Who wants to be a Brazilionaire? : Deciphering the mystery of jeitinho and how it may influence Swedish companies doing business in Brazil. 

Sammanfattning:

The purpose of this thesis is to provide a deeper understanding of how the Brazilian cultural phenomenon of jeitinho affects Swedish companies that are doing business in the Brazilian market. In order to conduct this research, relevant aspects of the phenomenon has been identified and consequently analyzed in relation to entry strategies and intercultural relationships. By following a qualitative research method, a deeper understanding of the phenomenon and how it affects Swedish companies can thereby be acquired. The thesis has followed a deductive research approach, due to that the research area was considered to be rather unexplored, and thus a better pre understanding of the research area seemed warranted. 

The literature review that has been established in this thesis includes theories related to internationalization, culture, relationships and jeitinho as a cultural phenomenon. The literature review has resulted in a conceptual framework, which demonstrates the relations between the different theories. This conceptual framework has thereafter been used in order to analyze the empirical data, which has been derived from multiple case companies. The empirical findings are then presented in the following chapter. 

The analysis chapter involves a discussion of the differences and similarities between theory and empirics, and is structured in accordance with the conceptual framework. The following and final chapter of the thesis presents the conclusions that have been derived from the analysis and further contains implications, recommendations, limitations as well as suggestions for further research. The main theoretical implications that this thesis has resulted in, involves filling the research gap as well as a definition of the phenomenon of jeitinho in a context of international business. The main practical implication is that an understanding of jeitinho may not be required, although it can facilitate the business operations of Swedish companies in the Brazilian market. As this thesis introduces the phenomenon of jeitinho in a new context, it can be regarded as highly original. Furthermore, the research can be valuable for Swedish companies that have entered, or plan to enter the Brazilian market.