Dissertationen zum Thema „Transformations of business companies“

Tacit knowledge refers to the knowledge that is located inside individuals; it is not expressed or written like explicit knowledge. Inherently, tacit knowledge is often limited solely to one person and consequently individually based. Project based companies need to acknowledge the importance of transforming tacit knowledge into explicit in order to preserve the knowledge inside the organisation. If the knowledge is not transformed, there is a great risk of losing the knowledge when a key individual leaves the organization.

One way of transforming the tacit knowledge is through Nonaka’s and Takeuchi’s knowledge spiral. But the knowledge spiral ignores some wider issues that should be included in order to achieve a transformation. This thesis shows that the knowledge spiral is a good base but the organisation has to provide a supporting context and an open culture to create an environment where a transformation can be accomplished. This thesis stresses that a transformation is not always the ultimate choice since it is not, at all times, possible. In some cases, distribution of tacit knowledge throughout the organisation is a better alternative to preserve the knowledge. A distribution can, for instance, be done through learning by doing. The thesis demonstrates that an organisation has to choose either a transformation or a distribution. The choice depends on which alternative that brings the most improvements, advantages and effectiveness for the organisation. The situation will then, as a consequence, decide whether the knowledge is to be transformed or not.

Since the disintegration of the Soviet Union all conditions and principles for doing business in the area have changed. The shift from a planned economy to a market economy is connected with rapid and basic changes in political, social, economic and technological conditions. The Baltic countries Estonia, Latvia andLithuania are going through a gradual transition and the decrease of central economic power leads to the liquidation of state monopolies. The markets of the Baltic is giving great opportunities for Western European companies since the Baltic is a good springboard to the more Eastern European markets, which consists of over 400 million possible customers.The Baltic countries is not a homogeny group, they have different language, culture and history. Western European companies need to be aware of this facts if they are going to become successful with their establishments. The Western European companies choose different entry modes in order to fulfil their international ambitions. The entry mode signals to host governments and to competitors the companies ambitions in the hostcountry. For the majority of companies the most significant international marketing decision they are likely to take is therefore how they should enter new markets. The purpose of the study is to explain how foreign companies strategies theoretically match the Baltic countries strengths and weaknesses and what kind of entry modes provides a good match between the investor´s strategy and the local attractiveness.

There is a void in global strategy research on companies based in developing economies. This thesis aims to extend the knowledge within this particular field by focusing on Chinese companies with global aspirations. The results bear significant implications for the Chinese firms' partners and competitors in developed countries. The thesis encompasses two of the largest Chinese enterprises in the telecom equipment sector - Huawei and ZTE. Both companies are pioneers in terms of globalizing their sales and operations. A globalized underlying industry and market is an important precursor for the existence of truly global corporations implementing global strategies. Thus, a thorough investigation of the global telecom equipment industry was conducted, in order to provide a solid platform and deeper understanding prior to the study of the two Chinese companies' globalization process. Yip's 19 globalization forces framework was utilized to analyze the telecom equipment industry - the results indicated strong pressure for globalization within the industry. The large extent and degree of industry globalization facilitated the internationalization and globalization of the Chinese telecom companies Huawei and ZTE. Four distinctive features were identified after scrutinizing the corporate global strategies of the largest Chinese telecom equipment companies; (1) China-centrism - a considerable portion of Huawei and ZTE's revenue is generated from the domestic Chinese market. Half of the staff stationed at overseas offices are Chinese nationals dispatched from the headoffice in China, (2) R&D focus - Huawei and ZTE spend more than 10% of their annual revenue in research and development activities. R&D centers in strategic geographical areas worldwide have been set up in order to combine advanced research around the world with low-cost development in China, (3) Foreign partnership - Huawei and ZTE are actively engaged in cooperation with numerous well-known foreign companies. The Chinese firms are participants in several industry organizations and interest-groups. These associations boost the recognition and legitimacy of Huawei and ZTE in developed markets, and (4) Government influence - Huawei and ZTE's growth and successful international expansion would not be possible without the strong support and financial backing by the Chinese government. But not all government influence is positive, company executives of Huawei and ZTE are increasingly vocal about their displeasure in terms of how badly the Chinese government protects local firms in the domestic Chinese market. The globalization strategies adapted by the two Chinese firms resemble the "Total global strategy" framework, since both companies internationalized and globalized their core corporate values and strategies after developing and strengthening them initially. It is important for partners (enterprises as well as government agencies) and competitors in developed countries to acknowledge the existence and global competitiveness of companies based in developing countries. Partnership opportunities should be sought after actively, as globalizing companies in developed countries are still keen to seek cooperation that can strengthen their legitimacy and credibility in developed markets. A case study conducted for Invest in Sweden Agency (ISA) is also included in the study, which details a strategy and activities framework for the government agency's future work, by utilizing the knowledge and insight gained through the analysis sections of this thesis.

In a global economy greater attention must be given to an amount of innovative companies in the manufacturing of products and in providing services. Innovative organizations must be able to learn especially in marketing and strategy efficiently and effectively in order to survive in today’s increasingly fierce competitive environment. Innovations thrive from a skilled and well-educated workforce, research and development resulting in Intellectual Property Rights, organizational infrastructure and business strategy if handled correctly.

Innovations play an important role and need a proper environment that provides knowledge, supportive interaction and incentive structures to become successful. Creating world-beating product concepts is of value only if you can bring them to market successfully. To focus a product innovation process around business objectives and plans allows company to create and evaluate a strategic positioning. Critical to success is the selection of appropriate targets for innovation, which requires identifying requirements throughout the existing value chain of products and services and the new value chain of the knowledge channel. But as it is likely that many of these requirements will be unclear and some will be conflicting, the way to resolve these conflicts is through mutually dependent learning involving participants from all relevant groups, including R&D, suppliers, and customers, plus distribution partners and other internal functional departments such as marketing, manufacturing, and finance.

