<p>The global marketplace today encompasses 6 billion people. Many companies are beginning to see themselves as international rather than national acting on a global arena. An essential aspect of going abroad is to know where to go and why to go there. In order to be able to analyze a foreign market a company needs to do market research in the foreign market as to gather essential information. A firm which is facing a quick internationalization process is the Swedish direct sales firm of cosmetics Oriflame. Oriflame has grown quickly in developing countries but is not present in one of the biggest market for direct sales in Europe: France.</p><p>The purpose of this thesis is to develop a theoretical framework to analyze foreign markets and apply it to the French market of direct sales in cosmetics and Oriflame.</p><p>A qualitative study based on the 5 Cs framework for analyzing foreign markets has been carried out. Seven focus groups have been conducted in France and Sweden in order to obtain information about and comparability in consumer attitudes towards Oriflame’s marketing mix. Interviews have been conducted in order to get information about Oriflame as a company. Secondary data has been gathered from different sources for the theoretical framework as well as for the empirical research on issues such as culture, competition and market.</p><p>This thesis has developed a theoretical framework to analyze foreign markets called the 5 Cs. The 5 Cs are based on: Company, Constitution, Competition, Customers and Culture. The 5 Cs is a very general framework and can be applied to a wide range of foreign markets and firms and was in this case applied to analyze a real world case of Oriflame and France. The analysis of the empirical findings found that there is potential for Oriflame to enter the French market in terms of consumer preferences and general market characteristics. However, it also found that what will probably determine everything in the end is whether Oriflame can be strategically committed to enter a mature West European market like France.</p>

This thesis examines problems concerning international standard-essential patent licensing disputes within the EU from a private international law perspective. Furthermore, it seeks to analyse the jurisdictional rules which are established by the Brussels Ia Regulation when applied to cross-border SEP licensing disputes. The backdrop for the present study is the system of international standardisation and the licensing of those patents which are essential to the implementation of a technical standard. It is primarily concerned with EU law as it relates to technical standardisation in the field of telecommunications, since it plays a significant role in today’s global information society. As a rule, SEP holders make a commitment to license their essential patents according to terms which are fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND). In order to fulfil the aim of the thesis, the legal nature of such a FRAND commitment has been examined, finding that it should be characterised as an enforceable contract for the benefit of third parties. Patent rights have traditionally been thought of as territorial in nature, which raises questions regarding the possibilities for cross-border enforcement, as well as how the rules on jurisdiction should be applied by national courts in the EU when faced with international disputes where the subject matter is considered to be, to an extent, territorially bound. One of the fundamental questions that arise out of this is how, in the context of SEP licensing, the legal framework for SEP disputes affects the application of the jurisdictional rules in cross-border cases. As a consequence of the lack of harmonisation as well as legal regulation and guidance relating to SEP licensing, individual courts in Europe have developed their own distinct approaches and methodologies in SEP disputes. There is a risk that this lack of uniformity leads not only to greater legal uncertainty, but also widespread patent litigation. In particular, recent case law from Germany and the United Kingdom has been influential in creating a precedent that national courts are able to set FRAND licensing terms which are global in scope. This has led to certain courts taking a more active approach in international SEP disputes—even if they concern foreign patents—granting injunctions which in some cases seek to limit the jurisdiction of foreign courts. It seems to follow from this that a ‘race to the courthouse’ is to be expected in SEP disputes, which is further facilitated by the ample room for forum shopping that exists in the Brussels Ia Regulation. Lastly, the thesis also deals, in part, with the new unitary patent system, as well as the Unified Patent Court and the question of how the UPC may come to affect the future of SEP disputes within the EU. Appropriate solutions to the identified problems are discussed, favouring either a concentration of SEP litigation to one forum, or the development of guiding principles so as to increase legal certainty.

