JÖNKÖPING UNIVERSITY
E n t r e p r e n e u r i a l E x p a n s i o n
Swedish staffing companies entering the market in Oslo, Norway
Bachelor Thesis within Business Administration Author: Eric Bergqvist 19861015
Jonatan Edler 19840321 Tomas Andersson 19841115 Tutor: Bengt Johannisson
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Acknowledgements
As the authors of this thesis, we would like to acknowledge some persons that have helped us throughout the process:
Our supervisor Bengt Johannisson for his support and advice. The interviewees that made our empirical data possible.
Our fellow students that provided us with feedback and advice throughout the process.
Tomas Andersson Eric Bergqvist Jonatan Edler
_________________ _________________ _________________
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Bachelor Thesis in Business Administration
Title: Entrepreneurial Expansion - Swedish staffing companies entering the market in Oslo, Norway.
Authors: Tomas Andersson, Eric Bergqvist, Jonatan Edler Tutor: Bengt Johannisson
Date: 2010-03-17
Abstract
Purpose
Our purpose is to develop a model, based on theoretical framework regarding expansion strategies and cultural differences and see if it can explain the establishment of Swedish staffing companies in Oslo, Norway.
T
heoretical Framework
The theoretical framework presents theories within the field of cultural and social beha-vior, internationalization in general and two different approaches of international expan-sion. Each theory is explained and referred to entrepreneurial expanexpan-sion.
Method
This study has been based on three Swedish staffing companies and their expansion to Oslo, Norway. The research done has been both quantitative with surveys and qualita-tive with semi-structured interviews.
Findings
According to the study, reasons to expand to Oslo for a Swedish staffing company are mainly due to the cultural similarities and the lucrative possibilities within the market. Expansion is preferable done with an incremental approach in line with the Uppsala model. Furthermore, no major barriers exist. The models of International New Venture and Born Globals are not applicable, while the theory of Hofstede is partially supported. Scott‟s theory is unworkable to consider due to lack of differences, while the intervie-wees support the theory of Rundh in terms of internationalization. It is the belief of the authors that their own model, supported by the empirical findings, also can be used by other companies, acting in other industries, in order to get a comprehensive overview of the factors that should be taken into account before going international. One should though keep in mind, that the cultural differences normally are bigger than in the case with Sweden and Norway.
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Kandidatuppsats inom företagsekonomi
Titel: Entrepreneurial Expansion - Swedish staffing companies entering the market in Oslo, Norway.
Författare: Tomas Andersson, Eric Bergqvist, Jonatan Edler Handledare: Bengt Johannisson
Datum: 2010-03-17
Sammanfattning
Syfte
Vårt syfte är att utveckla en modell som bygger på teori gällande expansionsstrategier och kulturella skillnader för att se om det kan förklara etableringen av svenska bemanningsföretag i Oslo, Norge.
Teori
Författarnas teoretiska ramverk presenteras genom teorier om kulturella och sociala skillnader, samt internationalisering i allmänhet som presenteras genom två olika strategier. Varje teori förklaras och återknyts till företagsexpansion.
Metod
Den här studien är baserad på tre svenska bemanningsföretag och deras expansion till Oslo, Norge. Undersökningen som utförts har varit både kvalitativ, i form av semistrukturerade intervjuer, samt kvantitativ genom en undersökning.
Resultat
Enligt studien är skälen till att svenska bemanningsföretag väljer att expandera till Norge främst de kulturella likheterna länderna emellan, samt de lukrativa möjligheter som finns inom den norska marknaden. Expansion till Norge görs vanligtvis med ett successivt tillvägagångssätt i linje med Uppsala-modellen. Inga större hinder med expansion har påvisats. Vidare visar studien att modellerna International New Venture och Born Globals inte är tillämpliga, medan teorin av Hofstede får visst stöd. De två intervjuade deltagarna stödjer dock Rundh‟s teorier angående internationalisering. Författarnas uppfattning är den egna modellen, utvecklad med hjälp av det empiriska materialet, även kan användas av företag i andra branscher för att få en överskådlig bild av de faktorer som kan komma att påverka valet gällande en eventuell utlandsexpansion. De måste dock vara medvetna om att de kulturella skillnaderna vanligtvis är större än då det gäller Sverige och Norge.
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Table of Contents
1
Introduction ... 1
1.1 Background ... 1 1.2 Industry portrayal ... 2 1.3 Problem Discussion ... 4 1.4 Purpose ... 4 1.5 Perspective ... 4 1.6 Delimitations ... 4 1.7 Definitions ... 5 Disposition... 62
Frame of reference ... 7
2.1 Introduction to the following theory ... 7
2.2 Social and cultural behavior ... 7
2.2.1 Cultural Diversity ... 7
2.2.2 Hofstede’s cultural dimensions ... 8
2.2.3 Social behavior ... 12
2.2.4 Entrepreneurship and culture ... 13
2.3 Ethnocentrism ... 13
2.4 Internationalization ... 13
2.4.1 Internationalization in general ... 13
2.4.2 An incremental approach ... 14
2.4.3 A direct approach ... 16
2.4.4 Human Resources and Human Resources Management ... 20
2.5 The Model ... 22
3
Method ... 25
3.1 Selection of companies ... 25
3.2 Research approach ... 25
3.2.2 Qualitative and quantitative data ... 26
3.3 Interview techniques ... 26
3.3.1 Pros and cons of using semi-structured interviews... 29
3.3.2 Anonymities ... 30
3.3.3 Interview structure ... 30
3.3.4 Facts about the interviews ... 31
3.4 Surveys ... 31
3.4.1 Pilot testing of Survey ... 32
3.5 Data collecting ... 33 3.6 Data quality ... 33 3.6.1 Validity ... 33 3.6.2 Reliability. ... 35
4
Empirical study ... 37
4.1 Introduction to interviews ... 37 4.1.1 Presentation of Company 1 ... 38 4.1.2 Presentation of Company 2 ... 38 4.1.3 Presentation of Company 3 ... 38 4.2 Company 1 ... 39vi
4.2.1 Introduction to interview with Company 1 ... 39
4.2.2 Before the expansion ... 39
4.2.3 After the expansion... 40
4.2.4 Social and cultural differences ... 41
4.3 Company 2 ... 42
4.3.1 Introduction to interview With Company 2 ... 42
4.3.2 Before the expansion ... 42
4.3.3 After the expansion... 43
4.3.4 Social and cultural differences ... 44
4.4 Company 3 ... 45
4.4.1 Introduction to interview with Company 3 ... 45
4.4.2 Before the expansion ... 45
4.4.3 After the expansion... 46
4.4.4 Social and cultural differences ... 46
4.4.5 Interview with Human Recourse specialist Mrs. Malm Jonasson ... 47
4.5 The survey ... 49
5
Analysis ... 51
5.1 Social and cultural differences ... 51
5.1.1 Power distance ... 51
5.1.2 Individualism ... 51
5.1.3 Masculinity-femininity ... 51
5.1.4 Uncertainty avoidance ... 52
5.1.5 Scott’s institutional theory ... 52
5.2 Internationalization ... 52 5.2.1 Incremental approach ... 54 5.2.2 Direct approach ... 55 5.3 Human Recourses ... 57
Conclusion ... 58
6
Discussion ... 61
6.1 Critique of study and method ... 61
7
References ... 62
8
Appendix 1 ... 66
8.1 Frågeställning ... 66
8.2 Questions (translated into English) ... 68
8.3 Appendix 2 ... 70
8.3.1 Enkätundersökning ... 70
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Table of Figures
Figure 1, Tables of Hofstedes cultural differences ... 11
Figure 2. Model for International New Ventures ... 18
Figure 3, The authors own created conceptual model ... 24
Figure 4, Model of differences of conducting interviews. ... 28
Figure 5, Multiple evidence model ... 34
Figure 6, Yin’s model of how to conduct a case study ... 36
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1 Introduction
This introduction chapter will start with a background to the problem statement and purpose. Furthermore the problem will be discussed where the authors will motivate their study. Finally, the delimitations of the study will be presented.
