued with a theory about innovative firms and the chapter ends with the marketing mix.  Methodology: A case study of an innovative firm has been done where a qualitative research approach has been taken. First hand data in terms of interviews together with secondary data in terms of articles and previous research lays as a foundation for the study.  Empirical material: The empirical material is based on interviews with four interview persons from the case company on distance. In combination with this, information has been gathered from company reports and the webpage of the case firm.  Conclusion: The result of this study indicates that innovative firms does not follow all the steps that the theory suggest for internationalization. Continually, the most vital factors that were followed and not followed are highlighted in the conclusion.

In this era of globalization and internationalization of business, effective interpersonal communication and intercultural relationship among coworkers still poses challenges and differences in an organization. This thesis aims to research and analyse challenges of interpersonal communication and intercultural differences in a multicultural organization and the way it can be solved using a qualitative method and an inductive approach on a single case study of a Swedish based multicultural company, Lyreco. The empirical data consist of ten semi- structured interview with addition of secondary data. Former research has focused on differences of individual’s ways of communication based on their cultural background. On a comprehensive analysis and the usage of existing theories, the findings of this research pinpointed ineffective usage of communication context as one of the challenges of curtailing interpersonal communication in a multicultural organization. Cultural differences like individualism, ethnocentrism, and ambient cultural disharmony are identified as challenges experienced in a multicultural organization. But with the intervention of organizational culture it can be managed. Individual team member’s attitude are curtailed under the rules of the organization. From findings, it is established that to abridge the friction within multicultural teams, the role of an organization is very important. There is need to institute structural intervention which encourages team members to adapt to each other’s culture by acknowledging cultural gaps and working around the differences.

Digitalization is increasing in our society and continues to move in that direction. The shift from traditional banks to online banks is becoming more popular, and with an online bank, the international markets open. Although previous research about internationalization exists, there is no in-depth research on the specific topic of online banks. This study aims to provide information regarding how online banks internationalize, to understand the underlying factors for the process better as well as provide recommendations for both online banks but also traditional banks. Factors such as motivators, the entrepreneur, and resources are investigated to find an answer to the given research question. The way of internationalization is connected to the already pre-existing strategies of global or regional markets. The third theoretical concept that is applied to understand the internationalization process is which path of internationalization is used, either Born Global or Born Regional. This thesis is a qualitative study with a deductive approach. The empirical findings are derived from case studies through semi-structured interviews, and the sampling selection is online retail banks operating in Europe, with more than one million customers. The selected cases are Revolut, N26, Monzo, and Monese, where one interview per bank is conducted. The interviewee’s understanding of the subject is gathered in the empirical findings, through summarizing the transcription of the actual interviews. The researchers are analyzing the internationalization process and present both similarities and differences between the cases and connect it to the prevalent theories. In conclusion, some statements are drawn that highlight the importance of traditional banks to follow the new shift towards more simplified banking with understandable products that aim to help the people. This study, therefore, contributes not only to the theoretical understanding of the subject, but it also offers practical implications both for traditional and online retail banks

Most of the existing research regarding internationalization is focusing on larger and established firms. Therefore, this paper will contribute to research by solely focusing on young and small firms' internationalization. There is today much research on specific theories. Meanwhile, the internationalization process is complex by nature. Therefore, this paper focuses on integration between several aspects, which are Born Global, Network strategy, Resources-based view, and Digitalization. The Covid-19 pandemic changed the “status quo” regarding Born Globals’ additional way of doing foreign business, which includes changes regarding network, resources, and digitalization. Based on the knowledge gaps the research questions want to answer how the internationalization process of Swedish Born Globals has been affected during Covid-19, in addition to how networks, resources, and digitalization helped and shaped the internationalization journey during Covid-19.This study aims to better understand how young firms internationalize and achieve rapid growth from foreign markets in times of the Covid-19 pandemic, with lockdowns and other restrictions. The paper aims to contribute knowledge regarding challenges and solutions during the Covid-19 pandemic or other future crises. Potentially, firms can learn from this research to prepare them to better meet the future and other potential pandemics or crises. In addition, other more established firms can learn from young organizations that adapted and built their organizations in times of the Covid-19 pandemic.With the help of a deductive approach that uses existing theories as a basis for the interview guide with semi-structured questions, we have found that Swedish Born Globals have been able to successfully internationalize during Covid-19. Networks have been highly important and a shift toward digital meetings has become the new normal. The importance of adapting to digitalization is crucial as connecting with your network has to a large extent taken a digital form. We found that digitalization helps Born Globals to become more resource-efficient and that knowledge of the staff which was regarded as a key resource can be even more efficient when working remotely and communicating digitally. In general, the Born Globals in this study are positive towards change and adaptations, which is a mindset that means opportunities to achieve competitive advantage and rapid international growth in times of the Covid-19 pandemic and after as well.