Conflictual Practice Sharing in the MNC: A Theory of Practice Approach

Abstract

This article advances a theory of practice approach to the study of conflictual practice sharing in the multinational corporation (MNC). The article demonstrates distinct opportunities offered by practice theory in researching the multiple lines of conflict and cooperation over local organizational practices, policies and strategies that emerge in the face of global HQ demands. Extant literature concentrates on how transfer outcomes are shaped by institutional or cultural distance at the national level and inter-unit relationships, often taking the subsidiary as a unit of analysis. Therefore, intra-unit conflicts over global practice sharing are under-researched, particularly how such conflicts are shaped by actors' differential situatedness in the immediate societal context of the subsidiary. In explicating a practice theory agenda for the study of MNCs, we contribute to an understanding of how actors' social positioning within and outside the firm, combined with their career opportunities, shape both the character and dynamics of intra-unit conflicts over the local configuration of organizational practices mandated by HQ. Building on an extended case study of an MNC in a Mexican special economic zone (SEZ), we thus examine how subsidiary actors accommodate, actively support and resist various parts of an HQ-mandated management control system.

A geographic relational perspective on the internationalization of emerging market firms

“…It is possible to create new paths and view EMF internationalization as a dynamic process that people enact (Lounsbury & Crumley, 2007;Mutch, 2016;Poulis & Poulis, 2018). In particular, by demonstrating the bounded space of local managers or the local involvement of other individuals, practice offers a nuanced view on localization in EMF internationalization (Bjerregaard & Klitmoller, 2016). For instance, as social structures and shared meanings are transmitted through practice, mutually understood and agreed-upon practices help individuals create group cohesion and communications to recognize local concerns and manage differences (Jarzabkowski & Bednarek, 2018;Wenger, 1998).…”

Organising multilingually: setting an agenda for studying language at work

“…To date, IB scholars have hardly been interested in studying language issues in entry-level or low paid jobs whether among white-collars or blue-collars. In a study of a Danish-owned maquiladora in Mexico Bjerregaard and Klitmoeller (2016) briefly mention the English classes of white-collar workers when exemplifying conflicts over global practice sharing in this MNC, but this is an exception.…”

Punctuated epistemology in international marketing strategy: A Whiteheadian remedy

“…Moreover, this focus suggests that the MNC is, in principle, a concretely unified whole with unilateral aspirations and goals when, in fact, MNCs are characterized by power asymmetries and heterogeneous implementation of practices (Dörrenbächer and Gammelgaard, 2016), variable selfinterests and conflicts (Bjerregaard and Klitmøller, 2016) as well as pressures for multiple embeddedness across heterogeneous regulatory environments (Perkins, 2014). Therefore, the assumed concreteness of the MNC may be an epistemologically convenient abstraction but not an ontologically meaningful assumption to begin with.…”