The authors have noticed that during the last couple of years the interest about China has grown not only as an attractive market for production but also as a consumer market. A limited amount of books and articles have been written about SMEs entering the Chinese consumer market and even fewer articles have been written about Swedish SMEs entering China to sell their products. This is what caught the author’s attention of writing this thesis. Sweden has for a long time been good at exporting to other countries. Now when the Chi-nese market has opened up to western companies there are a lot of potential on this market that is estimated to be one of the largest in the world. There are still differences between China and other market not at least the culture. But as time and globalisation goes on the Chinese people learn how to react to the new world of companies from the west that tries to get its share of the highly attractive Chinese market. The purpose of this thesis was to investigate how previous experience and knowledge af-fected the long-term establishment on the Chinese market for the selected Swedish SMEs. Also the knowledge that was obtained when entered China that made the establishment possible was investigated. By interviewing four Swedish small and medium sized companies that have managed to export their products to China and also managed to stay there the authors have gotten to a better understanding of the process of export and the different knowledge's that the com-panies gets in this process of internationalisation. By also interviewing a consultant with a long experience of Chinese-Swedish relations and doing business with China the authors have got a good picture of the issues of today’s SMEs trying to export to China. The analysis revealed that the single most important aspect of making a successful long-term establishment on the Chinese market is the commitment the company can give. It is crucial in order to gain crucial connections and to provide the necessary service that is de-manded by the Chinese customers. / Det ökade intresset för Kina de senaste åren har inte undgått författarna av denna uppsats, på senare tid har inte bara Kina varit målet för strategiska produktionsetableringar men man börjar även få upp ögonen för den växande köpkraften i landet. En begränsad mängd böcker och artiklar tar upp ämnet om SME som gör entré på den kinesiska marknaden. Än mindre forskning finns om svenska SME som går in i Kina med målet att sälja sina produk-ter. Detta fångade författarnas intresse. Sverige har under lång tid varit ett exporterande land. Nu när det kinesiska marknaden har öppnats för västerländska företag finns det stora möjligheter på en av de största markna-derna i världen. Kina är en unik marknad och skillnaden mot andra marknader är avsevärd, inte minst kulturskillnaderna. Men under globaliseringens gång lär sig det kinesiska folket att hantera den nya världen och västerländska företag som ger sig in på den attraktiva kine-siska marknaden. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur tidigare erfarenhet och kunskap påverkat de utvalda företagens långsiktiga utveckling på den kinesiska marknaden. Den kunskap som tillvaratogs under tiden i Kina som underlättade vidare utveckling kommer att undersökas. Genom att intervjua fyra svenska företag som har lyckats slå sig in på den kinesiska mark-naden har författarna lyckats få en djupare förståelse om exportprocessen och de olika sor-ters kunskap som företagen erhåller under internationaliseringsprocessen. Genom att också intervjua en konsult med lång erfarenhet av relationer med Kina och det ekonomiska kli-matet i Kina har författarna fått en god bild av vilka svårigheter som SMEs stöter på vid export till Kina. Analysen avslöjade att den enskilt viktigaste aspekten i att en etablering lyckas långsiktigt på den kinesiska marknaden är det engagemang företaget kan leverera. På det viset kan företa-get få tag på de nödvändiga kontakter som krävs och leverera den typ av service som krävs av de kinesiska kunderna.

