Syftet med denna uppsats var att undersöka konsumentbeteendet för barnmat i Kina som i sintur ledde till identifierade faktorer som svenska företag bör ta hänsyn till när de funderar på enexpansion till Kina. På grund av säkerhetsbrister i barnmaten i Kina så finns det en ökadefterfrågan för utländsk barnmat som lett till potential för många företag. Därför har faktoreridentifierats som kan påverka hur en expansion ska gå tillväga för ett svenskt barnmatsföretagi Kina.Uppsatsen har utförts genom en mixad metodologi där en självadministrerande enkätgenomfördes i Kina riktad mot kinesiska konsumenter och en semistrukturerad intervjuutfördes med det svenska barnmatsföretaget Child Food Factory. Enkäten undersöktekonsumentbeteendet som finns för barnmat i Kina för att identifiera vilka attityder ochvärderingar som finns. Vidare undersöktes de köpvanor och behov som konsumenterna harför barnmat, samt åsikter kring utländsk barnmat och ekologiskt producerad barnmat. Densemistrukturerade intervjun undersökte det koncept som Child Food Factory har bakom sinbarnmatsprodukt och hur produkten kommer att tas emot av den kinesiska marknaden, dettadå Child Food Factory var i processen med att ta in sin barnmatsprodukt i Kina.De empiriska fynden analyserades och resultat innefattar identifierade egenskaper hos dekinesiska konsumenterna vad gäller konsumentbeteende och värderingar kring barnmat.Några av de egenskaper som identifierats är att de kinesiska konsumenterna påverkas främstav familj, vänner och släkt när det gäller inköp av barnmat och det vanligastetillvägagångssättet till inköp av barnmat är i mataffär. De ansåg också att säkerhet var detviktigaste attributet vad gäller barnmat.Vidare har också faktorer om den kinesiska marknaden för barnmat identifierats för svenskabarnmatsföretag att ta hänsyn till om de planerar en expansion till Kina. Några av de faktorersom identifierats är att ett barnmatsföretag måste ta hänsyn till sin marknadsföring så att denär anpassad till den kinesiska kulturen. Barnmatsföretagen måste också beakta det faktum attfamilj och säkerhet har stor påverkan. Vidare är en faktor också att kunna använda sig utavfördelen av att vara ett utländskt företag på ett styrkande sätt för expansionen till Kina. / The purpose of this research was to examine the consumer behavior for baby food in China,which in turn led to identifying factors, which Swedish baby food companies should considerwhen thinking about an expansion to China. Due to the lack of security for baby food inChina, there has been an increase of the demand for foreign baby food in China. This has ledto potential for many companies. Factors have therefore been identified which can affect theapproach for an expansion for a Swedish baby food company in China.The research was conducted through a mixed method methodology where a self-administeredquestionnaire was executed in China towards Chinese consumers and a semi-structuredinterview was executed with the Swedish baby food company Child Food Factory. Thequestionnaire examined the consumer behavior for baby food in China in order to identify theattitudes and values that exist. Furthermore, consumers' buying habits and needs for babyfood was examined, as well as opinions regarding foreign baby food and organically producedbaby food. The semi-structured interview examined the concept which Child Food Factoryhas for their product and how the product will be received by the Chinese market, this sinceChild Food Factory was in the process of bring their baby food product in to China.The empirical findings were analyzed and the results comprises of identified characteristics inthe Chinese consumers concerning consumer behavior and values for baby food. Some of thecharacteristics that were identified was that the Chinese consumers are affected mostly byfamily, friends and relatives when it comes to purchasing baby food and the most commonway to purchase baby food is in a supermarket. They also felt that safety was the mostimportant attribute for baby food.Furthermore, the factors regarding baby food in the Chinese market were identified forSwedish baby food companies to consider if planning an expansion to China. Some of thefactors that were identified was that baby food companies need to consider their marketing sothat it is adapted to the Chinese culture. The baby food companies also need to bear in mindthe fact that family and security have a big influence. Another factor is to be able to use theadvantage of being a foreign company in a strengthening way for the expansion to China.Please note that this research is written in Swedish.

