Religion consists of humanity's beliefs, cultural systems, and worldviews of existence (Geertz, 1973). Its function is not merely a system of symbols that people act according to, but also the establishment of powerful, pervasive motivations in the society. This study intends to analyze the connection of religion and culture by using one of Hofstede's cultural dimensions, power distance (the extent of how power is accepted and expected to be distributed in the society). In this analysis, the researcher investigated the PDI (Power Distance Index) within the Utah Mormon culture. Researcher also compared the PDI scoring of Utah Mormon culture to the general US culture, as well as the PDI in Catholicism and Protestantism culture. The results showed that the unique Mormon cultural region in Utah has the lowest PDI in comparison to the US national culture and that of general Protestant and Catholic communities. This outcome is contrary to the general characterization of power in Utah Mormon culture. The result of this study raised more questions than answers. Although several factors and characteristics that contribute to the low PDI in Utah Mormon society, as well as its implications have been analyzed, the researcher found that this contradiction of the PDI scoring is related to Hofstede's original work. This study is challenging Hofstede's way in treating culture and its components as homogenous. Thus, each fragment of culture needs to be investigated as a separate entity. The study of power distance in Utah Mormon culture indicates how a society can understand its own characteristics and how it can communicate more effectively with other societies with different backgrounds or different PDI based on these characteristics. This study can educate people concerning how Mormons interact and perhaps might even, to a certain extent, at least, explain the conflicts in the society itself. Additionally, the results of this research can be a new contribution to the literature for this field and can further the research in verifying the characteristics of a given society.

Background and problem: There are strong incentives for Swedish retail companies to establish their business in Japan. With its 128 million inhabitants the country accounts for 40 percent of the total world consumption of luxury goods and is the world’s largest importer of foreign fashion. Moreover, Japan is the second largest retail market in the world. However, as a company in a foreign market there are many obstacles to overcome. A Swedish retail company aiming to enter the Japanese market does not have the same insight and knowledge into the formal and informal institutions in the country as a domestic company might have. Furthermore, Japan is experiencing complaints from both business organisations and foreign politicians regarding the trade practices in the country arguing that the Japanese market is not receptive enough to Western products. A company that moreover aims to enter markets where both the cultural and actual distance is far away from the business’ home country shall preferably realize the complexity of such a decision and be as prepared as possible. Purpose: The purpose of the study is that “through a literary study identify and provide a deeper understanding of the major entry barriers a Swedish retail company may encounter when entering the Japanese market”. The following research questions were developed in order to reach the purpose: “What are the main industry and institution-based barriers a Swedish retail company may encounter when establishing its business in Japan?” and “What are the main cultural barriers a Swedish retail company may encounter when establishing its business in Japan?”Methodology: When conducting the study, a descriptive research approach has been used. The study is of a qualitative nature and the design of the study is a descriptive literary study. Performing a literary study involves the collection of data from already published scientific articles, journals and dissertations. The data used for this study consist of eight scientific articles and journals and one dissertation. Conclusions: The analysis was based on the theories, which explains a company’s decisions of where, when and how to enter a foreign market as well as theories that explains a nation’s cultural impact on an organisation. Based on the findings the results were divided into two sections. The study reached the conclusion that among the industry and institution-based barriers the high level of rivalry among firms, the high level of bargaining power of suppliers, the high standards regarding quality and service, regulatory risks, trade barriers and institutional norms were the most important barriers to market entry for foreign companies in Japan. The most important cultural barriers to market entry in Japan were the high level of collectivism, power distance, uncertainty avoidance and masculinity in the country. / Program: Master in Fashion Management with specialisation in Fashion Marketing and Retailing

The culture demonstrates itself in the shared values, attitudes, beliefs, norms and behaviours of people and it is distinguished from each other by differences in those shared meanings of people interacting. As culture is varied across countries, leadership styles are also varied across countries and are not exercised in the same way across different cultures. They are imported in accordance with the cultural environment in which they are perceived. Therefore, understanding the culture is significant in order to explain preferences of leaders concerning leadership styles. The main purpose of the present dissertation is to provide an overview of the relationship between Turkish culture and the way in which leadership is exercised by Turkish female leaders. The present study is completed in three steps in order to demonstrate that the existing relationship between the Turkish culture and leadership styles of female leaders in Turkey. In the first step, the study examined what culture is, what dimensions of the national culture are, what leadership is and how leadership styles are culturally-linked. In the second step, the paper investigated how female leaders perceive and exercise different leadership styles across different cultures. In the third step, the study researched what cornerstones of Turkish culture and how anticipated leadership styles of Turkish female leaders are shaped by Turkish culture.     The study followed a qualitative research approach based on the grounded theory. Ten female leaders coming from different backgrounds were interviewed in order to draw a holistic picture of the relationship between Turkish cultural values and leadership styles of Turkish female leaders. The findings of the study indicate that the Turkish culture has an influence on leadership styles of Turkish female leaders. According to the results, while Islamic values have no significant impact on leadership behaviours of female leaders, such cultural attributes as collectivism, high power distance, uncertainty avoidance and paternalism have a huge impact on leadership styles of Turkish female leaders.       The research examined only leadership styles of Turkish female leaders. Therefore, this study recommends a future research which will investigate leadership styles of Turkish males in order to understand whether gender has also an effect on leadership styles of Turkish leaders.

Uppsatsens syfte är att undersöka hur de ansvariga för jämställdhetsarbetet på Folksam arbetar med jämställdhet. Syftet är även att undersöka vilka normer och kulturer som kan påverka deras jämställdhetsarbete. Detta undersöks genom fyra stycken semistrukturerade intervjuer med två stycken som arbetar internt, med att få just Folksam mer jämställt, och två stycken på Folksam som arbetar externt, med att få andra företag både i Sverige och utomlands att bli mer jämställda. Slutsatsen är att respondenterna på Folksam blir påverkade av normer från till exempel politiken, för att politiken kräver att de ska vara jämställda, men också för att deras kunder vill det. Det är även en lönsamhetsfråga samt en mänsklig rättighet och därför vill de ändra den rådande normen. Detta försöker de göra internt bland annat genom en kompetensbaserad rekrytering, en mångfaldsplan och genom att lita på att alla försöker arbeta med det inom sitt eget företag. Samt genom att försöka påverka andra företag med extern bolagsstyrning. Detta kan också vara svårt att göra enligt genus- och den institutionella teorin, då det finns rådande institutionella normer i samhället som verkar emot. Normerna kan även visa sig i den svenska kulturen som kan förklaras genom Hofstedes kulturdimensionsteori. / The purpose of this study is to examine how those responsible for gender equality at Folksam work with gender equality. It also aims to examine the norms and cultures that can affect their work on gender equality. This is examined by four semi structured interviews with two people who are working internally to get Folksam more equal and with two people that are working externally at Folksam to get other companies, both in Sweden and abroad, to become more equal. The conclusion is that norms from for example politics affect the respondents at Folksam, since the politics requires them to be equal, but also because their customers want it. It is also a profitability question as well as a human right and therefore they want to change the current norm. They are trying to do that internally through, for instance, a competency-based recruitment, a diversity plan and by trusting that everyone is trying to work with it within Folksam. And by trying to influence other corporations through external corporate governance. This may also be difficult to do according to gender- and the new institutionalism theory, because of the existing institutional norms in society that is working against it. Norms can also be shown in the Swedish culture, which can be explained with the Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions Theory.