Headquarter Services in the Global Integration of Production

This study examines knowledge management within multinational enterprises (MNEs) by analyzing whether greater interdependence of production between U.S. parent firms and their foreign subsidiaries increases the provision of headquarter (HQ) services from the home country. The findings suggest that U.S. parents provide more assistance to their foreign subsidiaries that are linked in a global value chain than to those that are not involved in production sharing. This study builds on the earlier studies of the relationship between intra-MNE product flows and knowledge flows in multiple ways. First, it separately examines the relationship for high-tech and low-tech manufacturing industries, and finds that knowledge services from HQ that could be combined with knowledge of the subsidiary, such as R&D services, are primarily associated with production sharing with subsidiaries in high-tech manufacturing industries, which are assumed to be more technologically capable. Likewise, it finds that knowledge services from HQ that might be considered to be more passively received from the parent, such as industrial-type maintenance and design, are primarily associated with subsidiaries in low-tech manufacturing industries, which are assumed to be less technologically capable. Second, this study is the first one, to our knowledge, that gauges intra-firm knowledge flows using dollar-denominated measures of HQ services provided by parents to their subsidiaries.     

Does attention from headquarters influence subsidiary behavior? A social psychological perspective

Prior research has not explored fully the effect of headquarters (HQ) attention on subsidiary behavior. We address the gap via a social psychological lens, proposing that subsidiaries with more HQ attention often deal with higher performance expectation in terms of contributing towards the MNC, and thus, they tend to have a greater participation in the activities that can demonstrate such contribution. We test the idea in the context of MNC knowledge flows, hypothesizing a positive correlation between HQ attention and a subsidiary's reverse knowledge, and further the moderation effects of a subsidiary's shared vision and local market performance. Results lend support for the model. The study introduces a novel perspective of how HQ attention may influence subsidiaries, as well as the importance of attention allocation for the multinational corporation (MNC).     

跨国公司子公司自主性活动研究——从有限理性角度的分析

在跨国公司(MNCs)子公司演进模型中,子公司有着明显的自主愿望,自主权可以超越母公司的控制,引起对闲置资源的很大兴趣,激发子公司的积极性和创造性,但母公司也常常担心子公司的自主行为带有投机性,有可能偏离母公司的资源配置目标,使得MNCs迷失方向。而本论文认为母公司的有限理性是管理子公司自主性活动的主要交易成本,而非子公司的机会主义,母公司除了利用传统的克服机会主义的控制和协调工具之外,还应当重视使用内部市场机制和社会化方法,来减轻母公司的有限理性约束,形成母子公司间共同的认知地图,达成有意义的双方互利的联盟,从日益增多的子公司自主性活动中受益。     

海外子公司内外部网络的知识获取对企业绩效的影响研究

本文以在华韩国企业为对象分析了从母公司获取的知识和本地获取的知识对海外子公司绩效的影响.研究结果发现,从母公司获取的知识和本地商务知识对子公司绩效有直接的正向影响,但本地制度知识对子公司绩效没有显著影响.此外,从母公司获取的知识和本地制度知识对子公司绩效有互补效应,但是从母公司获取的知识和本地商务知识的交互效应对子公司绩效有负向影响.这说明,从母公司获取的知识、本地商务知识和本地制度知识对海外子公司绩效都有重要影响,但是各自所发挥不同的作用.     

The Management of Information and Managers in Subsidiaries of Multinational Corporations

A key challenge facing multinational corporations (MNCs) is how to encourage the development of firm specific advantages throughout the network of subsidiaries while maintaining global coherence. As a result, a critical task for top managers in the MNC is to structure the relationship between headquarters and subsidiaries. Thus, headquarters' control of subsidiary behaviour and performance becomes a central integrating function in the MNC. We examine first the relationship between the nationality of the MNC headquarters and its information management, namely the key performance metrics utilized by the parent to evaluate subsidiary performance. Second, we investigate the relationship between the MNC nationality and its management of managers, specifically, the transfer of parent company nationals and corporate acculturation. These questions are investigated in a study of MNC subsidiaries located in Australia, Ireland and Singapore. Our data provide strong evidence that MNCs of all nationalities place the greatest emphasis on financial metrics compared to other performance metrics. Moreover, there are differences in the degree of emphasis on performance metrics across MNC nationality. We found that Japanese and German MNCs place significantly less emphasis on financial measures than US and UK MNCs. Our hypotheses relating to the management of managers were also supported by the data. In comparison with all other MNC nationalities, Japanese MNCs place greater emphasis on the transfer of Japanese managers to overseas subsidiaries and less emphasis on corporate acculturation. While some researchers have argued that management control has become more isomorphic as a result of globalization, our results show that companies from different nationalities diverge in their practices.     

