Research Problem: To what extent the corporate culture of an international joint venture resembles the organizational and national culture of its parent firms? Purpose: The purpose of this research is to study and explain the organizational and national culture of the partner companies that are involved in the international joint venture and finds out the extent to which the corporate culture that is embedded in the joint venture possess a resemblance with its parent's culture. Method: Our research is qualitative in nature and is based upon the case study and the secondary information gathered during the research. We have also taken into account some primary information through conducting three semi-structured interviews from each of the company involved in the joint venture. All the information collected during the course of our research has been analyzed in such a manner that has eventually led us to a formidable conclusion. Conclusion: After the analysis of results, both from the interviews and the secondary information, we came to a conclusion that the corporate culture at the joint venture possess some similarities with the national and organizational cultures of its parent firms and this likeness depends upon the location of origin of the joint venture and the employees working in it.

The aim of this study is to examine the market reaction when information about a company’s foreign direct investment is announced and how that affects the shareholder’s value. Also of interest is whether the market reacts differently depending on which country the investment is established in and which mode of entry is used. This will be achieved by using an event study approach. The selection that was used consisted of 206 companies registered on the Nasdaq OMX Nordic homepage, which had during a time period stretching from 1999 to 2009 established a foreign direct investment in the regions BRIC, Europe or the USA using the mode of organic growth, joint venture or acquisition. The units were submitted to a hypothesis test, this was done to determine if an abnormal return was attained during the event window. The event window consisted of eleven days, five days before the announcement and five days after, which includes the announcement day. The tests were performed on the units as a whole and divided into categories depending on mode of entry, region and country. The event study was accompanied by a questionnaire. The result of the study show no statistically significant abnormal return related to the announcement of a foreign direct investment. There were however some indications of a deviation when the units were divided into region, most noticeably between the regions BRIC, which showed a steady negative development, and Europe, which showed a steady positive development. These results were however not significant.

Mer än 50 procent av Sveriges totala BNP är idag utlandsexport och svenska företags beslut på internationella marknader blir alltmer betydelsefulla för företagens framgång. En växande marknad för svensk utlandsexport är Mellanöstern där Saudiarabien utgör en stor del av regionen.   Studien ämnar undersöka hur och varför svenska företag träder in på den saudiarabiska marknaden, där uppkomna problem utgör en del i inträdesprocessen. Studien bygger på en kvalitativ undersökning med sex svenska tillverkningsföretag, vilken analyserades utifrån ett teoretiskt ramverk baserat på internationaliseringsteorier. Det empiriska materialet och teoretiska ramverket analyserades därtill emot en kontext om Saudiarabien.   Undersökningen visar att det är många olika faktorer som påverkar företagens val, vilka grundas i såväl rationella beslutsprocesser som slumpvisa affärsmöjligheter. Saudiarabiens ekonomiska stabilitet samt stora marknad har utgjort en stor dragningskraft för företagen. Landets lagregleringar har påverkat företagens val av inträdesmetod och de kulturella skillnaderna har varit ett framstående problem under företagens arbete i landet.

Die Dissertation befasst sich mit dem Thema hybrides Management in sino-österreichischen Joint Ventures in China. Ausgehend von der Überlegung, dass die in Österreich und China etablierten Managementstile und Verhaltensweisen in einem Joint Venture aufeinander treffen, bezieht sich das Kernthema der Arbeit auf die Erforschung und Beschreibung eines hybriden Managementstils. Es werden zunächst unterschiedliche theoretische Konzepte aus den Bereichen Management, Managementstile, Interkulturelles Management und Internationale Joint Ventures vorgestellt, die zu einer umfangreichen Liste von kulturspezifischen Merkmalen des Managementstils und Joint Venture Variablen führen. Als Methodik wurden narrative Interviews verwendet. Insgesamt wurden in 37 sino-österreichischen Joint Ventures 46 qualitative Interviews mit 50 Personen durchgeführt, wodurch 90% der Grundgesamtheit erfasst wurden. Das Ergebnis beinhaltet verschiedene Themenbereiche: das Zustandekommen und die Motive der Joint Venture Gründung, der Verlauf der Kooperation und auftretende Probleme vor und während der Kooperation, die Managementaufgaben der Joint Venture Manager, kulturtypische Merkmale des Managementstils, der hybride Managementstil und seine Ausprägungen und die Erfolgsfaktoren in sino-österreichischen Joint Ventures. (Autorenref.)