Since the beginning of the new millennium, China has opened itself to the outside world and in an enormous pace increased its contacts and relationships with other countries. The trigger to these dramatic changes of economic and foreign policies is the insight that China can no longer sustain its rapid economic growth, largely based on industrial production, on energy and raw materials from China alone. Good relations with African countries have been of highest priority in China’s strategy of “Going global”. The new African policy is based on the two principles of mutual benefit and non-interference in internal affairs – as opposite to the West’s strategy of structural adjustment programmes (SAP), which include massive interference in internal affairs. China’s renewed interest in the African continent has spawned much enthusiasm from African leaders, paving the way for massive contracts of infrastructural construction and official aid as well as grants and loans. There has, however, also been massive protests from the West on the Chinese presence in African countries and on its emerging role as the continents preferred business and development partner. China has been accused of propping up anti-democratic regimes as well as of blunt disregard of the human rights and the environment. Albeit when viewed over time, much of the Western criticism of China’s supposed crimes, and worse, was committed during the colonial era. Behind the accusations lies instead a very real threat to the Western control over Africa’s natural resources, particularly oil and natural gas. Because of the Chinese presence and activities in 48 of 54 African countries and the strikingly prosperous sino-african relations, the West has been forced to reconsider its aid and development policies to be able to compete with China. This has created a unique situation for African countries where two opponents compete in offering advantageous development and aid packages in exchange for extraction contracts on various natural resources. As a result of what could rightfully be called a new scramble for Africa’s resources, African countries now have the opportunity to play the contending China and West against each other in an attempt to benefit from the best possible offer. The dangers of this game should however, not be disregarded.

It is important that organizations today focus on continuous improvements in order to face the growing competition in the world. A company needs a corporate culture that supports and encourages the employees to be creative and innovative in their work. This is necessary for the company if they are striving towards continuous learning and development within their organization. The main purpose of this paper is to investigate how the culture differences between Sweden and China affect Sandvik AB. We will also study how the company manages continuous improvements and what consequences culture differences have on their work. Our paper is a single case study at Sandvik AB in Sweden and China. We have visited Sandvik in Sandviken to conduct a series of interviews with employees of different position within the company and with dissimilar work tasks. We have chosen this procedure to get different angles from the respondents and to acquire depth in our research. After the company visit in Sandviken we had appointments with personal at Sandvik in Beijing, Langfang and Shanghai. These employees also had different position and work tasks within the company. After finished study, we can make the conclusion that there exist several culture differences between Sweden and China. Most of these differences can be connected to the national culture. Sandvik where founded in Sweden and therefore they have a Swedish corporate culture. Today the company is a multinational corporation that operates business at the Chinese market and thereby in the Chinese national culture. Because of this situation, we think that it is important that Sandvik finds a balance between the corporate and national culture. Today, a new China is emerging. The country has one of the fastest growing economies in the world, this having and will continue to have consequences on Sandvik AB: s organization. In China 20 million students are graduated from the university today and this result in harder competition on the labour market. When more people getting an education, particularly in China, price on knowledge will decrease. The consequence of this will be that the demand of creativity and innovative thinking is rising, especially in Sweden where the labour cost is significantly higher.

This paper will answer which factors are important for the business relation between a small Swedish import company and a Chinese contractor. The problem is based partly in theories that points to cultural and organizational differences between Sweden and China, and partly in current examples from Swedish companies. The relevant data has been collected by interviews with three small Swedish companies that are currently using Chinese contractors. The result is that the differences between the countries and organizations exist, but that they do not interfere with the inter-company relations. The conclusion is that our result contradicts the established theories in the field, and that a more comprehensive investigation is warranted. / Denna uppsats skall svara på vilka faktorer som är viktiga för en handelsrelation mellan ett litet svenskt importföretag och en kinesisk leverantör. Problemet grundar sig dels i teorier som visar på kulturella och organisatoriska skillnader mellan Sverige och Kina och dels aktuella exempel från svenska företag. För att få fram relevant data har vi intervjuat tre svenska småföretag som använder sig av leverantörer i Kina. Resultatet är att skillnaderna mellan länderna och organisationerna finns, men att det inte stör relationen företagen emellan. Slutsatsen blir därför att vårt resultat motsäger dom etablerade teorierna i ämnet, och att en mer omfattande undersökning är befogad.