Subsidiary marketing knowledge and strategic development of the multinational corporation

This paper explores distinctive marketing knowledge of subsidiaries as an important resource contributing to the performance of the multinational corporation (MNC). Two different paths are analyzed. The first is the direct effect of the usage of subsidiary marketing knowledge on the perceived performance of other MNC units. The second is the indirect effect in which an MNC's usage of subsidiary marketing knowledge affects its performance via capability development in technology and market expansion within the MNC. Using data on 237 MNC subsidiaries in Sweden, six hypotheses are tested in a LISREL model. The results indicate that an MNC's usage of subsidiary marketing knowledge directly affects its performance. Additionally, the results reveal a strong relation between subsidiary marketing knowledge and the subsidiary's impact on development of the capabilities of other MNC units' technology and their expansion on the market, which in turn, positively impacts the performance of the MNC.     

Upgrading local operations for global arbitrage

This study shows that upgrading sales operations in host countries towards production allows MNCs to perform global arbitrage in their networks of foreign subsidiaries and thereby contributes to a strategy of reaping the benefits of multinationality. We predict and find that operation upgrades follow opportunities of improving resource flows in the subsidiary network to exploit the advantages of host countries in tax rates, investment incentives, and technological knowledge across borders. Performance effects on the level of the MNC network give evidence of these benefits from global arbitrage.     

跨国公司在华子公司角色演化:理论及案例分析

本文根据影响子公司角色转变的因素,将子公司的角色根据每种因素的强弱不同分为八种类型,即起步者、淘汰者、办事员、支持者、小诸侯、贡献者、直辖领袖和自由领袖.根据该子公司角色划分方法和演化路径分析方法,本文深入研究了一家跨国公司在华子公司-BEC公司的角色演化情况,研究证实了本文得出的角色划分方法和演化路径分析框架的适用性,也得到了跨国公司在华子公司的一个具体演化路径.     

Innovative Knowledge Transfer Patterns of Group-Affiliated Companies: The effects on the Performance of Foreign Subsidiaries

The objectives of this paper are to determine the patterns of innovative knowledge transfer strategies of globalized group-affiliated companies (GACs) from emerging markets and to assess the effects of these patterns on the performance of foreign subsidiaries. The sample are comprised of 52 Korean business groups, called chaebols, which consist of 181 parent firms and their 1,068 foreign subsidiaries as of the end of 2009. In the study, we employ the perspectives of organizational learning and internal resource-based theories of the organization, and the results are assessed based on cluster and post-hoc regression analyses. The authors identify five distinct groups of innovative knowledge transfer patterns, i.e., 1) small inactivator, 2) hyperactive transferor, 3) laissez faire exploiter, 4) hands-on exchange avoider, and 5) moderate researcher. Our cluster and post-hoc regression analyses support the main hypotheses, i.e., 1) there will be differences in patterns of innovative knowledge transfer strategies of globalized GACs within chaebols; and 2) these differences will influence the performance of foreign subsidiaries. Our contribution to the extant literature is to fill the vacuum that exists in the current empirical studies on 1) a positive vs. negative balance of exploratory and exploitative innovative knowledge exchanges among GACs within a business group and 2) the phenomenal patterns of innovative knowledge transfer and their effects on the performance of foreign subsidiaries in the context of emerging market GACs. Therefore, our analyses advance the research in the area of innovative knowledge management in the context of the emerging market business groups.     

Getting the seal of approval: Pathways to subsidiary initiative acceptance

Multinational corporations (MNCs) are proactive, entrepreneurial, and decentralized organizations. They seek to incorporate and leverage knowledge from their foreign subsidiaries. Initiatives in which subsidiaries pursue new business opportunities are one way that subsidiaries contribute to MNCs' knowledge stocks, but prior research suggests that few subsidiary initiatives secure headquarters approval. We argue that the extent to which initiatives are accepted by the headquarters of an MNC depends on a range of relational and contextual conditions that configure in complex ways. Using a neoconfigurational approach, we identify five equifinal configurations associated with the acceptance of subsidiary initiatives. We advance theory of subsidiary management by uncovering how subsidiary activities gain traction within the MNC.     

