To discover Kurdistan : How Swedish companies have handled the Kurdish market

Abstract: The objective of this thesis is to find factors that can be helpful for Swedish companies that are thinking about entering the Kurdish market. The Kurdish market is a new and growing market in a region that is in its development phase. The Kurdish region has an area of 88 000 km2 and is located in northern Iraq and the languages spoken in the region are mainly Kurdish and Arabic. Since the fall of the Saddam Hussein regime in 2003 the region has made an effort to attract foreign investors to the region. The efforts include laws designed to make it easier for investors to establish themselves on the Kurdish market. We thought it would be interesting to examine the Kurdish market to find out important factors that might be of interest for Swedish firms. In a globalized economy it is important to internationalize in order to meet the competition that comes from a globalized economy. So what factors could constitute an obstacle for a successful internationalization to the Kurdish market? Through contact with representatives from Kurdistan regional government (KRG) we have managed to interview four Swedish firms that already have established themselves on the market. We have used a semi-structured interview technique to conduct the interviews. To get a perspective on how the internationalization process progress, we have gathered information about the process. This information resulted in an interview guide that covered the aspects of internationalization and was a useful tool for us during the interviews. As a result from our investigation we conclude that the Kurdish market is a promising market if your company is active in the right field of business, though there are some issues that one has to be aware of and it is important to handle these correctly for a successful business on the market. Through our analysis we have contributed with some new aspects that are specific for the Kurdish market and may also be of importance on other markets as well.