<p>Bakgrund: Idag slåss många företag om att få en plats i vårt medvetande och de lägger därmed ut stora summor på varumärkesbyggande och varumärkesvård. Det handlar inte längre om att bara pränta in logotypen, utan även att ge sitt varumärke en "själ" och ladda det med olika värden. I och med dagens globalisering är det också ur ett kulturellt perspektiv mer intressant. Men att exportera ett varumärke till en utländsk marknad är inte samma sak som att ta med sig sin kunskap och tro att det ska fungera lika bra i det nya landet. Ett varumärke är medvetet och omedvetet laddat med värderingar, både kulturella och affärsmässiga. I Sverige har vi typiskt svenska värden som man kanske inte direkt tänker på men som faktiskt följer med oss. Dessa värden kanske inte passar in på den nya marknaden, utan vissa värden kanske tas med medan andra byts ut. Vi finner det därmed intressant att undersöka dessa kulturella värden.</p><p>Syfte: Syftet med uppsatsen är att beskriva vad för slags kulturella värden svenska företags varumärken avser kommunicera utomlands.Genomförande: Vi har gjort en kvalitativ studie. Vår empiriska studie är huvudsakligen baserad på de personliga intervjuer och den telefonintervju vi gjort. Referensramarna bygger på väletablerade teorier inom området.</p><p>Resultat: Vår studie har visat att svenska företag laddar sina varumärken med värdena kvalitet, pålitlighet, enkelhet och modern&innovativ. Vi har funnit att dessa värden finns återspeglade i den svenska kulturen både vad gäller national- respektive affärs och företagskultur.</p> / <p>Background: Today many companies are competing to get space in our minds. Companies spend a tremendous amount of money on building strong brands. It is not just about making us aware of their logo, today it’s more about giving the brand a ”soul” and to load it with different values. Due to today’s globalization there is also interesting to look at it from a cultural perspective. To export a brand name into a new market abroad is not the same as just transferring your knowledge and believe it should work in another country and culture. A brand is consciously and unconsciously loaded with values, especially cultural values. In Sweden there are values typically Swedish that might not be obvious to you but still follow us. These values might not fit the new market the company is entering, therefore some values might get left behind, while others are easily transferred to another country. We therefore find it very interesting to study these cultural values.</p><p>Purpose: The purpose with this essay is to describe which cultural values Swedish company’s brands intend to communicate abroad. </p><p>Performance: We have done a qualitative study. Our empirical study is based mainly on personal interviews. The frames of references are based on well established theories within the brand- and cultural field. </p>

Most international corporations have to adopt to the requirements of globalisation by working in international joint ventures or international projects outside their well known home markets. The successful management of projects is an essential element aiming to cope with the complex challenges caused by cultural factors and other influences on the management of projects. Especially the Middle East as a cultural region has experienced a dynamic growth during the last decades, as many of the countries rich in oil and gas have heavily invested into their local infrastructure. Besides other factors, the impact of national culture on project management may lead to negative influences like project delays and project failure, or positive influences such as an increased communication. Based on the Hofstede dimensional framework this thesis is designed to investigate which cultural factors and other factors influence the PMBoK (PMI Body of Knowledge) knowledge areas while delivering projects in the Middle East. This empirical study is using a qualitative research approach in a multiple-case study design analysing six projects. The results clearly show that some characteristics of the Middle Eastern cultural context strongly determine the applicability of the PMBoK knowledge areas. Especially the interrelation of individualism (IDV) and power distance (PDI) reveals some new perspectives for project work in this region. The two case studies illustrate a strong increase in power distance if the project manager and the team member do not originate from the same cultural background. Additionally differences in time perception and the characteristics of the dimension long term orientation (LTO) result in fundamental differences for the application of the PMBoK processes. The findings help to develop a theoretical framework highlighting specific influences for PMBoK knowledge areas. The results of this thesis may form a basis for future researchers aiming to develop improved models for project management in the Middle East or other cultural regions. Finally, the theoretical franework developed herein is designed to help project practitioners to gain a better understanding of the specific challenges while working on the Arabian peninsula.