Purpose – In recent decades the inflation- and interest rates have followed a long-termdeclining trend. Followed by central banks starting to use unconventional monetary policiesto cope with financial crises have led to increased amounts of liquidity in the financialsystems and available and looking for investment alternatives on the capital markets. At thesame time real estate property prices have set new highs corresponding to a longer-termtrend of declining cap rates. The traditional cap rate formula components the risk-free rateand risk premium less rental growth do not entirely explain the trend of declining cap ratesthat have led to very low cap rates. The purpose with this thesis quantitative study is to testif the newer cap rate determinants money supply and foreign investments percentage of allmarket transactions can explain the decline and recently very low cap rates.Design/Methodology – The master thesis firstly conducts a literature review on previousstudies on cap rate determinants and subsequent conduct an own quantitative study byrunning dynamic ordinary least squares (DOLS) regression analysis on time series ofStockholm central business district commercial office cap rates and determinants chosen asindependent variables representing macro- and market fundamental factors driving caprates with the addition of money supply proxied by monetary aggregate M3 and foreigninvestments on the market proxied by the foreign share of investments on the Stockholmcommercial office market.Findings – The DOLS regression model (1)-(5) determinants are overall significant androbust. Of the newer cap rate determinants that are tested the monetary aggregate M3 andits included lags are of higher and stronger significance and impact on the cap rate than theforeign investment share. However, the foreign investment share time-series data used inthe study do not entirely correspond to the Stockholm central business district (CBD)commercial office market but rather against the larger Stockholm commercial office marketand hence the foreign investment share is assumed to be a relevant cap rate determinantwith support from studies referred to in the section theoretical framework.Research limitations/implications – To ensure high quality in statistical analysis andhypothesis testing large data samples corresponding to longer time-series data than waspossible to obtain for this thesis quantitative study is required. However, even though arelatively small sample has been used it performed well in tests conducted of the dataquality.Originality/value – The master thesis aims to measure and quantify the impact fromunconventional monetary policy and international real estate investments on commercialoffice cap rates. Executed on the Swedish capital Stockholms CBD office market. / Syfte – De senaste decennierna har inflationen- och räntorna följt en långsiktigtnedåtgående trend. Detta har följts upp av att centralbanker börjat använda okonventionellpenningpolitik för att hantera finanskriser, vilket lett till att en ökad penningmängd i definansiella systemen sökt investeringsmöjligheter på kapitalmarknaderna. Samtidigt harfastighetspriserna satt nya rekord ett flertal gånger vilket motsvarar en långsiktig trend avsjunkande kapitaliseringstakter. Den traditionella modellen för kapitaliseringstakt med riskfriränta och riskpremium med subtraktion av hyrestillväxt förklarar inte helt detta. Syftet meddetta examensarbetes kvantitativa studie är att pröva om de nyare potentielladeterminanterna penningmängd och andelen utländska investeringar kan förklaranedgången och de nyligen väldigt låga kapitaliseringstakterna.Design/Metodik – Examensarbetet börjar med en litteraturstudie inom konceptetkapitaliseringstakt och dess determinanter. Därefter görs en kvantitativ studie med DOLSregressionsanalys av kapitaliseringstakter för kontorsmarknaden i Stockholms centralaaffärsdistrikt och modeller av dess determinanter bestående av makro- ochmarknadsfundamentala faktorer som antas vara drivande för kapitaliseringstakten. Medtillägg av determinanterna penningmängd modellerad med måttet M3 och andelenutländska investeringar modellerad med andelen utländska investeringar påkontorsmarknaden i Stockholm.Undersökningsresultat – Kapitaliseringstakts determinanterna i modellerna (1)-(5) ärövergripande signifikanta och robusta. Av de två nyare determinanterna är penningmängdM3 och dess inkluderade laggade värden av högre och starkare signifikans och med störreinverkan på kapitaliseringstakten än andelen utländska investeringar. Dessvärre motsvararinte tidsserien av andelen utländska investeringar på kontorsmarknaden i Stockholm detmindre segmentet kontorsmarknaden för Stockholms centrala affärsdistrikt och därmedantas den motsvarande andelen utländska investeringar vara signifikant med stöd av tidigarestudier som lyfts fram i litteraturstudien.Begränsningar/implikationer – För att säkerställa hög kvalité på analys av statistik behövsstora stickprov vilket motsvarar data för långa tidsserier, vilket inte var möjligt att erhålla fördetta examensarbetes kvantitativa studie. Positivt är dock ändå att tidsserie data somanvänts, trots att de inte är så långa som önskat, presterat bra i de genomförda testerna avdatakvalitén.

