Daugelis kultūros tyrinėtojų sutinka, kad organizacijos kultūra yra vienas reikšmingų būdų siekti organizacijos vadybos. Tačiau Lietuvos organizacijų vadovai veiklai skatinti ir plėtoti šį svarbiausią valdymo įrankį - organizacijos kultūrą - retai pasitelkia. Šio darbo tyrimo objektas - organizacijos „Natūralios medicinos centras“ darbuotojų kultūrinės charakteristikos ir jų atspindys organizacijos kultūroje. Tyrimo tikslas - nustatyti organizacijos „Natūralios medicinos centras“ kultūrines charakteristikas pagal G.Hofstede išskirtas kultūrines dimensijas, jų priklausomybę nuo demografinių veiksnių ir remiantis šiomis charakteristikomis adaptuoti jas pagal W.G. Ouchi kultūros modelį. Tyrimo duomenų analizė parodė, kad remiantis G.Hofstede tyrimo metodika, tirtoje organizacijoje išryškėjo tokia kultūrinių charakteristikų priklausomybė: labai maža galios distancija - (-14,56); polinkis į kolektyvizmą - 38,38; ry���kus vyriškumas - 127,38; mažas neapibrėžtumo vengimas - (- 84,88) ir vidutinė ilgalaikė orientacija- 64,06. Kultūrinių skirtumų požymiai, kuriuos nustatė G. Hofstede, leidžia nustatyti tiriamos organizacijos akcentuojamas vertybes ir įvertinti kultūrinių grupių panašumus bei skirtumus priklausomai nuo demografinių veiksnių. Todėl tyrimas parodė, kad svarbu organizacijos kultūrą nagrinėti subkultūrų atžvilgiu. Atsižvelgiant į išryškėjusias organizacijos narių kultūrines nuostatas remiantis W.G. Ouchi kultūros modeliu, organizacija „Natūralios medicinos... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Foreign scholars have proved that organization culture is one of the major factors of performing organization management. However, managers of Lithuanian enterprises rarely employ this core tool of management, i.e. organization culture in order to promote and develop the enterprise’s activity. The subject of this exploration is the cultural characteristics of the employees of the enterprise Natūralios medicinos centras and their reflection in the organization culture. The aim of the exploration is to identify the cultural characteristics of the enterprise Natūralios medicinos centras on the grounds of the cultural dimensions singled out by Hofstede and their dependence on demographical factors so that to adapt the characteristics on the basis of the cultural model by Ouchi. Analysis of the exploration data has shown that on the grounds of the exploration method by Hofstede, the explored organization manifests the following dependence of cultural characteristics: very small power distance – (– 14.56); aptitude to collectivism – 38.38; prominent masculinity – 127.38; minor avoidance of indefiniteness – (– 84.88) and medium/ long-term orientation – 64.06. Marks of cultural differences established by Hofstede allow identifying the emphasized values of the explored organization and to assess similarities and differences of cultural groups on the basis of demographic factors. As a result, the exploration demonstrates that it is essential to explore organizational values regarding... [to full text]

Denna studie behandlar fenomenet anpassning av internationell marknadskommunikation. Tidigare studier har visat på att en anpassning av marknadsföring bör göras, speciellt gällande marknadskommunikation (Mooij, 2004). Samtidigt tas inte kulturteorier i beaktning när man studerar internationell marknadsföring, vilket vi tycker är oroväckande. I samband med denna studie har vi varit i kontakt med flera företag som berättar att de vill skapa marknadsföring som fungerar globalt, men att de inte vill anpassa sin marknadsföring. Vi tycker att det är av värde att studera anpassning av reklambudskap och hur kulturella aspekter speglas, då detta är av värde såväl för forskare som näringsliv.  Vår frågeställning är vilket samband mellan interkulturell anpassning av reklambudskap och Hofstedes Kulturella dimensioner kan ses?  Vår teoretiska grund består av definitioner som rör ämnena vi berör samt Hofstedes (2010) kulturella dimensioner, som ligger till grund för operationalisering och analys.  Detta är en kvalitativ fallstudie av IKEAs katalog för vår 2015. Kärnan i vår metod är djupgående analyser med hjälp av semiotik, där vi har studerat reklambudskap för samma produkt från länderna: Australien, Dominikanska Republiken, Japan, Kina samt USA. Därefter har vi analyserat detta material med hjälp av vår teoretiska grund och kunnat dra slutsatserna att: Man i anpassning av reklambudskap internationellt kan se ett samband till de kulturella dimensionerna, men att vissa speglas tydligare än andra. Vi har kommit fram till att anpassning till femininet, högt osäkerhetsundvikande och eftergivenhet kan användas i båda polerna, då vi anser att dessa justeringar inte har en negativ inverkan om de finns i reklambudskap och kan därför vara en bra grund. Därav kan vi dra slutsatsen att dessa anpassningar kan vara genomgående och att man kompletterar med anpassningar till motpolerna till dessa samt de övriga dimensionerna.

