Multinational Corporations (MNCs) are extremely complex organizations and there is ongoing interest in the question how such organizations can be best structured and managed in order to profit from the exposure to multiple, diverse environments. SMG research on the MNC starts from the modern view of the MNC as a network-like structure consisting of a web of semi-autonomous subunits. On the subunit-level, this stream devotes much attention to organizational learning, for example through the exposure to and collaboration with local business networks and institutional contexts, as well as to lateral and vertical knowledge flows. It also investigates drivers of subsidiary behavior and subsidiary evolution.

Complementary to the subunit-level, research focusing on the role of headquarters in the MNC studies how the headquarters can orchestrate knowledge flows, coordinate diverse subunits, or otherwise add value. For example, a current project addresses motivational issues in subsidiaries and how even well-intentioned headquarter intervention may cause motivational
damage.

 

SMG Participants in research stream

 Professor Ulf Andersson
Professor Marina Papanastassiou
Professor Torben Pedersen
Professor Bent Petersen
Associate Professor Christian Geisler Asmussen
Assistant Professor Lisa Gärber
Assistant Professor Jasper Hotho
Assistant Professor Phillip C. Nell
Assistant Professor Larissa Rabbiosi

 

 

Recent Results/Representative Publications

Nell, P. C., Ambos, B., Schlegelmilch, B.B.  The MNC as an externally embedded organization: An investigation of embeddedness overlap in local subsidiary networks . Journal of World Business (forthcoming).

Hotho, J.J., Becker-Ritterspach, F.A.A., and Saka-Helmhout, A.  Enriching Absorptive Capacity through Social Interaction , British Journal of Management (forthcoming).

Rabbiosi L., 2011.  Subsidiary Roles and Reverse Knowledge Transfer: An Investigation of the Effects of Coordination Mechanism . Journal of International Management, 17: 97-113.

Andersson, U. & Holm, U., eds. 2010.  Managing the Contemporary Multinational . Edward Elgar.

Asmussen, C.G., Dhanaraj, C. and Pedersen, T. 2009.  Host-country environment and subsidiary competence: Extending the diamond network model . Journal of International Business Studies, 40: 42-58.

Filippaios, F., Papanastassiou, M., Pearce, R. and Rama, R. 2009.  New forms of organisation among the world’s 100 largest food and beverages multinationals . Research Policy, 38: 1032-1043.

Petersen, B., T. Pedersen and M. Lyle. 2008.  Closing Knowledge Gaps in Foreign Markets . Journal of International Business Studies, 39: 1097-1113.