Control of subsidiaries of MNCs from emerging economies in developed countries: the case of Taiwanese MNCs in the UK

Guest Editors’ Introduction: People Management and Emerging Market Multinationals

“…By the same token, one would expect managers and employees at subsidiaries in developed countries may believe that they possess superior managerial and technical knowledge to that of firms from emerging countries, and as a result may question the legitimacy and viability of managerial practices originating from a country they perceive as less developed and economically inferior to their own. In addition, a significant number of MNCs from emerging economies set up foreign subsidiaries in developed countries not only to exploit their home grown core capabilities, but also to augment them by learning from developed economies (Chang et al, 2009;Glover and Wilkinson, 2007). Thus, it is argued that the capacity to make use of similar organizational practices within different national locales is likely to optimize the firm's capacity; greater homogenization is likely to infuse greater efficiency (Kostova and Roth 2002, p. 215).…”

“…A key debate in international HR management is the extent to which firms adapt their HR policies and practices to suit specific national contexts, whether they keep them in line with the dominant ways of doing business in their parent country, or whether a 13 new trans-global model of HR management is emerging (Glover and Wilkinson, 2007;Chang, Mellahi, & Wilkinson, 2009). …”

Crossing the streams: HRM in multinational enterprises and comparative HRM

“…Studies on developing-country MNEs are under-represented, although they have been increasing (Chang, Mellahi, & Wilkinson, 2009;Sidani & Al Ariss, 2014). Furthering our understanding about the diffusion of HRM practices from the perspective of emerging country MNEs "without assuming the prevailing Western ethnocentric orthodoxy" is viewed as being especially important in this regard (Thite, Wilkinson, & Shah, 2012: 251).…”

Managing the duality of IHRM: unravelling the strategy and perceptions of key actors in South Korean MNCs

“…First, interviewees in both companies acknowledge that the needs of global integration and local responsiveness are not an either-or choice, rather, they see that both are mandatory requirements that need to be sought simultaneously. Second, the perceived lack of a strong sense of legitimacy, the 'liability of country of origin' (Chang, Mellahi and Wilkinson 2009) as MNCs from a non-dominant economy, was interpreted as potentially prohibitive for Korean MNCs in transferring their home country's HRM practices to the subsidiaries, C. Chung et al 2342 driving them to search for external sources of legitimacy such as 'ready-legitimised' global best practices. The majority of interviewees expressed their view that it might be inappropriate to impose what they called 'Korean-style HRM practices', which could be mostly characterised as the seniority-based HRM system traditionally used in Korean firms, to subsidiaries and that adopting so called global best practices would be the better solution.…”