When deciding to internationalize, companies face the need to develop a foreign market strategy and a foreign market expansion strategy especially when the foreign country has very different culture from home country. Most research of company process of internationalization nevertheless is based on entry mode and mostly successful businesses. Here, the failure of joint venture between Marks and Spencer (M&S), one of the biggest of British Retail Company and Uni-President Corporation, the biggest food and drink enterprise in Taiwan is examined. Its recent large-scale withdrawal from such activity is also measured to some extend of theories about internationalization and marketing failure. The qualitative method and a case study were carried out. In addition, in-depth interviews with Uni-President representative, M&S Visual Display Manager and two groups of M&S customers and non M&S customers are the primary resources of data. The research suggested the joint venture between the two companies created many problems due to two extremely different cultures and lack of understanding of the local market. M&S marketing strategy did not draw Taiwanese consumers¡¦ interest. The products and stores are not attractive or follow the fashion trend. The promotion also did not appeal the consumers. The complexities of Taiwanese consumers¡¦ perspective toward M&S brand and country-of-origin, cultural differences and the potential reasons of M&S exited Taiwan are as well emphasized.

Social capital resources for the firm can be conceptualized as those executive-to-executive connections held by a firm’s top management team, as well as firm-to-firm relationships that exist fairly independently of particular individuals. This type of resource can compose an important portion of any firm’s overall resource portfolio. The potential benefits associated with social capital include enhanced economic exchange opportunities, improved innovation capabilities and increased firm survival rates, among others. This study adds to the literature stream focusing on the positive consequences of social capital by demonstrating the cross-level influence of social capital on the development of reciprocity within a joint venture network. It also highlights the link between social capital resources and the quality of knowledge available to a firm via its joint venture partnerships. More importantly, though, we specifically investigate the conditions under which a firm’s social capital (firm-to-firm relationships or the social capital held by key executives) can contribute to undesirable firm-level behaviors. One often mentioned, yet rarely explored dimension of social capital is the phenomenon frequently called the ‘dark side’ of social capital. This dark side of social capital is argued to exist whenever the behavioral expectations accompanying social capital limit contribute to undesirable outcomes for the firm. Several hypotheses are tested in the context of joint ventures among S&P 500 firms. The likelihood of a firm having legal action taken against it by federal regulatory agencies or other firms is demonstrated herein to be related to the number and strength of social capital relationships. In general this research supports the view that having a large number of weak ties is beneficial for firms. More specifically, we found that in the wake of the passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, an inverse relationship exists between the likelihood of firms engaging in the undesirable behaviors investigated and the number of Boards of Directors on which the firms’ respective executives held seats. Conversely, firms were more likely to engage in these undesirable behaviors whenever the firm-to-firm ties within their network of joint ventures were strongest. Furthermore, executive discretion was highly related to the likelihood of firms engaging in undesirable behaviors.

This thesis uses case study, focus on four manufacturers in copper industry. Base on Porter¡¦s generic strategies ¡V Over all cost leadership, Focus, Differentiation, with diversification and joint venture, all together five competitive strategies as the foundations of investigate structure. And I have made the matrix chart and a survey base on the five administrative functions. I observe individually for four copper manufacturers¡¦ competitive strategies, which are approved by customers, to find out if each of them has had effect in the market. Finally, I use Michael E. Porter¡¦s competitive advantage to test the industry environment, mean while forecasting the coming 3-5 years of First Copper Technology Co., Ltd. base on the theories of SWOT and PEST as the following: 1. Having joint venture with copper manufacturers in Mainland China or East Europe to get products to compete with local manufacturers, and no longer produce low attach value products. 2. Combine Japanese or Korea wholesalers or set up a trading company to sell high attach value product in local areas in Japan and Korea. 3. Total output needs to be maintained by lowering the cost, but the products should be developed in high attach value categories like lead frame and other high level alloy products, to get alone with new developments.

La thèse explicite la dynamique du processus du changement accompagné par un chercheur intervenant. Les objectifs sont d'approfondir le schéma organisationnel du changement et de détecter les leviers d'intervention du chercheur, ses rôles, son statut et ses principales contributions dans le processus du changement. La stratégie déployée pour atteindre ces objectifs est la Recherche Intervention. Elle a été menée au sein d'une joint-venture en Chine. Cette investigation sur le terrain a permis de comprendre l'évolution du processus du changement, ses variables explicatives, son mode de conduite et ses limites. Elle a pu mettre en vue l'importance de plusieurs variables contextuelles dans le mode de pilotage du changement telles que la culture nationale et la culture d'entreprise. Elle témoigne l'importance du mode de diffusion mixte du changement (négocié et prescrit) et du management interculturel. Notre Recherche Intervention avance l'idée qu'il est davantage pertinent de conduire le processus du changement en proposant aux acteurs plusieurs «options» qui ont été listées et explorées à travers le processus de la recherche. Du côté de la méthodologie de la Recherche Intervention, la thèse montre que les apports de l'intervention du chercheur, au niveau pratique et théorique, et la portée des connaissances produites, dépendent aussi bien du respect des principes méthodologiques et épistémologiques de la méthode que des variables contextuelles qui exigent un degré de flexibilité important dans le dispositif utilisé, dans le comportement du chercheur et dans le modèle du changement proposé aux praticiens.

Freie Univ., Diss.--Berlin, 2006.

Mass., Harvard Univ., Diss.--Cambridge, 2003. / Kopie, ersch. im Verl. UMI, Ann Arbor, Mich.