As the cruise industry continues to grow at a rapid pace, additional qualifications for its management personnel are becoming increasingly important. Many new ships are built each year, leaving a void in experienced personnel. Additionally, some leave the ships in order to improve professional qualifications on shore. Whereas many of the companies are training personnel onboard using on-the-job training, the concepts addressed in college-level management programs remain lacking. The goal was to implement and evaluate delivery of formal coursework to English-speaking, multicultural cruise ship personnel onboard by using emerging technologies that are available today. College-level management courses using Web 2.0 technologies were designed, delivered and evaluated. Two courses were offered each was split into two groups using different technologies. Group 1 used non-emerging technologies via a web page with additional material to support the textbook. This group also used discussion forums, online quizzes and tests and online grade book. Group 2 used the same features as the first and Web 2.0 technologies including Wikis, blogs, vodcasts, YouTube.com video clips, and synchronous Instant Messaging. Both groups had intense, positive distant interactions with faculty and had comparable outcomes. The least effective technology was the wiki and the most, the Discussion Forum. The finding was that the cruise industry may well have developed a distinct culture is an important one that may well lead to a better understanding of acculturation. Three weeks proved an ideal length of time for students to complete the 1.5-credit courses. Dividing 4.5-credit courses into 1.5-modules proved successful. Out of the original 249 applicants, 162 students participated from 36 different countries located on 64 different ships around the world.

This study presents a quantitative study that aims to examine culture as an explanation for the global diffusion of truth commissions. The study is based on the diffusion theory's assumption that cultural equality between countries has a greater significance for the dissemination of truth commissions than geographical proximity. The study will, through a quantitative multivariate analysis, examine correlations between Hofstede's cultural dimensions as the study's theoretical framework and countries that establish truth commissions. The results shows that cultural similarity as an explanation for the spread of truth commissions can be considered better than previous theoretical assumptions. In addition, the results of this study shows that two of Hofstede's cultural dimensions correlate with the establishment of truth commissions. These are long- vs. short-term orientation and indulgence vs restraint. Analysis of the results shows that countries that establish truth commissions have a shorter time orientation and a high degree of indulgence. Additionally, the thesis adds another dimension of the theory and a more in depth understanding of which cultural factors stand as responsible for the diffusion of truth commissions globally.

En los últimos años, el interés de China en el sector del fútbol se ha evidenciado a través de los importantes desembolsos realizados tanto para fichar a futbolistas extranjeros de élite que eleven el nivel de su competición doméstica, como para adquirir participaciones en clubes de fútbol europeos. Actualmente, su estrategia para el desarrollo a largo plazo del fútbol se articula en torno a un plan nacional impulsado por el gobierno chino y en el que se ha hecho partícipes a diferentes agentes económicos y sociales chinos. Para implementarlo, una de las iniciativas estratégicas se centra en la captación de entrenadores extranjeros que transfieran capacidades para el desarrollo del fútbol tanto a nivel formativo como profesional. El objetivo de esta tesis doctoral es justificar los motivos por los que la competitividad del fútbol en China no alcanza todavía los niveles de otros países que son un referente a nivel mundial. Para ello, se examinan los determinantes estructurales de dicha competitividad utilizando el modelo del Diamante de Porter, así como la influencia que ejercen los factores culturales usando el Modelo de Hofstede que permite diferenciar la influencia de la cultura entre naciones. Se ha realizado una investigación del tipo híbrida o mixta compuesta por una primera fase cualitativa y una segunda cuantitativa partiendo de la información extraída de la primera. Los resultados sugieren la existencia de varios factores que pueden explicar la falta de competitividad china en el fútbol: el gran respeto a la familia que propicia que los jóvenes estén más orientados al éxito académico, el menor número de futbolistas de nivel elevado, el aprendizaje vía repetición y automatismos, la propia naturaleza del deporte donde tener un buen know-how no garantiza el éxito deportivo, y la dificultad para organizar competiciones nacionales debido a la gran extensión geográfica. Por último, se ha realizado un análisis DAFO que sintetiza las principales características del fútbol chino.

Den allt vanligare hållbarhetsredovisningen har visat sig vara en essentiell del för att intressenter och investerare ska ha förtroende till företag och kunna fatta rationella beslut. En påverkande faktor för hur företag kommunicerar sitt hållbarhetsarbete är kulturella skiljaktigheter mellan företag i olika länder. Studien undersöker kulturella skillnaders påverkan på företags hållbarhetsrapporter i Sverige och Spanien utifrån kulturteorin Hofstede-modellen. Detta med hjälp av fyra av dess kulturdimensioner som beskriver kulturella värderingar och hur de förhåller sig mellan länderna. Som grund till undersökningen användes hållbarhetsrapporter från 30 spanska och 30 svenska företag vilka granskades med en kvantitativ innehållsanalys. Resultatet visar att det för kulturdimensionerna osäkerhetsundvikande och tillfredsställelse finns signifikanta skillnader mellan länderna. Övriga dimensioner, maktdistans och maskulinitet, visade inte på någon signifikant skillnad länderna emellan. Resultatet visade även att spanska företag nämner CSR-begrepp i högre utsträckning än svenska men det går inte att fastställa om kulturen har en inverkan på denna skillnad.