Datum: 15/1/2015 Nivå: Kandidatuppsats 15 hp, Företagsekonomi C, HT 14 Författare: David Norman, Johan Rappling Handledare: Jukka Hohenthal Titel: Ett “glokalt” växelspel för ett multinationellt företag - En studie om branding- arbetet för Post-it på den nordiska marknaden Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att visa hur branding-arbetet ser ut för ett globalt varumärke, ägt av ett multinationellt företag, på den nordiska marknaden samt till vilken grad marknadschefer för ett varumärke av denna typ är fria att lokalanpassa brandingen. Förhoppningen är att denna fallstudie ska fungera som ett komplement till rådande studier inom glokalisering. Teori: Uppsatsens teoretiska referensram består av erkända koncept inom marknadsföringsområdet såsom global branding, glokalisering och produktlivscykeln men även Hofstedes kulturella dimensioner. Metod: En kvalitativ fallstudie för det multinationella företaget 3Ms varumärke Post- it har utförts. Primärdata har samlats in genom ostrukturerade och semi-strukturerade djupintervjuer med personer med marknadsansvar över Post-it samt genom en dokumentstudie. Analysen har skett med ett analysverktyg skapat utifrån de teoretiska utgångspunkterna. Resultat: De lokala marknadsförarna för varumärket Post-it är relativt fria i branding- arbetet och lokala anpassningar förekommer i allra högsta grad. Standardisering förekommer också i form av bl.a. gemensamma kampanjer och hemsidor. Glokalisering är implementerat i Post-its varumärkesstrategier. Slutsats: Branding-arbetet anpassas relativt mycket lokalt i Norden och frihetsgraden är stor. Hofstedes dimensioner och produktlivscykeln kan till viss del förklara varför det empiriska resultatet som framkommit ser ut som det gör.

Environmental protection has become a global issue and attracted the attention of both the general public and governments around the world. Understanding people’s environmental attitude and their behavioral intention, measured as their willingness to pay cost for the environment, is therefore imperative. Research in this field is abundant, but it suffers from at least two limitations. First, previous literature focused mainly on predictors of human behaviors at the individual level and seldom examined the effect of cultural values. In addition, few studies have expanded their research scope beyond Western countries. This study addresses these gaps by investigating the factors, both at the national and individual level, shaping people’s intention to take actions in 26 countries. Employing Ajzen and Fishbein’s theory of planned behavior, the analysis at the individual level examines the impact of environmental attitude, self-efficacy, and subjective norms. At the same time, this study also looks into the effect of three cultural orientations developed by Hofstede, including Individualism, masculinity, and uncertainty avoidance. The data used in this study were Hofstede’s cultural indices and World Value Survey (WVS) with a total number of 38,511 participants in 26 countries. Hierarchical linear modeling is applied. The result showed that Ajzen and Fishbein’s theory of planned behavior fit well in the study. Three behavioral determinants (attitude, subjective norm, self efficacy) in the theory were positively related to environmental behavioral intentions. Aggregate cultural orientations also accounted for part of variations in relation to environmental behavioral intentions. In more individualistic countries, people were less likely to perform financial sacrifice behaviors for the environment than those in the less individualistic countries. Finally, this study suggested cultural orientations served as moderating variables on people’s environmental attitudes and subjective norms. Environmental attitudes exerted greater impacts on behavioral intentions in more individualistic countries, where the effects of subjective norms were weaker.

