In recent years, the rise of the BRIC economies (China, India, Brazil and Russia) has caused industries in the developed and even in the developing countries, to shift toward the rising economies. The Chinese market has in the recent years become the fastest growing market with tremendous potential. Business enterprises have not only laid their eyes on the cheap labor costs, but are also deeply attracted by its market opportunities. Taiwan holds the advantage of being close in geographic proximity, and similar language and culture with China. Many Taiwanese business enterprises have made China the first choice when considering extending business to foreign markets. However, the enormous market incentives have accelerated competition within the industry. In addition to survival, it is more important for business enterprises to continually grow and profit. Therefore it is the aim of this study to investigate how business enterprises could find ways of ensuring its survival, which allows it to grow and profit, in the fierce Chinese battlefield. It is hoped from the study of Chinese business environment and analysis of current status, that key success factors of Taiwanese business enterprises in the industry can be identified. It is expected that the results of the study can be valuable recommendations to the industry. The traditional industries have always been the foundation of Taiwan¡¦s economic growth. The contributions made by the manufacturing industry to the economic growth of Taiwan cannot be overlooked. However, as the high-tech industries prosper and change of the domestic industry structure, traditional industries had been in an inferior position with respect to acquisition of resource, such as human and financial resources. Faced with a fierce competitive environment, how the traditional manufacturing industries break out of the growth-stagnant bottleneck requires the identification of key success factors of the industry. Business strategies should be developed according to such factors, putting effort in strengthening and building on the success factors, so that greatest leverage of limited resources can bring profit and continued competitive advantage. Although the copper alloy industry is considered a traditional industry, its products serve downstream users in ironmongery, electric appliance and electronics. The industry has its critical value of existence in the market¡¦s supply chain. Hence, the copper alloy plants have been chosen as he subject for this study. Through research and analysis of the industry, the study seeks to identify the critical success factors of copper alloy strip manufacturers in managing the Chinese market. The results will enable business enterprises to develop strategies for managing the Chinese market. This is a qualitative case study. Three largest copper alloy strip manufacturers were selected for the case study. Further to collection of secondary data on the copper alloy strip industry and supply-demand status of the China market, interviews were conducted with middle to senior managers of the manufacturers in the industry. Through the arrangement, analysis and study of secondary data and interviews, key success factors of the copper alloy industry were identified. The buying decisions and end user perspectives were referenced to validate the success factors identified from research. The study hopes to include the end user¡¦s purchasing perspectives into the key success factors identified from industry analysis. It is hoped that the key factors identified could be more objective, so that the success factors would be of value to business enterprises. Lastly, the key success factors of Taiwanese copper alloy strip manufacturers in conducting business in China are: (1) acquisition of core technology for high level products, (2) acquiring personnel with international capabilities and specialized knowledge in copper industry, (3) promote the bargaining power with raw material suppliers, (4) sound financial structure and financial management capabilities, and (5) establishment of network relationships. These five key success factors revolve around three critical resources, namely technology, human resource and financial resource. Through external networks, the strength of these three internal resources can bring about positive effects.

Denna undersökning syftar till att undersöka nationella skillnader i moralutveckling och innehåll i moraliskt resonemang. Studien omfattar 445 svenska och 148 amerikanska ungdomar i åldern 14-19 år. De svenska fpp är hämtade från högstadium och gymnasium i Stockholmsområdet, och de amerikanska från två katolska privatskolor i New York. Dessa tog del av ett moralfrågeformulär av Gibbs (Gibbs & Widaman, 1982; Socio-moral Reflection Measure; SRM) som är en reviderad version av Kohlbergs intervjumetod för bedömning av en individs moralutveckling och kvalitativa, moraliska synsätt i frågor rörande moral. Vid analysen förelåg inga nationella skillnader i moralutvecklingsnivå. Resultaten visade ej heller på skillnader mellan svenska och amerikanska ungdomars sätt att resonera kring moraliska frågor, utom i två fall, som kan tänkas visa på ett typiskt svenskt och ett typiskt amerikanskt sätt att tänka och försvara etiska ställningstaganden. Resultatet diskuteras utifrån (nämnda) teorier inom ämnesområdet. / The aim of this study is to investigate whether there are National differences in moral development and content of moral reasoning. The study includes 445 Swedish and 148 North American youths in the age of 14-19 years. The Swedish subjects of the study come from an upper level of compulsory school in the area around Stockholm, and the North American subjects of the study come from two private Catholic schools in New York. The subjects answered Gibbs’ Moral questionnaire (Gibbs & Widaman, 1982; Socio-moral Reflections Measure; SRM), which is a revised version of Kohlberg’s survey method for estimating individual moral development and qualitative moral viewpoints. The analysis showed no Nation-bound differences concerning moral development level between the youths. Neither could any differences between Swedish and North American young peoples’ way of reasoning on moral issues be traced, except in two cases, which possibly show a typical Swedish and a typical North American way of thinking and defending ethical standpoints. The result is discussed in relation to mentioned theories of the subject area.