1.1 Background
In a time of financial crises, where the competition between companies is tougher than ever, organizations have to find a competitive advantage on the market to be able to compete and enhance their profits. Broadening your market and specialize your service are two ways of achieving competitive advantage.
In the 21st century, it is not uncommon with international businesses. One business that is starting to become international is the Swedish staffing business, as it has begun en-tering the Norwegian market with subsidiaries.
The Swedish staffing companies have, such as other businesses, faced a time when in-ternationalization is necessary in order to expand their businesses. More and more busi-nesses are going international as a way to expand.
It has been argued that a natural step is to expand to the most familiar markets first, in order to avoid uncertainty (Gooderham & Nordhaug, 2003). The advantages of going to your most familiar markets may be circumstances such as language and cultural similar-ities, but also financial and legal similarities could be beneficial (Gooderham & Nord-haug, 2003). Moreover, according to Hofstede´s research about cultural diversity Swe-den and Norway are very similar culturally (Gooderham & Nordhaug, 2003).
Furthermore, the Swedish market (as all markets) is limited in size. Ergo, when the orig-inal market is full, there will be a necessity for willing companies to expand their busi-nesses abroad in a way that maintains their competitive advantage without lowering their prices. By enlarging their market size, companies can increase their profits and stay competitive on the international market (Doyle & Stern, 2006).
When Swedish Companies are going international, an interesting aspect arises. How do Swedish companies handle an internationalizing process in terms of differences in so-cial behavior, cultural diversity and human resources? These aspects are espeso-cially in-teresting within the staffing industry where workers tend to go abroad and work for a shorter period. Social Behavior, cultural diversity and human resource are all aspects that are of importance when internationalizing, where people enter a new environment, trying to adapt.
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According to Henrik Bäckström (Almega, 2009) the staffing industry has an important role during the current financial crisis, especially concerning the high demand of recon-version of personnel.
Acting in a new environment often requires a social behavior that is different from the one previous used in the local environment. An interesting aspect when entering a for-eign and new market regards how differences in a social behavior will affect the busi-ness. This is visual in terms of different norms, schedules, rules and routines between different countries (Scott, 2004).
Those in international businesses tend to be surprised how people act in different cul-tures. Human instinct tends to make the mistaken assumption that people are all the same. Thus, to be able to make the right decisions in a foreign environment, the foreign culture must be taken into consideration (Hofstede, 2009).
The way the human resources are managed can affect all of the company‟s different stakeholders, not only the employees, moreover the customers, the owners, the society and other organizations (such as alliance partners). This is especially important in ex-pansions abroad. Social behavior and cultural diversity in a new country might be bar-riers that could be solved with human resource competence (Bohlander & Snell, 2009). This report will focus upon three major Swedish staffing companies that have made an expansion to Oslo, Norway. Their reflections regarding social behavior, cultural diversi-ty, human resourcing and other strategic issues when internationalizing will be covered. The authors‟ thesis will therefore be interesting and beneficial for all small to medium sized Swedish enterprises that are in the process of going international.
1.2 Industry portrayal
It is reasoned that the Swedish staffing industry was born in 1953, when the first Swe-dish staffing company was established (according to today‟s definition.) After being strongly regulated by the former laws, the Swedish staffing industry was deregulated in 1992. This was caused by new laws concerning employment, substituting the former regulations (Bemanningsföretagen, 2009).
In Sweden, the staffing industry contains about 380 companies and engages in total 59 000 yearly workers. The Swedish market reached a total turnover of 20.2 billion SEK in 2008 (Bemanningsföretagen, 2009). The corresponding figures of the Norwegian mar-ket shows about 400 companies and 26 000 yearly workers. The Norwegian marmar-ket is expected to reach a turnover of almost 14 billion NOK in 2008, recalculated into Swe-dish currency (exchange rate from December 2008) approximately 17 billion SEK (NHO Service, 2009).
The turnover 2008 was the highest ever within the Swedish staffing industry. The global financial crisis started to affect the Swedish companies during the last quarter of 2008
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and is now demanding other services from the staffing companies. The customers are getting new demands; the economy is restructured, the work places are rearranged which leads to new areas for the staffing companies (Almega, 2009).
The distribution of work today is today a billion industry where the work related go-vernmental purchase processes are central, a process where private owned staffing companies can contribute with competencies and great experience. The staffing industry has historically been an important factor in the bigger city areas. The latest trends show that other regions of Sweden are the most frequent users of staffing companies, espe-cially the regions of Northern Sweden and the middle of Sweden (Almega, 2009). An interesting question concerns why staffing companies exist and how they contribute to the society. According to a study made by Andersson & Wadensjö (2004) there are five different reasons why staffing companies exist. The first explanation says that the staffing companies are combining many part time jobs and binding them together into a full time job. Many companies need help a couple of hours per week or part time for a shorter period. In many cases, the employees want to work full time. Therefore, the staffing company will work as an intermediary between the two parts, to solve the issue. The second explanation states that it is expensive for a company to hire staff. There will be costs that will occur once, such as advertisement, selection, education etc. Instead, the staffing company will be responsible for the recruitment process and its costs, a cost that could be divided among several customers.
