eThesis - School of Business electronic theses

The aim of this research is to investigate what kind of values are important to transfer when setting up a new subsidiary, in order to ensure successful performance of the subsidiary. In addition to this I examine how the culture influences the success of a new subsidiary. I also examine which mechanisms should be used during the transfer and what kind of factors enhances and support a successful transfer of the values. The empirical study is conducted by doing interviews with nine employees from the case company Meltwater Group.

This thesis reviews research on organizational culture and values as well as research regarding methods for transferring the culture over boarders. Several methods for transferring the culture, such as HRM processes, socialization, using cultural hubs, through employee transfers, by using expatriates, by organizing workshops and through internal and external communication are also presented.

The process of transferring values in the case company was in line with the methods presented in the literature. A higher emphasis was though put on a holistic approach, where the culture was put at centre of every activity. The biggest theoretical contribution of my research is the fact that certain employee specific mechanism influence whether the values are transferred successfully or not, such as for example success in the beginning, how close the organizational values are to those of the new recruit, trust towards the manager, how compellingly the values are communicated and how strong in terms of culture the founding team are. The results also indicates that it is important for managers to pay attention to values that are not stated as formally being the company's core values as these might not be incorporated into HRM practices and other processes in the same way as the stated values are.