The country I chose to talk about is Sweden, my home country. The first people arrived in this country about 10,000 years ago. They traded goods with the Roman Empire and were hunters and gatherers for the first two thousand years. The name "Sweden" means "The Land of Svea" and comes from a powerful warrior tribe from 500 AD. Sweden, as well as the other Scandinavian countries, is well known for its Vikings. These people lived between the 8th and 11th centuries and sailed the world raiding and invading cities and villages throughout the northern part of Europe. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Today Sweden has a population of 10 million people, which is 0.13% of the world's population. The capital of Sweden is Stockholm and is located in the middle eastern part of the country. It has a total area of ​​528,447 square km, making it the third largest country in Western Europe after Spain and France. Sweden is made up of 63% forest and 9% lakes and rivers. The currency is the Swedish krona, 1 USD is equivalent to 8.8 Swedish krona. It has a per capita income of 50,179 US dollars according to last year's statistics. The Swedish krona is a floating currency and is not pegged to any currency. Swedes rarely use cash, because we swipe our cards everywhere, making us increasingly a cashless society. There are many religions in Sweden, but the main religion is Christianity, with Evangelical Lutheran in particular. Children start school at the age of six and attend compulsory school for nine years. However, after that, most students continue their studies up to three-year upper secondary school, and after that, around a third of students continue their higher studies at universities in Sweden, but also abroad in other countries (Facts main on, 2018). Sweden has a very strong natural culture in many respects. An example of this is the tea or coffee break, called “Fika”, which is an integral part of the national culture. This means that a few times a day we sit down with our colleagues or family, depending on the day and where you are, to enjoy a cup of coffee and a pastry. This is so important to Swedes that many Swedish companies have even paid for “Fika breaks” a few times a day. Fika is considered a social institution and it is very common to go for a Fika on a first date for example. Another important event in Swedish culture is the annual Crawfish Party. This tradition takes place in August and people drink alcohol, eat lobsters with dill and potatoes and sing songs. This annual event was first celebrated only by the nobility in the 1500s, but today, due to the mass importation of crayfish which has drastically lowered their price, this event is celebrated at all levels of society. The Swedish attitude is known for its open-mindedness. Swedes are generally very welcoming when it comes to people of different sexualities or other religions. An example of the Swedish attitude is the “Jante law”, which is an unwritten law among Swedes. This is something that all Swedes live by and it basically means that we are all the same and that no one is better than the other. It is not common to brag about one's possessions or money, hence the Jante law. It doesn't matter if you are a CEO or a waiter, we are all considered equally valuable in society. To make the Jante Law clearer, every year Sweden publishes everyone's tax return to show to the public. So, if you wanted, you could easily verify the income of your neighbor or second cousin. This is one way to prove that no oneit is better than the other. A big part of Swedish manners, for example, is that you can't enter a Swedish house with shoes on. This would be considered rude and disrespectful to the person's home you are entering. Another important thing to remember when it comes to Swedish customs is that Swedes are known for being very reserved and not very talkative, which makes it understandable that Swedes are very fond of their personal space and feel very uncomfortable if someone intrudes into that space. Equality The relationship between men and women is also a strong belief in Swedish society and plays an important role in the country's values. Sweden is one of the world's leading countries in terms of gender equality. An example of this is that parents are entitled to get 16 months of paid parental leave and of these 16 months the man in the relationship must be at home with the new born child at least 3 of these months. Sweden is a constitutional monarchy country. We have our current king on the throne, Carl XVI Gustaf, who has been on the throne for 45 years. This is the most years a king has ever been on the throne in Sweden. In Stockholm we have the Royal Palace which is considered one of the largest palaces in the world and is still used for its original purpose, although the Palace of Versailles is slightly larger. The construction of the royal palace took place in 1967, immediately before the construction of Versailles (Sweden: 12 Interesting, 2016). The Swedish welfare system, also called The Swedish Model, was developed in the 1930s. This system allows all citizens to have access to publicly funded child care, education, healthcare, jobless aid, and at least five weeks of paid leave each year. To receive these benefits, all Swedish citizens must pay approximately 33-35% taxes on their income to the government. This rate varies depending on the area of ​​the country you live in and also how much money you earn. This is a country with parliamentary democracy, which means that the public is the main force of power. Sweden holds elections every four years. The last elections took place in 2014 and elected the current Prime Minister Stefan Löfven. This year, new elections will be held in the autumn (The Swedish System, 2018). In Sweden, political decisions are made at three different levels: the central government, county councils and municipalities. There is also another level of decision-making since Sweden is part of the European Union, which plays a higher role than the central government. Sweden has been part of the European Union since 1995 but to date has not yet decided to adopt the euro as its national currency. Since Sweden is part of the United Nations, we have agreed to the EU free trade area, which means that free trade agreements within European countries save consumers billions of dollars in taxes, tariffs and customs checks. Sweden is a mixed economy considered highly competitive and successful. Sweden is considered the seventh most competitive country in the world, and as far as the World Bank is concerned, Sweden is ranked as the tenth easiest country in the world to trade with (Sutherland, 2018). Something very unique to this country is that Sweden has some radio and television channels that are not owned or operated by the government. Citizens must pay an annual fee to operate these channels, which are seen as a form of public service. The reason for these channels is to work for democracy as an unbiased way to provide information to people. As you may understand, democracy