Background: In today’s business environment it is important to find new customers. An action that has been widely used is to enter foreign markets. Most firms are always seeking to maximize their profits, which can be achieved if an entry into a foreign market is performed. Due the European Union (EU), new economies open their borders for international trade and foreign investments. In 2004 Poland received membership. Even though Poland may be a country with potentials, there are aspects that the firm has to take into consideration in a potential market entry. Among these are market related and firm related factors. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to evaluate the important factors related to the firm and the market in order to present feasible entry mode(s) which ire can use in a potential entry into the Polish market. Method: The authors have conducted a case study of ire Möbel AB. A qualitative method approach has been used to fulfill the purpose of the thesis. Semi-structured telephone interviews have been used for the empirical findings. The authors want to attain convincing and in depth information in the field of interest, therefore three firm related interviews and three market related interviews have been conducted to obtain valid and reliable empirical results. Conclusion: The case study has led to conclusions on how ire could enter the polish market. ire’s needs and resources have been compared to the Polish market factors and analyzed for pros and cons. The mode that is currently used on ire’s other markets, exporting, is working very well. Equity joint ventures have a three year tax relief but are still considered a quite expensive mode of entry. Other entry modes could be successful, but ire’s size and resources limits the modes available. The thesis has come to the conclusion that exporting and/or equity joint ventures are the modes of entry most appropriate for ire.

Date: 19th, June, 2008 Level: Master Thesis EFO 705, 15 credits Authors: Sixing Guo China guosixing@hotmail.com Pasapoo Upathamwaranon Thailand pasapoo@hotmail.com Title: The Internationalization Process of Toyota in Europe: From the Perspectives of Entry Mode and Network Structure   Tutor: Leif Linnskog Research Problem: In European market, what entry mode did Toyota select? Why did they select those entry modes? And how did they manage their internal and external network structure during the entry mode evolution process?    Purpose: We describe and explain how Toyota conquered the European market from the perspective of entry mode and network. And we also intend to provide some useful information to the companies that want to gain experience before entering into the European market.   Method: We design this thesis as a case study about the entry mode of Toyota in the European market. In order to get an in-depth understanding of the research problem, the qualitative research approach is chosen. During the analysis part, all the information is derived from the secondary documents, such as website, articles and so on. Conclusion: After the analysis the process of Toyota developed in the European market, we found that after careful consideration about both internal and external factors, Toyota usually prefers to conquer a new market with a relevant low risk entry mode, such as exporting or licensing, in the beginning. Then, with the increase of their experience as well as the growth of network, they began to change to a higher risk level entry mode, like joint venture or wholly owned subsidiaries. During the evolution process, in order to provide an effective way of interaction between headquarters and subsidiaries, Toyota’s structure changed from time to time. Keywords: Internationalization, Entry mode, Toyota, Network structure

Esta tesis es dividida en tres capítulos que se refieren a dos temas diferentes. El segundo capítulo se concentra en los efectos incentivos de bajar salarios llanos y su papel en la ayuda del fracaso de coordinación vencido. Los resultados débilmente apoyan los efectos positivos de bajar salarios llanos. Los dos papeles en los terceros y cuartos capítulos relacionan los estudios de la incertidumbre de información de riesgo y ambigüedad en juegos de entrada de mercado. Estudiamos experimentalmente decisiones bajo la incertidumbre de riesgo y ambigüedad en juegos de entrada de mercado, que captura los rasgos básicos de los fenómenos sobre la entrada en el mercado. La tarea importante es averiguar si la participación excesiva está relacionada con los tipos de información de riesgo y ambigüedad, y si las decisiones son diferentes en riesgo y ambigüedad en ambientes estratégicos. Encontramos la ambigüedad que busca en un ajuste de mercado de un ambiente relativo del mercado de información arriesgado y ambiguo en la correspondencia fija. Sin embargo, en un ambiente no relativo del mercado de información arriesgado y ambiguo, la busca de ambigüedad es saliente en la correspondencia arbitraria, pero no en la correspondencia fija. Encontramos que los efectos de ambigüedad en juegos estratégicos no dependen de si el riesgo y la ambigüedad son puestos en contextos relativos o no relativos, pero en la complejidad estratégica en los juegos. Más fuerte la complejidad estratégica es, más saliente la ambigüedad efectúa. / This thesis is divided into three chapters that refer to two different topics. The second chapter focuses on the incentive effects of lowering flat wages and its role in helping overcome coordination failure. The results weakly support the positive effects of lowering flat wages. The two papers in the third and fourth chapters relate the studies of information uncertainty of risk and ambiguity in market entry games. We study experimentally decisions under uncertainty of risk and ambiguity in market entry games, which captures the basic features of the phenomena over entry in the market. The important task is to find out whether the excessive participation is related to the information types of risk and ambiguity, and whether decisions are different in risk and ambiguity in strategic environments. We find ambiguity seeking in a market setting of a comparative environment of risky and ambiguous information market in fixed matching. However, in a non-comparative environment of risky and ambiguous information market, ambiguity seeking is salient in random matching, but not in fixed matching. We find that ambiguity effects in strategic games do not depend on whether risk and ambiguity are put in comparative or non-comparative contexts, but on the strategic complexity in the games. The stronger the strategic complexity is, the more salient the ambiguity effects.