The importance of customer experience in the banking sector is steadily increasing due to product similarity, competition and the global expansion. Additionally, in the twenty-first century, the focus has shifted from a service-based to an experience-based economy where senses, feelings, impressions, perceptions and emotional connections have become central. The global expansion in the banking sector has created a need for cross-cultural studies of customer experience, because of the increase of success when the service delivery is in tune with the cultural differences of customers. Despite the scarcity of cross-cultural studies, the few existing studies have shown significant results. The purpose of this study is hence to compare the perceived customer experience in the banking sector in Sweden and the United States. These two countries are culturally different on the masculinity versus femininity dimension explained by Hofstede in the universally acknowledged study on cross-cultural dimensions. The study has a positivistic, deductive, cross-sectional approach. A questionnaire survey is used based on the three most critical factors affecting customer experience: convenience, employees and servicescape. The findings are significant, showing how culture is affecting customer experience. Swedish respondents have a more positive perception of the total customer experience despite scoring lower on the critical factors than their American counterparts. This can be linked to the high degree of femininity in Sweden, meaning that Swedish customers are putting emphasis on balance, care for others and the quality of life, rather than being materialistic, goal-oriented and competitive. The original value of this dissertation is a better understanding of the impact of cultural differences in customer experience in banks in two culturally different countries: Sweden and the United States.

Nowadays, organizations have to deal more and more with cultural diversity concerning their workforce due to globalization. The challenge for these organizations is to manage the cross cultural workforce in an effective way. Therefore, they have to have skills and the necessary knowledge in order to conduct cross cultural management. For this reason, the purpose of this study was to investigate how a cross cultural workforce could be managed effectively. In order to get insights into what differences exist between employees of different cultures, what kind of problems can arise out of these differences and how these problems can be overcome through cross cultural management, a qualitative research approach in form of a case study was conducted. Hereby, interviews with three managers including two head of departments were conducted. These interviews have used the frame of reference as foundation including well-known theories like Hofstede, Inglehart, the eight value orientations, McGregor and some other theories. The statements of the interviews were evaluated and analyzed in order to find answers to the research questions stated in the thesis. The findings of this study show that the management team at LTU is not necessarily focusing on cross cultural differences as the impact is less negative than expected. However, conflicts that still arise do not really seem to have bad consequences at LTU. Therefore, these conflicts can be fixed relatively easy by applying the most important variables connected to encountering cross cultural challenges in the frame of reference. These are: human skills, good communication, creating unity, respect, empathy, body language as well as harnessing differences. Especially the personal attitude as well as the human skills of managers and employees play an essential role.

Submitted by Estagiário SPT BMHS (spt@fgv.br) on 2013-08-01T13:34:41Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Final version - THESIS chan yie leng.doc: 2938368 bytes, checksum: 03942470ec5037197e0ae99a1d62aa45 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Estagiário SPT BMHS (spt@fgv.br) on 2013-08-01T13:35:00Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Final version - THESIS chan yie leng.doc: 2938368 bytes, checksum: 03942470ec5037197e0ae99a1d62aa45 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Estagiário SPT BMHS (spt@fgv.br) on 2013-08-01T13:35:09Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Final version - THESIS chan yie leng.doc: 2938368 bytes, checksum: 03942470ec5037197e0ae99a1d62aa45 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2013-08-01T13:35:20Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Final version - THESIS chan yie leng.doc: 2938368 bytes, checksum: 03942470ec5037197e0ae99a1d62aa45 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009 / The influence of the national culture on consumer decision-making styles is investigated using a sample of Americans, Brazilians, Chinese, and Japanese consumers who have purchased a cell phone in the past three years. To make the research possible, a survey was used as a method of data collection. It relates Hofstede’s cultural classification typology with Sproles and Kendall’s consumer style inventory (CSI). The multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) results indicate six decision-making styles together with other consumer behavioral characteristics that can be used to distinguish and profile consumers who purchase cell phones. Empirical findings reveal that among Americans, Brazilians, and Japanese; Americans are the most quality conscious, brand conscious, innovative, and hedonistic shoppers; Brazilians are the most loyal, and Japanese, the most confused by overchoice consumers. Conceptual contributions and managerial implications are discussed.

