By first arguing for the fact that globalization is a concept under contest within the social sciences this thesis develops a tool to classify perspectives of globalization. This tool is then applied to textual documents that represents the so called globalization councils (or initiatives) of Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Norway. Each document is then classified as falling within one of four perspectives of globalization; Liberalisms, Marxisms, Constructivisms and Post-colonialisms. By analyzing a number of documents tied to all four councils and initiatives the thesis is able to interpret what perspective of globalization that is dominant within each of them. Since all four nations examined aspire to use scientific methods to deal with the challenges of globalization they should reflect the diverse state of explanations present within the social scientific community. The thesis finds that this is not the case. While the Norwegian initiative establishes a platform where the concept of globalization could be said to be broadly debated and understood, the other three nations show an astonishing conformity around the perspective named Liberalisms. In a concluding discussion the thesis argues that the results of the study cannot be fully explained by differences within the institutional arrangement among the councils and initiatives. Instead the thesis holds that the results can be explained by investigating how science is used in modern society to establish truths that are not necessarily the views of the scientific community. Using theories by Georg Henrik von Wright and Chantal Mouffe the essay concludes that the conformity could be understood as a part of a process that some social scientists call post-politics.

This is a study about a company in Norrköping, called Stadium AB, and its first steps into the global market. We have studied how the conditions of the company have changed during their expansion. This study is not written from the viewpoint of business economics, it is rather a study from a cultural and social studies perspective. The study deals with subjects such as the globalization of society, organizational theories and leadership. The empiric material consists of Stadium’s staff magazine Tracks, the company’s swedish homepage on the Internet and an interview with Sussi Calås-Jonsson, Chief of the Department of Information at Stadium AB. A primary conclusion is that companies like Stadium have to adjust themselves to the demands of the customers. Stadium has chosen to create a “Code of Conduct”, which indicates the company’s standpoint when it comes to environmental issues. It also indicates that fur is no longer used in the company’s products. Another conclusion is that the companies on the global market should be aware of the fact that their outgoing information can be interpreted different in different parts of the World. / Uppsatsen handlar om ett företag i Norrköping, som heter Stadium AB, och dess väg ut på den globala marknaden. Vi har studerat hur företagets förutsättningar har förändrats i takt med deras expansion. Då uppsatser av detta slag oftast skrivits ur ett företagsekonomiskt perspektiv, har vi valt att belysa våra frågeställningar ur ett kultur- och samhällsperspektiv. Viktiga begrepp som tas upp i uppsatsen är globalisering, organisationsteori och ledarskap. Det empiriska materialet består av Stadiums personaltidning Tracks, företagets svenska hemsida på Internet samt en intervju med Sussi Calås-Jonsson, informationschef på Stadium AB. En viktig slutsats är att företag som Stadium är/blir tvungna att anpassa sig efter kundernas krav. Stadium har valt att skapa en ”Code of Conduct”, som innebär att företaget tar ställning för miljön och att de inte använder päls i sina produkter. En annan viktig slutsats är att företagen på den globala marknaden bör vara medvetna om att information som skickas ut kan uppfattas olika i olika delar av världen.

Resande, globalt engagemang och arbete utomlands av olika former är företeelser som förändrar människors syn på världen. Dessa tillhör samtiden och de blir därmed aktuella och relevanta att diskutera. Att vi lever i en global värld påverkar våra livsvillkor och innebär i sin tur nya möjligheter och förutsättningar för individen. Begrepp som är centrala att diskutera blir därmed livsstil, engagemang, svenskhet och världsmedborgarskap.

This qualitative study focuses on the investigation of different actor’s ideas concerning gender and womanhood in a post-socialist nation Bosnia and Herzegovina. The aim of this study is to try to provide experiences and attitudes of one not a new, but definitely one constantly changing phenomenon, trafficking in women for sexual exploitation. The qualitative data is mainly collected through nine interviews with people from Bosnian Governments, International organizations and NGOs during my stay in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The causes to trafficking are complex and intertwined but it directly relates to gender discrimination and attitudes on sexual relationships between women and men. The study sheds light on how the global politics and economics development situation and theirs affectsprovide gender segregation through the traditionally structures where men are seen as normative.