Högskolan i Gävle har på senare år påbörjat ett samarbete med utländska universitet och en stor andel utbytesstudenter vid högskolan kommer från Kina (Högskolan i Gävle, 2007). Att lyckas akademiskt är till viss del beroende av individens förmåga att anpassa sig till den akademiska kulturen och de rådande normerna. Studenter utbildade i konfucianistisk kultur har ofta annan syn på läraren än studerande i västerländsk kultur då man inom konfucianismen anser att läraren är en person med hög auktoritet och forskning visar att stressnivån för nyanlända utbytesstudenter är stark i början av deras akademiska utbildning i ett främmande land (Brown, 2008). Syftet med vår uppsats var att undersöka de kinesiska utbytesstudenternas kulturella upplevelser av att studera på Högskolan i Gävle och se hur dessa påverkar dem. En kvalitativ metod genomfördes med inspiration av ett fenomenologiskt förhållningssätt. Detta skedde i form av en semistrukturerad fokusgruppsintervju med sex stycken utbytesstudenter från Kina som studerat minst två år på Högskolan i Gävle. Resultatet visade att respondenterna upplevt kulturskillnader som de fått anpassa sig till under sin tid som utbytesstudenter. De största kulturkrockarna skedde i att anpassa sig efter den svenska undervisningen och ett främmande språk. Språkliga brister var troligen den största faktorn till att de inte hade kontakt med svenska studenter. Dock verkade respondenterna inte uppleva kulturchock i så stor utsträckning. Störst stress upplevde de i början av en ny kurs då de var tvungna att anpassa sig efter främmande ord på engelska och inför tentamenstillfällen. I början av respondenternas vistelse som utbytesstudent upplevde de dock hemlängtan och svårigheter att följa med i undervisningen vilket kunde upplevas som stressande. Detta verkade dock ha avtagit med tiden och utbytesstudenterna upplevde situationen vara tillfredställande trots en annorlunda kultur. / The University of Gävle has in recent years started a relation with foreign universities and a large share of exchange students come from China (Högskolan i Gävle 2007). To succeed academically is to some extent dependent on the individual´s ability to adapt to the prevailing standards in the academic culture. Students educated in a konfucianistic culture have often a different view of the teacher than students in Western culture when in Confucianism believe that the teacher is a person of high standing and research shows that stress levels for newly arrived exchange students are strong in the beginning of their academic training in a foreign country (Brown, 2008). The purpose of our study was to get an insight into the Chinese exchange student’s cultural experiences of studying at the University of Gävle and to see how this can affect them. A qualitative method with inspiration of the phenomenogical approach was carried out. This took the form of a semistructrued focus group interview with six exchange student´s from China who has studied at least two years at the University of Gävle. The result implied that the respondents experienced differences in culture that they had to adapt to during their time as exchange students. The largest clash of cultures came when they were trying to adapt to the Swedish education and a foreign language. Linguistic deficiencies were probably the largest factor to affect the lack of contact with Swedish students. However, the respondents didn't seem to experience culture chock at a large extent. They experienced most stress at the beginning of a new course when they were forced to adapt to unfamiliar words in English and for examinations. At the beginning of the respondents sojourn however, they experienced homesickness and difficulties in keeping up with the tutoring which could be experienced as stressful. However, this seems to have declined by time and the exchange students experienced the situation as satisfying despite a different culture.