This study extends our understanding of how information systems impact business value creation by examining the effect of digital enablement of business-to-business exchange on customer outcomes. We shed light on the connection between information technology investment and firm performance by focusing on how information technology is used (Devaraj and Kohli 2003) in an industrial services context and by highlighting the importance of indirect effects (Mittal and Nault 2009). A conceptual model is developed that combines a customer centric perspective (Sheth et al. 2000) with elements from the information systems success framework (DeLone and McLean 1992, DeLone and McLean 2003). Mediating factors are identified in the chain of effects from information technology specific business-to-business service quality characteristics to customer outcomes. In addition, we consider two contextual factors, relationship duration and customer dependence, which are known to alter the nature of buyer-supplier relationships but which have received little attention in research on digital enablement of business-to-business exchange. An empirical test of hypothesized relationships was performed using subjective and objective archival data from business-to-business exchange relationships for a logistics services vendor. All expected main effects were confirmed. Customer satisfaction was found to be a significant mediator in the chain of effects from information technology specific business-to-business service quality characteristics to customer outcomes. In addition, logistics service quality was found to mediate the relationships between system quality and customer satisfaction and between information quality and customer satisfaction. The hypothesized moderating effects, however, were not found to be significant. Robustness of the findings was confirmed by testing model hypotheses using data from exchange relationships with customers in two different industries, manufacturing and wholesale trade. Differences in analysis results are consistent with industry differences. This study contributes to the literatures on interorganizational information systems (Rai et al. 2006) and information technology business value (Melville et al. 2004) by identifying mediating mechanisms in the chain of effects from digital enablement of exchange to customer outcomes. Explication of mediating mechanisms improves our understanding about the indirect nature of impacts from information technology. This study also contributes to the literature on information systems by extending DeLone and McLean's (2003) model of information systems success to the context of business-to-business exchange relationships. In addition, this study contributes to the literature on services marketing (Zeithaml and Bitner 2003, Berry and Parasuraman 1993) by showing how system quality and information quality impact logistics service quality and customer satisfaction in a business-to-business exchange context.

In this thesis I argue that understanding Forster’s effeminate male characters is central to understanding the novels that they appear in. Tibby in Howards End and Cecil in A Room with a View are often viewed as inconsequential figures that provide comic relief and inspire pity. But if, instead of keeping them at the margins, readers put Tibby and Cecil in direct contact and conflict with the dominant themes of gender identity, gendered power structures, and gender equality in these novels, these characters develop a deeper significance that details the fin de siècle’s ever-changing attitudes regarding prescribed gender roles for both men and women. Indeed, by examining Forster’s feminized male characters, one can chart the development of these roles in both the larger world and Forster’s prescription for gender evolution in his novels.

The world today is confronted by the worst financial and economic crisis since the Great Depression of 1920’s. Due to the financial system being globalised and interdependent, the contagion effects of the financial crisis trickled down to Europe and ultimately triggered the recession of 2007-2009, which had far-reaching repercussions on cross-border economic activities. The severe international downturn had a significant effect on the Swedish economy and Swedish SMEs. Moreover, the recession has heightened economic uncertainty and combined with the existing challenges facing SMEs, created one of the most difficult business climates in decades, hence, a prevailing need for creating resilience. The purpose of this study is to examine how Swedish Internationalised SMEs remain resilient during times of recession. This will be studied through investigating what resources and capabilities were crucial for building resilience and how the SMEs changed their strategy during the recession to remain resilient. The study is conducted through a qualitative case study and an abductive approach in order to get a profound insight into the firm’s behaviour. The theoretical framework is founded on the area of strategy and resilience, by accounting for strategy formulation, the RBV, resilience and strategic change. Moreover, the empirical chapter presents the results of the data gathered from the six case companies and is structured according to the companies and the three research problems. In the analysis, the patterns emerging from the theoretical framework and the empirical data is analysed based on the three research problems through trying to understand the underlying reasons for the emerging patterns. The study conclude that Swedish internationalized SMEs remained resilient during the recession of 2007- 2009, through reconfiguring its critical resources and capabilities, and changing their strategy to adapt to the changes in the external environment caused by the recession.