Abstract Essay in political science, C-level, by Jenny Senemgen, spring semester 2008. Tutor: Michele Micheletti. “Hennes & Mauritz – a case study of their CSR work and collaborations with NGOs.” The purpose of this essay is to examine if and how the transnational corporation Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) collaborates with NGOs in it’s work with human rights for workers and increased corporate social responsibility. I have looked at H&Ms CSR report from 2006, the Swedish network Clean Clothes Campaigns report about Swedish corporations in the textile industry and if their CSR work during the past ten years have given any results and I have also done two interviews with two NGOs. The examination is thereby a case study where I’m examining H&Ms CSR work and its collaborations with NGOs and the NGO’s opinions about H&Ms CSR work. My delimitation lies in the fact that I only have examined one corporation and what two NGOs thinks about the corporation. Therefore it is difficult to generalize my results, but since that was not my purpose it has no effect on my findings. The material that I mainly use is reports, information from H&Ms and the two NGOs websites and the interviews, but I have also used some other literature to explain the situation around CSR issues and research in the CSR field. My findings are that H&Ms CSR work is extensive and that they are working actively. They have transparency meaning that you can follow their reports on their websites, they let NGOs “investigate” them, they participate in surveys etc. H&M collaborates with NGOs in different ways and are open to collaboration. H&M have different projects and collaborations in ways like dialouges and seminares. NGOs have played a key roll in H&Ms CSR work in the way that they did get H&M to start taking responsibility in a new way. NGOs see H&M as the leading corporation in taking CSR in Sweden, but despite its extensive work with CSR issues H&M still has a lot to improve. The union issue is one issue that H&M is not working with in a preventive way and the Swedish Clean Clothes Campaign wants to see H&M in a global agreement with ITGLWF.

More than 200 years have passed since Haiti cut loose from the French colonial empire. A lot has happened since, both to Haiti as a state and to the society as a whole. This study investigates the critiqued relevance of postcolonialism in the 21th century, taking stance in the question of language of instruction in the Haitian school system. Through a qualitative interview based method of data gathering and a comparison with a postcolonialistic theoretical framework, this study first examines the reasons why the recommended use of Haitian creole as language of instruction, rather than French, has been sparsely implemented with the supposed effect of keeping the majority of Haitians in poverty. Secondly it discusses the conclusions drawn on the issue and what they say about the role of colonial societal structures globally. After establishing proof for the prevalence of colonial societal structures as reasons for the dominance of the French language in Haiti, this report suggests further studies on the subject of the relevance of postcolonialism as a model of explanation for contemporary societal phenomena.

This thesis purpose has been to investigate how the demonetisation in India has affected the political participation and the rural identity in a rural part of Karnataka. The demonetisation in this thesis has been connected to globalisation and show how the globalisation expresses on the rural locality. This has been done by a field study in a rural part of Karnataka that contained direct observations and six focus-group interviews that has been analysed with qualitative methodology. The rural identity has been operationalised to three indicators; caste-identity, family and gender-identity and political-identity. Our results shows that the rural identity has been somewhat affected by the demonetisation and globalisation. The political participation has not been affected. However there are tendencies that the demonetisation might transform the political participation in the future. Our findings also suggest that the urban have moved further away from the rural towards the global due to the demonetisation. Due to the increased distance between the rural and urban, the rural identity has become more independent.

The purpose of this essay is to examine the development of the use of private security contractors in Iraq. The reason is that there has been a considerable increase of the number of private security firms operating in Iraq during the last couple of years. The legislation in the field of private military and security is indistinct and my hypothesis is that the lack of national and/or international legislation can be connected to the increased globalization. To come to any conclusions about this I have chosen to make a comparative study between the two cases the Gulf War and the War in Iraq which started in 2003. In this comparison, I ask the following questions: 1) Are there any signs of anarchy in the field of private security during the Gulf War respectively the last War in Iraq? 2) In what way has the use of private security contractors changed from Case 1 to Case 2 ? According to my research, there were signs of anarchy in the field of private security both during the Gulf War and during the latest war in Iraq. The use of private security contractors has been liberalized from Case 1 to Case 2. It is difficult to say exactly what kind of impact the globalization has had on this liberalisation, but the increased outsourcing of military- and security services would not have been possible without some kind of impact from the globalization.

Globalization has resulted in cultures becoming more alike in many ways. The challenge is determining when communication methods can be common for a global market as opposed to targeted messages for a specific geographic area or demographic. When companies try to expand internationally they face the challenge of adapting their advertisement when communicating with customers from a new market. This study strives to analyze the impact of U.S. humorous television advertisements on Swedish consumers. Theory suggests that if the culture between the markets are close to each other, standardization is the most cost efficient plan. Humor is a common tool for companies to employ when communicating with consumers through television advertisement. It has many positives affects, but can also result in negative impact if the humor is misunderstood by the consumer. A case study was applied for this project, and all data was gathered from two separate focus groups. The focus groups included six members each, equal divided between genders. Both focus groups were introduced to five humorous television ads that have been aired in the U.S. market but not in the Swedish market. After the participants were introduced to the humorous ads, the moderator had four questions to the participants which led to discussions within the focus groups. The result of this study indicates that U.S. companies must adapt their humorous television advertisements when communicating with Swedish consumers. The Swedish consumers experienced the ads as confusing and hard to understand. Findings also indicates that the culture and the language became an issue for companies when trying to convey a message to Swedish consumers without any adaptations of the ad. / Globalisering har resulterat i att kulturer har närmat sig varandra. När organisationer och företag expanderar internationellt ställs de inför utmaningen om dom ska anpassa eller standardisera sin reklam för att kommunicera med den nya marknaden. Denna studie strävar efter att analysera vilken påverkan humoristisk tv-reklam från USA har på svenska konsumenter. Teori hävdar att standardisering av reklam är det mest kostnadseffektiva tillvägagångssättet och det mest effektiva om kulturerna är lika varandra. Humor är ett vanligt förekommande tillvägagångssätt när företag försöker att kommunicera med konsumenter genom tv-reklam. Humor i reklam har många positiva effekter men kan också resultera i det motsatta om den missförstås av konsumenten. Denna studie har genomförts som en fallstudie där data har samlats in genom att använda två fokusgrupper. Fokusgrupperna innehöll sex deltagare jämt fördelade mellan kön. Båda fokusgrupperna fick se fem olika humoristiska reklamfilmer från USA som inte har visats tidigare i Sverige. Efter varje reklamfilm fick deltagarna fyra frågor av moderatorn som ledde till en givande diskussion. Resultaten av denna studie hävdar att företag från USA måste anpassa deras humoristiska tv-reklam när de kommunicerar med svenska konsumenter. De svenska konsumenterna uppfattade reklamen som förvirrande och svår förståelig. De kulturella och språkliga skillnaderna mellan marknaderna medför ett problem för företagen när de försöker förmedla ett budskap till svenska konsumenter utan att anpassa reklamen.