This study describes the behavior of four important international construction companies within the Czech construction market. The chosen companies are following: SKANSKA CS, STRABAG, HOCHTIEF CZ and OHL ZS. The theoretical part of this paper dissertates about various methods suitable for market analyses, such as strategic maps or Porter´s diagram and foreign market entry modes in general. The practical part begins with the general description of the Czech construction market and its history. The SWOT analysis of the Czech construction market also anticipates the future development of the Czech construction market in following five years. The next chapters are devoted to the detailed description of chosen companies. The history and profile of the chosen international concerns and of the traditional Czech companies are described in this chapter. This part also characterizes the takeovers of Czech companies by international concerns of SKANSKA CS, STRABAG, HOCHTIEF CZ and OHL ŽS and their following development on the Czech construction market. From the detailed description, economic data with the most predicative significance were chosen. This data was subsequently compared in the penultimate part of the study. The Economic data such as sales, profit, return on sales, number of employees, sales on employee and growth of the companies are significant for the comparison. The graphs clearly show the development of the companies since 2000. The results of the analyses are concluded in the last chapter, which also contains a suggestion for the possible future research.

Purpose - The aim of this paper is to increase the understanding of foreign market entry among SMEs. The model of a French established company entering the Scandinavian market supports this research. Theoretical Framework - The entry modes, the Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), the standardization or adaptation dilemma of the products are presented. The entry modes are crucial to analyze the way corporations choose to enter a foreign country. As the case study used is a French SME, it is necessary to include their advantages and disadvantages. Standardization or adaptation are related to the chosen entry mode and the chosen market. Methodology - Theory supported by a case study: the French company Krampouz entering and expanding the Scandinavian market of cooking equipment. A number of business research methods are used in this thesis, such as a semi-structured interview with the company itself, a self-completion questionnaire with potential retailers and a secondary data analysis. Empirical Investigation - The information collected about Krampouz through the interview and the secondary data are split into the company background and its export strategy. Then the relevant data from the Scandinavian retailers are included. Finally information about the Single European Market and the International Commercial Terms (Incoterms) are combined to narrow down the trends of export. Findings - Entering the Scandinavian market as an European SME has to be pursued through exporting. Direct export appears to be the most relevant method to make business for SMEs in Scandinavia. Paper type - research paper: bachelor thesis