Furthermore, the study states that a staffing company can be better to find the appropri-ate competence, especially compared to smaller companies. The staffing company is responsible for the screening and gives suggestions to the customer.
A fourth explanation says that laws and policies make it expensive for the companies to dismiss people when different types of changes occur within the organization. The staff-ing companies can take the worker to another work place, instead of makstaff-ing the worker totally unemployed.
The last and fifth explanation mainly concerns the market in USA due to their regula-tions. This explanation concerns the fact that companies using staffing companies can reduce their personnel costs due to a cheaper health insurance (Andersson & Wadensjö, 2004).
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1.3 Problem Discussion
Rundh (2003) argues that even if the international market gives a company the opportu-nity to exploit its competitive advantages, the rate of change between markets has acce-lerated dramatically during the last decade. Furthermore, Rundh argues that the strategy of any organization will be shaped by the company‟s own capabilities and competen-cies, along with the competitive environment (Rundh, 2003).
Consequently, companies expanding abroad have to adapt to their new environment and market, in the authors case Oslo, as well as make use of their already gained knowledge about the market. Therefore, the planning before entering a new market will be essen-tial.
The difficulty within the author‟s research that needs to be resolved is specified in the following questions, regarding the market expansions made by Swedish staffing com-panies into Oslo, Norway.
1. Why do Swedish staffing companies choose to enter this market? 2. What strategies have been used?
3. Have cultural differences and similarities caused any barriers and/or ad-vantages?
These questions were what eventually led up to our purpose. To be able to answer these questions and the purpose the authors will create a conceptual model, which will be used as a tool to understand the connection between chosen theories and the expansion process of the staffing companies.
1.4 Purpose
Our purpose is to develop a model, based on theoretical framework regarding expansion strategies and cultural differences and see if it can explain the establishment of Swedish staffing companies in Oslo, Norway.
1.5 Perspective
The author‟s perspective will be from a Swedish point of view, of how it is for a Swe-dish staffing company to establish a subsidiary in Oslo, Norway. To get an insight in possible advantages with this expansion as well as identifying what barriers that has to be overcome in order to succeed.
1.6 Delimitations
For the reason that the interviewees were involved in the process of establishing the subsidiaries, and in addition to that, work for the Norwegian subsidiaries in question
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may make the interviewees biased towards a glorification of the internationalization. This is something the authors need to be aware of when doing their interviews.
The study will focus on what advantages and barriers might arise when a business chooses to broaden its market by going international and to see if this generalization of advantages and barriers can be applied to Swedish staffing companies broadening their market to Oslo, Norway. The paper will be delimited to see if this applies to Company 1 Company 2 and Company 3. The authors have chosen these three companies and will draw a general conclusion on the results from these companies experiences.
The authors will not focus on why choosing Oslo in front of other Nordic countries, such as Denmark, but rather discussing the advantages of choosing Oslo as a first movement when a Swedish staffing company wants to go international.
Furthermore, the authors will not be investigating the Swedish companies in general but focus on the Norwegian subsidiaries and there adaption to the Swedish company.
1.7 Definitions
Staffing company - Refers in this paper to companies that are leasing out personnel to other companies as their main operational business.
Advantages - The reasons to choose one alternative over another; what makes alterna-tive A preferable over alternaalterna-tive B.
Barriers - Obstacles and problems that are in some way related to the expansion or the development of the business.
Culture – The authors will use Hofstede‟s definition of „culture‟ throughout this paper. Culture is the collective programming of the human mind that distinguishes the mem-bers of one human group from those of another. Culture in this sense is a system of col-lectively held values (Hofstede, 2005).
Establishment process - According to the authors, this is the process of planning and executing an expansion, and further operating of the business in order to gain customers and to keep them.
Entrepreneurship - To organize, manage and assume the risks of a business or enter-prise (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2009).
Entrepreneurial expansion - Moving an already established business idea to another market (the authors own definition).
Company culture – “The unique pattern of shared assumptions, values, and norms that shape the socialization activities, language, symbols and ceremonies of people in the organization” (Jackson et al., 2009, p. 56).
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Disposition
Frame of reference:
The first chapter will present theories within the field of cultural and social behavior, interna-tionalization in general and two different approaches of international expansion.
Method
This second section will explain what methods the authors have used to fulfill our purpose.
Analysis
In the fourth segment, the authors will present their analysis of the empirical data.
Empirical study
In the third chapter, the authors will explain the process for a Swedish staffing company to es-tablish a subsidiary in Oslo.
Conclusion
In the fifth and final section the authors will give suggesting answers to the purpose and accor-dingly to the three questions that were presented in the problem statement.
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2 Frame of reference
This second chapter will present theories within the field of cultural and social beha-vior, human resources, internationalization in general and two different approaches of international expansion. Each theory will explain how it is adapted to international expansion. Finally, a summarizing model, created by the authors, will be presented.
2.1 Introduction to the following theory
In order to fulfill the purpose, the authors decided to take advantage of different theoret-ical models to gain a deeper understanding within the subject of international expansion. The theoretical models will be presented and explained, as well as motivated by an-swers as to why they contribute to the thesis. Previous studies within the subject will also be presented.
This theoretical part will be divided into three different sections. Thereafter, the part will be summarized in a conceptual model created by the authors.
The first of the three sections concern the cultural diversity, human resources, entrepre-neurship and the social behavior in a society when entering a new international market, which mainly involves theories by Gerard Hendrik Hofstede (more known by his nick-name Geert Hofstede) and W. Richard Scott.
The second section initially regards the internationalization process in general, as well as expansions that are done according to a well-known, Swedish model, called the Upp-sala model. Characterizing for this model is to expand incrementally rather than by making huge expansions and establishments at a single occasion.
The third and final theoretical section pushes, as opposed to the Uppsala model, for a more aggressive approach when entering a new international market. Thus, the result is an early and large expansion rather than a systematic approach.
When analyzing the empirical data, the chosen theoretical models will work as helpful tools to understanding the collected data and thereby be utilized to meet the given pur-pose.
2.2 Social and cultural behavior
2.2.1 Cultural Diversity
“If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to a man in his own language, that goes to his heart.” Nelson Mandela
The authors' interpretation on Mr. Mandela‟s quote is that it is easier to talk a man‟s own language, from a cultural view, if the new market is somewhat similar to your local
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market. Therefore, an expansion to your most familiar market could be a superior strat-egy for the reason that the cultural language is similar to your own market.
