<p>Based on Hofstede's findings, this study breaks down Kogut and Singh's index of cultural distance, examining implications for acquisition performance of each individual dimension. Hypotheses are formulated, and based on deal data covering 488 acquisitions with American companies as acquirers, tested through linear regression. We find support for a positive relationship between cultural distance of power distance and performance, and an inverse relationship between cultural distance of masculinity and performance. Significant results are not obtained for the remaining dimensions.</p>

Idag kämpar företag för att överleva på den hårt konkurrerande marknaden och den ökade globaliseringen har gjort att många företag väljer att söka lyckan i ett annat land. Flera företag väljer idag att lägga hela eller delar av sin verksamhet i andra länder. I och med en etablering i ett främmande land kommer företaget att möta en helt ny och främmande kultur och nya affärsbeteenden. Kulturskillnader kan vara ett centralt problem som kan ställa till med svårigheter för företaget och de anställda. Syftet med denna undersökning var att få en ökad förståelse för hur svenska medarbetare i en svensk organisation i Thailand upplever eventuella kulturskillnader mellan Sverige och Thailand. Avsikten var även att se hur de svenska medarbetarna valde att hantera dessa kulturella skillnader samt vilka konsekvenser kulturella skillnader kunde få för organisationen. En kvalitativ metod och en semistrukturerad intervjuform har använts vid genomförandet av undersökningen. Resultatet visade att de svenska medarbetarna upplevde att det fanns kulturella skillnader mellan Thailand och Sverige och de mest framträdande var: hövlighet, gemenskap, tappa ansiktet och hierarki. De svenska medarbetarna hanterade kulturella skillnader genom att försöka anpassa sig samt skaffa sig kunskap om den thailändska kulturen. De konsekvenser som kulturella skillnader kunde få för organisationen var gruppering mellan den thailändska och svenska personalen samt missförstånd på grund av kommunikationsproblem. Resultatet visade även att det fanns flera situationer inom den kulturella skillnaden tappa ansiktet som kunde skapa frustration hos respondenterna vilket i sin tur kunde leda till konflikter på arbetsplatsen. / Program: Organisations- och personalutvecklare i samhället

The thesis deals with cultural standards of Sweden in the context of european civilization and swedish history. It points out important topics and problems of contemporary swedish society. Well-known research of Geert Hofstede is confronted with personal experience of Swedes and foreign visitors. Theoretical lead-in to understanding culture and communication is an integral part of the thesis.

The term “global business” implies not only unprecedented integration of countries through trade, but also an amalgamation of cultural, social, and individual values which influences how corporate decisions should be made to fulfill expectations of shareholders and stakeholders. The objective of this research is to investigate how business ethics education impacts business students in consideration of differences in cultural and individual values. In pursuit of this goal, the author recruited two groups of senior Taiwanese business students and one group of senior business students from the U.S.A. and conducted a survey-based experiment to measure the influence of culture and business ethics training on the students’ business action decisions. Motivations for this research are twofold. First, much past research adopting solely Hofstede’s classic cultural model to compare international reception of business ethics has generalized a contradictory argument based on false cultural understanding; second, research associating a nation’s specific cultural characters with difficulty in pursuing business ethics has overlooked individuality in the face of questionable business conduct. The result at the cultural level comparison indicates that, except for behavior associated with bribery, business ethics education indeed creates universal agreement across different business ethical issues between the Taiwanese and American students. The consistency of their decisions and rationales towards questionable business actions suggests that future research should not correlate superficial cultural characters with dissatisfying business ethics standards in certain countries. Rather, scholars need to explore social or individual incentives to encourage business practitioners to think and act ethically. On the other hand, the comparison of two groups of Taiwan students yielded a dissatisfying but inspiring result: the experience of receiving business education did not cause one group’s decisions to be more ethical than the other. The research’s expectation of business ethics education was not attained; however, this disappointment may encourage greater feedback from experienced business professionals for future efforts in business ethics teaching and research. A pedagogical approach which integrates business professionals may encourage more practical and applicable course design, as well as, facilitate genuine ethical business in an environment, such as Taiwan, where individuals are well-acquainted with the concept and practice of business ethics but encounter daily obstacles to their ability to opt for ethical actions.

