Verhandeling voorgele ter nakoming van die vereistes vir die graad MAGISTER EDUCATIONIS in die DEPARTEMENT OPVOEDKUNDIGE SIElKUNDE van die FAKULTEIT OPVOEDKUNDE aan die UNIVERSITEIT van ZOELOELAND. = Dissertation submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF EDUCATION in the Department of Educational Psychology of the Faculty of Education at the University of Zululand, 1995. / Die doel van hierdie studie was om vas te stel of die veranderende samelewing die psigiese Iewe van die kind-in-opvoeding — met spesifieke verwysing na die adolessent — beinvloed. Uit die literatuurstudie het dit geblyk dat die hedendaagse samelewing deurstroom word met skadelike apvaedingsbelemmerende faktore, soos byvoorbeeld gesinsverbrokketing, kontakinflasie, massafikasie, bewussynsmanipulasie, vertegnisering, verpolitisering en verseksualisering — om maar net enkeles te noem. Snefle veranderinge vind ook plaas op die terreine van die demografie, ekonomie, poiitiek, ekologie, beroepsbeoefening, rekreasie en sosiaal-maatskapiike verhoudinge. Die adoiessent befeef hierdie veranderende leefwerefd deur homself tot die totale werktikheid te orienteer. Deur sy belewing stig hy ‘n netwerk van verhoudinge met homself,. betekenisvoile ander in sy Iewe, dinge/idees en God. Dit is die taak van die opvoeder om aan die nog-nie-volwasseopvoedeltng, te midde van die veranderende samelewing wat opvoedingsbelemmerend op beide inwerk, 'n veilige ruimte as !eefwere!d te skep waarvandaan hy relasies kan stig. Ten etnde die aard van die adoiessent se belewing van sy veranderende leefwereid te bepaal, is *n empiriese andersoek deur middel van 'n selfgestruktureerde vraelys onderneem. Uit die ondersoek het dit geblyk dat die veranderende samelewing die adolessent wel ten opsigte van bykans al sy verhoudinge beTnvloed. Op grand van hierdie bevindinge is sekere aanbevelings rakende die kerngesin, die ouer- en skoolgemeenskap en die kerk gemaak. Met hierdie navorsing is daar gepoog om meer te wete te kom aangaande die adolessent se relasies in "n veranderende samelewing. Die hoop word uitgespreek dat dit tot beter verhoudinge tussen opvoedelinge en opvoeders sal lei. = Eng: The aim of this study was to determine whether the changing society has an influence on the psychic life of the child in education - with specific reference to the adolescent. From the literature study it became clear that the southern African society of the twenty-first century will probably be characterized and controlled by technological advancements to such an extent that it will justifiably be labelled as technocratic. Changes can be expected. in fields of demography, economy, ecology, value orientations, labour. recreation and societal relationships and politics. In many ways society has also become sexualized. The adolescent experiences this changing life-world through a network of relations - with himself, his parents, his teachers, his peer-group, with ideas/things and with God. The young person of today and tomorrow will have to be educated in such a way that he can participate in the social life within such a technocratic society in a morally self-determining, constructive and decent way. After the literature study an empirical investigation was done by means of a self structured questionnaire. During the discussion of the research design. the questionnaire, pilot study and statistical methods were discussed in detail. This questionnaire was administered to the standard 9 pupils of three high schools. (viii) Subsequently, the results of the investigation were analyzed. It was found that the changing society has a definite influence on almost all of the adolescent's relations. In the light of the findings certain recommendations were made regarding the family, school and church. With this research an effort was made to establish certain recommendations in order to improve the relation between educands and educators.

Globalization and global markets are dominating in the today’s business arena. Companies are more often than not required to internationalize and operate in global markets instead of just competing within national borders. Due to the high level of globalization, psychic distance between nations and countries is argued to have decreased significantly. However, underlying national and business culture differences still very much exist and companies must be aware of and take the differences into account in their international operations. For decades cross-cultural science has been guided by Hofstede’s cultural dimensions model and it is widely used to research and describe national cultures and differences between different cultures. Psychic distance concept is one of the most applied constructs of multinational enterprises’ internationalization and it has deservedly attracted a lot of attention within the literature and research of international business. Psychic distance is recurrently utilized when presenting and evaluating differences between a company’s home and foreign market. The general underlying notion of psychic distance is that companies operating in psychically close countries will succeed in their international operations. However, there is an increasing amount of research and literature providing contradictory evidence, referred to as psychic distance paradox. According to the concept of psychic distance paradox, perceived similarities within countries may result in cultural overconfidence and inadequate preparation prior entering psychically close markets resulting in poor organizational performance. The aim of the dissertation is to contribute in the research of the psychic distance concept regarding the existence of the psychic distance paradox and how it appears in the international business. The main focus is on management’s perceptions of psychic distance and how they affect a company’s organizational performance in psychically close foreign market. From the research conducted it can be concluded that the management’s perceptions of psychic distance can essentially affect the company’s organizational performance in a foreign market. In case the management’s perceptions of psychic distance are not in accordance with reality and the differences are overlooked, the company can face difficulties and poor organizational performance even in a psychically close market. The findings of the research provide additional proof to the existence of the psychic distance paradox concept.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Bowling Green State University, 2009. / Document formatted into pages; contains ix, 87 p. Includes bibliographical references.

Internationalization is important for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) since it is a way to survive and to grow. Emerging markets have enormous latent possibilities for SMEs but behind the possibilities there are potential risks linked to political and institutional factors, uncertain economic and market conditions, and unknown business environments. National culture is one of the factors that create distance between home and host countries. In this paper, the author intends to examine the importance of cultural distance in the internationalization process and the relationship between the international experiences and cultural distance. The author focuses on the internationalization process of Swedish SMEs in Russia. Since culture is a complex phenomenon, the author scrutinizes the nature of cultural distance by employing a qualitative method by in-depth interviewing of managers from two Swedish SMEs. The theoretical framework is important for the analysis and consists of the Uppsala internationalization model and Hofstede’s cultural dimensions. Through the analysis of empirical data and previous research, the author finds that there are significant cultural differences between Russia and Sweden but the role of cultural distance in the internationalization process of the Swedish firms in Russia should not be exaggerated. The author’s conclusions are that cultural distance as a part of psychic distance has influence on the choice of entry mode though its impact is implicit and comes along with other factors. Another finding is that the international experiences of the firms have a great influence on the internationalization process - in the way that cultural distance becomes less important.

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Texas at Arlington, 2008.

Thesis (M.A.)--West Virginia University, 2003. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains vi, 64 p. : ill. Vita. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 37-41).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--York University, 2001. Graduate Programme in Social & Political Thought. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 383-410). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/yorku/fullcit?pNQ67930.

published_or_final_version / Comparative Literature / Master / Master of Philosophy

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2007. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 207-222). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

Thesis (M.S.)--West Virginia University, 2009. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains v, 72 p. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 43-48).