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Schölin, Mona-Liz (2007): Fanerdunetableringen i Kalmar – effekter på den regionala utvecklingen [Establishment of the Fanerdun Group in Kalmar – impacts on regional development] D-uppsats 10 poäng, fördjupningskurs i kulturgeografi Handledare: Bo Malmberg Språk: Svenska Syftet med uppsatsen är att studera vad tidigare utländska etableringar har fått för effekter, hur de har påverkat den regionala utvecklingen, och utifrån detta göra en jämförande analys över vad Fanerdun Gruop AB´s etablering i Kalmar kan komma att få för effekter. Frågor som tas upp för behandling är: Vad har utländska direktinvesteringar, eng. foreign direct investment (FDI) och inward investment för effekter på etableringsorterna? Hur kommer Fanerdun Group AB att bidra till den regionala utvecklingen i Kalmar? Det sistnämnda är viktigt att undersöka då utländska investeringar likt Fanerduns i Kalmar ofta får effekter på den regionala utvecklingen. I fallet Kalmar har planeringsprocessen från det att Fanerdun visade intresse för att investera till att de faktiskt började bygga gått ovanligt snabbt. Uppsatsen består av en del där litteratur om utländska direktinvesteringar och dess effekter på etableringsorterna behandlas och en del som utifrån litteraturen gör en jämförelse med Fanerdunprojektet i Kalmar. Fallstudien bygger på material i form artiklar från Barometern, Dagens industri, information från Kalmar kommuns hemsida, intervjuer från Aktuellt samt på egen hand genomförda intervjuer med näringslivschefen i Kalmar kommun/projektledaren för Fanerdunetableringen och VD-assistenten på Fanerdun Group AB. Bland annat infrastrukturen tros kunna förbättras då Fanerdun ger en viss tyngd åt regionen. Nyckelord: Utländska direktinvesteringar, inward investment, utländska etableringar, regional utveckling, Kalmar, Fanerdun.

The Swedish town Kalmar suffered from economic cutbacks during the 1990’s and many local companies left the region resulting in a decrease in population. Local authorities therefore set goals of regional development and an economic turn was thought to come with foreign investments. Fanerdun is one of the Chinese firms recently interested in investing in the Swedish market, more specifically in Kalmar. Its business idea is to build a convention centre where ap-proximately 1000 Chinese suppliers will sell light industry products to companies in the Baltic Sea region and Northern Europe. The establishment process is of value to study since the economically strained Kalmar region managed to attract such a large investment and Fanerdun’s reasons behind its choice of location for the establishment are not apparent. The purpose of this thesis is to answer the questions why and how the convention centre was realised in Kalmar. Both given and cre-ated factors are taken into account. To fulfil the purpose, a case study using a qualitative method with an abductive approach was used. Primary data was collected through interviews with different involved actors to give a complete picture from various perspectives. This approach is referred to as triangula-tion and was also present in the frame of reference. Three different theory fields; regional network, internationalisation and guanxi were appropriate to describe the complexity of the establishment process. The conclusion includes the given and created factors that led to Fanerdun’s establishment in Kalmar. The given factors are; location in Europe and the Baltic Sea region, low corporate tax, low investment costs, infrastructure capabilities and small town advantage. From the analysis, created factors became clear. One common feature found to be a central factor was relationships between people, organisations and regions. From Kalmar’s perspective, the regional network anticipation explains why the establishment was realised. To answer how, the three developing regional networks; Changxing-Kalmar, Baltic Sea region and Kalmar region itself together played essential roles. From Fanerdun’s perspective, why and how Kalmar was chosen as location for its international establishment is interlinked. Different internationalisation drives were characterised by commitment, shared knowledge and mu-tual dependency between Fanerdun and Kalmar representatives. The presence of guanxi, a Chinese concept of relationship cultivation, was a specific aspect for the realisation of the convention centre.