Search results

This study aims to review the existing literature on corporate-level strategy to develop a conceptual framework of the headquarters’ roles as well as situational factors influencing them.

The systematic review is conducted. Accordingly, 598 studies (published from 1962–2018) were extracted from three databases (ProQuest, EBSCO and Web of Science). Then, after screening and ensuring the quality by the TAPUPAS checklist, 53 articles were systematically analyzed by manual coding method.

In total, 31 interventions in the form of four roles, namely, “value creation,” “value reduction,” “portfolio management“ and “loss prevent“ were identified for headquarters (HQ). Furthermore, four influencing situational factors distinguish “business characteristics,” “headquarters characteristics,” “corporate company characteristics” and “characteristic of the HQ-subsidiary relationships.”

The value of this research can be outlined as: mapping the cutting edge on the topic and systematizes the current knowledge; presenting an integrative, unique conceptual framework of HQs’ roles and influences, and particularly, of situational factors that determine the consequents of the interventions; and producing practical insights for corporate parent managers considering the situational factors influencing HQs’ roles and influences in managing their business portfolio successfully.

Today, business competition is like a duck shoot at twilight; you can barely see the target, which keeps moving and changing its profile, and you lose if you fail to hit it. Be assured then, that if about a thousand corporate executives take time out from negotiating the hazards of a recessionary economy to attend a conference, they expect results and value for their money no less than if they made a similar investment in consultancy advice. Still more so, for the significant number who travel halfway around the world to hear speakers address them in a tongue other than their own.