The recent explosion of digital data has led the business world to a new era towards a more evidence-based decision making. Companies nowadays collect, store and analyze huge amount of data and the terms such Big Data Analytics are used to define those practices. This paper investigates how Big Data Analytics (BDA) can be perceived and used as a driver for companies’ Competitive Advantage (CA). It thus contributes in the debate about the potential role of IT assets as a source of CA, through a Resource-Based View approach, by introducing a new phenomenon such as BDA in that traditional theoretical background. A conceptual model developed by Wade and Nevo (2010) is used as guidance, where the concept of synergy developed between IT assets and other organizational resources is seen as crucial in order to create such a CA. We focus our attention on the Food Retail industry and specifically investigate two case studies, ICA Sverige AB and Masoutis S.A. The evidence shows that, although this process is at an embryonic stage, the companies perceive the implementation of BDA as a key driver for the creation of CA. Efforts are put in place in order to develop successful implementation of BDA within the company as a strategic tool for several departments, however, some hurdles have been spotted which might impede that practice.

La numérisation 3D telle que pratiquée aujourd'hui repose essentiellement sur les connaissances de l'opérateur qui la réalise. La qualité des résultats reste très sensible à la procédure utilisée et par conséquent aux compétences de l'opérateur. Ainsi, la numérisation manuelle est très coûteuse en ressources humaines et matérielles et son résultat dépend fortement du niveau de technicité de l'opérateur. Les solutions de numérisation les plus avancées en milieu industriel sont basées sur une approche d'apprentissage nécessitant une adaptation manuelle pour chaque pièce. Ces systèmes sont donc semi-automatiques compte tenu de l'importance de la contribution humaine pour la planification des vues.Mon projet de thèse se focalise sur la définition d'un procédé de numérisation 3D automatique et intelligente. Ce procédé est présenté sous forme d'une séquence de processus qui sont la planification de vues, la planification de trajectoires, l'acquisition et les post-traitements des données acquises. L'originalité de notre démarche de numérisation est qu'elle est générique parce qu'elle n'est pas liée aux outils et méthodes utilisés pour la réalisation des tâches liées à chaque processus. Nous avons également développé trois méthodes de planification de vues pour la numérisation d'objets sans connaissance a priori de leurs formes. Ces méthodes garantissent une indépendance des résultats par rapport au savoir-faire de l'opérateur. L'originalité de ces approches est qu'elles sont applicables à tous types de scanners. Nous avons implanté ces méthodes sur une cellule de numérisation robotisée. Nos approches assurent une reconstruction progressive et intelligente d'un large panel d'objets de différentes classes de complexité en déplaçant efficacement le scanner

The phenomenon of Born Globals in particular to the internationalization process has been highlighted by many scholars. The insufficient of the existing researches to the ability of Born Globals going international since their inceptions with limited resources encouraged us to study more in-depth. Resource-based View (RBV) and firm‟s competitive advantage are chosen as the theoretical framework. Three Swedish Born Globals were chosen as case studies, the data was collected by semi-structure and e-mail interviews which within-case and cross-case analysis were applied. The empirical data and analysis draws us to the conclusion that human resource especially entrepreneurs and network are the key firm resources that significantly contribute to Born Globals‟ establishment, internationalization and competitive advantage. However, the finding is highlighted that entrepreneur has a crucial role to both establishment and internationalization stages. Entrepreneur‟s personal network has high contribution when Born Globals is started up while firm‟s network plays more important role at the internationalization stage. By using network, Born Globals gain an easier way to find financial and operating resource. Moreover, entrepreneur‟s capability is the main key resource that creates competitiveness to Born Global firms. Future research suggestions and implications are discussed in the conclusion.