China is a unique market that differs from the Western market in many ways. Companies are not required to publicize financial reports, and furthermore a heavy focus on business relationship building can make it hard for companies to have high quality streams of data to get insights about their markets. For a consultant company to successfully enter the Chinese market and helping producing and technological global firms improving their insights on the Chinese market, the consultant company needs to understand which the important factors are and how those factors can help in creating value for their potential customers. To help the analyzing and consultant firm called Kairos Future, a qualitative case study was conducted on 16 different global companies with focus on industrial production. The case study was mainly conducted through face to face interviews with decision makers who had a broad understanding of their respective companies. In order to find where value can be created, the study was first used to find out which level of autonomity the China part of the global firm hadand how it affects the value creation linked to Market Intelligence, meaning receiving market data and analyzing it in order to get powerful market insights. The study also focused on the level of dependancy on having a continuous stream of technological information from external sources, how the companies are finding other types of market data and how they are analyzing and getting insights from the data. The final part of the study was to understand the level ofmaturity of the Chinese market linked to Market Intelligence, and what aspects affect the value creation for the customers. The report´s findings show that it is important for a consultant firm to focus on customers with high level of autonomity, or the head quarter in those cases where the level of autonomity is low - this in order to best utilize the consultant firm´s resources.Even though the companies in the study were heavily focused on the technological know-how within their respective markets, this was the one aspect they found the least interest in receiving external help with from a consultat firm. Receiving insights about customers within existing and new market segments was instead valued much higher. To understand the competitors’ movements in the market was also of high interest, because of the difficulty of finding public data within a given market in China. In order to successfully enter the Chinese Market Intelligence market, a consultant firm like Kairos Future needs to choose the specific customer segments where they can contribute the most value though their product and service offering. The goal should be to focus on one segment at a time, getting satisfied customers that help Kairos Future get a good market reputation through the word-of-mouth effect, and thereby making future sales easier. When this is accomplished, the same strategy can be applied to a new customer segment.

Diss., Stockholm : Handelshögsk. / Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögsk.

China is the world´s most populated country with a high percentage of old people. The happiness of old people in Eastern countries is related to the living situation and the family concept. China´s sprit of filial piety and the rules from the government are saying that care for old people is the responsibility of adults in China. Given the country´s rapid development and skewed population growth, Chinese adults have a hard time balancing expectations from their old parents and the demands from the modern society.  The aim of this study was to explore Chinese adults´ perceptions of old Chinese people and the traditional care taking of old people in China today. This is a qualitative study, with four semi-structured interviews with four back-office Chinese adult workers aged between 25-40 years. The interview was conducted in a manufacturing company in Shenzhen and lasted between 25-35 minutes. In the analysing of the data a qualitative content analysis by Yin (2013) was used.  The resultat of this study shows that the respect for the culture is important for the well-being of the old people in China. Old Chinese people consider the financial support from the sons as a proof of a successful Chinese family and that the Chinese people are forced to adapt to the rapid development even within the care taking of old people in China. The result discussion is based on the context of the human being and the theory, Transcultural Care, of Madeleine Leininger and with reflections from previous research. Brought to attention from the discussion was that old people felt a strong need of having their culture respected and valued in order to perceive themselves and to be perceived by others as a valuable human being.  A nurse needs to understand that cultures are inconsistent and at the same time respect the cultural heritage of a patient, and thereby understand the patient as cultural being. The individual culture emerge in a patient when the nurse understands the patient as the individual he/she is. Only then can the nurse offer care which leads to individual well-being, for both old and young people. / Kina är världens mest befolkade land med en stor andel äldre. Äldre människors upplevelse av lycka i östländer relateras ofta till deras boende situation och deras känsla av familjesamhörighet. I Kinas finns den ständiga andan av respekt för sina äldre där också regering säger att det är de vuxna kinesernas ansvar att vårda sina äldre. Den snabba utvecklingen i landet och den skeva befolkningsväxten har resulterat i att vuxna kineser har fått det svårt att balansera kraven som de äldre ställer med kraven från landets samhälleliga moderniseringsprocess.  Syftet med studien var att utforska vuxna kinesers uppfattning av äldre kineser och den traditionella äldrevården i Kina idag. Detta är en kvalitativ studie, med fyra semi-strukturerade intervjuer med kontorsanställda, vuxna kineser i åldrarna 25-40 år. Intervjuerna varade mellan 25-35 minuter och utfördes på ett produktionsföretag i Shenzhen. I analysen av datan användes en kvalitativ innehållsanalys med ramar från Yin (2013).   Resultatet av studien visade att respekten för kulturen var viktig för äldre kinesers välmående. Att det finansiella stödet från söner fungerade som ett bevis för familjelycka och att det kinesiska folket har tvingats anpassa sig till den snabba utvecklingen när det gäller vårdandet av äldre kineser.  Resultatet har diskuterats med tidigare forskning och kring den transkulturella omvårdnadsteorin av Madeleine Leininger med fokus på konsensusbegreppet människan. Utifrån denna diskussion framkom det att äldre personer har ett starkt behov av att få sin kultur respekterad och värdesatt för att kunna uppfatta sig själv och bli uppfattad av andra som en värdefull människa. Sjuksköterskan måste förstå att en kultur är föränderlig och samtidigt respektera den nuvarande kulturen hos patienten och på så vis förstå varje patient som en kulturell varelse. Individens kultur uppenbarar sig först när man förstått personen. Först då kan sjuksköterskan erbjuda vård som leder till individuellt välbefinnande, för såväl äldre som yngre patienter.