<p>Globaliseringen har lett till att länders ekonomi, politik och kultur ständigt integreras och förändras i ett komplext nätverk. Den teknologiska utvecklingen som värderingar medfört har underlättat för snabb och effektiv kommunikation. Detta fenomen sätter krav på företag att vara innovativa och flexibla inför förändringar. Strävan efter att överleva på den globala marknaden och att möta kunders efterfrågningar har lett till en internationalisering av företag.</p><p>Detta kräver ett samarbete mellan organisationer som är lokaliserade i olika länder. I ett samarbete krävs effektiv kommunikation med ett flöde av förstålig och meningsfull information mellan involverade parter. I en interaktion mellan individer med olika kulturella bakgrunder uppstår gärna störningar. Anledningen till detta på grund av att parterna inte delar samma uppfattning av symboler och tolkar därmed meddelandet annorlunda.  </p><p>Syftet med uppsatsen är att närmre undersöka den interkulturella kommunikationsprocessen, med fokus på hur olika kulturmönster bildar störningar i kommunikationen. Uppsatsen utgår ifrån en kvalitativ metod med ett deduktivt angreppssätt. Den empiriska delen innefattar intervjuer med anställda på ledningsnivå i två olika internationella företag som ingår i varsin global koncern med organisationer placerade i olika länder. Företagen vi har valt att använda som underlag för vår empiriska del är Haldex Traction och Assa Abloy Entrance System. I analysen kopplar vi samman den teoretiska referensramen med insamlad empiri och avslutar kapitlet med en egenskapad modell som resultat, samt egna reflektioner. Det avslutade kapitlet besvarar uppsatsen syfte och frågeställning i problemdiskussionen.</p>

<p>This thesis examines how cultural diversity within an organization might influence managers‟ information-handling process. The models used are; Geert Hofstede‟s five dimensions of national culture, to represent the cultural diversity; and Henry Mintzberg‟s definition of the manager‟s informational roles, to represent the managers‟ information-handling.To show this empirically, a case study of a half-Swedish, half-Vietnamese-owned retail company, UMA Ltd Co, was conducted. This company is situated in Vietnam and employs a range of different nationalities. Interviews were conducted with seven of UMA‟s managers to gain an understanding of their opinions concerning their informational roles, as well as to identify issues and benefits within the company caused by the cultural diversity.The results of the interviews revealed some relevant cultural issues and benefits of working in a culturally diverse company. It was evident through the analysis, in which the cultural dimensions were applied onto the informational roles, that there are a number of problems at UMA in need of repair. For instance, differences in employees‟ perception of the power distance dimension seem to affect how information is spread and gained. This is also caused by the unclear organizational structure of the company, where employees, instead of realizing who they are obliged to answer to, rather follow their culturally given hierarchical system. Further issues caused by the cultural diversity at UMA are presented in the conclusion of this thesis.</p>

No description available.

During 2001 experienced Turkey a deep financial crisis with high inflations, large public dept and a growing currency account deficits that caused a loss of confidence among investors. However, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Turkish government together established a stand-by-arrangement which gave remarkable results. The recover of Turkey’s economy has been a success story with an average growth of 10 percent that has attracted Foreign Direct Investments facilitated by the investors’ recognition of the country’s valuable opportunities. This has also attracted Swedish companies and today it is over 400 Swedish companies represented in Turkey. Hofstede (1997) study shows that there are significant cultural differences between Swedes and Turks which will imply that the expanding Swedish companies will face problems that hinder their effectiveness due to these differences. The aim of this study is therefore to identify the common cultural differences in order to facilitate the cultural interaction in the workplace. This thesis applies Hofstede (1997) study of nationalities as a foundation to identify the cultural differences. The authors have also used qualitative methods and ethnographic science to be able to interpreted and analyse the findings. The information was gathered from the managers of Volvo Cars, Tetra Pak and IKEA and was also complemented by a questionnaire to the Swedish and Turkish employees. The findings shown important cultural differences that is essential to consider in man-agement in order to increase the effectiveness in the workplace. The analysis show that Turks want to be provided clear directives rather than guidelines, while Swedes want a consultative manager, take more responsibility and solve their task independently. Turks are also very emotional integrated with their tasks and thereby take criticism more per-sonally. Swedes, on the other hand, handle the criticism more professionally due to their emotional distance to their work. The findings also shown that there are differences in risk taking where Swedes are willing to take risk at a greater extent than the Turks. The nationalities moreover belong to different time cultures which require the managers to be tolerant to delays. However, there are also similarities as both Turks and Swedes value team-work as a prior motivator. The conclusion state that it exist common cultural differences but that are not considered as troublesome in the studied companies due to the expatriates cultural experience and intercultural skills. ii

This thesis examines how cultural diversity within an organization might influence managers‟ information-handling process. The models used are; Geert Hofstede‟s five dimensions of national culture, to represent the cultural diversity; and Henry Mintzberg‟s definition of the manager‟s informational roles, to represent the managers‟ information-handling.To show this empirically, a case study of a half-Swedish, half-Vietnamese-owned retail company, UMA Ltd Co, was conducted. This company is situated in Vietnam and employs a range of different nationalities. Interviews were conducted with seven of UMA‟s managers to gain an understanding of their opinions concerning their informational roles, as well as to identify issues and benefits within the company caused by the cultural diversity.The results of the interviews revealed some relevant cultural issues and benefits of working in a culturally diverse company. It was evident through the analysis, in which the cultural dimensions were applied onto the informational roles, that there are a number of problems at UMA in need of repair. For instance, differences in employees‟ perception of the power distance dimension seem to affect how information is spread and gained. This is also caused by the unclear organizational structure of the company, where employees, instead of realizing who they are obliged to answer to, rather follow their culturally given hierarchical system. Further issues caused by the cultural diversity at UMA are presented in the conclusion of this thesis.

No description available.