<p>The authors have noticed that during the last couple of years the interest about China has grown not only as an attractive market for production but also as a consumer market. A limited amount of books and articles have been written about SMEs entering the Chinese consumer market and even fewer articles have been written about Swedish SMEs entering China to sell their products. This is what caught the author’s attention of writing this thesis.</p><p>Sweden has for a long time been good at exporting to other countries. Now when the Chi-nese market has opened up to western companies there are a lot of potential on this market that is estimated to be one of the largest in the world. There are still differences between China and other market not at least the culture. But as time and globalisation goes on the Chinese people learn how to react to the new world of companies from the west that tries to get its share of the highly attractive Chinese market.</p><p>The purpose of this thesis was to investigate how previous experience and knowledge af-fected the long-term establishment on the Chinese market for the selected Swedish SMEs. Also the knowledge that was obtained when entered China that made the establishment possible was investigated.</p><p>By interviewing four Swedish small and medium sized companies that have managed to export their products to China and also managed to stay there the authors have gotten to a better understanding of the process of export and the different knowledge's that the com-panies gets in this process of internationalisation. By also interviewing a consultant with a long experience of Chinese-Swedish relations and doing business with China the authors have got a good picture of the issues of today’s SMEs trying to export to China.</p><p>The analysis revealed that the single most important aspect of making a successful long-term establishment on the Chinese market is the commitment the company can give. It is crucial in order to gain crucial connections and to provide the necessary service that is de-manded by the Chinese customers.</p> / <p>Det ökade intresset för Kina de senaste åren har inte undgått författarna av denna uppsats, på senare tid har inte bara Kina varit målet för strategiska produktionsetableringar men man börjar även få upp ögonen för den växande köpkraften i landet. En begränsad mängd böcker och artiklar tar upp ämnet om SME som gör entré på den kinesiska marknaden. Än mindre forskning finns om svenska SME som går in i Kina med målet att sälja sina produk-ter. Detta fångade författarnas intresse.</p><p>Sverige har under lång tid varit ett exporterande land. Nu när det kinesiska marknaden har öppnats för västerländska företag finns det stora möjligheter på en av de största markna-derna i världen. Kina är en unik marknad och skillnaden mot andra marknader är avsevärd, inte minst kulturskillnaderna. Men under globaliseringens gång lär sig det kinesiska folket att hantera den nya världen och västerländska företag som ger sig in på den attraktiva kine-siska marknaden.</p><p>Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur tidigare erfarenhet och kunskap påverkat de utvalda företagens långsiktiga utveckling på den kinesiska marknaden. Den kunskap som tillvaratogs under tiden i Kina som underlättade vidare utveckling kommer att undersökas.</p><p>Genom att intervjua fyra svenska företag som har lyckats slå sig in på den kinesiska mark-naden har författarna lyckats få en djupare förståelse om exportprocessen och de olika sor-ters kunskap som företagen erhåller under internationaliseringsprocessen. Genom att också intervjua en konsult med lång erfarenhet av relationer med Kina och det ekonomiska kli-matet i Kina har författarna fått en god bild av vilka svårigheter som SMEs stöter på vid export till Kina.</p><p>Analysen avslöjade att den enskilt viktigaste aspekten i att en etablering lyckas långsiktigt på den kinesiska marknaden är det engagemang företaget kan leverera. På det viset kan företa-get få tag på de nödvändiga kontakter som krävs och leverera den typ av service som krävs av de kinesiska kunderna.</p>

<p>This thesis consists of three self-contained essays. The first two essays address the consumption of culture and are closely related in terms of the theoretical framework used. The third essay is a separate analysis of international trade and competition.</p><p>The studies of culture are motivated by the special treatment of culture consumption in most modern societies: there are usually large, government-provided subsidies, the aim of which is to stimulate both the production and the consumption of culture. The purpose of the present work is to explore reasons for this special treatment. Using a stylized theoretical framework, the essays contrast culture with another, generic, good or activity. Culture is thus regarded as an "experience good": previous consumption of the good enhances the current appreciation of the good. The generic good is one where experience is assumed not to be at all relevant for the appreciation of the good. For experience goods, decisions made today will influence future utility and future choices. This makes the intertemporal preferences essential. If, in particular, consumers have time-inconsistent preferences of the type that can be characterized as a present-bias---modeled with "multiple selves" using quasi-geometric discounting---as opposed to standard, time-consistent preferences, there will be a case for government subsidies. The first essay explores this possibility in detail in a framework where experience is mainly of importance in the short run. The second essay then studies cases where experience is more potent and can cause persistent diversity in culture consumption across individuals.</p><p>"Culture and Control: Should There Be Large Subsidies to Culture?" studies the circumstances under which public support for culture is warranted. A policy example is designed to illustrate important aspects of public support systems currently in place, and is calibrated to Swedish data. The essay concludes that, given present-biased agents with self-control problems, public support of culture can work as a commitment device and improve long-run welfare. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that welfare-maximizing subsidies to culture can be substantial if the present-bias is profound and the taste-cultivation property of culture consumption is pronounced.</p><p>"Origins of the Diversity of Culture Consumption" analyzes the diversity of culture consumption among individuals. If the culture good and the generic good are sufficiently close substitutes in a static sense, very large and persistent differences in the consumption of highbrow culture across consumers can be explained by differences in initial experience levels alone. Moreover, slight differences in preferences and time endowments can cause significant diversity between individuals, both in the long- and short-run levels of culture consumption. In addition, if consumers have time-inconsistent preferences, further diversity can be rationalized. If there is a present-bias, there may also be Pareto-ranked multiple equilibria with "optimism" and "pessimism": high (low) culture consumption of the current self is rationalized, based on the belief that future culture consumption will be high (low).</p><p>"Has international competition increased? Estimates of residual demand elasticities in export markets" studies the impact of the last decades of intense economic integration on the competitive conduct of Swedish export industries. The functional relationship between the inverted residual demand elasticity and the Lerner index is used to estimate markups in eight industries. The econometric evidence suggests a deviation from competitive behavior in all industries. Moreover, the results demonstrate a trend of decreasing market power.</p>

