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The role of HQ in the contemporary MNC has recently received a good deal of research attention. This article argues that the contemporary MNC requires an organizational model that can embrace different perspectives of the HQ role. The same HQ must at times hierarchically lead the firm and at other times assume a more passive, facilitative role that allows direct interaction and decision making among the subunits to coordinate interdependency within the firm. To achieve this integration, the article proposes a contingency model that specifies when the HQ should assume a hierarchical role and when it should assume a facilitative role.

Despite increased interest in headquarters (HQ) and their activities, we still lack a comprehensive understanding of the drivers of HQ relocations and their consequences. We seek to address this gap by examining whether HQ relocations are primarily driven by cost-reduction or value-creation motives, whether these motivations vary by HQ type and how these relocation patterns vary over time. We explore these questions on the basis of a unique hand-collected database of 227 HQ relocations in Europe between 2000 and 2012. Our findings illustrate that different types of HQ units play their orchestrating role in different ways and that their relocations are driven by different motives. Furthermore, our data suggest that although all types of HQ units are increasingly mobile, the implications of relocations for the MNC may differ considerably by HQ type. These findings contribute to a more fine-grained understanding of the drivers of HQ relocations and open up various new avenues for future research on HQ relocation and the role of HQ units in the orchestration of MNCs’ internal networks.

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the discussion on how multinational company (MNC) headquarters (HQs) can manage the existing coopetition paradox to ensure innovation within the MNC. In contrast to the rather scarce previous research, the authors argue that HQ needs to solve the coopetition paradox under the sway of a parenting paradox. Hence, HQ faces a dual paradox.

Drawing on the literature on HQ’s role during MNCs’ innovation processes, this conceptual paper revisits the previously suggested HQ measures to enable coopetition among subsidiaries. By applying a sheer ignorance perspective, the authors contribute with a more nuanced understanding of the HQ’s role in innovation activities.

The article identifies four challenges as the HQ faces a parenting paradox that hinders its ability to solve the coopetition paradox: context specificity of subsidiaries’ innovation work, normative expectations of subsidiary managers, potential opportunistic behavior of HQ manager and HQ underestimation of needed resources. The article suggests that HQ needs to become more informed and preferably even embedded in the local innovation networks of its most important subsidiaries and that coopetition should not be managed solely on an HQ level.

Advocating a sheer ignorance perspective, the article pioneers in discussing the role that HQ plays in managing coopetition among subsidiaries in innovation activities.

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.

The ability of an organisation’s headquarters (HQ) to bring value to and manage a globally dispersed multinational enterprise has been questioned in the existing literature. The purpose of this paper is to suggest that HQ-subsidiary distance is an important factor that affects such ability; this report also investigates the impact of distance on the HQ’s network management capabilities in the context of a global organisation’s evolution.

In this study, a single company was chosen to take part in a retrospective, longitudinal case study that highlighted two embedded product cases. The concept of distance was viewed as a variety of distance dimensions existing between the HQ and its subsidiaries.

The results indicated that distance impacted the effectiveness of the HQ’s network management capabilities by affecting HQ-subsidiary interaction and, consequently, shaping HQ’s knowledgeability about the subsidiaries’ operations. Moreover, the results suggested that the impact of such distance may shift from positive to negative over the course of a global organisation’s evolution.

Although this study was explorative, some generalisability to industrial-goods companies of Scandinavian origin that have transferred activities to their owned subsidiaries may be expected. Further replication of the study using multiple case companies across various industries and countries is desirable.

This work extends the understanding of technological distance, sheds light on the conditions necessary for the HQ of a globally networked organisation to engage in value creation in the context of its evolution and contributes to the overall appreciation of distance as a factor that comprises multiple dimensions.

This paper aims to synthesize the literature on embeddedness of MNE subsidiaries, rethinking the concept of “multiple embeddedness” in order to clarify the importance of the subsidiary-specific advantages.

