The purpose of this thesis is to explore what factors in the Zambian national business environment that influences the international entrepreneur, describe how Swedish entrepreneurs adapt to the uncertainties that may come with the national business environment in Zambia, and explain the opportunities and threats that come with investing in the country. In order for us to reach our purpose of the thesis, a case study of two Swedish firms has been conducted by interviews. The theoretical framework consists of the business environment, international entrepreneurship, the concept of psychic distance, the PEST analysis model, threats and opportunities, and five uncertainty management strategies. All of these theories are relevant for the study and the research questions. The empirical findings include the case businesses view on the national business environment regarding both threats and opportunities, and how to manage the uncertainties in the best way. In the analysis the theoretical framework is allied to the empirical findings. The analysis consist of an discussion about the Zambian national environment, and an analysis of the strategies that would be most suitable for an international entrepreneur to use when coping with uncertainties, threats and opportunities in Zambia. The conclusion of the thesis shows that the economic and political factors in Zambia create opportunities, while the technological and socio-cultural factors pose threats to the international entrepreneur.

The development of Taiwanese steel industry has entered into decline stage. The domestic steel consumption is small plus being lack of steel strong demand industries. The factors mentioned above make Taiwanese steel industry shortage of supply in the upstream crude steel industry, while over-supply in rolled steel market. It would be the great chance to revitalize the steel industry to shift the oversupply capacities to the market that needs this product. Globalization and regional integration are two issues and trends in world¡¦s economic and trading perspective. The purpose of Free Trade Agreement (FTA) is to liberate the trade, service and investment among the member countries. The spirit of FTA is consistency with that of WTO. Both are the vehicle of promoting trade liberation among global countries. Both Taiwan and Mainland China are member countries of WTO. However, there are still many limitations in trading between two countries. Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, ECFA, would be considered as a FTA between Taiwan and Mainland China. Compare WTO with ECFA, ECFA could provide better clauses, schedule in trade liberation and tariff reduction in goods. Furthermore, the tariff of some goods can be fully eliminated. ECFA could be perceived as an opportunity and a threat to Taiwan. It could be a great ¡§opportunity¡¨ to create substantial trading and investment opportunities through industry investing to Taiwan. However, this agreement could also result in trade diversion effect, and it would be a ¡§threat. This study is trying to explore how ECFA impact on steel industry in Taiwan through secondary data collection and analysis. Some foreseeable impacts are listed and some response measures are suggested. Any agreement has benefits and lost. ECFA is like a two-side blade. It might bring new trading opportunities or lead the trading diversion effect. Using Taiwanese competitive edge is the key to succeed. Taiwanese steel industry should take this chance to reconsider its¡¦ product value and positioning. Trying to differentiate its steel products to others, increase the value of the products and enhance the product quality. Taiwanese steel industry could create sustainability and profitability by increasing the competitively of steel industry.

Subject of this dissertation is "Strategic Analysis of an Enterprise". In theoretical part are evaluated common analytics methods. This method are applied on company GOPAS, a.s. in practical part, aim is to find strong and weak aspects, opportunities, potentials threats, which affect business of the GOPAS company.