This thesis consists of three self-contained essays. The first two essays address the consumption of culture and are closely related in terms of the theoretical framework used. The third essay is a separate analysis of international trade and competition. The studies of culture are motivated by the special treatment of culture consumption in most modern societies: there are usually large, government-provided subsidies, the aim of which is to stimulate both the production and the consumption of culture. The purpose of the present work is to explore reasons for this special treatment. Using a stylized theoretical framework, the essays contrast culture with another, generic, good or activity. Culture is thus regarded as an "experience good": previous consumption of the good enhances the current appreciation of the good. The generic good is one where experience is assumed not to be at all relevant for the appreciation of the good. For experience goods, decisions made today will influence future utility and future choices. This makes the intertemporal preferences essential. If, in particular, consumers have time-inconsistent preferences of the type that can be characterized as a present-bias---modeled with "multiple selves" using quasi-geometric discounting---as opposed to standard, time-consistent preferences, there will be a case for government subsidies. The first essay explores this possibility in detail in a framework where experience is mainly of importance in the short run. The second essay then studies cases where experience is more potent and can cause persistent diversity in culture consumption across individuals. "Culture and Control: Should There Be Large Subsidies to Culture?" studies the circumstances under which public support for culture is warranted. A policy example is designed to illustrate important aspects of public support systems currently in place, and is calibrated to Swedish data. The essay concludes that, given present-biased agents with self-control problems, public support of culture can work as a commitment device and improve long-run welfare. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that welfare-maximizing subsidies to culture can be substantial if the present-bias is profound and the taste-cultivation property of culture consumption is pronounced. "Origins of the Diversity of Culture Consumption" analyzes the diversity of culture consumption among individuals. If the culture good and the generic good are sufficiently close substitutes in a static sense, very large and persistent differences in the consumption of highbrow culture across consumers can be explained by differences in initial experience levels alone. Moreover, slight differences in preferences and time endowments can cause significant diversity between individuals, both in the long- and short-run levels of culture consumption. In addition, if consumers have time-inconsistent preferences, further diversity can be rationalized. If there is a present-bias, there may also be Pareto-ranked multiple equilibria with "optimism" and "pessimism": high (low) culture consumption of the current self is rationalized, based on the belief that future culture consumption will be high (low). "Has international competition increased? Estimates of residual demand elasticities in export markets" studies the impact of the last decades of intense economic integration on the competitive conduct of Swedish export industries. The functional relationship between the inverted residual demand elasticity and the Lerner index is used to estimate markups in eight industries. The econometric evidence suggests a deviation from competitive behavior in all industries. Moreover, the results demonstrate a trend of decreasing market power.

This thesis examines Swedish corruption culture and analyzes if Swedish export companies have a different attitude towards corrupt behavior when exporting to high and low income countries. A regression of Swedish export is run for all the world’s countries with available data, a total of 165 countries. Out of those 165 countries, 98 are classified by the United Nations as low or low-middle income countries and 67 are classified as high or high-middle income countries. The regression applies to the gravity model approach that comprises variables explaining the size of Swedish exports to each importing country. To examine Swedish corruption culture a theoretical background to the structure of corruption in Swedish companies is presented along with some corruption scandals involving Swedish companies. The findings show that a lower level of corruption in developed countries has a positive influence on Swedish export to those countries. However, in the case of developing countries the level of corruption does not have any impact on Swedish export flows. In other words, if a poor country increases or decreases its level of corruption it would not affect the decision of a Swedish company in deciding whether to export to this country or not. The conclusion drawn is that Swedish companies are more willing to bribe developing countries as opposed to developed countries.

<p>This thesis examines Swedish corruption culture and analyzes if Swedish export companies have a different attitude towards corrupt behavior when exporting to high and low income countries. A regression of Swedish export is run for all the world’s countries with available data, a total of 165 countries. Out of those 165 countries, 98 are classified by the United Nations as low or low-middle income countries and 67 are classified as high or high-middle income countries. The regression applies to the gravity model approach that comprises variables explaining the size of Swedish exports to each importing country. To examine Swedish corruption culture a theoretical background to the structure of corruption in Swedish companies is presented along with some corruption scandals involving Swedish companies.</p><p>The findings show that a lower level of corruption in developed countries has a positive influence on Swedish export to those countries. However, in the case of developing countries the level of corruption does not have any impact on Swedish export flows. In other words, if a poor country increases or decreases its level of corruption it would not affect the decision of a Swedish company in deciding whether to export to this country or not. The conclusion drawn is that Swedish companies are more willing to bribe developing countries as opposed to developed countries.</p>