In today’s world, globalization is increasing where countries economy and companies are becoming more dependent on each other. When firms seek to invest and do business internationally, there will be hinders that prevents them to invest and do business with other countries. This thesis deals with the barriers of doing business for Swedish companies in the Indian market. India is a large and rising economy while Sweden is a small and export-oriented economy. The establishment of Swedish companies in the Indian market would benefit both the countries in several ways.

The purpose of this study was to create a better understanding of the barriers of doing business for Swedish companies in the Indian market. This thesis was carried out with a qualitative research strategy with an abductive approach. The empirical findings were collected via primary data through interviews with four companies Håkansson Sågbad AB, Absolicon AB, Indpro AB and an anonymous company.

The theories to do business in international market (Leonidou’s external barriers and previous research) and Hofstede’s five Cultural dimensions were studied. Based on the theories it was expected that governmental, political, keen competition abroad, slow collection of payments from abroad and cultural differences (power distance, individualism vs. collectivism, masculinity vs. femininity, uncertainty avoidance, and time orientation) are the barriers of doing business in foreign markets.

Empirical findings were drafted based on the data collected. The analysis showed that the major barrier of doing business in India was the high level of bureaucracy, poor infrastructure and political instability. Based on the theories and the empirical findings, conclusions were drawn that the major barriers of doing business in the Indian market was the high level of bureaucracy, political instability, poor infrastructure, foreign currency exchange rate, slow collection of payments and the cultural differences