Knowledge ties among subsidiaries in MNCs: A multi-level conceptual model

While ties among subsidiaries—the key players of a MNC network—are a prerequisite for the formation of the network and the flow of knowledge within the organization, we know little about factors influencing the formation of such ties. By building on the literature on inter-firm networks and knowledge-based view of the firm, we develop a multi-level model consisting of subsidiary characteristics, dyadic dynamics, and salient contextual factors to explain the inter-subsidiary collaboration for knowledge development and exchange. We bring to the fore the importance of examining multiple dimensions in understanding what predicts tie formation and the efficacy of these ties in creating a knowledge advantage. This paper advances the notion of subsidiary knowledge networking capability—the ability to form, manage, and leverage a network for gaining and sharing knowledge—and suggests that such capability is critical for subsidiaries and by extension the MNC, to achieve a competitive advantage.     

Augmenting Local Managerial Capacity Through Knowledge Collectivities: The Case of Volvo Car China

The investigation of socialization as a conduit of knowledge transfer and development (KTD) to subsidiaries in emerging economies is still in its infancy. This paper aims to discern empirically and theoretically the underlying mechanisms of interpersonal-level micro-foundations of socialization as a conduit of KTD in emerging economy subsidiaries. This study draws on a four-year longitudinal in-depth qualitative case study of Volvo Car China. The observational unit is the subsidiaries' temporal dual management constellations referred to as matched pairs (MPs). The study illustrates how the MPs acted as a means of temporal socialization, conducive in the creation of knowledge collectivities that aided in the development of local managerial capacity. A grounded model with four overarching theoretical dimensions is developed and discussed to illustrate the theoretical insights derived from this study. The main overarching disclosure is the prevalence of recursive interrelatedness between competence and competency of the individual, context-, and the expansion of managerial capacity. Findings of the case study opens up for a more nuanced view on transferring- and developing tacit and explicit knowledge in a context with less dense social capital. The study contributes to research on knowledge transfer and development, managerial capacity development, and internationalization of multinational corporations.     

Headquarters involvement,socialization, and entrepreneurial behaviors in MNC subsidiaries

Headquarters of multinational corporations can be involved in their subsidiaries and help with the development and transfer of innovative ideas. However, headquarters involvement might not always be desired or needed, and it can thus be perceived as interference with local activities, potentially reducing local willingness to go the extra mile. We address the lack of knowledge about subsidiary manager behavior by answering the following question: How does headquarters involvement influence the proactive behavior of subsidiary managers to push for new and innovative ideas? Using data from 120 top managers in subsidiaries of multinational corporations, we find that the negative relationship between headquarters involvement and their subsidiary managers' support for initiatives can be reduced when socialization mechanisms such as a common corporate culture or rotation programs are put in place.     

Transferring knowledge in MNCs: The role of sources of subsidiary knowledge and organizational context

We link up with the recent literature on the differentiated MNC and in particular with its stress on intra-MNC knowledge flows. However, rather than focusing on the characteristics of knowledge as determinants of knowledge transfer within MNCs, we focus instead on levels of knowledge in subsidiaries, the sources of transferable subsidiary knowledge and on the organizational means and conditions that realize knowledge transfer as the relevant determinants. We find largely positive support for the relevant hypotheses. These are tested on a unique dataset on knowledge development in subsidiary firms [the Centre of Excellence (CoE) project].     

Intra-firm Subsidiary Grouping and MNC Subsidiary Performance in China

Many multinational corporations (MNCs) operate multiple subsidiaries in a foreign country. Drawing upon literature of organizational network and business group, we hypothesize that the number of subsidiaries of an MNC has an impact on subsidiary financial performance in China. We further hypothesized two moderating effects, namely subsidiary's country of origin and subsidiary size. The results show that subsidiary grouping effect is more salient for subsidiaries from Japan and South Korea, and that larger subsidiaries are less affected by the subsidiary grouping effect. Our empirical results were based on a sample of 40,315 MNC subsidiaries in China. The findings underscore the importance of group-based competitive advantages of MNC subsidiaries in international business.     