A broader focus on innovation can generate increasing returns. Capturing and keeping a comparative advantage will require an appropriate pattern and shaking up the market with a major new product. Product innovation is a powerful lens through which to examine strategy because the success of your products in the market is the ultimate test of a strategy. Through the distribution we approach to highlight the thesis in threefold:

• Figure out different innovations;

• Draw on an in-depth understanding of bring the revolutionary new products to market;

• Generalize a host of product concepts spanning innovations in strategic positioning.

Aiming to fulfill the purpose of our paper, we conducted qualitative research method based on telephone interviews with two Swedish and two Chinese companies who have innovated products or services. The theoretical framework portrayed the innovator’s dilemma, push and pull marketing methods and prospector and defender strategic positioning models.

In conclusion, we generalized what kind of innovation (disruptive technology or sustainable technology) the four case companies have, which marketing method (pull or push) they adopt and how the strategic positioning is respectively. At the final section, we suggest a model for companies with innovations and how they differ on disruptive or sustainable technology and target customers.

A mixed methods sequential explanatory design was used to conduct research to help fill the gap in the literature on cross-cultural differences between Ghanaian workers in American Multinational Companies and Ghanaian Companies in Ghana. The purpose of this research was to identify, compare, and make understandable to multinational companies the work ethic of Ghanaian workers in issues related to centrality of work, leisure, and morality/ethics. In the quantitative phase, using a stratified random sampling approach, 300 participants completed surveys on work ethic. The results were analyzed using SPSS software package. The qualitative phase followed with interview of 30 purposively sampled participants on work ethics. The results were coded, organized, and categorized using NVivo. The findings did not support the perceptions held by American Multinational Companies that Ghanaians have a poor work ethic, are lazy, and love pleasure. In contrast, the study results indicated that Ghanaian worker ethics included working hard to achieve a goal, doing voluntary work, meeting deadlines; having good relationships with peers, subordinates, and superiors. The results also indicated Ghanaian workers in USA companies exhibit a set of work ethics different from the Ghanaians working in Ghanaian companies, self-employed, and not employed. The results of this research were significant at 98% confidence level and are generalizable to settings that have similar cultural exposé as Ghana, considering the differences noted which were mainly cultural based.

During the last 13 years thousands of enterprises were privatized in Russia. However, the Russian state still owns large stakes in many companies, including some of the largest publicly traded enterprises. At the same time the Russian stock market has experienced a tremendous growth during the last several years attracting domestic and foreign investors. These investors can be concerned about the possible “value-effects” of government shareholding. Therefore in this paper I study the impact of state shareholding on corporate value. One of the implications of the “grabbing hand” theory proposed by A. Shleifer and R. Vishniy is that government shareholding affects corporate performance and value. After analyzing the sample of the Russian publicly traded enterprises I provide some empirical evidence supporting this view. However I also find that relationship between government shareholding and corporate value is not monotonic, but U-shaped, i.e. after a certain threshold state shareholding can have a positive impact on corporate value. The latter finding corresponds with the results obtained by L. Tian in his study of Chinese firms.

Frequently discussed in different contexts, corporate strategy and strategic planning is something

which importance hardly will diminish over the coming years as competition grows harder. The needs

for companies to think ahead of their business operations have grown increasingly during the

decades.

From the viewpoint of an independent researcher I have decided to look at Swedish companies

operating in Sweden and abroad. I want to know how the strategic planning process takes place in

these companies, in order to give an insight to what the process could look like in Sweden today.

My research question has been: How is strategic planning perceived in Swedish companies?

I have selected some different theories from the university library’s collection of databases,

respectively dealing with leadership, outsourcing, business intelligence et cetera.

These theories are the foundation of the semi-structured and by telephone, in-person and internet

performed interviews with seven different managers at some selected companies in different

businesses, mainly located in northern Sweden. Asking questions based on the underlying theories I

have been able to draw some conclusions about the planning processes in the studied companies.

The study shows that almost all companies have some kind strategic planning process and that more

or less all of them to some extent consider some of the theories employed in the theory chapter.

While only two companies seemed to be quite strict, the rest had some emergent semi-structured

strategic plan with much flexibility, which is not necessarily wrong.

Abstract

Research is focusing on the process through which companies internationalize, which is often based on their size, operations, internal capabilities and competencies. Present global economic conditions enforced by the strong competitiveness factor stimulate every company to act in a different way. More and more well established companies encounter with an increasing need to reinforce and redefine its strategic direction. To address these issues companies are inevitably forced to act in a more agile entrepreneurial way. Therefore, entrepreneurial orientation postures were selected among other theoretical alternatives to identify the relationships and effects entrepreneurship can bring to the process of internationalization.

The research was based on the data generated from three well established companies in Jonkoping County. These companies are bright representatives of the manufacturing sector in the region. Besides, they are characterized as market leaders in their preferred segments forming a trend in the industry they serve and keeping a strong competitive edge. Following the path of data collection, a process of individual internationalization was mapped retrospectively, with a focus on identifying entrepreneurial orientation leading this process.

The findings indicate interesting aspects that are applicable to all three firms. We have concluded that nascent decision to internationalize was driven by the external factors which to a great extent accountable for major strategic renewal. Consequently, change in the strategy and processes related to its implementation foster entrepreneurial injections and considerably speed up international commitment. Furthermore, we have identified that theoretical background considerably differ from the practical matters performed in these companies.