Background: At all times people have traded with each other but, over time, cross-border trade has evolved and more companies have chosen to internationalize. Some companies are content to act in their original market, while others choose to expand by establishments in foreign markets. To do that, the company needs to choose an entry strategy where all strategies involve both commitment and risk, but also more control and a larger potential profit. Spain is a major growth opportunity as it is the fifth largest economy in Europe. Spain has a great attractiveness for foreign investors and is the gateway to North Africa and Latin America. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to contribute with a better understanding of Swedish real estate companies and their strategic choices when establishing in markets outside of Sweden, in this case Spain, and how eventual obstacles and difficulties can be handled. Method: A qualitative method with semi-structured interviews was conducted to answer the research questions. Theory:  In this essay nine theories are used; Market concentration or market diversification?, Networks, International experience, Marketing managers' soft skills, Global market entry plan, Competition's impact on strategy choice, Culture, Franchising as a Market Entry Strategy and Trial and error. All of these theories will be used as the basis for the empirical data, analysis and conclusions, which will help to us answer the research questions. Conclusion: Useful strategies for entering the Spanish market are the franchise method, networking, taking over already started companies, testing their way through trial and error theory and by taking help from aid companies/associations. In order to cope with a foreign establishment in the Spanish market, it is advantageous to have experience of the market, the language, the business culture, the social culture and the corporate law. You will need access to a notary and good communication within the company. It is also relevant to take assistance from lawyers and accountants to facilitate and reduce risks in the daily work. / Bakgrund: I alla tider har människor på ett eller annat sätt handlat med varandra, men med tiden har handeln över gränserna utvecklats och allt fler företag har valt att internationalisera sig. Vissa företag nöjer sig med att agera på sin ursprungliga marknad medan andra väljer att expandera genom att etablera sig på främmande marknader. För att kunna göra det behöver företaget välja inträdesstrategi där alla strategier medför både engagemang, risker men även mer kontroll och en större potentiell vinst. Spanien är en stor tillväxtmöjlighet då de är den femte största ekonomin i Europa. Spanien har en stor attraktionskraft för utländska investerare och är porten till både Nordafrika och Latinamerika. Syfte: Undersökningens syfte är att bidra med ökad förståelse gällande svenska fastighetsföretags strategiska val vid etablering på marknader utanför Sverige, i detta fall Spanien, samt hur eventuella hinder och svårigheter kan hanteras. Metod: En kvalitativ metod med semistrukturerade intervjuer användes för att komma fram till svar på forskningsfrågorna. Teori: I denna uppsats används nio teorier; Marknadskoncentration eller marknadsdiversifiering? Nätverk, Internationell erfarenhet, Marknadschefers soft-skills, Global marknadsinträdesplan, Konkurrensens påverkan av strategival, Kultur, Franchising som marknadsinträdesstrategi och Trial and error. Alla dessa teorier kommer att ligga till grund för empiriinsamlingen, analysen samt slutsatserna, som sedan hjälper oss att besvara forskningsfrågorna. Slutsatser: Användbara strategier vid etablering på den spanska marknaden är franchisemetoden, nätverkande, överta redan uppstartade företag, testa sig fram genom trial and error-teorin samt genom att ta hjälp av hjälpföretag/föreningar. För att klara av en utlandsetablering in på den spanska marknaden är det fördelaktigt att ha erfarenheter om marknaden, språket, affärskulturen, samhällskulturen och företagsjuridiken. Du behöver ha tillgång till en notarie och ha god kommunikation inom företaget. Det är även relevant att ta hjälp av jurister, revisorer och advokater för att underlätta och minska risker i det dagliga arbetet.