Internationalisation of companies

Sammanfattning: Since the disintegration of the Soviet Union all conditions and principles for doing business in the area have changed. The shift from a planned economy to a market economy is connected with rapid and basic changes in political, social, economic and technological conditions. The Baltic countries Estonia, Latvia andLithuania are going through a gradual transition and the decrease of central economic power leads to the liquidation of state monopolies. The markets of the Baltic is giving great opportunities for Western European companies since the Baltic is a good springboard to the more Eastern European markets, which consists of over 400 million possible customers.The Baltic countries is not a homogeny group, they have different language, culture and history. Western European companies need to be aware of this facts if they are going to become successful with their establishments. The Western European companies choose different entry modes in order to fulfil their international ambitions. The entry mode signals to host governments and to competitors the companies ambitions in the hostcountry. For the majority of companies the most significant international marketing decision they are likely to take is therefore how they should enter new markets. The purpose of the study is to explain how foreign companies strategies theoretically match the Baltic countries strengths and weaknesses and what kind of entry modes provides a good match between the investor´s strategy and the local attractiveness.