Corporate Foreign Policya Case Study On Swedish Companies’ Foreign Strategy For China And Media’S Impact

Abstract: Title: Corporate Foreign Policy - A case study on Swedish companies’ foreign strategy for China and media’s impact Authors: Dmitry Stark, Jialing Guo, Yassine Adrou Supervisor: Professor Tony Fang Introduction: The long-established apolitical stance taken by companies worldwide is coming to an end. In an unstable globalized world, those that do not develop a thorough geopolitical blueprint will be shaken by financial turmoil. Diplomacy, political knowledgeand relevant data are increasingly valuable strengths for this era’s most successful firms. Ingathering information on the world around us to make decisions, the corporate world shouldbe aware of the importance and challenges of the media. In an attempt to uncover theemergent Corporate Foreign Policy (CFP) field of study, this thesis combines geopolitics andmedia in an organizational approach within a case study on Swedish companies linked with  China, the world’s largest and most important market.Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to contribute to the existing knowledge of CFP by investigating the negative media coverage of China in Sweden and the managerial approach taken by the Swedish companies to shape a Corporate Foreign Policy accordingly.Methodology: Based on a abductive case study approach, this thesis gathered data throughout the use of seven semi-structured online interviews. In conformity with qualitative research’s modus operandi, thematic analysis has been applied to dissect data in line with the developed theoretical framework. Conclusion and contribution: The findings specified that the researched companies are aware of the impacts from the media. The respondents have general bias perception - aprimarily negative perception - towards Swedish media. Therefore, the Swedish media doesnot impact the strategic decisions for Swedish companies who are linked with China. The companies have a generally good relationship with their Chinese partners. Although all companies do not have any specific CFP in hand, a positive correlation between a company’s international experience and geopolitical due diligence appears to exist. The older and largera company is, the better are its foreign markets’ geopolitical assessments. We believe that this research would push CFP one step further in the companies’ eyes and the academic field and inspire further research on the correlation between media and CFP.