2.2.2 Hofstede’s cultural dimensions
Gerard Hofstede is a Dutch professor in social psychology. Towards the end of the 1960‟s he started a research within IBM‟s offices all over the world on employee atti-tude surveys. The results of these surveys and further research throughout the 1970‟s were published in the 1980‟s in Hofstede‟s Culture‟s Consequences (Hofstede, 2009). “Gerard Hofstede gathered extensive data on the world's cultures and we have gener-ated our impressions of that data into charts and graphs that help to better understand the many sublet implications contained in his raw data” - quote from Hofstede home page (Hofstede, 2009).
It is hard not to mention Gerard Hofstede when talking about cultural differences in businesses. When looking at Hofstede‟s cultural differences research, Sweden and Norway are rather close in all four categories used by Hofstede: power distance, uncer-tainty avoidance, individualism-collectivism and masculinity-femininity (Gooderham & Nordhaug, 2003).
Although Hofstede has taken a lot of criticism about his research (i.e. Hofstede´s re-search is entirely based on attitude-survey questionnaires - Gooderham & Nordhaug, 2003), the authors still feel that his research is worth mentioning considering that its comparative purpose is very efficient (Gooderham & Nordhaug, 2003).
Considering Norway and Sweden‟s similarities according to Hofstede‟s research and backed up with Johansson and Vahlnes‟ famous Uppsala model, the movement to Nor-way may be considered as a natural move. The authors will further explore this move-ment and discuss Rundh‟s writings from 2003 about the necessity for movemove-ment to neighboring countries in order to avoid uncertainty.
2.2.2.1 Power distance
The power distance dimension is regarded to with what extent less powerful members of organizations and institutions accept and expect that power will be distributed une-qually among its members (Hofstede, 2009). In a country with a large power distance, organizations are characterized by hierarchies and subordinates that are unwilling to challenge their superiors. Whereas in countries with small power distance the vice versa is the case (Gooderham & Nordhaug, 2003).
For comparison purposes, the authors have also included Belgium presented in a graph to show why it might be easier and more successful for Swedish companies to penetrate the market in Oslo, Norway instead of another market. The use of Belgium is only se-lected because it is significantly different from Sweden and Norway. The comparison with Belgium will not be followed up later in the paper; its only purpose is to give the
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reader a better understanding of the different dimensions used. Therefore, based on the assumption presented by Gooderham & Nordhaug, 2003 that expansions are preferably made to the most familiar market first the authors will explain why Norway is prefera-ble to Belgium (Gooderham & Nordhaug, 2003).
Ergo, as can be seen in the tables beneath, both Norway and Sweden have a power dis-tance approximately below 30 where Belgium is in the 60‟s on a scale where 100 is maximum. Therefore, the management style used in Sweden would consequently be more easily applied in Norway than in Belgium.
2.2.2.2 Individualism
Individualism deals with the degree to which individuals in a society are integrated into groups. On the individualist side, we find societies in which the ties between individuals are loose; everyone is expected to look after him or herself (Hofstede, 2009).
In organizations in an individualistic setting there will be a sharp distinction between work and personal life, furthermore individuals will prefer making their own decisions in an organization (Gooderham & Nordhaug, 2003).
Once again, the results of Sweden and Norway are close to each other in Hofstede‟s study.
2.2.2.3 Masculinity-femininity
The dimension of masculinity vs. femininity deals with the distribution of roles between the genders (Hofstede, 2009).
Scoring high in this dimension means that the society values competitiveness and mate-rialism, whereas scoring low shows more harmonious relations with strong emphasis on social partnerships (Gooderham & Nordhaug, 2003).
Gerard Hofstede‟s studies showed that women‟s values differ less among societies than men‟s values.
Hofstede claims in his research, that it is mainly men‟s values that differ from one coun-try to another. Hofstede says that men‟s values contain a dimension that is self-confident and competitive, which is very different from women‟s values of being mod-est and caring. As the quote below confirms (Hofstede, 2009).
“The self-confident pole has been called 'masculine' and the modest, caring pole 'feminine'. The women in feminine countries have the same modest, caring values as the men; in the masculine countries they are somewhat assertive and competitive, but not as much as the men, so that these countries show a gap between men's values and women's values” (Hofstede, 2009).
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As can be seen in the tables below, both Sweden and Norway score low in this dimen-sion and are therefore classified as feminine countries. It would doubtfully be harder for Swedish companies to open up their businesses in very masculine countries such as Belgium.
2.2.2.4 Uncertainty avoidance
Uncertainty avoidance deals with the question of whether a country is comfortable or uncomfortable in unstructured situations. Unstructured situations are unknown and dif-ferent from what is considered usual in the specific country (Hofstede, 2009). High scores in the Uncertainty Index infer that the culture has a strong demand for rules with-in the organization (Gooderham & Nordhaug, 2003).
As can be seen in the table below, this is the section where Norway and Sweden differ the most. According to Hofstede‟s study, Swedish organizations are in a greater need for rules than Norwegian organizations. From a Swedish point of view, the Norwegian market is still more preferable in contrast to the one of Belgium since Belgium has an even higher score than Norway.
2.2.2.5 Sweden versus Norway
In the tables below you can see how Sweden and Norway are very similar in all four categories, where PDI is Power Distance Index, IDV is Individualism Index, MAS is Masculinity-Femininity and UAI is Uncertainty Avoidance Index.
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Sida 12 av 73 2.2.3 Social behavior
Acting in a new environment often requires a social behavior that is different from the one previously used in the local environment. An interesting aspect when entering a foreign and new market regards how differences in a social behavior will affect the business. In the following section, the concept of social behavior will be presented. This concept does have various definitions and the authors have decided to present the con-cept according to W.R. Scott‟s institutional theory.
Scott‟s institutional theory (Scott, 2004) concerns how norms, schedules, and rules as well as routines can create a social behavior in a society –for instance, how these ments are built and adapted when entering a new market. These afore-mentioned ele-ments can therefore become a guideline for a social behavior in a new environment. Scott claims that companies and their employees have a tendency of trying to adapt to their new environment. Furthermore, Scott states that a social behavior will only be le-gitimated as long as its environment accepts it (Scott & David, 2007). The term institu-tionalizing means that the social reality is a constructed process where the act of the individual is a repeated process that gives meaning for oneself and its environment (Scott & David, 2007).
