Headquarters-Subsidiary Relationships from a Convention Theory Perspective: Plural Orders of Worth, Arrangements and Form-Giving Activities
Multinational Corporations and Organization Theory: Post Millennium Perspectives
ISBN: 978-1-78635-386-3, eISBN: 978-1-78635-385-6
Publication date: 17 February 2017
Abstract
How headquarter (HQ) and subsidiary actors end conflicts and reach agreements is an important but still under-researched question in multinational corporations (MNC) literature. This conceptual article approaches these conflict dynamics from the Convention Theory perspective. Convention Theory draws attention to justice principles (known as “order of worth”) and to the material aspects in relations between MNC actors. We offer a framework that contributes to HQ-subsidiary relations research in three ways: (1) it links conflicts to justice principles, (2) it enriches the understanding of the stability of agreements, and (3) it sheds light on the activities needed for realizing preferred arrangements.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Acknowledgments
We thank the participants of the paper development workshop “Multinational Corporations and Organization Theory: Post Millennium perspectives” held at the Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, November 19–20, 2015 who provided insight and expertise that greatly assisted the research. We also thank the editors of this volume, Christoph Dörrenbächer and Mike Geppert, as well as Peter Walgenbach for comments that greatly improved the manuscript.
Citation
Brandl, J. and Schneider, A. (2017), "Headquarters-Subsidiary Relationships from a Convention Theory Perspective: Plural Orders of Worth, Arrangements and Form-Giving Activities", Multinational Corporations and Organization Theory: Post Millennium Perspectives (Research in the Sociology of Organizations, Vol. 49), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 295-324. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0733-558X20160000049010
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2017 Emerald Publishing Limited