Managers’ Perceptions of Home-Country and Host-Country Cultural Influences on Subsidiaries’ Organizational Culture
(2022) IBUH19 20221Department of Business Administration
- Abstract
- Globalization has both contributed to a large increase of Chinese MNCs and affected the way culture is transferred around the globe. Particularly, this gives rise to the phenomenon of different cultural influences in the subsidiaries of Chinese MNCs. This thesis therefore aims at contributing to the understanding of how managers at Scandinavian subsidiaries of the Chinese multinational company Lenovo perceive that their organizational culture is influenced by Chinese and Scandinavian national cultures.
To build upon the knowledge regarding this problem, it was discussed in connection to several concepts described by previous authors and their findings within this field. Data was generated through semi-structured interviews with... (More) - Globalization has both contributed to a large increase of Chinese MNCs and affected the way culture is transferred around the globe. Particularly, this gives rise to the phenomenon of different cultural influences in the subsidiaries of Chinese MNCs. This thesis therefore aims at contributing to the understanding of how managers at Scandinavian subsidiaries of the Chinese multinational company Lenovo perceive that their organizational culture is influenced by Chinese and Scandinavian national cultures.
To build upon the knowledge regarding this problem, it was discussed in connection to several concepts described by previous authors and their findings within this field. Data was generated through semi-structured interviews with managers at Lenovo’s subsidiaries in Scandinavia, and then analyzed using a thematic analysis.
Our findings suggest that the managers believe the influences from Chinese culture to be very limited, while the influences of Scandinavian culture are vast. Their perception was that national cultural values influenced the organizational culture through the nationality of the local managers, and through the ‘global culture’ that rested above the local organizational culture.
The Chinese national cultural influences identified were mainly seen in a more practical sense. When delving deeper, Chinese values can be viewed as having contributed to Chinese MNCs’ ability to balance the global internationalization with local adaptations in subsidiaries. As for the more prominent Scandinavian cultural influences, they were described as visible in the flatter hierarchies, general atmosphere, and ‘ways to go about things’.
These findings have both theoretical and practical contributions. While the aim was not to build theory, our research contributes to the overall understanding of the phenomenon studied. This is demonstrated through that it partly can be seen as an extension to some earlier studies within this topic. Moreover, the practical contributions regard an increased understanding on how managers perceive that their subsidiaries’ organizational culture is influenced, which has implications for MNCs’ management on subsidiary relationships and cultural formation. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9084488
- author
- Hellesöy, Ellen LU ; Ortlieb, Robin LU and Steerling, Sofia LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- IBUH19 20221
- year
- 2022
- type
- M2 - Bachelor Degree
- subject
- keywords
- Organizational Culture, Multinational Corporations, Chinese Multinational Corporations, Cultural Influences, Culture in Subsidiaries, Lenovo
- language
- English
- id
- 9084488
- date added to LUP
- 2022-08-01 12:54:46
- date last changed
- 2022-08-01 12:54:46
@misc{9084488,
abstract = {{Globalization has both contributed to a large increase of Chinese MNCs and affected the way culture is transferred around the globe. Particularly, this gives rise to the phenomenon of different cultural influences in the subsidiaries of Chinese MNCs. This thesis therefore aims at contributing to the understanding of how managers at Scandinavian subsidiaries of the Chinese multinational company Lenovo perceive that their organizational culture is influenced by Chinese and Scandinavian national cultures.
To build upon the knowledge regarding this problem, it was discussed in connection to several concepts described by previous authors and their findings within this field. Data was generated through semi-structured interviews with managers at Lenovo’s subsidiaries in Scandinavia, and then analyzed using a thematic analysis.
Our findings suggest that the managers believe the influences from Chinese culture to be very limited, while the influences of Scandinavian culture are vast. Their perception was that national cultural values influenced the organizational culture through the nationality of the local managers, and through the ‘global culture’ that rested above the local organizational culture.
The Chinese national cultural influences identified were mainly seen in a more practical sense. When delving deeper, Chinese values can be viewed as having contributed to Chinese MNCs’ ability to balance the global internationalization with local adaptations in subsidiaries. As for the more prominent Scandinavian cultural influences, they were described as visible in the flatter hierarchies, general atmosphere, and ‘ways to go about things’.
These findings have both theoretical and practical contributions. While the aim was not to build theory, our research contributes to the overall understanding of the phenomenon studied. This is demonstrated through that it partly can be seen as an extension to some earlier studies within this topic. Moreover, the practical contributions regard an increased understanding on how managers perceive that their subsidiaries’ organizational culture is influenced, which has implications for MNCs’ management on subsidiary relationships and cultural formation.}},
author = {{Hellesöy, Ellen and Ortlieb, Robin and Steerling, Sofia}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Managers’ Perceptions of Home-Country and Host-Country Cultural Influences on Subsidiaries’ Organizational Culture}},
year = {{2022}},
}