Norms, schedules, rules and routines are institutions that tend to be dissimilar in differ-ent countries. These elemdiffer-ents will work as a guide for how to behave in a new culture. For instance, what is the norm when borrowing money in one country or, how is one expected to drive a car in another country? (North, 1999)
Scott divides his elements into three different categories: 1. Regulative
2. Normative 3. Cognitive
Regulative elements involve rules, laws and sanctions that can influence a social beha-vior, both informal and formal. The normative includes social appropriateness and mor-al aspects. The third part, the cognitive element, concerns what could be “taken for granted” in a social environment (Hossam, 2005).
These three forces are, in a developed society, bounded together. All of them will affect an organization in a new environment. It is therefore important for an organization in a new environment to try to adapt to the social institutions as quickly as possible (Scott & David, 2007).
Sida 13 av 73 2.2.4 Entrepreneurship and culture
“Culture will defeat strategy every time” – Carl-Henric Svanberg, CEO Ericsson An entrepreneur is a concept for an innovative person, usually in the meaning of corpo-rate founder. In a broader sense, the term entrepreneur is used to describe a person that is a leading light and works hard to reach success (Entreprenörsriket, 2009).
The culture effect on entrepreneurship can be explained, somewhat simplified, by the fact that some countries/cultures have a greater tendency to encourage entrepreneurship than other countries (Thomas & Mueller, 1999).
Thomas and Mueller (1999) subsequently claim that entrepreneurship is linked to em-phasize levels of achievement, within the culture as well as the level of individualism that is in the culture.
As can be seen in figure 1, both Sweden and Norway are on the upper half of the index when it comes to individualism (Hofstede, 2009), which in turn would indicate that both Sweden and Norway are entrepreneurially friendly societies.
Thomas and Mueller claim that it is reasonable to believe that the culture in itself is what has formed these set of values and therefore culture is essential for entrepreneur-ship (Thomas & Mueller, 1999).
2.3 Ethnocentrism
De Mooij (2009) states that there is a risk of ethnocentrism when comparing cultural differences. Furthermore, he says that because of the fact that our own culture works as an automatic pilot we are all prisoners of our own culture. Thus, when we view another culture we do it from our own culture. We use our cultural patterns to perceive and clas-sify other cultures. De Mooij goes on by saying that “ethnocentrism refers to a tendency to feel that the home-country people are superior to people from other countries, that they are more intelligent, more capable, or more reliable than people from other coun-tries” (De Mooij, 2009, p. 51). This is a reason to be aware of ethnocentrism when comparing the Swedish culture against the Norwegian.
2.4 Internationalization
2.4.1 Internationalization in general
When companies want to expand their businesses and broaden their markets by going international, it appears that they tend to go to the closest markets/countries first in an attempt to adapt to the new markets as smoothly as possible, as the quote below con-firms:
“Internationalization is a slow process for most companies and it has often been a question of gaining experience of other countries step by step” (Rundh, 2003, p. 149).
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According to Rundh (2003), companies that find that their home market has limited opportunities for their businesses therefore have to seek new markets. When this occurs it is necessary for companies to reduce their uncertainty by moving to neighboring mar-kets.
When moving to a new market there may be new laws and regulations that in turn will open up new competition (Doyle & Stern, 2006). This may be a reason for moving to closer countries where laws tend to be more similar.
“Plans are nothing; Planning is everything” - Dwight D. Eisenhower
Going international comes with a lot of planning in order to succeed. Doyle and Stern argue that Eisenhower‟s quote is especially true when it comes to managers entering new markets. They say that the real value of planning is not to forecast the events but rather to get a comprehensive view of the new market (Doyle & Stern, 2006).
In addition, Doyle and Stern argue that competitiveness is about meeting the customer‟s needs better than your competitors in order to gain competitive advantage. Moreover, they argue that a company that does not possess competitive advantages will lose their market share or have to cut their prices (Doyle & Stern, 2006). This is an import aspect for managers to consider before entering a new market. Managers have to analyze the market that is the most suitable to expand to –where their competitive advantage is the largest.
When an English CEO for an insurance company decided upon expanding abroad, he said the following: “The US was the first establishment. It was natural because of the language, the legal and financial systems are pretty similar, and we are both members of an international network and you find many immigrants from our country there.” (Gooderham & Nordhaug, 2003, p. 149).
2.4.2 An incremental approach
In order to gain comprehensive overviews concerning the processes of establishing the subsidiaries, two well-known theories, or approaches, will be used.
When approaching market-entering strategies from two different angles, the pros and cons of an expansion will be easier to distinguish. The two approaches could be ex-plained as the two externalities when it comes to market entry strategies, one of them describing a slow step-by-step process, as the second one reflects a more aggressive approach.
Published by the Swedish professors Jan Johanson and Jan-Erik Vahlne in 1977, the Uppsala model describes how Swedish companies usually do when establishing busi-nesses abroad. According to the Uppsala model, Swedish companies preferably expand
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their businesses successively by making small steps, rather than making one huge ex-pansion and establishment at one single point in time (Johanson & Vahlne, 1977). In order to explain the differences between different countries, the Uppsala model uses the concept of psychic distance. It is defined as:
“The sum of factors preventing the flow of information from and to the market. Exam-ples are differences in language, education, business practices, culture and industrial development” (Johanson & Vahlne, 1977, p. 44).
The time required for the establishment of a subsidiary is said to be related to the psych-ic distance between the home and the host country (Johanson & Vahlne, 1977).
The concept of psychic distance is further translated into an index, taking all of the above-mentioned factors into account. Lead by Johanson and Vahlne, a team of re-searchers tried the index by conducting empirical studies including about 1000 foreign sales subsidiaries of Swedish manufacturing firms. The results of the investigation turned out to correspond to the psychic distance index (Blomstermo & Deo Sharma, 2003).
Another essential concept related to the Uppsala model is the concept of market com-mitment. Market commitment can be explained as a company's level of commitment to a specific market. It is further divided into two different factors: the degree of commit-ment and the amount of resources committed. The degree of commitcommit-ment concerns whether a company is dependent to a specific market or not. This dependency, or inde-pendence, can be caused by immobile facilities like factories or important contracts to specific customers. The amount of resources committed is the value of the investments made, i.e. marketing expenditures and investments in organization and/or personnel. One specific observation from the empirical study lead by Johanson and Vahlne, was that Swedish companies usually expanded internationally by setting up their first sub-sidiary in Norway, or any of the other Nordic countries (Blomstermo & Deo Sharma, 2003).
