Abstract

Background

Companies today are becoming more and more internationalized. In their home countries they have already established strong brand recognition and a strong image. This image is in turn visible in their advertising. As Swedish companies travel abroad some aspects have to be adapted to the new culture. A culture viewed as very different from the West is the Japanese culture. Swedish companies entering this culture must adapt in many ways in order to reach the Japanese consumers. Some companies with well established images might not be willing to make some of the adaptations.

Purpose

The purpose with this thesis is to establish if Swedish companies who have established themselves in Japan have to change their image through advertising in order to match the culture.

Method

This gathering of empirical data in this thesis was performed through a qualitative method. Six companies were contacted for phone interviews. Five of these companies were Swedish companies established in Japan and one of them was a Japanese company established in Sweden. All interviews were conducted with people in managerial positions. As a compari-son between Sweden and Japan, ads for each company were also used in order to make our conclusions.

Results

This thesis will show that most likely, Swedish companies must to some extent adjust their brand images to fit the Japanese culture. These adaptations are viewed mainly through their advertising efforts though also through their service and product improvements.