Swedish MNEs’ risk, void, and distance management : A thematic content analysis of three MNEs’ 2007 to 2021 annual and CSR reports.

Sammanfattning: In this study, we have identified a gap in the existing literature regarding post-entry management of infrastructural and institutional voids, risks, and distances related to establishing foreign operations in uncertain markets. It is in existing literature well-established how firms internationalize their operations, what entry modes they use, and what the drivers for internationalizing one's operations are. There is further a vast amount of literature discussing eventual challenges concerning risk and cultural/psychic distance in relation to internationalization. Our aim with this study has been to combine existing literature with our findings to investigate the means of how Swedish MNEs overcome post-entry infrastructural and institutional voids, risks, and distances when entering uncertain markets. A thematic content analysis was used on fifteen years worth of annual and sustainability reports from three Swedish MNEs respectively along with a comparative analysis. Our analysis indicates that the three Swedish MNEs, in general, experience the same kind of voids, risks, and distances and take similar actions to overcome those challenges.