Cultural distance impact on internationalization process

Abstract

This research is part of work related to international business development, specifically the national culture differences’ impact on internationalization decision making and managerial strategies used for the expansion. Through qualitative research, a case study approach was used on France Loisirs, a company that decided to expand its business operations only in French-speaking countries. The main research question to be addressed is the following: In what ways does cultural distance influence the internationalization process? We approached the process of analyzing the head question by gathering theoretical research and conducting semi structured interviews answering the following sub-research questions: How does cultural distance impact the decision making? How does cultural distance impact the implementation stage? And how does cultural distance impact the business success? The study’s research concludes that in fact national culture interferes on different levels of internationalization and shapes the way companies decide their expansion. Language similarity reveals to be a leading variable in psychic distance which impacts the firm’s internationalization strategy, market selection and constrains product adaptation to local demand.

Date of Award	17 Feb 2017
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Laure Leglise (Supervisor)