Models of Multiple Branch Organization

Balderston, Frederick E.

doi:10.2307/41165490

Cited by 3 publications

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“…He originally identified three "duties" of the multidivisional firm's CHQ: (1) coordinating and integrating the output of the businesses, (2) providing centralized and specialized shared services, and (3) allocating the future use and appraising the present performance of resources. While various descriptions of specific CHQ roles have since evolved (Balderston, 1962;Collis & Montgomery, 1997;Collis et al, 2007;Foss, 1997;Goold & Campbell, 1987;Goold, Pettifer, & Young, 2001;Hungenberg, 1993;Kono, 1999;Pettifer, 1998), they can be summarized as covering three major roles: (1) performing obligatory (public) company functions, also referred to as "minimum CHQ"; (2) providing the firm's operating units with centralized services, such as centralized HR, IT, or marketing services; and (3) value creation. The rationales for each of these CHQ roles are fundamentally different (Collis et al, 2007).…”

Section: The Central Phenomenon-the Chq's Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Corporate Headquarters in the Contemporary Corporation: Advancing a Multimarket Firm Perspective

Menz¹,

Kunisch

Collis

2015

The Academy of Management Annals

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Section: The Central Phenomenon-the Chq's Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Corporate Headquarters in the Contemporary Corporation: Advancing a Multimarket Firm Perspective

Menz¹,

Kunisch

Collis

2015

The Academy of Management Annals

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“…Chandler (1962) originally identifies three "duties" of the multidivisional firm's CHQ: coordinating and integrating the output of the businesses, providing centralized and specialized shared services, and allocating future use and the appraisal of the present performance of resources. Since then, various descriptions of the CHQ roles have evolved (Balderston, 1962;Collis & Montgomery, 1997;Collis et al, 2007;Foss, 1997;Goold, Pettifer & Young, 2001;Hungenberg, 1993;Kono, 1999;Pettifer, 1998), which can be summarized into three major roles: (1) performing obligatory (public) company functions, also referred to as minimum CHQ; (2) providing centralized services to the firm's operating units, such as centralized HR, IT, or marketing services; and (3) value creation, "functions governing the development, allocation, and deployment of valuable corporate resources within the hierarchy" (Collis et al, 2007: 388).…”

Section: Research On Chq Characteristics (1)mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Scholars have focused on a set of CHQ characteristics that can be summarized as the CHQ's integrating mechanisms to run the overall firm. This research deals with the extent and type of control and monitoring exercised by the CHQ (Balderston, 1962;Chandler, 1991;Chen, Park & Newburry, 2009;Crilly, 2011;Goold & Campbell, 1987;Govindarajan, 1988;Greenwood, Hinings & Brown, 1990;Hill et al, 1992;Jacque & Vaaler, 2001; Roth & Nigh, 1992;Semadeni & Cannella Jr., 2011), the extent of CHQ's planning influence (Berg, 1969;Goold & Campbell, 1987), and, to a lesser extent, with the CHQ's budgeting (Govindarajan, 1988), and influence over specific operating units' decisions (Martinez & Ricks, 1989). Informed by agency-theoretic foundations, there has particularly accumulated a thorough understanding of the CHQ's control mechanisms in both multibusiness and multinational firms, including the recognition of different control types and dimensions and their suitability for different firms.…”

Section: Research On Chq Characteristics (1)mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the first strand of the literature, there is consensus that the fit between the CHQ and the business units is advantageous (Balderston, 1962;Campbell et al, 1995a), and that the CHQ roles and integrating mechanisms should be aligned with the specific characteristics of the business units (Goold, 1996b;Govindarajan, 1988;Semadeni & Cannella Jr., 2011). In one of the few recent academic studies on this topic, Semadeni and Cannella Jr. (2011) find by analyzing a sample of 142 spin-offs of listed US firm from 1986 to 1997 that "while child firms benefit from some links to the parent, having too many links is negatively related to performance" (p. 1083).…”

