Sune Carlson

Bio: Sune Carlson is an academic researcher. The author has contributed to research in topics: Work (electrical) & Production theory. The author has an hindex of 3, co-authored 3 publications receiving 302 citations.

International Transmission of Information and the Business Firm

Abstract: While the transmission costs of information depend, above all, on the geographical distance and the communication channels used, the collection and interpretation costs are influenced primarily by what may be called the cultural distance. Differences in levels of general economic development, in educational levels, in languages and in general culture represent barriers to the international transfer of information. Since the establishment and the operation of subsidiaries in foreign countries require more information and more complex information than the mere exporting and importing of goods, the barriers become correspondingly more important. For this reason firms seem to establish their first subsidiaries in countries with which they have close cultural relations. While a business firm normally wants to capitalize its stock of knowledge through the production and sale of goods, situations may arise in which the sale of information to a foreign firm is the only possible alternative. However, supplying an ...

Managing managerial identities: Organizational fragmentation, discourse and identity struggle

Abstract: This is a case study of managerial identity work, based on an in-depth case of a senior manager and the organizational context in which she works. The article addresses the interplay between organizational discourses, role expectations, narrative self-identity and identity work. Identity is conceptualized in processual terms as identity work and struggle. The article illuminates fragmentation as well as integration in the interplay between organizational discourses and identity. It aims to contribute to a processual oriented identity theory and to the methodology of identity studies through showing the advantage of a multi-level intensive study.

Experiential knowledge and cost in the internationalization process

Abstract: In furthering our understanding of the dynamics of the internationalization of firms, process models have played a significant role [Bilkey and Tesar 1977; Cavusgil 1980, 1984; Czinkota 1982; Johanson and Vahlne 1977, 1990; Luostarinen 1980; Reid 1983]. In these models, market-specific experiential knowledge is central in explaining the firm’s internationalization process. A vast amount of research, using the concept of experiential knowledge, on the internationalization process and the choice of mode for entering foreign markets has been accumulated [Barkema, Bell and Pennings 1996; Beamish 1990; Calof and Beamish 1995; Erramilli 1990, 1991; Erramilli and Rao 1990, 1993; Hirsch 1993; Kogut and Singh 1988; O’Grady and Lane 1996; Reid 1984; Root 1987; Sharma and Johanson 1987; Wiedersheim-Paul, Olson and Welch 1978]. Surprisingly, none of the above-mentioned work has explicitly dealt with the cost of the internationalization process. This is surprising since the management of internationalization unavoidably gives rise to the question of cost [Carlson 1974]. An internationalization process entails risk and the investment of resources. Here the issue of the effects of the critical experiential knowledge on the cost of the internationalization process becomes important. Cost aspects have a bearing on the profit generated by firms [Bilkey 1982], on a firm’s inclination to enter foreign markets [Dichtl, Koeglmayr and Mueller 1990], and on the selection or changing of foreign market entry mode [Calof and Beamish 1995].

Internationalisation: conceptualising an entrepreneurial process of behaviour in time

Abstract: This paper presents a three-stage process of conceptual development in response to the call for a unifying direction for research in the emergent field of international entrepreneurship. Drawing on classic approaches to internationalisation, and importing insight from entrepreneurship as a separate and distinct field of study, the paper develops three potential models of internationalisation as a time-based process of entrepreneurial behaviour. The models evolve from the simple through general to precise levels of conceptualisation. Research implications are discussed.

Developing a multidimensional instrument to measure psychic distance stimuli

Abstract: This paper develops and tests a range of potential psychic distance stimuli including differences in culture, language, religion, education, and political systems. Using trade flows among a set of 38 nations as the dependent variable, it is shown that, whereas the majority of the proposed indicators prove to be statistically significant predictors of trade flows, the most common psychic distance surrogate – a composite measure of Hofstede's cultural dimensions – is not significant.