Conflict in foreign subsidiaries of Japanese and western multinational corporations: The impact of cultural distance and differences in home-host country combinations

This article investigates the degree of conflict between different groups of employees in MNC subsidiaries in relation to different home-host country combinations. More specifically, we compared the degree of conflict of Western subsidiaries in Japan and Japanese subsidiaries in the West. We based our comprehensive investigation on data from 617 US and German subsidiaries in Japan as well as Japanese subsidiaries in the USA and Germany (and, for comparative reasons, US subsidiaries in Germany and German subsidiaries in the US). Possibly rather surprisingly, our results indicate that different degrees of cultural distance between home and host country do not lead to different degrees of conflict in MNC subsidiaries. We suggest that expected conflicts, due to substantial cultural differences, induce employees to actively counteract such problems, leading ultimately to a reduction of real conflicts. Furthermore, while previous literature suggested that in particular Japanese subsidiaries in the West are prone to a high degree of conflicts, our findings suggest that Western subsidiaries in Japan are even more conflict-laden. This should caution Western companies against complacency when operating in Japan.     

Internal networking and innovation ambidexterity: The mediating role of knowledge management processes in university research

This article focuses on public organizations to contribute to research on knowledge management processes, a field that until recently has focused primarily on private entities. Specifically, we analyse the mediating role of knowledge transfer and knowledge absorption in the relationship between the internal networking created in university research groups and innovation ambidexterity. Based on six hypotheses, the conceptual model is tested through a structural equations model with mediation effects. The data analysed come from 249 directors of Spanish public university research groups. The results show that the internal networking formed in university research groups has a positive and significant relationship to knowledge transfer and knowledge absorption, but we obtain different results for the relationship between knowledge transfer and knowledge absorption in the presence of innovation ambidexterity. Only knowledge absorption has a positive and significant influence on innovation ambidexterity. The most interesting results involve the mediating role of knowledge absorption in the relationship between internal networking and innovation ambidexterity. These results support the conclusion that directors of university research groups should promote development of knowledge absorption processes in order to stimulate innovation ambidexterity and thus to achieve ambidextrous innovative performance.     

Product development in MNC subsidiaries: Local linkages and global interdependencies

The aim of this paper is to identify and explain how different forms of local linkages vary across different patterns of global workflow interdependence in MNC subsidiaries' product development activities. Both global workflow interdependence and local linkages are essential for innovating and long-term success of a subsidiary. This paper's theoretical approach differs from previous MNC research in that we combine the tightly coupled (or rational) network model with the more common loosely coupled (or differentiated, federative) network model. Empirical data was obtained from subsidiaries in Brazil using web-survey design. Our findings show a positive relationship between local outsourcing linkages and global workflow interdependence in product development provided local cooperative linkages are low. Furthermore, results suggest empirical support for the tightly coupled model and its extension, the adaptively rational model proposed by Astley and Zajec [Astley, W.G., Zajac, E.J., 1991. Intraorganizational power and organizational design: reconcilling rational and coalitional models of organization. Organization Science 2 (4), 104–113.]. Accordingly, our study implies that the more subsidiaries create dependent and counter-dependent relationships, the better they will be positioned within their MNC innovation network and the more pronounced their innovative activities shall be.     

Knowledge and Organization in the Theory of the Multinational Corporation: Some Foundational Issues

This paper addresses the interaction of knowledge and organization in IB research, particularly research on the MNC. The argument is advanced that although the MNC literature is quite advanced with respect to its treatment of firm-level knowledge, several closely connected problems remain. In particular, there has been an over-emphasis on knowledge flows and an under-emphasis on knowledge stocks; the micro-foundations of MNC knowledge are unclear; and there is a no clear understanding of the causal relations between knowledge stocks and flows and organizational control. A control theory approach that may resolve some of these problems is then sketched.     

Towards a re-conceptualization of firm internationalization: Heterogeneous process,subsidiary roles and knowledge flow

This paper proposes a re-conceptualization of firm internationalization to understand and predict the rapid global expansion of firms since the 1990s, especially those from emerging markets. First, based on a review of existing literature, we re-conceptualize firm internationalization as a heterogeneous process of strategic development of subsidiaries in overseas countries or regions. This re-conceptualization captures the pluralistic character of the process of firm internationalization.Second, we delineate peculiar roles played by subsidiaries in pursuit of multinational enterprise (MNE) headquarters' internationalization strategies. We argue that the HQ's heterogeneous strategies toward overseas subsidiary development define the corresponding roles of subsidiaries, which in turn shape the knowledge-flow patterns within the MNEs. Finally, we link firms' internationalization strategies with different subsidiary roles to generate hypotheses concerning the effect of such links on subsidiary performance. We argue that the proper alignment of HQ's internationalization strategies with subsidiary roles will lead to success of the overseas subsidiaries; by contrast, a mismatch will lead to subsidiary failure. The paper thus contributes to the field of firm internationalization by linking its new conceptualization with the literature on subsidiary roles and knowledge flows in MNEs.