The relationship between culture and entry strategies is more complex than the initial research question rendered. Overall, cultures are considered to impact the entry process in two ways: 1) The inter-personal relationship development and the building of network and 2) The degree of cultural sensitivity of the prod-uct.
From interviews it is suggested that culture, and shorter cultural distance is an enabling factor in develop-ing relationships, positively influencdevelop-ing internationalization. This was further supported by case interviews
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with two companies. Cultural distance is not just a question of distance, but its importance is moderated by Home and Host country factors. Canada’s openness and multi-cultural attitude is a moderating factor pre-sumably having positive effect. Several other factors of Home and Host country nature is expected to exist as well. Factors moderating the relationship of cultural distance likely extend to the level of the individual.
The relationship between cultural distance and effect on entry strategies might not have a linear effect, as very small differences are subject to a perceptive bias, which can make people overlook differences. A bias from the individual might expand into the knowledge, and assumed knowledge of another country. This means that perceptive measures of cultural distance might be better for accurately predict the influence of culture on entry strategies.
It is found that culture influences products differently, so the potential advantage, or disadvantage in entry strategies is dependent on the nature of the product. Illustrated through the differences of fashion prod-ucts, Concrete component and parts for windmills. This suggests that cultural sensitivity varies across B2C and B2B, Consumer products is likely to have a higher degree of cultural sensitivity.
Conclusion: It is considered likely that culture positively influence internationalization strategies, The effect of culture is stronger for companies with products witch are cultural sensitive.
C
ANADA AS ANA
LTERNATIVEE
NTRYS
TRATEGYThat Canada can serve as an alternative entry country into the North American market is considered highly plausible, particular for SME, as cultural similarity can help mitigating uncertainty. This relationship is mod-erated by the conditions mentioned above as well as any unique industry or business elements. Canada presents similar cultural values and has openness in the society, which can benefit companies in developing networks and finding opportunities. The smaller market size can also benefit companies’ penetration and required capital. The inter-relation with the American market will, for some products, be relatively easy to exploit, but harder for others. Differences between social and business culture in their ability to transcend border will influence such, but the influence is not clear from this study. Though an initial establishment in Canada will work as a foundation for building network ties across the border and generate market knowledge.
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F URTHER R ESEARCH
The interviews and following discussion opened up several new research areas, which would benefit fur-ther research, both in relation to Canada as an entry country, the relationship between market entry and culture and cultural research clarification of the concept of culture will have a broader appeal. A multidisci-plinary study, with the aim of creating a unified framework and definitions based on aggregated knowledge seems to be a cornerstone in moving forward.
In relation to the influence of culture on entry strategies has 3 main areas: 1) research into differ-ence/similarities between social- and business culture would greatly increase the understanding and knowledge base. 2) Studies of cultural sensitivity of products 3) Studies into the influence of personal bias and perception on culture among managers.
The difference in measuring culture suggests that further research focusing on indirect measures might be of interest. Cultural research could look at leveraging big data, such as social media, media consumption with geotaging would offer brand new perspectives on cultural variation. This could shed light on the dif-ference between region/country/urban/suburban and countryside cultural difdif-ferences.
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