A new and innovative framework based on four key relationships: home country-specific advantages (CSAs)-Headquarters (HQ); HQ-subsidiary; subsidiary-host CSAs; and subsidiary-HQ. This framework is used to discuss the complex phenomenon of “multiple embeddedness”.

The framework proposed sheds light on the subsidiary's need to develop and sustain over time its subsidiary-specific advantages (SSAs) and, where possible, to “upgrade” these SSAs and to integrate them across the entire network of the MNE. The framework is based on two pillars. The first one is the “creation and development” of firm-specific advantages (FSAs) (in the home country) and SSAs (in the host country); the second one is the “transfer” of these advantages from the parent to the subsidiary and vice versa. In addition, several interesting interrelations are found between the four main relationships, and the central role of the recombination capabilities and the importance of distance are highlighted.

This paper is one of the first to develop a framework incorporating all the relevant relationships in multiple embeddedness. The framework is innovative and “embeddedness” is analyzed in a novel way, as many studies only partially analyze this complex phenomenon and neglect one or more of these relationships.

As entrepreneurial top management teams in multidivisional forms are typically treated in pertinent literature as the default organizational solutions for developing dynamic capabilities, the emerging innovative organizational forms tend to be overlooked, even though they could be a viable means of transforming established enterprises. The present case study examines how Haier's microenterprise and platforms influenced the firm's dynamic capabilities development.

The paper presents a qualitative case study of Haier Group Corporation in China.

The findings indicate that Haier employed a loosely coupled relationship between its headquarters and the microenterprises, developed quasi market-based exchange relationships and established peer-to-peer learning opportunities and coordination among its microenterprises. Data analyses further revealed that Haier has adopted three-step routines to capture market opportunities and enhance operational efficiency. This research extends the sensing-seizing-reconfiguration model typically recommended in the existing literature. It also demonstrates that organizational configuration is an important aspect of dynamic innovation. In summary, the study results showcase microdivisionalization as a new way for developing dynamic capabilities to better adapt to the ever-changing market environments.

In summary, our study showcased microdivisionalization as a new way for firms to change the organization structure and business strategies to better adapt to the ever-changing market environments.

The key to any successful organization must be its communication network. Bold statement, but is it true? It is, of course, a sweeping generalization and one with which anyone would have difficulty in picking an argument. One way to determine what is, and what is not, vital to your organization is by eliminating it from the equation and asking yourself where you would be without it. Do away with your communication system, apart from the most basic, and see what you are left with? If the answer is not a great deal, then you can hopefully appreciate the importance of what you have, and realize the attention it deserves. Taking things for granted is an all too common phenomenon. When developing new systems and new strategies, it is important to remember the existing systems so as not to ignore their development too. Distribution and logistics management is an area which is experiencing many changes and, because of this, it is important for the communication system to be first class.

While the evolution of subsidiaries has received considerable research attention, the framework for understanding it has not evolved much since the late 1990s. The purpose of this paper is to add both clarity and depth to the work on the foundations for – as well as the processes of – capability creation and development as a subsidiary evolves.

This conceptual paper takes as its point of departure the micro-foundation literature, with a specific emphasis on the capability development literature. To describe capability creation and development, both the resource-based view and the resource management perspective are used here.

The paper adds a conceptual layer to the drivers of subsidiary evolution. To add further clarity regarding how capabilities are actually formed, the resources for capability creation and development are specified herein as entities, abilities and capacity. Arguments are also presented for why capabilities ought to be viewed as patterned behavior to decrease the terminological ambiguity surrounding the concept of capabilities. The process of capability creation and development with an emphasis on learning is brought forward. Further, capability typologies, in terms of substantive, managerial and dynamic capabilities, are presented to add specificity to the kinds of capabilities that are created and developed within a subsidiary.

Clarifying the concept of capability and how capabilities are formed by using advancements in the literature is important to add precision to the literature on the evolution of subsidiaries.