The Diploma thesis deals with the Burmese immigrants who were granted asylum and a new home within the resettlement program in the Czech Republic. It is focused on the process of adaptation to Czech culture and the factors affecting this process. In the theoretical part, terms related to culture, adaptation and migration are defined. The institutions operating in the Czech Republic providing assistance and other services to immigrants are also discussed in the text. In the practical part the problem of adapting Burmese refugees to Czech culture is discussed on the basis of their own experience using the method of semi-structured interview as a part of a qualitative research.

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Kulturella skillnader mellan länder framhålls som en av de viktigaste aspekterna att ta hänsyn till när det gäller att bedriva verksamhet internationellt. Dess relevans medför ofta att det finns ett behov av att anpassa verksamheten efter de kulturella skillnader som råder i värdlandet snarare än att standardisera den i enlighet med ursprungslandet. Syftet med denna uppsats är att uppnå en utökad förståelse över hur ett amerikanskt multinationellt företag har behövt anpassa sin verksamhet till kulturen i värdlandet Sverige, samt hur organisationskulturen kan ha influerats av ländernas nationella kultur. Hofstedes nationskulturella dimensioner och Hofstedes organisationskulturella dimensioner har använts som teori för att identifiera potentiella skillnader mellan länderna. Undersökningen har genomförts genom fyra intervjuer med representanter från företagets enheter i både USA och i Sverige. Resultatet antyder att det undersökta amerikanska företaget verkar ha lyckats relativt väl med att etablera en gemensam organisationskultur med värdlandet Sverige.

Detta är en studie om affärskulturen i Dubai, ett emirat tillhörande Förenade arabemiraten. Undersökningen har genomförts via intervjuer med det multinationella företaget Gulf Agency Company vilket givit en större kunskap om hur företagets etablering i Dubai gått till och hur de idag bedriver sin verksamhet på marknaden. I denna studie har vi undersökt vilka hinder respektive möjligheter som företaget möter och hur detta skiljer sig från den svenska affärskulturen. Studien har genomförts genom två semistrukturerade intervjuer med två av företagets styrelsemedlemmar, som även är aktiva inom den operationella verksamheten. Undersökningen har också gått på djupet med vilka problem samt möjligheter som kan uppstå då företag väljer att etablera sig på marknaden i Dubai. För att få en större inblick av hur marknaden i Dubai fungerar har ytterligare en intervju gjorts med det halvstatliga svenska företaget Business Sweden som arbetar just med sådana frågor. Resultaten i vår studie tyder på att det finns tydliga fördelar med att vara etablerade i Dubai som multinationellt företag, och att det finns ett fåtal nackdelar. Därmed kan det finnas ett stort värde för företag att etablera sig där.

This study seeks to determine through survey research what characteristics film production crews possess that makes them so successful as an organization. The factors of age, gender, years of professional experience and education level were tested for their significance on how the respondents view their culture. Hofstede's six dimensions of organizational culture survey questions were rewritten to be applicable to the freelance film crew sample. The presentation of findings focuses on the resultant organizational profile of a film production crew, the workplace values of this group and the influence that the education level of the participants had on responses. The data presented here are valuable for organizational culture scholars, management scholars and those interested in applying the successful techniques of the film production crew to other business organizations.

Around the world Quality Management is commonly regarded by industrialists and academics as a management concept that encompasses the potential in any organisation of developing into a company-wide philosophy with a profound focus on stakeholder values and improvement processes. However, there are mounting evidence that Quality Management has developed into an important strategic issue also on a national level, and that some leading industrial nations have enjoyed significant gains in the post War era by means of nation-wide progresses in Quality Management. In this thesis organisation is therefore substituted with nation state as the unit of analysis, with the ultimate objective to gain insight into how quality management movements in the industrialised world develop and prosper.  Based on empirical data from the Cross-cultural Quality Management Research Project, a bird' s􀀧eye view of Quality Management is taken in twelve leading industrialised nations. Comprehensive descriptions of Quality in Australia, Brazil, Germany, Japan and Sweden are given in order to identify what national driving factors that currently have an influence on national quality management movements, whereas China, Great Britain, Italy, Norway, Saudi Arabia, South Korea and the United States are assessed on a more overriding level with an objective to determine the factors' scope and characteristics.  The existence and influence of national driving factors in Quality Management was firstly discovered in the mid 1980s by one of the field's pioneers, Dr. Joseph M. Juran, and a core task in this thesis is to re-examine the identified factors current applicability. The outcome is a proposed set of national driving factors, embracing economy, national quality societies, people, certification bodies, industrial structure, organisation and its quality function, and government. Although, these national driving factors are found to be common to all countries, they are genuinely national in the sense that the national context by and large determines the factors' character and influence. To gain insight into how national quality management movements in the industrialised world develop and prosper, it is therefore recommended that focus be direct towards the national context with its national driving factors. The factors are powerful explanatory variables that so far have largely remained an untapped fountain of knowledge within the field of Quality Management.