The research recorded in this thesis examined the experience of eight foreign teachers who have taken up residence in China as teachers of oral English language. The study grew out of my reflections on my own challenging, yet rewarding, journey as an international student in New Zealand, and aimed to investigate and unfold the reality of foreigners living and working experience under the influence of traditional Chinese culture, specifically in Pan Yu district, Guang Zhou City, Guang Dong Province. I was interested to find the cultural differences that the teachers struggled to accept or understand. I wondered whether the foreign teachers would reshape their personal beliefs and values, especially about teaching, because of the cultural differences they encountered in China. A sample of eight foreign teachers, from Australia, America, Canada and New Zealand, took part in semi-structured interviews in which I hoped to capture critical incidents in their inter-cultural experience. I was also able to undertake two observations of classroom practice. The data collected was then analysed using Boyatzis' (1998) system of thematic analysis. The research found that participants had similar experiences during their residence in China. For instance, the majority of participants showed a long period of cultural adoption and they all defined their experience as challenging. All participants refused to reshape their moral beliefs about teaching in response to traditional Chinese culture, but that they all, to some extent, eventually adjusted to a Chinese way of thinking. However, issues that direct connected to their own cultural heritage remained unchanged. An interpretation of the findings was that perhaps, on one hand, while the environment and cultural difference initiated various forms of difficulties, on the other hand, participants are trying to reset their personal limits. Most likely, their desire to introduce their Chinese students to a different style of learning convinced them to hold on to personal beliefs about effective teaching and learning, hoping to pass this on to a new generation of Chinese. My research, however, focused on only very small proportion of foreign teachers in China. Further research should be pursued with an expanded focus, to find the potential of the implementation of cultural awareness programmes and support groups for foreigner.

The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine what values influence Swedish consumers when purchasing tomatoes. Previous research show that there are many factors and attributes that consumers choose from. These aspects included health, low price, labelling of products, knowledge of what labels stand for, trust in the information of the packaging and appearance of the product. The values that were investigated in this study were conceptualized by Geert Hofstede and Fons Trompenaars. They both have similar theories of national cultures, which they explained by making cultural dimension scales. These were based on values that can be identified in cultures. The cultural dimensions were individualism versus collectivism, masculinity versus femininity, high or low uncertainty avoidance, long or short-term orientation, how humans relate to the environment and individualism versus communitarianism. To investigate this, the following research questions were asked; (1) what factors/attributes are important to Swedish consumers when purchasing tomatoes, (2) what values are prominent in Swedish consumers and (3) what the relations between factors/attributes and values regarding Swedish tomato consumption are. In order to answer this, a survey was answered by 310 respondents. To understand why consumers value different factors/attributes, and possibly change consumption patterns, it is important to know what influences consumers. The results showed that the factors/attributes investigated proved to be more or less equally important no matter what pole of the different dimensions the respondents belonged to. Finally, some parts of the results did not correspond with previous research, the main difference was that low price was not considered as important as previous research showed.

The purpose of this study is to analyze if and how cultural values and expectations in society influence the experiences and perceptions of happiness and well-being. Applying a quantitative research methods approach, a survey based on previous research was conducted to compare and analyze experiences and perceptions between two contrasting cultures, China and Sweden, using Hofstede’s national culture dimensions as an analytical tool. The sample consisted of students from China and Sweden. The findings from the study show that both groups ranked family as being the domain of life most important for their well-being, followed by health for the Chinese group, and friends for the Swedish group. There were statistically significant differences in the mean responses in some questions that may be attributed to cultural differences. For example, finishing long-term difficult tasks was ranked more important for the well- being by the Chinese group. As for the Swedish group, they felt to a higher degree that they had the freedom to choose what they would like work with. The majority of the responses, however, were similar between the two groups. The paper discusses how globalization may contribute to converging values in the current generation of students. Furthermore, other factors such as internal abilities and societal and cultural structures have an influence on the possibilities to pursue goals in life. Happiness is achieved by finding a balance in life between what you can achieve and accepting what you cannot. The themes and concepts used in the study are inspired by Jongbloed and Andres’ concepts of happiness as balance and gears of well-being. The study contributes to the research fields of human-centered development, and happiness studies on how subjective indicators as a complement to objective indicators can be used to better measure growth from a cultural perspective.

International marketing activities have a great impact on the prosperity and competitiveness of multinational companies (Akgün, Keskin, & Ayar, 2014). That is why the design of marketing activities is especially important. Researchers claim for cultural sensitivity. According to their work, culture has a significant influence on marketing content which needs to be culturally adapted (Kaur & Chawla, 2016). Based on these assumptions the present study aims to discuss the concepts of culture in relation to standardization and adaptation of IKEA’s advertising content published in Sweden and Japan. The study is focused on IKEA since the company is known to implement a standardized marketing approach with only minor cultural adaptations (Burt, Johansson, & Thelander, 2011).   To accomplish that goal a multimodal critical discourse analysis is applied. The analysis seeks to identify the similarities and differences in IKEA’s video advertisements published in Sweden and Japan to determine how the company promotes its products. The analysis is limited to visual semiotic choices. The interpretation of the results is linked to the findings of Hofstede’s theory of cultural dimensions: Power Distance, Uncertainty Avoidance, Individualism versus Collectivism, Masculinity versus Femininity, Long- and Short-Term Orientation and Indulgence versus Restraint. The study revealed that signs for both concepts standardization and adaptation were visible in IKEA’s advertisements. Especially the analysis of the Japanese sample has shown that IKEA follows a standardized marketing approach when it comes to communicating the company’s core values such as gender equality. This value was frequently depicted in the Japanese advertisements where gender division usually prevails. However, less significant aspects such as those concerning the outer appearance of the actors were culturally adapted. These findings underline a dialectical relationship between culture and advertising content. Leading theoretical frameworks lag to take into account this continuous discourse that emphasizes the importance to implement the perspective of a changing environment in further theoretical contributions.