The aim of this thesis is to examine to what extent China acts as a superpower in the South China Sea. In order to accomplish the purpose of the study the International relations theory Offensive realism has been applied. The thesis is a case study, with the premiss to test Offensive realism on the selected case. Data is gathered from books and articles. Within the framework of Offensive realism, three categories have been selected to study China’s actions on three different occasions. The categories that have been applied are diplomacy, economy, and military. The occasions occur at different time periods, 1974, 2012, and 2014, in order to be able to give the study a wide basis.   The result shows, that from an Offensive realism perspective, China acts like a superpower in the South China Sea. In the cases studied China acts as a superpower in all of them. Breaking it down to the applied categories, diplomacy, economy, and military, it is showcased that China’s actions in the region are corresponding to that of a superpower eight of nine times. China seeks control of the region's wealth to strengthen its own economy, which in turn strengthens the country's military. Furthermore, the growth of the economy and resources means that control of the area is centered to China. Which increases the chance for China of creating a hegemony in the region.

China has a long tradition of using deception and psychological tactics. During the 2008 Beijing Olympics, China displayed extensive perception management, aiming at showing a better picture of China. The purpose of this study is to examine if China has continued to display a distorted image since the Olympics and if it could be classified as attempts on deception directed towards a western audience. By combining case studies with descriptive, comparative and a qualitative content analysis method, three cases are researched in order to establish how they are portrayed in the Chinese newspaper China Daily and the BBC News. The differences discovered are matched with the six different kinds of deception presented in Barton Whaley’s general deception theory. In all three cases, numerous examples can be found which indicates that China attempts to deceive their western audience through the media. Both passive and active types of deception are discovered. The results are discussed concerning whether the differences are examples of deception, perception management or both. Numerous suggestions for future studies conclude the paper. / Kina har en lång och gammal tradition av informationsoperationer och av att vilseleda sin motståndare i krig. Denna tradition lever kvar idag och kan bland annat ses i nyare kinesiska doktriner. Under OS i Peking 2008 visade Kina i fredstid exempel på så kallad perceptionsstyrning där kommunistpartiet styrde vad som skulle visas i media och gjorde allt för att framställa den egna staten i så gott ljus som möjligt. Uppsatsens syfte är att undersöka om Kina även efter OS 2008 försöker framställa en tillrättalagd bild av den egna staten och om det i så fall kan klassificeras som vilseledning. Syftet uppnås genom att undersöka om försök till vilseledning förekommer i kinesisk medierapportering riktad mot en västerländsk publik. Uppsatsen är uppbyggd kring tre stycken fallstudier av händelser som antas kunna påverka Kinas internationella anseende negativt. De tre fallen är när den kinesiska regimkritikern Liu Xiaobo anhålls 2009, när han tilldelas Nobels Fredspris 2010 samt när Google 2010 meddelar att de överväger att sluta censurera sin kinesiska sökmotor google.cn och eventuellt lämna den kinesiska marknaden. En beskrivande metod används för att undersöka hur kinesisk media riktad mot Europa rapporterar om händelserna. Som kinesisk media används tidningen China Dailys Internetupplaga. Den kinesiska framställningen jämförs sedan med hur brittiska BBC News skriver om samma händelser. Genom kvalitativ innehållsanalys och med komparativ metod analyseras hur den kinesiska medierapporteringen skiljer sig från den västerländska. De skillnader som upptäcks i de olika nyhetsmediernas framställningar jämförs därefter med Barton Whaleys generella deceptionsteori som säger att vilseledning genomförs på ett av sex olika sätt. Jämförelsen visar att det i samtliga studerade fall förekommer skillnader i nyhetsrapporteringen som kan klassificeras som försök till vilseledning. Både passiv och aktiv form av vilseledning kan identifieras.