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Parent companies usually control a subsidiary’s operations and decision-making processes and policies. This study highlights how subsidiary research and development (R&D) contributes to a parent company’s global strategy formulation in the context of changes in the integrated responsiveness framework and transnational models.

We conducted an interview survey with 149 companies in Japan, of which 92 engaged in R&D activities. Ten companies, 9 R&D managers, and one managing director of different industrial companies were selected.

We identified four cases of how R&D subsidiaries incorporate their requirements into global strategies in the context of changes. Four methods of integrating R&D subsidiaries’ strategies with the parent company are explained. Further, we show that global strategy formulation should not be restricted to headquarters, as dilemmas occur within competing departments in the subsidiaries, which negatively impact innovation and performance. Digital transformation suggests the potential of a new subsidiary management model—the “silent headquarters”.

We failed to discuss how headquarters’ R&D is implemented in strategy formulation. This is because the interview survey was conducted from the perspective of how subsidiary R&D is involved in integrated strategy formulation. Additionally, we did not investigate the actual performance achieved by integrated and non-integrated R&D organisations. Problems faced by subsidiaries in other locations, other departments within the subsidiary country, and the solutions to these problems, should be addressed in future research.

The practical implications of our findings relate to subsidiary-country relationships, inter-facility competition, and global strategy formulation. Active involvement of subsidiary R&D in strategy formulation, considering local requirements, can enhance subsidiary location advantages. Integrated strategies focused on global customers may overlook subsidiary R&D strengths and hinder innovation due to internal dilemmas and competition. Strengthening subsidiary R&D involvement and considering local context can promote innovation and flexibility beyond meta-national management. The concept of Silent HQ is suggested, reducing duplication and coordination issues through delegation and digital transformation.

The implication was from the findings pertain to global strategy formulation after organisational integration, which was not previously elucidated by the transnational management and meta-national management models. It was clarified the existence of four cases for subsidiary R&D involvement in strategy formulation from the perspective of subsidiary R&D activities, addressing the difficulty of explaining the penetration of single strategy management to subsidiaries through integration alone. We revealed that there are the entire, apparent, moderate, and quiescent integration cases of R&D strategies from the perspectives of global integration strategy and the subsidiary country’s adaptation and that considering subsidiary R&D involvement models in global strategy formulation is important for maximising the performance of R&D subsidiaries in MNCs.

This study provides useful insight into the importance of centralisation to enhance performance. It addresses the research gap in the global strategy formulation process by R&D subsidiaries. R&D leaders at subsidiary levels strike a balance between global considerations and the host country. This concerns the need for initiative and value proposition to their local customers, combined with the operation of a transnational model. The findings clarify how high-performing subsidiary R&D leaders can engage in parent company strategy formulation.

Past research suggests that a financial crisis event has a dual and ambiguous effect on the exporting strategy of subsidiaries of multinational firms in a value chain and offshoring perspective. From a total volume perspective exports are expected to contract due to a decline in demand (demand shock) from other subsidiaries downstream in the value chain. While in a comparative perspective multinational subsidiaries are found to perform relatively better than local firms that are integrated differently (arms’ length) in global production networks (e.g., offshoring outsourcing). This chapter tries to reconcile these findings by testing a number of hypothesis about global integration strategies in the context of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) and how it affected exporting among multinational subsidiaries operating out of Turkey. Controlling for the impact that exchange rate depreciations and volatility has on firm-level exports the study shows that the particular global event studied had no additional impact on individual firms’ exports. Since multinational subsidiaries are more insulated from these effects they are able to expand rather than contract their global integration strategies throughout the course of the GFC.

In examining the issues relating to global marketing strategy, scholars have primarily focused on marketing opportunities in the developed world. Recently, rapid rates of growth in emerging market countries have resulted in a growing interest in the market potential of these countries. Developing a global marketing strategy to target these diverse types of markets suggests the need to develop divergent strategies for different types of markets rather than focusing on integrating strategies across markets. To date, however, little is known about how to achieve this effectively. This paper briefly reviews past approaches to these issues and then indicates critical topics for future research.

The changing roles of the United Nations (UN) and national institutions have made addressing climate change a critical concern for many multinational enterprises’ (MNEs) survival and growth. This chapter discusses how such institutions, which vary in their nature and characteristics, shape firm strategies for climate change adaptation. Exploring different versions of institutional theory, the chapter demonstrates how and why institutional characteristics affect typical patterns of firm ownership, governance, and capabilities. These, in turn, influence companies’ internationalisation and climate-change strategies. Climate change poses challenges to how we understand firms’ strategic decisions from both an international business (IB) (HQ–subsidiary relations) and global value chains (GVC) (buyer–supplier relations) perspective. However, climate change also provides opportunities for companies to gain competitive advantages – if firms can reconfigure and adapt faster than their competitors. Existing IB and GVC research tends to downplay the importance of climate change strategies and the ways in which coherent or dysfunctional institutions affect firms’ reconfiguration and adaptation strategies in a globally dispersed network of value creation. This chapter presents a perspective on the institutional conditions that affect firms’ climate change strategies regarding ownership, location, and internalisation (OLI), and GVCs, with ‘investment’ and ‘emerging standards’ playing a significant role. The authors illustrate the discussion using several examples from the Global South (i.e. Bangladesh) and the Global North (i.e. Denmark, Sweden, and Germany) with a special emphasis on the garment industry. The aim is to encourage future research to examine how a ‘business systems’, or varieties of capitalism, institutional perspective can complement the analysis of sustainability and climate change strategies in IB and GVC studies.