Internationalization is one of the most complicated elements in Small- and Medium-sized Enterprise (SME) expansion. Researchers seem to agree more and more that none of the theories in this field can solely explain the dynamics of the internationalization of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises particularly small knowledge- and service-intensive firms. There are different theories and approaches toward the SMEs‘ internationalization; however there is one predictor in common among them: Firm‟s knowledge resources (Yli-Renko, Autio, & Tontti, 2002).Since the value-adding processes of firms are increasingly based on the creation and exploitation of knowledge, the natural focus of attention shifts from the control of static, firm-specific resources to the acquisition, assimilation, and exploitation of firm-specific knowledge (Bettis & Hitt, 1995; Grant, 1996; J.Nahapiet & Ghoshal, 1998). In today‘s global competitive landscape, firms succeed not because they have control over scarce resources, but because they have the ability to gain the knowledge, learn and use this learning more efficiently than others. In comparison with big companies SMEs have relatively less resources, which make knowledge very vital for their survival and growth. (Mejri & Umemoto, 2010)There has not been much empirical research on knowledge resources and capabilities although the importance of knowledge-related process is widely acknowledged. There is a notable limitation in SME literature on influence of knowledge that can only offer limited insight into firm‘s foreign market operations. In other words, there is a gap in the literature about the different types of knowledge and their role in the internationalization process and therefor this research has set it goal to answer the aforementioned issues.This research has used qualitative approach and case study research design, and six semistructured interviews were conducted with small Swedish firms that involved in international activities. Since this is an exploratory study, the data from the six cases was quite managable. Analysis was conducted by coding the interviews and categorization of the codes. The codes were interpreted and three types of knowledge were extracted based on both the data and theories; Technological Knowledge, Business Knowledge and Market-specific Knowledge. The main characteristics of each company were put together with regard to the three types of knowledge. The next step in analysis was to find out if there were any differences or similarities between the companies when it came to internationalization process. By using the aforementioned results a farmework was developed. The framework presents the role of each Knowledge in the internationalization process and is the key finding of this research.The results from this study indicate the significant role of different types of knowledge as the main source of competitive advantage for SMEs to go to international markets. However the result of this study also designates that the role of knowledge in the internationalization process must be understood in the context of the industry, the company and the people involved.

There is a growing need to better understand environmental decision making in the context of climate change and limited renewable resources. This dissertation deepens our understanding of such decision making by focusing on strategic green decisions, which can be defined as the individual and collaborative green decisions within or between organizations that help organizations improve their operating position, adapt to changes in their external institutional environments, and simultaneously generate environmental benefits. The particular focus is on decisions related to energy in the North American context. The research draws on and contributes to organizational theory with the aim of better understanding those factors that motivate and/or facilitate green decisions by organizations, especially social economy organizations—an area of only limited research to date. Two complementary empirical studies address the overarching research goal. The first study focuses on understanding the nature and extent of the association between organizational attributes and those factors that motivate and/or facilitate a green energy decision. Insights are based on a bi-national survey of 212 organizations that voluntarily began to purchase green electricity between 1999 and 2008. Findings indicate that important influences are similar across organizational types. Survey results highlight the importance of organizational culture and internal champions—both individually and in combination—in making the initial decision to purchase green electricity, despite its relatively higher price. These two factors, as well as strategic benefits, emerge as the dominant explanations for why organizations expand their green energy purchases. The relative importance and particular roles of these factors vary across organizational and decision types. The second empirical study extends our understanding of how organizations adapt to external changes while maintaining the capacity to innovate in order to address their core objectives. The focus is on the residential energy services market, and is based on 12 interviews with the executive directors of non-profit environmental service organizations (ESOs) that are part of a national network called Green Communities Canada. These organizations survived a funding shock by creating new services and diversifying funding sources with actions that collectively can be referred to as ‘green collaborative entrepreneurship’; collaborative because it was facilitated by strategic partnerships with businesses and local governments, as well as the cross-national social capital network connecting the ESOs. The important motivating factors of green collaborative entrepreneurship were the green values and objectives that drive these organizations. The facilitating factors of green collaborative entrepreneurship included human capital, social capital and strategic partnerships, which acted as dynamic capabilities because of their flexibility to help increase the level of entrepreneurship when necessary for organizational survival, and yet, scale-up and deliver core programs during stable funding periods. The dissertation provides important insights into broad questions related to green decisions, especially for organizations that are affected by political policy cycles. The findings highlight that organizations are able to be more environmentally sustainable while also improving their own strategic performance by making green decisions that either provide the capacity to adapt to exogenous change for survival, or to create endogenous change for competitive advantage. The research contributes to our understanding of societal transitions to sustainable development by highlighting two green decisions that are occurring in the social economy. The dissertation contributes to organizational theory and in particular the traditional corporate literature by including multiple organizational types. Sustainability researchers should focus on green decisions that both enhance organizational stability and ecological sustainability if they wish to better understand creative green solutions from organizations.