Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

Economic globalization has brought up both opportunities and challenges for the world trade. An increased flow of capital, labor and production factors across the boundaries, increased opportunities for off-shore production and outsourcing in manufacturing and even service sector are only a part of the "opportunities" that has been brought up by economic globalization. On the other hand cultural barriers, managerial complexity, and environmental uncertainty are among the challenges of economic globalization. Internationalization (international expansion) has been defined as an important strategy for businesses to exploit the opportunities in the globalized world of trade. A trend toward a more internationalized structure has been evident within the Swedish food industry. Although the export of food products by Swedish enterprises has increased dramatically during the last decade, more than 70 per cent of the export goes only to the EU member states. Consequently, by considering the phenomenon of economic globalization, the potential opportunities placed in other parts of the world are not satisfactorily exploited by Swedish food enterprises. The purpose of this study is to investigate the Swedish food enterprises’ internationalization decisions regarding the choice of international markets; what factors might have crucial impact on the choice of a foreign market and how these factors may affect the firm’s performance. The study focuses on the case of "Lantmännen Cerealia" a company within the Lantmännen Group, one the largest Nordic groups within food. Accordingly, knowledge about business and cultural issues in a market has a crucial role in the firm’s internationalization decisions regarding the choice of a foreign market. Furthermore, conducting market research will help the firm to acquire knowledge about business and cultural issues within a foreign market which also enhance its performance in that market.