A Blessing and a Curse: Institutional Embeddedness of Longstanding MNE Subsidiaries in Emerging Markets

Christiaan Röell, Felix Arndt and Vikas Kumar

Journal of Management Studies, 2024, vol. 61, issue 2, 561-594

Abstract: This article examines the institutional strategies of multinational enterprises (MNEs) operating in an emerging market, drawing attention to how longstanding foreign subsidiaries proactively negotiate their involvement with socio‐political actors. We build on institutional logics to explain how MNE subsidiaries develop sustained political, cultural, and cognitive embeddedness. Using an inductive, interpretive study of four century‐old Dutch MNE subsidiaries with a colonial legacy in Indonesia, we examine these three dimensions of the institutional environment, finding that local employees embedded in both the MNE and the host country sets of logics ‒ rather than expatriate managers ‒ most effectively facilitated sustained institutional embeddedness. Our findings also suggest that embedding practices in host institutional contexts and developing structures that align with host institutional expectations provided a platform for the unfolding of institutional strategies by local employees. However, MNE subsidiaries face contrasting logics between home and host country institutions, placing significant strains on MNEs’ ability to enact change.

Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1111/joms.12817

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bla:jomstd:v:61:y:2024:i:2:p:561-594

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.blackwell ... s.asp?ref=00022-2380

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Management Studies is currently edited by Timothy Clark, Steven W. Floyd and Mike Wright

More articles in Journal of Management Studies from Wiley Blackwell
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Wiley Content Delivery ().