Section: The Chq and The Operating Units' Characteristics (2-1)mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Particularly in this area, prior studies' findings on multibusiness and multinational firms may inform each other. While research on the CHQ in the multibusiness firm predominantly focuses on the fit between the CHQ and the business units (Balderston, 1962;Campbell et al, 1995a), as well as on CHQ's role in cross-business collaboration (Martin & Eisenhardt, 2010), the vertical relationships between the CHQ and individual business units have been largely neglected in academic and practiceoriented debates. Indeed, Goold and colleagues (1998) note that the CHQ should focus on its "ability to improve performance in each individual business as a stand-alone entity" (p. 310).…”

Section: Opportunity 4: the Chq's Relationship With The Operating Unitsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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What Do We Know About Corporate Headquarters? A Review, Integration, and Research Agenda

2013

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During the past five decades, scholars have studied the corporate headquarters (CHQ) -the multidivisional firm's central organizational unit. The purpose of this article is to review the diverse and fragmented literature on the CHQ and to identify the variables of interest, the dominant relationships, and the contributions. We integrate, for the first time, the existing knowledge of the CHQ into an organizing framework. Based on a synthesis of the literature, we identify major shortcomings and gaps, and present an agenda for future research that contributes to our understanding of the CHQ and the multidivisional firm. KeywordsCorporate headquarters, corporate parent, corporate center, corporate strategy, multidivisional firm, multibusiness firm, multinational corporation. However, since scholars have studied CHQ phenomena from diverse perspectives and have employed different methods, there is a need for a framework that integrates this research in order to advance theory on the multidivisional firm.Specifically, three factors motivated this synthesis of research on the CHQ. First, while there is a substantial amount of research on the CHQ, the insights from these works are diffuse, requiring consolidation to take stock of this body of knowledge. By delineating the evolution of this literature and the different perspectives, we identify the state of CHQ research and enhance our understanding of how research issues have emerged. We also provide an overview of the Corporate Headquarters 2 most frequently explored CHQ phenomena and establish a common vocabulary. Second, research on the CHQ is increasingly disconnected, having developed along four different tracks in the economic, organization, international business, and practice-oriented traditions. This has not only led to different research foci and approaches to studying the CHQ, but also to a lack of understanding of the variables of interest and the relationships between them. An important purpose of the review is thus to provide a first comprehensive framework of CHQ research that integrates the dispersed insights, identifies the most relevant variables of interest, and specifies the dominant relationships between them. Third, while our review reveals the contributions of the literature on the CHQ, it also uncovers several weak, and even unexplored research areas. In addition, the integrative review reveals a potential for cross-fertilization, for example, between the academic and practice-oriented literatures. We therefore identify gaps within and across the different research areas and highlight pressing future research questions that will help advance our understanding of the CHQ and the multidivisional firm.

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The Corporate Headquarters in the Contemporary Corporation: Advancing a Multimarket Firm Perspective

Menz

Kunisch

Collis

2015

ANNALS

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The corporate headquarters (CHQ) is the central organizational unit in the contemporary corporation, and is critical for value creation in the overall firm. Since the early 1960s, a significant body of research on the CHQ has evolved along two separate but related streams. The first stream focuses on the CHQ in the multibusiness firm, while the second stream concerns the CHQ in the multinational firm. In this article, we promote a consistent multimarket firm perspective that draws on research in both streams. First, we describe the origins and evolution of CHQ research in each stream, and articulate the benefits of a multimarket firm perspective. Second, we integrate the conversations found in the two streams into a schematic framework, review the studies' findings, and establish a shared language. We also propose ways in which scholars in each stream might enrich their work by incorporating some of the theories, methods, and findings of the other stream. Third, we discuss four fundamental inquiries for future research that draw upon the cumulative CHQ research in both streams. Overall, this article informs the study of the CHQ and, thereby, contributes to our understanding of the contemporary corporation.

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Models of Multiple Branch Organization

Cited by 3 publications

References 0 publications

The Corporate Headquarters in the Contemporary Corporation: Advancing a Multimarket Firm Perspective

The Corporate Headquarters in the Contemporary Corporation: Advancing a Multimarket Firm Perspective

What Do We Know About Corporate Headquarters? A Review, Integration, and Research Agenda

The Corporate Headquarters in the Contemporary Corporation: Advancing a Multimarket Firm Perspective

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