Case Study analysis conducted at University of Strathclyde as a module. Case companies: Sandvik, Atlas Copco, Facit and Volvo

1. Internationalisation of firms: four Swedish cases
06th December 2010
Team Members:
Abhishek Sarkar
Christina Lyropoulou
Tushar Kaul
Vishal Gholap

2. Agenda
 The internationalisation of the firm – Four Swedish cases
- Central idea, Key concepts and relationships
- Internationalisation of Sandvik, Atlas Copco, Facit
& Volvo
- Strengths and weakness of the article
 Small firms internationalisation: an investigation survey
and future research directions
- Central idea, Key concepts and relationships
- Relationship with the first paper
 Managerial implications and applicability of the papers

3. The Internationalisation of the firms:
Four Swedish Cases
 Central idea: Gradual internationalisation of Swedish
firms
Key Concepts:
- The Establishment Chain
- Degree of Involvement
- Psychic Distance
- Size of the market

4. The Establishment Chain
Mfg.
Subsidiary
Sales
Higher
subsidiary
resources
Controlled commitment
Export Market
information Sufficient
via Certain
agents commitment market
Direct knowledge
Market experience
Indire
information
ct through a
Expor No channel
commitment
t of
Resources
Lack of
Information

5. Degree of involvement and
uncertainty
High Export /
Agency
relations
Uncertainty
Sales
subsidiary
Mfg.
subsidiary
Mfg. and
Sales
Subsidiary
Low Degree of involvement High

6. Degree of involvement and Psychic
Distance
High Export /
Psychic Distance
Agency
relations
Sales
subsidiary
Mfg.
subsidiary
Mfg. and
Sales
Subsidiary
Low Degree of involvement High

7. Degree of involvement and Size of Market
High
Mfg. and
Size of the Market
Sales
Subsidiary
Mfg.
subsidiary
Sales
subsidiary
Export /
Agency
relations
Low Degree of involvement High

8. Sanvik
 Steel producing Company started in 1862
 The oldest firm out of the four firms
 G. F. Goransson (Founder) – General Manager of
a trading firm

9. Sanvik
Agency Relations
Sales Subsidiaries
X Mfg. Subsidiaries
X Mfg. & sales
Subsidiaries

10. Atlas Copco
 Started in 1873
 Products: Railway materials, steam engines for
ships and machine tools

11. Atlas Copco
Agency Relations
Sales Subsidiaries
X Mfg. Subsidiaries
X Mfg. & sales
Subsidiaries

12. Facit
 Formed in a reconstruction in 1922
 Expansion also continued with the buying of other
firms

13. Facit
Agency Relations
Sales Subsidiaries
X Mfg. Subsidiaries
X Mfg. & sales
Subsidiaries

14. Volvo
 Started its activities in 1927
 Firstly Export selling and shortly after that sales
representatives

15. Volvo
Agency Relations
Sales Subsidiaries
X Mfg. Subsidiaries
X Mfg. & sales
Subsidiaries

16. Credibility of claims and
arguments
 Credible source of data
 Findings supports the theoretical expectations
 Only conflict with findings in Mfg. Subsidiaries
and the factors considered
 Companies belong to the same industry and are
of similar size
 Does not consider the business environment

17. Small firms Internationalisation
 Historical background of internationalisation
 Different theories of what internationalisation consists depending to
the timeframe and the general circumstances of that period of time
 Failures in existing models of internationalisation due to
- globalisation effects
- impact of technology
- bypassing of traditional barriers to entry
- specific factors of the industry

18. Small firms Internationalisation
 Try to explain internationalisation behaviour through
the theory of stages using alternative approaches
 Emerging theory concept of international industrial
networks and the impact on the relationship building
on international behaviour
 Inadequacies in theories and limitations
 Evolution of internationalisation to globalisation

19. Managerial Implications
 Changing business environment throws a
challenge to the manager to analyse the firm’s
attitude to internationalization
 Psychic distance & size not enough to carry
ahead the internationalization process for a firm
 Adoption of further theories of management will
help to speed up the process of
internationalization

20. Relationship with the module
 Goes deeper with factors upon which
internationalization for a firm could vary
 Internationalization and its processes are the
essence on which IB is based

21. Implementing the ideas
 Not limited to the internal capability and
competencies of the firm to go for
internationalization
 Look at other factors of external environment
such as transaction cost, psychic distance,
eclectic paradigm to sharpen the
internationalization strategy.

22. ...........?????