This diploma thesis applies the theory of cultural differences in the web environment. Several dozens of selected websites from various national cultures are evaluated and analyzed. Differences in the web design and marketing communication are studied depending on the culture. The evaluation is based on cultural models of social psychologist Geert Hofstede and anthropologist Edward T. Hall. Research sites are selected from nine cultural clusters according to the Inglehart-Welzel cultural map, based on the World Values Survey data. Other site surveyed includes the world's largem producers in the industry. The authors of this study build on and developed work of Aaron Marcus and Emilie Gould in the web design of Cross-Cultural Strategies for Web Design (Armando Calabrese et al., 2012). The objective of this diploma thesis is to analyze whether cultural differences are manifested on a selected group of websites.

The Master's Thesis deals with a management of a particular multicultural team of Bershka division of Inditex company. The aim of the thesis is to evaluate the current situation from the view of the manager of the multicultural team of Bershka and to specify recommendations regarding the aspects of the specific cultural composition of the team. Theoretical part states a concept of working teams with the multicultural aspects, it deals with the cultural diversity and the cultural dimensions of G. Hofstede, E. T. Hall and F. Trompenaars. Analytical part involves the analysis of Hofstede's dimensions to define the cultural differences among the team members. To verify stated hypothesis, the qualitative methods of observation and personal interviews were used. The aim of the thesis is fulfilled by suggesting the specific recommendations for effective management of the team of Bershka.

The Diploma Thesis deals with cultural aspects of multilateral international negotiations at the United Nations. The aim of the work is to describe and compare the cultural dimension of sample of cultures at the UN: Czech, Italian and Swedish culture. Thesis is divided into four chapters. First chapter is theoretical and describes the most important basis for research on cultural dimensions. Second chapter briefly presents the entire UN organization and then focuses on its headquarters in Vienna. Emphasis is placed on the third and fourth chapter. Third chapter characterizes the national cultures from the perspective of cultural dimensions of Geert Hofstede and Fons Trompenaars. Fourth chapter is purely practical. It consists of conclusions of the in-depth interviews conducted with employees of the Permanent Missions to the United Nations. The content of interviews follows the structure of cultural dimensions of Hofstede and Trompenaars and places questions into the working environment of the Permanent Missions to the UN. These findings are at the end of the work compared with the approaches defined by the third chapter.

The thesis deals with the issue of International Management procedures in multinational corporations regarding sending their employees abroad. Its aim is to describe the process of expatriation, define the importance of culture and the role of the company in the process as well as to analyse the situation of expatriates in the Czech Republic based on a questionnaire research.

Cultural differences have always been the ground to barriers within communication. Due to globalization this is becoming an increasingly important aspect of how business communication is done.  Therefore, there is a need for organizations to have the skillset to deal with the cultural differences that a cross-cultural business environment entails.  To understand the effect of cultural differences in business communication, more specifically the Swedish and the Filipino culture at OnlineFactory.asia, a qualitative research approach was used to conduct a case study. Interviews with two employees were conducted, one of Filipino descent and the other with both Swedish and Filipino roots. The study has followed the structure as can be seen in the frame of reference according to the studies three main subjects: globalization, culture and communication and business communication.    The data gathered through the interviews showed that cultural differences have a significant impact on business communication, as can be seen through the study done at OnlineFactory.asia. The two cultures that were studied differ in cultural values which in turn had an effect on their communication. The Hofstede framework was used to analyze the differences between the two cultures and used as guidance throughout this study. Factors like language barriers, adaptability and cultural values have shown to have an impact on the way that the two employees communicate within business. OnlineFactory.asia’s educational program is a way to use cultural differences and turn them into their competitive advantage. Having an understanding of each other's cultural differences, provides the tool needed to minimize miscommunications that often occur in a cross-cultural workplace.