1)
The short background of the thesis provides readers with a brief information about current
state of Chinese economic environment. Further on, it also describes a situation surrounding
Chinese international trade as well as some of its roots, which led to current challenges. The
section clearly establishes a picture of China as a country, which is willing to move its
internationalization forward and achieve success on foreign markets using specified strategies
such as Made In China 2025. However, the information presented about MIC25 could have
been somewhat broader in order to explain its exact functions and the level of governmental
involvement in companies’ internationalization. In the mind of an average European the
image of China is likely to be that the government has very deep ties and strong level of
control over big companies. Therefore, one may assume that if this strategy governs the
internationalization process, it might also cover the issue of branding strategies and provide
recommendations to how companies should proceed with their image creation. Nevertheless,
the overall function of the background is well performed, and information provided in the
section is sufficient for further dive into the thesis.
It should be noted that the appearance of car industry in the thesis initially created a small
level of confusion for the reader. However, the problem presented during past seminars is not
eliminated. Delimitations section makes it clear that the work presents the perspective of
automobile companies thus tying them closer to the overall vision of the thesis.
Overall, the first chapter efficiently communicates the background of the problem, its
discussion as well as the purpose of the entire thesis.
2)
The chapter presents a strong selection of theories with relevant interconnection with one
another. However, one particular subsection seems to be out of order, that is 2.1 While it
definitely presents relevant data, the argumentation and overview of presented research
materials are good, it hardly falls in the category of theories. The question to be discussed is
whether this part could and/or should be moved into the First chapter as a part of problem
discussion or background. This is due to the text presenting a good evaluation of ideas from
various resources, but very vaguely contributing to the framework of the thesis from the
conceptual point of view. Conceptual framework starts with presentation of stigma, discussed
through resources mentioned in 2.1 However, the stigma itself is not a theory, but would fit
perfectly into the problem discussion.
Furthermore, the stigma although is discussed in the description of conceptual framework
model, is not present on the picture itself. Therefore, although it is perceived as a starting
point, its presence in the second chapter specifically is further questioned.
Overall, literature review presents a good selection of in-depth studied theories. They are
later connected into a clear and well-developed theoretical framework, which is explained
through text and provides a good understanding of authors’ thinking process as well as the
direction of following research.