How to capture the diversity within contemporary approaches of headquarters-subsidiary relationships? A study of 10 French MNCs

Hanane Beddi ()
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Hanane Beddi: MAGELLAN - Laboratoire de Recherche Magellan - UJML - Université Jean Moulin - Lyon 3 - Université de Lyon - Institut d'Administration des Entreprises (IAE) - Lyon

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Abstract: In contemporary conceptualizations, headquarters-subsidiary relationships are characterized by both local and global tensions. However, research on headquarters-subsidiary relationships has not tended to focus on how a multinational corporation (MNC) really functions internally. My research aims to understand how the relationships function and to explore the diversity within those relationships. To this end, I have studied 10 MNCs. Seventy interviews have been conducted with top managers based either at the MNC's headquarters or in its international subsidiaries. My findings indicate that diversity in headquarters-subsidiary relationships can be related to the modulation of various criteria: the degree of autonomy of the subsidiary, modes of coordination and internal diversity/uniformity in headquarters-subsidiary relationships. Determining the different combinations of these criteria (which are influenced by contextual factors) enables a better understanding of the diversity of headquarters-subsidiary relationships and makes it possible to identify a variety of roles played by the headquarters.

Keywords: Headquarters-subsidiaries relationships; Multinational Corporations (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015-12-01
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Published in 41st Annual EIBA (European International Business Academy) Conference, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio), Dec 2015, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01302004

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