Multinational Subsidiary Evolution: Capability and Charter Change in Foreign-Owned Subsidiary Companies

1998 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 773 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julian Birkinshaw ◽  
Neil Hood
Keyword(s):  
Subsidiary Evolution

MNE subsidiary evolution from sales to innovation: Looking inside the black box

2017 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 145-155 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chaisung Lim ◽  
Martin Hemmert ◽  
Seunghoi Kim
Keyword(s):  
Black Box ◽  
Subsidiary Evolution ◽  
Mne Subsidiary

Refining a subsidiary evolution framework: clarifying key concepts

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Johan Jakobsson ◽  
Katarina Lagerström ◽  
Roger Schweizer
Keyword(s):  
Dynamic Capabilities ◽  
Capability Development ◽  
Research Attention ◽  
Resource Based View ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Management Perspective ◽  
Conceptual Paper ◽  
Development Literature ◽  
Subsidiary Evolution ◽  
Point Of Departure

Purpose While the evolution of subsidiaries has received considerable research attention, the framework for understanding it has not evolved much since the late 1990s. The purpose of this paper is to add both clarity and depth to the work on the foundations for – as well as the processes of – capability creation and development as a subsidiary evolves. Design/methodology/approach This conceptual paper takes as its point of departure the micro-foundation literature, with a specific emphasis on the capability development literature. To describe capability creation and development, both the resource-based view and the resource management perspective are used here. Findings The paper adds a conceptual layer to the drivers of subsidiary evolution. To add further clarity regarding how capabilities are actually formed, the resources for capability creation and development are specified herein as entities, abilities and capacity. Arguments are also presented for why capabilities ought to be viewed as patterned behavior to decrease the terminological ambiguity surrounding the concept of capabilities. The process of capability creation and development with an emphasis on learning is brought forward. Further, capability typologies, in terms of substantive, managerial and dynamic capabilities, are presented to add specificity to the kinds of capabilities that are created and developed within a subsidiary. Originality/value Clarifying the concept of capability and how capabilities are formed by using advancements in the literature is important to add precision to the literature on the evolution of subsidiaries.

The multinational enterprise and subsidiary evolution: Scotland since 1945

2009 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 401-425 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pavlos Dimitratos ◽  
Ioanna Liouka ◽  
Duncan Ross ◽  
Stephen Young
Keyword(s):  
Multinational Enterprise ◽  
Subsidiary Evolution

scholarly journals How does successive inpatriation contribute to subsidiary capability building and subsidiary evolution? An organizational knowledge creation perspective

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heejin Kim ◽  
B. Sebastian Reiche ◽  
Anne-Wil Harzing
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Transfer ◽  
Knowledge Creation ◽  
Organizational Knowledge ◽  
Clear Understanding ◽  
Subsidiary Performance ◽  
Organizational Knowledge Creation ◽  
Capability Building ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Knowledge Agents ◽  
Subsidiary Evolution

AbstractIntra-company knowledge transfer is a key source of competitive advantage for multinational companies (MNCs) and this knowledge is usually embedded in individuals. Drawing on organizational knowledge creation theory, we explore how inpatriation contributes to knowledge transfer and, in turn, subsidiary performance. Inpatriation involves the international assignment of employees from an MNC’s foreign subsidiary to its headquarters. Despite increasing attention to the role of inpatriation, we lack a clear understanding of whether and how inpatriates provide value to their subsidiaries after returning from headquarters. Through a qualitative case study of Japanese MNCs, we demonstrate the process through which inpatriates’ knowledge transfer contributes to subsidiary capability building and subsidiary evolution over time, and explain why successive inpatriation is thus critical to enhance subsidiary performance. Our theoretical model highlights the value of inpatriates as knowledge agents, reveals the process through which inpatriates transfer knowledge between HQ and subsidiaries, and provides a more nuanced understanding of the micro-foundations of intra-MNC knowledge transfer processes. Based on these findings, we argue that inpatriation is not merely a staffing method that is complementary to expatriation, but a key practice in its own right to support subsidiaries’ growth and performance.