As the Uppsala model was published in 1977, it has been argued that the model might be outdated. Johanson and Vahlne (2003) are meeting the criticism in their article Busi-ness Relationship Learning and Commitment in the Internationalization Process: “We have a situation where old models of internationalization processes are still ap-plied quite fruitfully at the same time as a number of studies have suggested that there is a need for new and network-based models of internationalization. We think it might be worthwhile to reconcile and even integrate the two approaches.” (Johanson & Vahlne, 2003, p. 84).
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The article, published in Journal of International Entrepreneurship in 2003, can be seen as a refreshing complement to the original ideas of Johanson and Vahlne‟s Uppsala model, started almost 30 years earlier. It has been mentioned that the Uppsala model has been questioned and criticized by different researchers while the model lacks aspects when it comes to the important role of networking within entrepreneurship (Johanson & Vahlne, 2003). Consequently, Johanson and Vahlne seem to rethink their former ideas. In their article, Johanson and Vahlne explain the importance of networking and the learning process that comes with it. This learning process is due to all kind of business relations, which are divided into two different perspectives. These are business expe-rience and institutional expeexpe-rience, where business expeexpe-rience concerns the relation to customers, suppliers and partners and institutional experience refers to such factors as language, laws, regulations, and the authorities that are implementing laws and regula-tions (Johanson & Vahlne, 2003).
The aim of using these theories is not to further investigate what Johanson and Vahlne already have discovered. Instead, the model will be used in order to see whether the Swedish staffing companies have chosen to make an expansion according to the succes-sive process described in the Uppsala model or if they have made more drastic actions, trying to expand by using more aggressive strategies, as described below.
2.4.3 A direct approach
In opposite to the Uppsala model, where companies internationalize incrementally in an attempt to reduce uncertainty gradually for each market, other models have argued for other approaches (Madsen & Servais, 1997). Researchers have claimed that the Uppsala model is too deterministic and includes too many limitations. Another fact is that many companies do not follow the incremental approach, when doing an expansion abroad. The result has actually been the opposite, that companies from an initial stage have had an international approach, a more direct approach (Madsen & Servais, 1997).
A previous study made by McKinsey & Co. (1993) in Australia revealed that managers in a large number of companies had the whole world as their potential marketplace, al-ready from the initial start.
The American researchers Oviatt and McDougall (2007) define companies that already from the beginning have a worldwide perspective as International New Ventures. More specific:
“We define an International New Venture as a business organization that from incep-tion seeks to derive significant competitive advantage from the use of resources and the sale of outputs in multiple countries.” (McDougall, P. P., Shane, S. & Oviatt, B.M., 1994, p. 369)
For an International New Venture, although the company is started with only a small number of employees the goal and the strategy are aimed upon an early international
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expansion. A previous study made about 24 International New Ventures gave the clusion that none of listed companies had followed the traditional and the more con-servative viewpoint. The researches state that the incremental approach of internationa-lization does not explain why these kind of companies act on an international market (McDougall et al., 1994).
Research has also been done in the Nordic countries. A study conducted by Lindmark et al. (1994) followed 328 exporting companies within Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland. The report stated that the home market does not tend to be as important as old-er studies have shown, as well as the fact that many of the companies already from the beginning decided to expand abroad.
A framework presented by Oviatt and McDougall (1994) explains four important as-pects for an International New Venture to be able to exist. These four sections are com-bining entrepreneurship, international business and strategic management theory. The four elements are:
1. “Organizational formation through internationalization of some transac-tions”
2. “Strong reliance on alternative governance structures to access resources” 3. “Establishment of foreign location advantages”
4. “Control over unique resources”
The first element, Internationalization of some Transactions, says that organizations are formed when a market is inefficient and there is a lack of economic transactions. The market is imperfect (Coase, 1937). Hymer (1960) states that the internationalization element is an important factor when considering a foreign direct investment.
Alternative Governance Structures, the second element, states that new ventures tend to be too short of resources to own all their assets. Thus, new ventures often tend to own just a smaller percentage of their assets, in an attempt to survive. The management and the entrepreneur must consider other alternatives of controlling and owning their prop-erty and assets (Vesper, 1990).
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Figure 2. Model for International New Ventures.
Necessary and Sufficient Elements, for Sustainable International New Ventures.
The third element, Foreign Location Advantage, illustrates that a firm expanding to another country will meet disadvantages compared to the domestic firms. It could be trade barriers and difficulties in understanding language, laws and other business related issues (Dunning, 1988). To be able to overcome these advantages International New Ventures must rely on their knowledge. Due to modern communication, valuable infor-mation can rapidly be spread around the globe (Buckley & Casson, 1976).
The fourth and final element is named Unique Resources and states that an International New Venture must possess unique resources to be able to sustain competitive in the market (Barney, 1991). For an International New Venture is at least a certain percentage of their business a public good. Patents, copyrights and trade secrets could be used in-itially, but are in some countries even ignored. Therefore, being able to reproduce is highly important.
The concept of firms internationalizing at an early stage do have various definitions. Many authors have their own definition of these firms. Moen (2002) calls them for in-stance for Born Globals. He states that the two key factors that a Born Global company must fulfill are an engagement in exporting and that the expansion occurs shortly after start-up.
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Firms with a management clearly focused upon international expansion as well as a commitment to perform it will be classified as Born Globals (Moen, 2002).
An interesting aspect concerns why the concept of international expansions has changed. From the previous incremental approach to the more direct approach. Madsen and Servais (1997) states that the reason beyond this change is implemented in three interrelated sections:
1. New market conditions.
2. Development within technology, for instance transportation, production and communication.
3. People (the entrepreneurs) have more capabilities today.
New market conditions can be explained due to a higher need for specialization and therefore more markets with small niches. Companies are today constructing, producing and selling smaller and more specific details, which imply a broader market. The home market is thus too small. This is especially the case within the technology market where innovative products fast can be spread into the international market. The mutual cus-tomer needs and wants are today more similar around the world than before (Madsen & Servais, 1997).
Rennie (1993) claims that the Born Global concept mainly concerns small and medium sized firms, because the customers of today have more specialized and custom made needs. This factor leads to a smaller market with a higher demand for niche products. Development within technology has changed the international expansion process drasti-cally. Transportation for goods and people is today both cheaper and easier because of better travel facilities. Due to email, fax machines and other technical tools, the pre-vious problems of communication in an international market have decreased significant-ly. Over the last couple of decades, people have gained more international experience than before. The great amount of people visiting other countries, learning languages and meeting new cultures reduces the step of going abroad and increases the likelihood of people willing to work in a foreign country (Madsen & Servais, 1997).
