Lost in translation : a case study of three Swedish food processing firms on export

Abstract: In 1995 when Sweden entered the European Union (EU) conditions in the market changed. Swedish food export has increased since then but the share of total production exported is lower within the food industry compared to other production industries in Sweden (Livsmedelsföretagen, 2015). There are opportunities to explore but also challenges and research shows that food in particular is hard to transfer since it is highly integrated in a culture (Azar, 2014, Buisson, 1995 and Ghemawat, 2001). This case study has been conducted in order to understand what opportunities and challenges Swedish food processing firms encounter in foreign markets. The aim of this study is to develop an understanding of the perceived opportunities and challenges that Swedish food processing encounter when communicating values embodied in their products in export markets. These values are attributes that are hard or even impossible to evaluate before and after consumption like organic and sustainable production and refered to as credence attributes (de Chernatony et al, 2000 and Lindh & Olsson, 2010). Three firms have been studied and firm representatives have been interviewed. A theoretical framework built on theories of internationalization, psychic distance, added value, asymmetric information and communication for brand perception is presented and used to explain empirical findings. This study shows that firms have challenges when communicating credence attributes in the domestic and foreign markets. Depending on who the receiver is, more or less of information can be communicated, where awareness and knowledge are the two fundamental aspects that reduces the challenges. Technical production methods are more suited for verbal communication where there is time and opportunities for questions. This study further shows that contacts within a network are more influencial than psychic distance when new export markets are evaluated.