Abstract
What is the nature of headquarters-subsidiary relationships in service multinationals? What factors, including sectoral and national features, affect these relationships? Drawing on a study of eight major UK service multinationals operating in four countries with distinctive institutional environments - China, Korea, Brazil and Argentina - we develop a conceptual framework of the determinants of headquarters-subsidiary relationships in service multinationals. We find that one of the determinants of headquarters-subsidiary relationships is the development by service multinationals of tools for integration and co-ordination, including corporate processes and global supply chain management, which reinforce centralisation. Two additional sets of determinants, however, account for variations among the cases in the autonomy of subsidiaries. A first set of factors relates to the characteristics of the different sectors, including whether the multinational serves global or local customers and the scale and diversity of subsidiary operations. A second includes the influence of institutions and regulations in the host country. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd.
| Original language | Undefined/Unknown |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 16-40 |
| Number of pages | 25 |
| Journal | LONG RANGE PLANNING |
| Volume | 45 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Feb 2012 |