<p>Expanding to foreign markets is increasingly popular for companies. The company has to decide which organisational structure, entry mode, to use in the new market. Factors affecting the change from one entry mode to another have obtained little attention. This thesis concerns Swedish companies’ changes of entry mode in Taiwan.</p><p>The purpose is to investigate which factors that serve as triggers respectively barriers for the change of entry modes, to be able to examine which theories that can be used to explain and support mode changes.</p><p>Different theories concerning choice and change of entry mode have been investigated. Based on the theories, a model including factors influencing entry mode changes was established. The model has contributed a foundation for the empirical findings as well as the analysis of the companies. As a method, a qualitative approach was conducted through interviews with five Swedish companies having a subsidiary in Taiwan. The criterion for the companies was that they should have a subsidiary in Taiwan, but entered the market with another entry mode. Considering the small number of companies and to obtain an understanding about the entry mode changes, a qualitative investigation was the most suitable.</p><p>Conclusions that could be drawn were that the competitive Taiwanese market had triggered some of the companies to change their entry mode to a subsidiary in order to be present in the market. Increased sales volume did also have evident affect on why the companies changed their entry mode. The investigation also gives indications that barriers tend to be of internal and firm specific character. Concerning the theories explaining entry mode changes, no complete theory could explain the changes, but parts from different theoretical fields could be applied.</p>

Thesis (doctoral)--Uppsala universitet, 2003. / A duplicate abstract in 1 leaf inserted. Includes bibliographical references.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Uppsala : Uppsala universitet, 2004. / Härtill 5 uppsatser.

Univ., Diss.--Frankfurt (Main), 2004.

Zugl.: Zürich, Universiẗat, Diss., 1992. / Zugl.: Zürich, Univ., Diss., 1992.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Stanford University, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 185-201).

Thesis--University of Oregon. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 332-356).

Σήμερα οι όροι «επιχειρηματικότητα» και «διεθνοποίηση» έχουν εισχωρήσει στο σύγχρονο επιχειρηματικό λεξιλόγιο για να περιγράψουν λειτουργίες της σύγχρονης εταιρίας στο εγχώριο και στο διεθνές περιβάλλον της αγοράς. Ειδικότερα, ο νέος όρος διεθνής επιχειρηματικότητα που σχετίζεται με την επέκταση των δραστηριοτήτων της επιχείρησης σε διεθνείς αγορές έχει συγκεντρώσει έντονο ενδιαφέρον τόσο από διοικητικά στελέχη όσο και από ερευνητές του χώρου. Οι τεράστιες αλλαγές που έχουν επέλθει στο διεθνές οικονομικό περιβάλλον με την πλήρη απελευθέρωση των αγορών και την ένταση του ανταγωνισμού, αναδεικνύουν στις μέρες μας την επιχειρηματικότητα ως τον πλέον σημαντικό παράγοντα της ανάπτυξης. Η παρούσα εργασία αποτελείται από δύο μέρη. Το πρώτο μέρος αποτελεί την θεωρητική προσέγγιση και αναλύει τις βασικές θεωρίες και τα στοιχεία που συνθέτουν την έννοια των ξένων θυγατρικών μονάδων και την απόδοσή τους. Το δεύτερο μέρος αποτελεί την εμπειρική προσέγγιση όπου μετράται η απόδοση των οικονομικών μονάδων. / Today the terms "entrepreneurship" and "globalization" have penetrated the modern business vocabulary to describe features of the modern corporation's domestic and international market environment. Specifically, the new term international entrepreneurship associated with the expansion of the business in international markets has garnered strong interest from both managers and researchers from the area. The enormous changes that have occurred in the international economic environment with the full liberalization of markets and increased competition, makes nowadays entrepreneurship the most important factor of development. This work consists of two parts. The first part is the theoretical approach and analyzes the key theories and data that make up the meaning of the foreign affiliate units and their performance. The second part is an empirical approach where measured performance of economic entities.

Background: Biopacemaking is the attempt to replicate sinoatrial node (SAN)-like pacemaker activity in other areas of the heart by manipulating genes involved in pacemaking. Application of this could emulate the electronic pacemaker without the need for implantation of permanent hardware, or directly repair dysfunctional SAN tissue in human disease. We upregulated the transcription factors Tbx18, Tbx3 and the membrane ion exchanger NCX1 in bradycardic subsidiary atrial pacemaker (SAP) tissue which we used as a model of SAN dysfunction. We aimed to show that one or more of these gene targets could improve pacemaker function and alter the molecular character of SAP tissue and thus could potentially be used for the repair of dysfunctional SAN tissue. Methods: SAP tissue was isolated from the right atria of rats and kept beating in culture at 37°C for 48 hours. Recombinant adenoviruses were injected into SAP preparations to upregulate Tbx18, Tbx3 and NCX1 individually. Beating rate, overdrive suppression and pharmacological response to If blockade and β-adrenergic stimulation were measured along with molecular changes in pacemaker and atrial genes and proteins using RT-qPCR and immunohistochemistry. Results: Tbx18 upregulation significantly increased SAP beating rate after 48 hours of culture (a final rate of 141 ± 9 bpm in uninfected SAP tissue versus 215 ± 16 bpm in Ad-Tbx18 infected SAP tissue, p<0.01). It induced upregulation of HCN2 (p<0.01) and RYR2 (p<0.05), downregulation of HCN4 (p<0.05) and no change HCN1, Tbx3, Kv1.5, Kir2.1, Nav1.5, NCX1, Cx43, Cx45, Cav1.2 or Cav3.1. There was also no change in overdrive suppression and no change in response to pharmacology. No increase in beating rate was seen with either Tbx3 or NCX1 upregulation. Tbx3 preparations induced downregulation of the atrial genes Kir2.1 (p<0.01) and Nav1.5 (p<0.05), along with HCN1 (p<0.05), HCN4 (p<0.01), Tbx18 (p<0.05) and NCX1 (p<0.01), upregulated Cx43 (p<0.05) and showed no change in Cx45, RYR2, Kv1.5. NCX1 preparations demonstrated reduced overdrive suppression (p<0.05). Conclusion: Tbx18 showed the most potential for biopacemaking in SAP tissue, however both Tbx3 and NCX1 could be applied as secondary targets to fine tune biopacemaker function. Future work would focus on applying these targets to dysfunctional SAN tissue in larger animals.

We investigate a multinational corporation's (MNC) decision to appoint host-country national (HCN) managers to foreign subsidiaries based on the institutional context of and familiarity with the host country. HCN managers are commonly associated with specialized knowledge, superior responsiveness, and higher legitimacy. Yet, we argue that local familiarity of HCNs can also be perceived as risky or harmful by MNC parents. We analyze how formal and informal institutions affect the trade-off between positive effects and potential costs associated with HCN managers ("Local allies" vs. "Trojan horses"). We find that legal institutions protect foreign MNCs from potential costs, encourage the use of HCNs and reinforce their benefits. Corruption and corruption distance, however, increase perceived costs associated with HCN managers up to a point at which they outweigh their perceived benefits.