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The purpose of this thesis is to analyze and provide a deeper understanding of how the national culture of China affects the use of formal and informal management control systems of Swedish firms, operating in China. In order to conduct this research, relevant theories concerning internationalization, culture and management control systems were gathered and analyzed in relation to each other. This resulted in a conceptual framework, which illustrates the interrelationships between the concepts. Thereafter, this was used as the ground to which the empirical findings were analyzed and compared to. The analysis chapter involves a discussion of the similarities and dissimilarities between theory and empirical data, which leads to the conclusions of this study. This is lastly followed by theoretical implications, practical implications and recommendations, limitations and suggestions for further research. The study has been conducted with a qualitative research method, in order to obtain a deeper understanding of how national culture can affect the use of management control systems of Swedish firms in China. Further, due to the unexplored and limited research area of this complex subject, the study followed an abductive approach. The findings of this research indicate that the Chinese culture affects the use of formal control systems, in which they are used extensively within Swedish firms, operating in China. However, the national culture of China does not have an effect on the informal control systems of Swedish firms. Nevertheless, the use of the informal control systems should not be undermined, as the use of these triggers for more innovation and creativity among the members of an organization. This in turn could lead to Swedish firms operating more efficiently in the Chinese market. This research can be valuable for Swedish firms that wish to internationalize to the Chinese market, as well as firms operating in China with concerns regarding the use of management control systems in relation to the culture.

The market impacts caused by globalization and the internationalization of companies are requiring the ability to operate in demanding, diverse and changing business environments but also requiring the consideration of differing cultural norms. This study will explore the perceptions of a number of Finnish business actors who have worked and conducted business with Chinese business actors and personnel. The empirical part of this thesis is based on a qualitative study as a research approach. To this end, thematic, semi structured face-to-face interviews have been conducted in Helsinki and Espoo. The ten interviews’ themes concern (1) sources of misunderstanding which are identified and considered as being caused by intercultural differences ; (2) the ways they assess and solve issues that they believe hinder, challenge or foster business communication, as well as issues that obstruct cooperation and negotiation with their Chinese counterparts; (3) instances of professional communication, cooperation and negotiation and situations that they experienced with their Chinese counterparts, in particular, the kind of attitude, skills or behaviors they might find more appropriate when dealing with Chinese business partners and key personnel. Their testimonies will be examined and the different resources and communication competencies Finnish business actors actively mobilize when interacting or adjusting to these multicultural encounters, will be addressed. This study is aims to explore these perceptions and to grasp the cognitive, affective and behavioral strategies and approaches of the interviewees on the ground, when dealing, for instance, with possible critical incidents or merely questioning relatively new business environments such as those encountered by foreign actors in China.

This article reports the findings of a survey conducted among business professionals who have either worked in China or are US based and have relationships with Chinese companies. The intention is to discover what business culture differences they perceive between the US and China and how they cope with the language and cultural challenges. As a result, Chinese language instructors can then understand business students’ needs better and thus teach more effectively by incorporating the findings into the Chinese business language curricula.

Over the last few decades trends such as globalization have sharpened up competition on the worldwide open market and in order to meet customers demand high level of technological and competitive uncertainties have increased the pressure of reducing R&D budgets, reduce innovation cycles and shorter time to market as a consequence of the rising competition and as a result, forced companies to source external knowledge. One way of doing this is by tapping external information and knowledge from universities.China is a country with a steady rapid growth on science and technology, but also with a progressively increasing R&D. Today they have the highest input level in the history and this is an opportunity for Western MNCs to establish collaborations in order to gain competitive advantages and create new technology. This study focuses on Industry-University collaborations in China for high technological companies and the process of finding knowledge and establishes networks at Chinese universities with the aim of establish Industry-University collaboration. Based on literature review and a qualitative study of Chinese universities, this thesis explores how a MNC can build a network of local universities connection in a fast growing market and use this network as a source of technology scouting.Over the last few decades trends such as globalization have sharpened up competition on the worldwide open market and in order to meet customers demand high level of technological and competitive uncertainties have increased the pressure of reducing R&D budgets, reduce innovation cycles and shorter time to market as a consequence of the rising competition and as a result, forced companies to source external knowledge. One way of doing this is by tapping external information and knowledge from universities.China is a country with a steady rapid growth on science and technology, but also with a progressively increasing R&D. Today they have the highest input level in the history and this is an opportunity for Western MNCs to establish collaborations in order to gain competitive advantages and create new technology. This study focuses on Industry-University collaborations in China for high technological companies and the process of finding knowledge and establishes networks at Chinese universities with the aim of establish Industry-University collaboration. Based on literature review and a qualitative study of Chinese universities, this thesis explores how a MNC can build a network of local universities connection in a fast growing market and use this network as a source of technology scouting.

Aim: After discussing marketing issues with representatives from a number of companies established on the Chinese market, we came to the conclusion that it would be interesting and useful to further investigate relationship marketing models from a Swedish perspective when doing business in China. The aim of the study is to highlight, by examples and experiences from firms dealing with or on the Chinese market, what makes up successful marketing between Swedish and Chinese businesses. Research question: Is relationship marketing with a dash of guanxi the recipe of success for Sino-Swedish businesses? The result of successful relationship marketing is a marketing network and it is an important asset for companies today. Competition is not between single business units or entities any more but between marketing networks (Kotler et al., 2006). To get a full view of relationship marketing between Sweden and China, we have also studied the Chinese culture context. Method: We interviewed 10 firms in various industries. Common for all respondents is an extensive experience of over 5 years of doing business in China. A questionnaire was used as a foundation for the interviews. In the analysis findings regarding how the respondents have handled their internationalization process are highlighted. Also how they handle the relationship marketing on a market, where guanxi have been a dominating way of doing business. Result and conclusions: Relationship marketing with a dash of guanxi is the road that most companies take already today and should take if not yet doing so. As we can see from the study, China is not under as strong influence of guanxi as it used to be. Our respondents offer insights and examples of that Chinese businessmen and women are adapting a more global approach to business negotiations. Operating on the Chinese market requires a relationship marketing approach although it is more personalized to better suit the Chinese culture context. Suggestions for future research: * Relationship marketing in China and corruption: how is it handled, avoided, viewed. * Relationship marketing in Sweden by Chinese firms: How can Chinese firms succeed on the Swedish market? * Deeper research into relationship marketing strategies for Swedish companies in China. * Study Swedish firms on the Chinese market today and how they experience the paradoxes mentioned by Fang and Faure (2008). Contribution of the research: The study offers insights in the actual marketing strategy implementation and how firms with extensive experience from China and the Chinese market approach it.