Bell et al. (2003) state that the phenomena of Born Globals does not only concern newly founded businesses. The authors show evidence of firms that for a long time have fo-cused only on their domestic market suddenly start to focus on an international market. These companies are called Born-again Globals. Critical procedures, including a change of financial or individual resources, tend to be a reason due to this internationalization. More specifically this could be a new owner/manager, take-over of another firm with an international viewpoint or just their own insight that internationalization is needed.
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2.4.4 Human Resources and Human Resources Management
It has been problematic, to empirically prove the relationship between culture and the organization's performance and leaderships importance for the culture. Håkan Sven-nerstål (2007) argues that one cause for this is the lack of objective methods capable of evaluating the degree of performance with good reliability and validity. In other words, it means that the relationship is hard objectively to confirm. Håkan Svennerstål says it is enough with some degree of common sense to presume that the organization's culture will have an impact on how they are acting within the organization, which in turn leads to an impact on financial performance (Svennerstål, 2007).
When investigating the staffing industry, one must take the area of human resources (HR) into consideration. Jackson et al. define human resources to be “all of the people who currently contribute to doing the work of the organization, as well as those people who potentially could contribute in the future, and those who have contributed in the resent passed” (Jackson, Schuler & Werner, 2009, p. 14).
2.4.4.1 Human Resource Management
According to Jackson et al. (2009), the success of a company is highly dependent to the way the company is able to manage their human resources appropriately. All of the company‟s relations need to be handled respectfully (Bohlander & Snell, 2009). There-fore, regardless of the size of the company or in which industry the company is acting, it is important to manage the human resources effectively (Jackson et al., 2009).
Companies that are managing their human resources well can achieve competitive ad-vantages by letting the organization‟s human resources become a source of added value (Jackson et al., 2009). As human resources include factors as knowledge and expe-riences, one can easily understand that this kind of human capital increases as long as the employees are continuing to work. As described by Jackson et al.:
“Regardless of the specific work being done, the objective of effective human resource management is to maximize the value added by all employees. To achieve this objective, the organization must be staffed with the right employees doing the right things, at the right time and place, and under the right conditions” (Jackson et al., 2009, p. 12). Creating and keeping a strong company culture can work as a tool in order to keep the employees satisfied and productive (Jackson et al., 2009). This can be achieved by mak-ing use of policies, proper business practices and by managmak-ing the human resources properly.
Policies and business practices may vary considerably depending on the company, the employees, or the industry in which the company is running their business. Jackson et al. (2009) describe some of the most common and most important fields within human resource management. To recruit and retain personnel, select suitable employees for the
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job and the organization and to train and develop the workforce are all factors con-nected to the employees and their performance. To provide benefits and services, pro-mote workplace safety and health, and to offer unionization and collective bargaining are all factors that might increase the employees‟ satisfaction, something that keeps them working there for a longer time (Jackson et el., 2009).
It is important to create a company culture that is hard for other companies to copy. If being easy to copy, the company culture will not contribute to obtained competitive advantages in the way that otherwise might would have been possible (Bohlander & Snell, 2009).
2.4.4.2 Measuring Human Resources
First, it should be discussed, that the staffing industry and its employees get affected by human resource management out of two different perspectives. The employees are em-ployed by the staffing company at the same time as they are actually working at another company, which is the company hiring the services from the staffing company. Normal-ly, the employees do not work at the same geographical location as their actual employ-er, and they often have a closer cooperation and relation to the company that is hiring personnel from the staffing company.
Regarding the perspective of the hiring company, Fitz-enz (2002) describes what is said to be the best way to measure human resources regarding the staffing industry. He ar-gues that hired or staffed personnel are to be seen as “human assets”. The best way to measure human resources is therefore to look at it as an acquisition of talent, in the same manner as when evaluating other acquisitions, as with the case when for instance acquiring capital equipment, supplies or energy (Fitz-enz, 2002). The aim of measuring is to gain knowledge in the added value by choosing the option of hiring personnel, in comparison with the added value if employing the workers oneself.
It is further argued, that the human resources should be measured as to which degree the acquisition of talent has been effectively made. That is, managing the human resources has been effectively carried out, when it has not lead to any bigger obstacles or costs. The acquisition of talent is then meant to have been a success, regarding the perspective of human resources (Fitz-enz, 2002).
When measuring human resources from the perspective concerning the staffing compa-ny itself, Fitz-enz (2002) does not make acompa-ny differences between staffing companies and companies in other industries. This means, that the employees should not be looked upon as “human assets” in the objective way as previously described, rather as re-sources worth to invest in.
This is, according to Fitz-enz (2002) preferably done by making use of a measurement system, highlighting the performance of the employees. The achievements are then fol-lowed up and further investigated, in order to get an understanding whether the
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ences in performance possibly can be explained by successfully managed human re-sources or not.
Fitz-enz (2002) presents a measurement system that is designed to ease the measure-ment of how the human resources are managed.
1. Communicate performance expectations – to clearly state what is expected from the employees, in terms of costs, time, quality, quantity, customer sa-tisfaction and other measurable paragraphs.
2. See, feel and understand outcomes – not only the management, but also the employees must be able to understand how to meet the expectations, and why it is important to meet them.
3. Compare to standards and/or benchmarks – one must take standard meas-ures or benchmarks into account in order to understand the relative posi-tion in comparison with the competitors, either other companies on the market place, or other departments at the own company.
4. Identify performance gaps – at this point, it is possible to recognize poten-tial improvements that could develop the company and its market position, and to carry out these improvements.
5. Support resource allocation decisions – this is where the resources can be al-located within the company in order to develop the organization.
6. Recognize and reward performance – out from a human resource manage-ment perspective, it is important to show the employees appreciation for their performance, which easily might be shown by rewarding their achievements. Reward systems are preferably done by setting quantitative goals, which is easier to measure than qualitative goals.
Further, Fitz-enz (2002) argues that this kind of measurements do not have to be ex-tremely accurate. In research made concerning for instance pharmaceuticals or medi-cine, there is a need to be very accurate, since the research and the products otherwise could cause fatal outcomes. Regarding measurement of managed human resources, there will always be factors which not that easily can be taken into account. These fac-tors might for example be of more individual or market-related character.
2.5 The Model
The author‟s model is created in an attempt to summarize the chosen theories and con-nect them with the internationalization process of the staffing companies. The outcome
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of the model will result in a platform for the authors when creating the empirical framework. When creating the model, the first part corresponds to a staffing company without an international subsidiary, thus a domestic company. The last part corresponds to the same company after internationalization has been made. This should be seen as a chronological process.