The objective of this thesis is to discuss the influence of national culture in leadership within military organizations and also to explore the effectiveness of a specific leadership model in a multinational context. Developmental leadership (DL) is a model used by the Swedish Armed Forces (SAF) since 2003. However, the aim is not to answer the question of if a certain leadership model has an effect or not and therefore legitimize or discard the use of it. It rather raises the question of why this leadership model has been chosen to become such an integral part of an organization. This thesis analyzes DL by classifying its components using Hofstede’s theory of cultural dimensions as a basis and compares the results with Sweden’s cultural dimensions to find a correlation. The results show a high correlation between DL and Sweden, but DL does not correlate with Belgium’s cultural dimensions. Sweden’s characteristics are also complemented by empirical data collected for the purpose of this thesis. According to this interview study with Swedish officers, even though DL is not consciously applied to their leadership styles, it coincides with the characteristics of their vision of an ideal leader. Moreover, DL consists of components that are suitable foundations for an effective multinational leadership.

Submitted by Camila Lee Park (camilapark@gmail.com) on 2016-01-06T10:12:04Z No. of bitstreams: 1 CLP - Dissertation - Jan2016 .vfinal - protocolo2.pdf: 4019122 bytes, checksum: a23a6655e7cef0c0d568b8d58485d8b8 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Pamela Beltran Tonsa (pamela.tonsa@fgv.br) on 2016-01-06T10:12:50Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 CLP - Dissertation - Jan2016 .vfinal - protocolo2.pdf: 4019122 bytes, checksum: a23a6655e7cef0c0d568b8d58485d8b8 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-01-06T10:15:56Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 CLP - Dissertation - Jan2016 .vfinal - protocolo2.pdf: 4019122 bytes, checksum: a23a6655e7cef0c0d568b8d58485d8b8 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-12-02 / Through the assessment of the fourth round of the High Performance Manufacturing (HPM) project and the introduction of Hofstede’s Cultural Classification, the present work aims to deepen the comprehension of the impact of National Cultures on firms’ Operations Strategy. The ANOVA comparisons of four Operations Strategy elements in countries with different industrialization and development backgrounds (e.g. Germany, China, Brazil and South Korea) suggest that while Integrating Leadership and Implementation of Manufacturing Strategy are affected by the cultural levels of Power Distance, Individualism vs. Collectivism and Uncertainty Avoidance, the other two elements of Operations Strategy, Functional Integration and Formal Manufacturing Strategy, show effects of the degree of Individualism vs. Collectivism and Long-Term Orientation. The results of the study are expected to offer new perspectives on the planning and implementation of strategic and operations management for both practitioners and academics. More specifically, the analysis of cross-cultural influence over operations strategy may contribute to a better understanding of how cooperative behavior may lead firms to generate higher rents through the strengths and weaknesses of their relations, particularly in terms of global supply chains. / Pela análise da quarta rodada do projeto High Performance Manufacturing (HPM) e com a introdução da Classificação Cultural de Hofstede, o presente trabalho objetiva aprofundar a compreensão do impacto de Culturas Nacioais nas Estratégias de Operações das empresas. As comparações de ANOVA de quatro elementos de Estratégia de Operações em países com diferentes passados de industrialização e desenvolvimento (e.g. Alemanha, China, Brasil e Coréia do Sul) sugerem que enquanto Liderança Integrativa e Implementação de Estratégia de Produção são afetadas por níveis culturais de Distância de Poder, Individualismo vs. Coletivismo e Aversão à Incerteza, os outros dois elementos de Estratégia de Operações, Integração Funcional e Estratégia Formal de Produção, mostram efeitos do grau de Individualismo vs. Coletivismo e Orientação de Longo-Prazo. Espera-se que os resultados do estudo ofereçam novas perspectivas no planejamento e na implementação da gestão estratégica e de operações tanto para práticos quanto para acadêmicos. Mais especificamente, a análise da influência multi-cultural na estratégia de operações pode contribuir para um melhor entendimento de como o comportamento cooperativo pode levar organizações a gerar maiores rendas através de forças e fraquezas de suas relações, particularmente em termos de cadeias de suprimentos globais.