This study investigates how the mandatory adoption of the international reporting standards IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards) for publicly listed companies affect countries’ levels of in- and outflow of cross-border capital. The continued harmonization of financial reporting standards on an international level is bringing up questions regarding supposed benefits of their implementation. These benefits cover areas such as increased accessibility of external financing, lower costs of capital, greater opportunities to receive a loan with longer terms, and the perceived improvements to the quality and transparency of annual reports. These factors, along with others, are driving forces as to why countries should experience changes in cross-border flows of capital when they officially adopt IFRS. It is this study’s goal to establish differences and relationships between different components of the international flow of capital and the aforementioned adoption. In this study the components are represented by the dependent variables; foreign direct investment inflow, foreign direct investment outflow, foreign portfolio investment, foreign loans as well as loans that are given to other countries. To analyse differences caused in these values by the adoption, paired t-tests are performed on data consisting of 2 360 observations from 59 countries during the period of 2001-2019. In addition, 42 countries from the continent of Asia are investigated during the period of 2013-2019 with several multiple regression analyses to determine relationships, in this case the data consisted of 4 410 observations. The paired t-tests exhibited statistically significant increases in all variables as of the adoption while the multiple regressions analyses resulted in only one out of five variables having a significant relationship with the event, that variable being foreign direct investment outflow. The results put to question previous studies successful attempts to show significant positive relationships between adoption and countries’ levels of foreign direct investment inflow, foreign portfolio investment, foreign loans and loans given to other countries. The result also has implications for further research in regard to choice of controlling variables as well as method of data collection. / Denna studie undersöker hur den obligatoriska implementeringen av de internationella redovisningsstandarderna IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards) för börsnoterade företag påverkar länders in- och utgående flöden av gränsöverskridande kapital. Den fortsatta harmoniseringen av redovisningsstandarder på internationell nivå tar upp frågor gällande implementeringens påstådda fördelar. Fördelar som implementering av IFRS leder till täcker områden såsom ökad tillgänglighet av extern finansiering, lägre kapitalkostnader, större möjligheter att ta ut lån med längre löptider, och att årsredovisningar upplevs få bättre kvalitet och bli mer transparenta. Ovanstående faktorer m.fl. utgör grunden till varför länder borde uppleva förändringar i gränsöverskridande kapitalflöden i och med implementering av redovisningsstandarderna. Det är denna studies mål att etablera skillnader och samband mellan olika beståndsdelar av det internationella kapitalflödet och denna implementering. De beståndsdelarna representeras i denna studie av de fem olika beroende variablerna; ingående utländsk investering, utgående utländsk investering, utländsk portföljinvestering, utländska lån samt lån som delas ut till andra länder. För att undersöka ifall skillnader uppstår i dessa värden i och med implementering utförs parade t-test på ett dataunderlag av 2 360 antal observationer tagna från 59 länder under perioden 2001–2019. Dessutom undersöks 42 länder i kontinenten Asien under perioden 2013–2019 med multipla regressionsanalyser för att påvisa samband, datan i detta fall uppgick till 4 410 stycken observationer. T-testen visade på statistiskt signifikanta ökningar i alla variabler i och med implementeringen av IFRS medan de multipla regressionsanalyserna resulterade i att endast en av de fem olika variablerna, nämligen utgående utländsk investering, hade ett signifikant positivt samband med händelsen. Resultaten problematiserar tidigare studier som föreslår att det existerar signifikanta positiva samband mellan implementering och länders nivåer av ingående utländsk investering, utländsk portföljinvestering, utländska lån och lån som delas ut till andra länder. Undersökningen har även implikationer för framtida undersökningars val av kontrollvariabler och datainsamlingsmetod.