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Russia is a rapidly growing market with enormous potential for international companies. In many industries competition is underdeveloped as Russian local companies are often unable to satisfy constantly growing demand of the market. On the other hand, international enterprises hesitate to enter the market due to its complexity and difficulties like e.g. bureaucracy and corruption. The aim of the present bachelor thesis is to define main challenges of the Russian market with the help of a modified PESTEL model which emphasizes political, economic, social, and legal aspects of the market. Having identified the main market challenges exporting, joint ventures and foreign direct investments as means of market entry are assessed in terms of coping with these challenges. As an outcome of the theoretical section, a model assessing the chosen entry modes is developed together with a list of challenges of the Russian market. The developed theoretical model is applied to a Swedish automotive industry through conduction of semi-structured interviews with key representatives of a number of Swedish enterprises operating in Russia. After the empirical analysis, the theoretical model is reviewed and the main challenges of the Russian market experienced by the interviewees are stated. Moreover, the most common entry modes within the Swedish automotive industry are identified. This thesis will be applicable both for students who would like to learn about different entry modes and ways of analyzing foreign markets through a theoretical framework, and for Swedish companies that aim to enter the Russian market and need to understand its challenges in order to avoid failures in the initial stage and gain ideas about the most suitable entry mode for them.

Master thesis in marketing, 15 credits, School of business and economics, Linnaeus University, Växjö, 4FE02E, spring 2011 Author: Emma Johansson Tutor: Åsa Devine Title: Build it green – To create entry barriers with green marketing Background: In the beginning of the 21st century sustainability have become of higher importance for companies. One tool to manage sustainability is green marketing; an approach through which companies can gain competitive advantage. But is it possible to influence the market structure by using green marketing and is it possible to make it difficult for new actors to enter the market? Purpose: The purpose of this research is to investigate how companies can use green marketing to create entry barriers. Delimitations: This thesis is delimited to investigate the work of creating entry barriers, not to measure the effect of it. Furthermore the empirical research only includes companies on the Swedish market. Method: To investigate how companies use green marketing in relation to entry barriers today a quantitative approach was used and an electronic questionnaire was conducted. Conclusion: For established companies to protect their position on the market it is important to not only concentrate on the barriers most commonly related to green marketing. Rather green companies can establish a wide spectrum of barriers related to green marketing in order to make it more difficult for new entrants to establish themselves. Suggestions for further research: The next step to make within the field of green marketing as a barrier to entry is to investigate the effect of the barriers examined in this research. It is also necessary to do industry specific researches to investigate if some barriers are more important for certain industries. Keywords: Entry barriers, environmental commitment, green entry barriers, green marketing, strategic barriers to entry, structural barriers to entry, sustainability.

the purpose of this paper is to find the successful elements of THE BODY SHOP in Gavle, and using that experience to study the market entry into a third world country using the case study to assess whether it is worthwhile for THE BODY SHOPto enter the Chinese market, if it is worthwhile, and how to do it.

In the oil and gas industry today, continuous wellbore data can be obtained with high precision. This accurate and reliable downhole data acquisition is made possible by advancements in permanent monitoring systems such as downhole pressure and temperature gauges and fiber optic sensors. The monitoring instruments are increasingly incorporated as part of the intelligent completion in oil wells where they provide bottomhole temperature, pressure and sometimes volumetric flow rate along the wellbore - offering the promise of revolutionary changes in the way these wells are operated. However, to fully realize the value of these intelligent completions, there is a need for a systematic data analysis process to interpret accurately and efficiently the raw data being acquired. This process will improve our understanding of the reservoir and production conditions and enable us make decisions for well control and well performance optimization. In this study, we evaluated the practical application of an interpretation model, developed in a previous research work, to field data. To achieve the objectives, we developed a simple and detailed analysis procedure and built Excel user interface for data entry, data update and data output, including diagnostic charts and graphs. By applying our interpretation procedure to the acquired field data we predicted temperature and pressure along the wellbore. Based on the predicted data, we used an inversion method to infer the flow profile - demonstrating how the monitored raw downhole temperature and pressure can be converted into useful knowledge of the phase flow profiles and fluid entry along the wellbore. Finally, we illustrated the sensitivity of reservoir parameters on accuracy of interpretation, and generated practical guidelines on how to initialize the inverse process. Field production logging data were used for validation and application purposes. From the analysis, we obtained the production profile along the wellbore; the fluid entry location i.e. the productive and non-productive locations along the wellbore; and identified the fluid type i.e. gas or water being produced along the wellbore. These results show that temperature and pressure profiles could provide sufficient information for fluid identity and inflow distribution in gas wells.