Implementing Global Strategy: Characteristics of Global Subsidiary Mandates

Knowing your boundaries: Integration opportunities in international professional service firms

“…We also demonstrate how business models, rather than firms (Devinney, et al, 2000;Fan, et al, 2012;Kobrin, 1991;Martinez & Jarillo, 1991;Roth & Morrison, 1992;Taggart, 1997) and functions (Kim, et al, 2003), can be applied as the unit of analysis to understand how firms may balance global integration and local responsiveness when pursuing a transnational strategy.…”

“…Bartlett & Ghoshal, 1992;Birkinshaw, Morrison, & Hulland, 1995;Devinney, et al, 2000;Doz & Prahalad, 1991;Grein, Craig, & Takada, 2001;Roth & Morrison, 1992;Taggart, 1997). According to this framework, the tension between pressures to integrate globally and to be responsive locally is highest when a firm is pursuing a transnational strategy.…”

“…Integration is conventionally defined as resource flows within the firm facilitated by technology (Kobrin, 1991) and involving coordination within the multinational corporation at the firm level (e.g. Martinez & Jarillo, 1991;Roth & Morrison, 1992;Taggart, 1997). Determinants of international strategy Fan, et al, 2012;Luo, 2001;Luo, 2002) include various organizational factors (e.g.…”

Foreign Unit Strategic Decision Making Process

“…To further the agency argument, the investors would then rely on the top managements for an unspecified term, thereby entrusting them with the directions of the firm's activities. In this way, the top managements become the agents of the investors, managing agents and the stock brokers (Birkenshaw, Hood and Jonsson, 1998;Lala, 1993;O'Donnell, 2000;Roth & O'Donnell, 1996;Reuer & Miller, 1997;Roth & Morrison, 1992). The close or distant relationship between the MNC corporate headquarters and the foreign subsidiaries would reflect the aforementioned managing agency theory and the expanded version the current times of the top management acting as agents of the investors and the stock brokers (Birkenshaw, 1996;Birkenshaw, Hood and Jonsson, 1998;Rajagopalan & Finkelstein, 1992;Tosi, Katz & Gomez-Mejia, 1997;Zajac & Westphal, 1995).…”

Ownership mode, cultural distance, and the extent of parent firms’ strategic control over subsidiaries in the PRC

“…Third, we used a dichotomous measure whether the product/ service provided is the same vs. different from the parent firm, to assess diversification (see also Chang & Rosenzweig, 2001;Kogut & Singh, 1988). Diversification refers to the responsiveness to local market needs and may prompt parent firms to reduce control (Martinez & Jarillo, 1991;Roth & Morrison, 1992). In addition, the number of subsidiaries in the PRC as a measure of China-specific experience (e.g., Harzing, 1999;Taggart & Hood, 1999) and the total amount of investment in the subsidiary as an additional measure of the subsidiary's resource position (next to the number of employees that was included).…”