is very important in Sweden. To protect democracy, four basic laws were created. These laws serve as a framework for eachtime decisions are made in the country. It is also worth mentioning the very low level of corruption in Sweden, in fact Sweden is one of the least corrupt countries in the world (Sweden's Fundamental Four, n.d.). In Sweden everyone has to pay taxes on their income. Depending on where you live in the country, this rate ranges from about 33% to 35%. Even though it seems like a rather high rate, it is important to know that all citizens have free healthcare, free education, provided pension, childcare, paid parental leave etc. for all citizens required to pay taxes. Sweden has always been a very neutral country when it comes to war and politics. Some politicians from this country have obtained jobs internationally as mediators between conflicting countries due to the countries' well-known characteristics as excellent peacekeepers. In the world, Sweden is the 32nd largest export economy, with exports around $133 billion and imports around $131. billion dollars, which translates into a positive trade balance of 2.39 billion dollars. Sweden's GDP is $514 billion and its GDP per capita is $48.9 thousand (O, n.d.). What Sweden is best known for exporting are automobiles, with an annual export rate of around $7.22 billion. This country is also known for exporting refined petroleum ($6.19 billion), packaged medicines ($5.77 billion), vehicle parts ($4.97 billion), and kaolin-coated paper (2 .95 billion dollars). The main destinations for Swedish exports are Germany, Denmark, the United States, Norway and the United Kingdom (O, n.d.). Regarding imports, the goods that Sweden imports the most are cars (8.97 billion dollars), vehicle parts (5.5 billion dollars), crude oil (5.46 billion dollars), petroleum refined ($4.78 billion) and computers ($3.52 billion). The countries from which Sweden imports the most are Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway and Belgium-Luxembourg. The countries with which Sweden can border by sea are Germany, Denmark, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland and Russia. Finland and Norway border by land (O, n.d.). Sweden is the fourth most complex country in the world, with an ECI (economic complexity index) of 1.86. The number of exports with comparative advantage is 320 products. This means that the share of global exports is larger than expectations arising from the size of the exporting economy and the size of the global market for a product (O, n.d.). Sweden is well known for its sustainable development and many countries see Sweden as a model in this regard. In the early 1990s, Sweden switched from oil to district heating. This may be the most important reason why Sweden has managed to reduce greenhouse gases, both in the service and real estate sectors. Today, more than 80% of Swedish apartment buildings get their heating and hot water through district heating. Additionally, leftovers from lumber factories, such as bark, branches and sawdust from local forestry industries, are burned to generate energy and heat. This was a great success in reducing CO2 emissions. Urban farming is also very common in Sweden. Many Swedes share a piece of land to grow fruit and vegetables. These pieces of land are scattered across the country and play an important role in sustainable development. Instead of buying fruit and vegetables, many Swedes do their best to plant and harvest them themselves. Additionally, many offices and other buildings use solar energy to heat buildings during the coldest part of the year, in summer, they try tousing people's body heat and the sun to keep buildings warm, rather than using whatever energy is required. heating option (7 examples, 2016). Regarding Sweden and its tariffs, this country applies European customs laws and regulations. It also applies to common customs tariffs from the United States and other countries outside of Europe. Products entering Europe must be declared to customs When products enter the EU, they must be declared to customs according to their classification. Customs duty can range from 0 to 20% on industrial products imported into Sweden. When it comes to importing food, duty rates can be higher as they are based on the weight of the goods. To know how much to pay at customs you need to keep the following in mind; the transaction value which includes the product price, transportation price and insurance price. Most goods imported into Sweden are also a problem for VAT, which is a value added tax. The value added tax rate is generally 25%. It can have a lower rate of 12% for some services such as food and 6% for books and magazines (G, n.d.). In Hofstede's research, the first part of the cultural levels I want to talk about is power distance. Sweden scores low on this dimension. What characterizes Sweden in this part is that Sweden is very independent, it uses hierarchy only for convenience and also, Sweden strongly believes in equal rights. Teamwork is key in Swedish culture and managers really depend on the knowledge of their team members. In Sweden you call your managers (including teachers) by name. Communication between people is very direct (Sweden, n.d.). When it comes to individualism, Sweden scores a 71. This means, for example, that people are expected to take care of themselves and only their immediate family members. In an individualistic society, the offense will cause great guilt and even a loss of self-esteem. The relationship between worker and employer is based on mutual benefits. Any decisions involving hiring and promotions should be based on merit alone. For this reason the corruption rate in Sweden is very low (Sweden, n.d.). Sweden scores a 5 on the male/female dimension. Therefore, Sweden is considered a feminine society. For a feminine country it is important to keep personal and working life in balance. To apply this to a manager, the manager should be supportive and understanding towards employees and any decisions made should be reached by involving everyone in the workplace. As a manager in a female country, you should fight for equality for your employees and make sure they have quality in their working life. Any conflicts that may arise should be resolved through negotiations and compromises, for which the Swedish people are known; discuss issues until a mutually beneficial agreement is reached. The whole Swedish culture is based on something called “lagom”, and that basically means that things should not be too much or too little, everything should be correct. The term lagom ensures that everyone has enough and that no one is left empty-handed. The next level is uncertain avoidance, for which Sweden scores very low. This means that Sweden maintains a more relaxed attitude when it comes to life. Although being punctual is very important for Swedes, they like to have flexible hours and do not work more than they have to. As much as Swedes like to have a good job and work, it is also important to embrace, live life and..