The second part; “Triggers for internationalization” will cover the actual reasons of making an expansion abroad. Thereafter, the internationalization process will take place. This process will be affected by two different factors: conditions and actions. Conditions involve specific affection according to which industry it belongs to, in this case obviously the staffing company industry. It also involves social behavior and cul-tural diversity. In this thesis, social behavior refers to the institutional theory presented by Scott and cultural diversity to the studies of Hofstede. The social behavior and cul-tural diversity will be affected by the human resources within the company, in connec-tion with the specific staffing industry.
Actions refers to the strategies chosen by the staffing companies while going tional. This section will mainly include two different ways of approaching an interna-tional market. The first aspect refers to an incremental approach, supported by the Upp-sala model. The second aspect refers to a more direct approach, which includes the con-cepts of Born Global and International New Venture.
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3 Method
This chapter will explain what methods the authors have used to fulfill our purpose. Furthermore, we will explain our choice of collecting data in the form of interviews and surveys and how they are used, why they are feasible and what can be missed.
3.1 Selection of companies
Hence, the author´s majors have been within International management and entrepre-neurship, the area of International entrepreneurial expansion attracted the authors. In combination of wishes from the participating companies and the authors‟ thoughts of more open-minded interviews, backed up by Yin‟s theories of anonymity under 3.3.2, the decision was taken that all companies should be anonymous. The three companies are stated as Company 1, Company 2 and Company 3 throughout the report.
Company 1, Company 2 and Company 3 were chosen since all of them are Swedish staffing companies with subsidiaries situated in Oslo, and due to the fact that all of them are major actors within the Swedish and Nordic staffing industry. All of them do also have ambitions to expand their businesses further.
There are some slightly differences in terms of the size of the companies, but not of major concern. All of them are one of the biggest staffing company active within the industry and all of them possess a good reputation.
The amount of Swedish staffing companies that have made an expansion to Oslo is li-mited and we decided to choose three well-established companies instead of choosing small actors. These would give us a better platform for conclusions and generalizations.
3.2 Research approach
3.2.1.1 Inductive approach
“Research approach involving the development of a theory as a result of the observa-tion of empirical data” (Saunders, Lewis & Thornhill, 2007).
For research, projects were one plan to explore data and develop theories from them, is called an inductive approach. The inductive approach may still use a defined purpose and research questions and objectives, but one will not start with any predetermined theories or conceptual frameworks. According to Saunders et al., an inductive approach would mean that the researchers would start sampling data, such as interviews and ques-tionnaires to get a better understanding of the problem. Furthermore the researcher would try to make sense of the data collected by analyzing it, which in turn would lead up to a theory (Saunders et al., 2007).
Sida 26 av 73 3.2.1.2 Deductive approach
“Research approach involving the testing of a theoretical proposition by the employ-ment of a research strategy specifically designed for the purpose of its testing” (Saund-ers et al., 2007, p. 596).
For research projects were you use literature to identify theories and ideas and the using data to test these theories is an example of deductive approach. According to Saunders et al., a deductive approach is usually what we think of when we say scientific research. The researcher will start with a hypothesis from a theory and then the researcher will try to test the hypothesis by collecting data and not the vice versa as in an inductive re-search (Saunders et al., 2007).
The deductive approach involves some characteristics such as that one first chooses to explain relationships between two variables (Saunders et al., 2007). For example after seeing that Swedish staffing companies enters the Norwegian market and that the cul-tures are very similar. Consequently the researcher will develop a hypothesis, i.e. that the two variables might be related. Then to test this hypothesis the researcher does another characteristic, collecting quantitative data (Saunders et al., 2007).
The authors have chosen to use a deductive approach by looking at already established models on how companies choose to go international, and then see if the chosen models can be applied on Company 1, Company 2 and Company 3. It all started with the obser-vation that Swedish staffing companies are in fact opening up subsidiaries in Oslo, Norway.
3.2.2 Qualitative and quantitative data
In the last decade qualitative data has increased as a tool in academic and professional areas, it is due to a view that to understand human behavior and feelings it is insufficient to rely on quantitative surveys and statistics. Furthermore, that it is a necessity to use qualitative data to understand answers and behaviors (Holliday, 2007).
To fully comprehend all barriers as a Swedish company might face, such as culture dif-ferences, an interview will give the authors the chance to comprehend the answers from the interviewee. A survey will also be conducted to be able to gather more data regard-ing social behavior, cultural diversity and human resource.
3.3 Interview techniques
As this paper will be highly dependent on the empirical findings from the interviews with the personnel on the staffing companies, it is crucial to make the right choices con-sidering how to perform the interviews.
Interviews can, and should, be made differently dependent on the situation, and how the gathered data is going to be used and analyzed. The formality of the interviews can vary
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from being structured and formalized by using standardized questions, set up on fore-hand, or they can be made more as informal unstructured conversations (Saunders et. al. 2009).
Different types of interview techniques are commonly divided into three different cate-gories, dependent on the structure of them. These categories and the meanings of them are according to Saunders (2009) as follow below:
1. Structured interviews 2. Semi-structured interviews
3. Unstructured or in-depth interviews
Structured interviews are among these three categories the most formal form of inter-viewing. They are highly structured and make use of questionnaires with predetermined and standardized questions, identical for each one of the interviewees.
When conducting structured interviews it is important not only to read out the questions exactly as they are written, but also to use the same voice and the same emphasis on the words, in order to avoid any eventual form of bias.
Structured interviews are in general used in order to provide the interviewers with quan-titative data, and are therefore often referred to as “quanquan-titative research interviews”. As with the case of structured interviews, semi-structured interviews are predetermined and standardized, but not to the same degree. Usually broader areas and themes are pre-determined, rather than specific questions.
Semi-structured interviews make it possible to follow threads as new perspectives or facts that arise during the interview. The questions can vary from interview to interview, which eases the possibilities to get a deeper understanding from every single case of interest.
In opposite to the structured interviews, the semi-structured together with the unstruc-tured or in-depth interviews are qualitative in nature, rather than quantitative.
Finally, the unstructured interviews, also called in-depth interviews, are highly infor-mal. The interviewee here gets the possibility to talk more freely in order to explain his experiences or perceptions. Consequently, the unstructured interviews puts the inter-viewee in a more central role, where he or she easier can affect the interview towards covering the areas that are the most interesting ones within the topic investigated.