Tidiga skeden av byggprojekt är oftast väldigt komplexa, och många av projektens förutsättningar är osäkra. Då osäkerheter kan ses som brist på information och kunskap, innebär det att tidiga skeden innefattar många osäkerheter som kan generera både positiva och negativa utfall. Därav är det viktigt att både identifiera och hantera osäkerheter för att fatta beslut och skapa rätt förutsättningar för projekten. Syftet med studien är att öka förståelsen för osäkerheter och osäkerhetshantering i förvärvsprocessen vid bostadsutvecklingsprojekt, vilket görs genom att besvara frågeställningen: Hur kan ett ramverk utformas för att skapa trygga beslutsunderlag vid affärs- och projektutveckling under förvärvsprocessen för bostadsutvecklare med avseende på osäkerheter. För att uppnå studiens syfte har en fallstudie av ett svenskt bostadsutvecklingsföretag genomförts genom observationer och intervjuer vid fallföretaget. Studien har resulterat i ökad förståelse för identifiering av osäkerheter och vilka osäkerheter som bör tas i beaktning vid beslut om förvärv. De identifierade osäkerheterna kan delas in i sex huvudområden: Tid, Ekonomi, Projekt, Organisation, Myndigheter och Marknad. Studien har även resulterat i ett ramverk för att analysera och värdera osäkerheter samt visualisera dessa i förhållande till varandra. Studien bidrar på så sätt till teorin genom att studera förvärvsprocessen i bostadsutvecklingsprojekt samt presenterar ett strukturerat arbetssätt för att klassificera och analysera osäkerhet. Ramverket som denna studie resulterat i är främst av relevans för beslutsfattare i förvärvsprocessen och kan användas som underlag vid beslut om förvärv av nya projekt. / Early stages of construction projects are usually very complex, and many project conditions are uncertain. Uncertainties can be seen as lack of information and knowledge, which implies that many uncertainties are involved in early stages.  These can result in both positive and negative outcomes. Hence it is important to identify and manage uncertainties in order to make decisions and create proper project conditions. The purpose of this study is to increase the understanding of uncertainties and uncertainty management in the acquisition process in real estate development, by answering the research question: How can a framework be designed to create a secure basis for decisions by business- and project development during the acquisition process for real estate development in terms of uncertainties? To manage this a case study of a Swedish real estate developer has been conducted, where observations and interviews were conducted at the case company. The result from this study is increased understanding about uncertainty identification but also knowledge about which uncertainties to take in to consideration when making decisions on acquisitions. The identified uncertainties were divided into six major areas: Time, Economy, Project, Organization, Government and Market. This study has also resulted in a framework for analyzing and evaluating uncertainties, which also visualize the uncertainties in relation to each other. The result from this study contributes to theory by studying the acquisition process in real estate development projects and presents a structured approach to classifying and analyzing uncertainties. The framework is mainly relevant for decision-makers within the acquisition process and can be used as the basis for decisions on acquisition of new projects.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:25:54Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Gustavo Geovany Araujo do Carmo.pdf: 721269 bytes, checksum: dd46cdd11d812f879c389d7d1deceb1e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-08-13 / This dissertation deals with the relationship between resources and capabilities and the generation of competitive advantage in cases of mergers and acquisitions (M&A). The overall objective is to characterize the features and capabilities and management of these related to the generation of competitive advantage, relevant in mergers and/or acquisitions of various businesses. This study is exploratory, based on a research question and whose method was qualitative, considering its aspects and procedures of scientific rigor. The study sample consisted of nine companies from different business sectors (food, education, health, technology, among others) and had carried out transactions of mergers or acquisitions in recent years. The theoretical study was based on the RBV approach, which enabled the link between resources and capabilities of the company and the operations of M&A. Resources, especially tangible prevail in companies that employ much of their investments in physical assets. For these companies, classified as tangible-intensive, physical assets deemed strategic can be considered rare and/or difficult to develop. On the other hand, companies classified as intangible-intensive, strategic focus is on capacity, in some cases represented by the knowledge, skills or specific skills - needed to provide products or services properly and extend the service to its customers. The management of these strategic resources and capabilities involved the pursuit of strategic opportunities in mergers and acquisitions, but faced threats from the competition. To do so, companies made detailed analyzes of the internal and external environments through monitoring. The competitive advantages sought by these companies aimed to raise the perceived value by customers and maximize returns for shareholders and benefits. The adoption of the strategy of M&A possibilities for broadening the portfolio of products and services offered to customers. Economies of scale and synergies fostered the growth and expansion. Among the relevant findings, we verified the existence of mechanisms for integration of resources and capabilities - primarily to try and get best practices and prevent the escape of strategic talent. / Esta dissertação trata da conexão entre os recursos e capacidades e a geração de vantagem competitiva em situações de fusões e aquisições (F&A). O objetivo geral é caracterizar os recursos e capacidades e a gestão destes voltados à geração da vantagem competitiva, relevantes em operações de fusões e/ou aquisições de negócios diversos. Trata-se de um estudo do tipo exploratório, fundamentado em uma questão de pesquisa e cujo método adotado foi o qualitativo, considerando seus aspectos e procedimentos do rigor científico. A amostra da pesquisa foi constituída por nove empresas de diferentes ramos de negócios (alimentício, educação, saúde, tecnologias, dentre outros) e que tinham realizado operações de fusões ou aquisições nos últimos anos. O referencial teórico do estudo foi fundamentado na abordagem da RBV, que possibilitou a ligação entre os recursos e capacidades da empresa e as operações de F&A. Os recursos, principalmente os tangíveis, prevalecem nas empresas que empregam grande parte de seus investimentos em ativos físicos. Para essas empresas, classificadas como tangível-intensivas, os ativos físicos considerados estratégicos podem ser considerados raros e/ou difíceis de desenvolver. Por outro lado, nas empresas classificadas como intangível-intensivas, o foco estratégico está nas capacidades, representadas em alguns casos por conhecimento, habilidades ou competências específicas - necessários para disponibilizar os produtos ou serviços adequadamente e ampliar o atendimento aos seus clientes. A gestão desses recursos e capacidades estratégicos envolveu a busca de oportunidades em fusões e aquisições, mas enfrentou ameaças com relação à concorrência. Para tanto, as empresas realizaram análises minuciosas nos ambientes interno e externo por meio de monitoramento. As vantagens competitivas buscadas por essas empresas visaram elevar a percepção de valor por parte dos clientes e maximizar os retornos e vantagens para os acionistas. A adoção da estratégia de F&A possibilitou a ampliação do portfólio de produtos e serviços ofertados aos clientes. As economias de escala e sinergias obtidas propiciaram o crescimento e a expansão das empresas. Dentre as descobertas relevantes, verificou-se a existência de mecanismos de integração dos recursos e capacidades principalmente para adotar as melhores práticas e evitar a evasão de talentos estratégicos.