This study compares U.S. firm international strategies between two starkly different industries. We find that firms are more inclined to adopt global strategies in the integrated global industry than in the multidomestic industry. The global strategy does not seem to be effective unless a firm possesses substantial intangible assets. R&D-based intangible assets play a more significant role than marketing-based intangible assets in both the integrated global industry and (to a lesser extent) the multidomestic industry. Additionally, internationalization pace has a positive direct impact, and a negative interaction effect with the global strategy on firm performance in the integrated global industry.

The main purpose of this paper is to introduce a comprehensive model explaining the global expansion of firms and to find out viable strategies for firms to survive global competition.

Through the critical review over existing literature, this study first introduces a new framework explaining the global expansion of firms at the level of functional activities in the value chain, and then empirically tests the predictions of the new framework with data in the motor industry.

Empirical findings confirm the new model's predictions. First, each function in the value chain has a unique way of global expansion: the global strategy is suitable for the production function, while the multidomestic strategy is applicable to the marketing function. Second, each function follows a dynamic path of global expansion from domestic to transnational via either global or multidomestic, according to the innate characteristics of corresponding function. Finally, the degree of global expansion of a firm is positively correlated with its financial performance.

Focusing on developing a new framework on global expansion, this study utilizes a rather small number of data and, therefore, requires readers' discretion when interpreting the results of statistical analyses.

With the dynamic diversification‐coordination model, managers can recognize the level and characteristics of their firms' global expansion, not only at the firm level but also at the functional level. This allows managers to establish a global strategy tailored to each function, thus reconciling possible conflicts generated from different interests among different functions in the firm.

First, this article introduces a new perspective of analyzing the global expansion of firms by shifting the level of analysis from the firm level to the functional level where the new framework can reconcile the constant debates on globalization. Second, this article suggests an intuitive and theory‐based index measuring the degree of global expansion of firms.

A review of the literature reveals that global strategy is characterized by diverse perspectives and lack of a unified theory. Identifies gaps in the literature as the contributors to its current state: lack of integration of the diverse perspectives and domination by the industrial organization (IO) theoretical view. Attempts to integrate the diverse perspectives of global strategy into a six‐dimension global strategy construct, and to integrate the IO‐based theory with the resource‐based theory of strategy and competitive advantage. Presents an integrated conceptual framework of global strategy which helps reduce the ambiguity and confusion in the global strategy literature, and that serves as a theoretical foundation for future research. Discusses the managerial implications.

This study aims to identify and prioritize the key practices and strategies for effective global sourcing and supply chain management (SCM).

The study uses a combination of Pareto analysis and multi-objective optimization based on ratio analysis research methodology to analyze and establish the relationships among the identified key practices and strategies. Pareto analysis enables organization to prioritize organizational efforts and resources by focusing on the most critical factors.

The study shows that the “eco-friendly sourcing strategy”, “lean manufacturing” and “tool cost analysis” are the top critical practices and strategy variables for global sourcing and SCM, whereas the “risk management”, “procurement strategy” and “leverage digital solutions” are the critical practices and strategy variables.

The findings of this research can also assist organizations in making informed decisions to optimize their global sourcing and supply chain operations.

By using these methods, this research paper gives valuable insights into the critical practices and strategies that can enhance efficiency, mitigate risks and drive success in global sourcing and SCM. The subjects and elements this study identified will serve as a framework and suggestions for further theoretical investigation and real-world implementations.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship among green, lean, and global supply chain strategies as found in the literature, with emphasis on the concurrent implementation of these three strategic initiatives, in order to develop a research agenda to guide theoretically based future research that informs managerial decision making.

An extensive literature review is conducted to examine research and practice with respect to the concurrent implementation of green, lean, and global supply chain strategies.

An in‐depth examination of the literature revealed drivers, barriers, converging, and contradictory points across the three supply chain strategies. Future research opportunities fall into four major themes: the need for theoretically grounded research, the need for a multi‐functional approach, the need for a systems approach that adds strategic insight, and the need for integrated measurement application. Managerial aspects are highlighted in the discussion of the metrics across the three strategic interfaces and integrated life cycle management is suggested as a framework for measurement application across the three supply chain strategies.

Separate literature streams have arisen to address issues in green, lean, and global supply chain management, but research has largely neglected the intersection of these three strategies practiced by multinational organizations. The current research synthesizes the literature addressing the intersections of green, lean, and global supply chain management, and suggests a research agenda to redress gaps in the literature.

The topic of this article provides a discussion on the importance of well‐defined concepts and approaches used by scholars and by practitioners in various contexts. It is troublesome when the use of a concept or an approach is ambiguous and confusing. The discussion focuses on, and is exemplified through, the globalization of business activities and the term “global strategy”. The widespread use of popular jargon cannot cover the fact that a genuine or true global strategy approach appears to be a managerial utopia. The terms “glocal strategy” and the “glocalization” of business activities are introduced to enhance the accuracy of the present usage by scholars and by practitioners of the term global strategy and the phenomenon often described as the globalization of business activities.