Exploring the drivers and elements of subsidiary evolution in several new EU member states

2014 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 120-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sergey Filippov ◽  
Geert Duysters
Keyword(s):  
Emerging Economies ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Critical Mass ◽  
Analytical Models ◽  
Advanced Technique ◽  
Member States ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
Subsidiary Evolution ◽  
New Eu Member States

Purpose – Management of subsidiaries of multinational companies and subsidiary evolution have emerged as important topics in the international business literature. This strand of literature on multinational subsidiaries has provided the necessary analytical models and research tools to study the phenomenon. Nonetheless, while many studies exist on the roles, strategies and evolutions of subsidiaries, and despite its high importance, this area of academic research is still lacking critical mass. Moreover, the extant studies have been conducted in the context of advanced economies, and yet it has been under-researched in the context of emerging economies, and particularly the economies of Eastern Europe, the so-called new EU member states. The study of the phenomenon of subsidiary evolution is the main aim of this paper. Design/methodology/approach – The paper makes use of a proprietary dataset, collected in a self-administered web-based survey conducted among foreign-owned companies in Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland. To test the interrelations between different variables, the paper uses the structural equitation modelling, an advanced technique that allows to account for multiple interdependencies in a model. This approach enables the authors to escape the rigid division between dependent and independent variables, inherent to most conventional econometric models. In the paper, three analytical structural equation modelling (SEM) models were developed, tested and compared. Findings – The empirical analyses show a strong positive relation between the main drivers of subsidiary evolution and the key outcomes of this process. It shows that the tenets of the theory originally developed to describe strategic behaviour of subsidiaries in advanced Western countries, broadly holds for emerging economies too. Moreover, the paper shows that subsidiaries operating in dynamic environments and led by pro-active subsidiary management achieve better results. Research limitations/implications – The study has its limitations. It is of quantitative nature, whereby the most common feature and characteristics of the research object are studied. Despite the convincing results, the phenomenon of subsidiary evolution can be further investigated in a number of case studies in a dynamic perspective, where specific details may come under the spotlight. On the other hand, such results cannot be easily generalised. Originality/value – This study contributes to the extant body of academic literature on subsidiary evolution. The main contribution comes from investigation of this complex phenomenon in the context of emerging economies of new EU member states. Their transitionary dynamics and transformative change have had a profound impact on the functioning of economic agents and foreign subsidiaries in particular. The paper finds important particularities of this context.

Multilateral knowledge transfer and multiple embeddedness

2014 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 155-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yen-Chen Ho
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Transfer ◽  
Host Country ◽  
Organizational Design ◽  
Multinational Enterprise ◽  
Global Strategy ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Multi Level ◽  
External Embeddedness ◽  
Subsidiary Evolution

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to argue that multilateral knowledge transfer emerges from two lines of thinking in the international business (IB) literature – the exploitation of multinationality and the contributory role of subsidiaries – and links three levels of analysis – headquarters, knowledge-creating subsidiaries and host-country environments. Design/methodology/approach – Multilateral knowledge transfer, both vertical and horizontal, is considered in this paper as a cross-level phenomenon that emerges as a result of beneficial interdependencies between headquarters, knowledge-creating subsidiaries and their host-country environments. The paper also discusses the concept of embeddedness, which both lines of thinking draw upon, and argues that the multinational enterprise (MNE) headquarters can actually moderate both internal and external embeddedness through global strategy and organizational design. Findings – By putting forward an integrative cross-level interdependency framework that incorporates insights from the R&D internationalization literature and the subsidiary evolution literature, this paper delineates multilateral knowledge transfer as an MNE strategy to systematically transform and integrate knowledge created at the subsidiary-level for the global competitive advantage at the MNE group-level. Originality/value – Such a perspective reemphasizes the multi-level nature of IB studies and provides new opportunities for theoretical and empirical development as did the internalization theory which has theorized the conventional headquarters-to-subsidiaries knowledge transfer more than 40 years ago.

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