The Experts below are selected from a list of 6489 Experts worldwide ranked by ideXlab platform
Björn Ambos - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
-
how do Regional Headquarters influence corporate decisions in networked mncs
Social Science Research Network, 2012Co-Authors: Volker Mahnke, Björn Ambos, Phillip Christopher Nell, Bersant HobdariAbstract:In networked MNCs where knowledge and power are distributed, corporate strategy processes benefit from input arising from many different levels of the organization. Recently, the Regional (i.e., supra-national) level has been emphasized as an important additional source of knowledge and input, and as a bridge between local subsidiaries and global corporate Headquarters. This paper builds theory on the antecedents to Regional Headquarters' influence on corporate decisions (i.e., organizational, behavioral, and motivational). Based on a survey of Regional Headquarters in Europe and their relations with MNC Headquarters, we provide empirical evidence that a Regional Headquarters' autonomy and signaling behavior have significant effects on its influence on corporate strategy. Furthermore, we find support for our hypothesis that the Regional Headquarters' charter moderates such bottom-up influence.
-
How companies organize their European Business: The Role of Regional Headquarters
Diversity in European Marketing, 2012Co-Authors: Bodo B. Schlegelmilch, Björn AmbosAbstract:The Adidas example illustrates that Regional offices (or Regional Headquarters) are not uniformly welcome. Indeed, some companies have abandoned Regional Headquarters all together. In contrast, companies like Citibank see the issue rather differently.
-
the benefits of hierarchy exploring the effects of Regional Headquarters in multinational corporations
Social Science Research Network, 2011Co-Authors: Phillip Christopher Nell, Björn Ambos, Bodo B. SchlegelmilchAbstract:This chapter investigates the role Regional Headquarters (RHQs) play in large multinationals and probes to what degree the establishment of RHQs provides hierarchy benefits according to the M-form principles. Nine large multinational corporations (MNCs) provided the empirical setting for 55 in-depth interviews with decision-makers at corporate, Regional and local levels. Case reports were developed for each MNC and the industries they operated in. Observations, company documents, detailed workshops with managers and a follow-up survey within one of the MNCs complemented the data. We find evidence for benefits of hierarchy when RHQs are introduced very much along the lines of the classic M-form organisation with product divisions. However, M-form principles are taken ad absurdum by the fact that there seems to be constant reorganisation regarding the mandates and the geographic scope of the regions. The practical implications of the chapter show that MNCs need to be aware that RHQs and the Regional divisions they manage seem to be more difficult to manage in a stable way than product divisions. A clear rationale needs to underlie Regional groupings to minimise instability, dissatisfaction among subsidiaries and, hence, ruptures of the M-form principles. Further research is needed to compare the stability of product versus Regional divisionalisation. Future research on organisational structures should focus on firm-specific definitions of Regional scope.
-
managing Regional Headquarters
Palgrave Macmillan Books, 2010Co-Authors: Björn Ambos, Bodo B. SchlegelmilchAbstract:Managing a Regional Headquarters is not an easy task. In this chapter, we will draw attention to a few factors that are germane in managing a Regional Headquarters. These issues include managing the dual tension between subsidiaries on the one hand and corporate Headquarters on the other hand. Furthermore, we will explore how much autonomy Regional Headquarters need to fulfil their tasks. We will then take a look at the roles and responsibilities that Regional Headquarters fulfil and how firms distribute their value-added activities across the network.
Dahhsian Seetoo - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
-
toward a theory of Regional organization
Management International Review, 2010Co-Authors: Gueyhuey Li, Chwoming Yu, Dahhsian SeetooAbstract:This paper explores the organizational adjustment in host regions when MNCs switch from their original strategy to a Regional strategy. MNCs set up sub-Regional Headquarters (e.g., Greater China sub-Regional Headquarters) under a Regional Headquarters (e.g., Asia Regional Headquarters). A sub-Regional Headquarters replaces a Regional Headquarters directly managing subsidiaries within the sub-region. The emergence of sub-Regional Headquarters is in response to the need for a balance between global integration and local responsiveness. An increasing number of decisions are made by sub-Regional Headquarters, instead of by subsidiaries, a parent, or Regional Headquarters. Industry characteristics and firm’s specific advantages (FSAs) affect the delegation of authority from a parent to Regional and sub-Regional Headquarters.
-
toward a theory of Regional organization the emerging role of sub Regional Headquarters and the impact on subsidiaries
Management International Review, 2010Co-Authors: Dahhsian SeetooAbstract:This paper explores the organizational adjustment in host regions when MNCs switch from their original strategy to a Regional strategy. MNCs set up sub-Regional Headquarters (e.g., Greater China sub-Regional Headquarters) under a Regional Headquarters (e.g., Asia Regional Headquarters). A sub-Regional Headquarters replaces a Regional Headquarters directly managing subsidiaries within the sub-region. The emergence of sub-Regional Headquarters is in response to the need for a balance between global integration and local responsiveness. An increasing number of decisions are made by sub-Regional Headquarters, instead of by subsidiaries, a parent, or Regional Headquarters. Industry characteristics and firm’s specific advantages (FSAs) affect the delegation of authority from a parent to Regional and sub-Regional Headquarters.
Jörg Freiling - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
-
competence building in transnational companies the role of Regional Headquarters in subsidiary coordination
2015Co-Authors: Jörg Freiling, Sven M. LaudienAbstract:Overcoming trade-off like constellations has been a core challenge in business and management in the last years. Mass customization is one example in this regard; the debate on organizational ambidexterity (March, 1991) is another. Overcoming the ‘glocalization’ challenge is the trade-off debate relevant to this chapter. ‘Glocalization’ (Rugman & Brain, 2003; Rugman & Verbeke, 2004) is a neologism for the coeval need to standardize on a global scale and to access location-specific advantages by adaptations on a local scale.
-
Regional Headquarters and their impact on knowledge transfer processes in transnational companies a small world network perspective
Research Papers in Economics, 2013Co-Authors: Sven M. Laudien, Jörg FreilingAbstract:What role do Regional Headquarters (RHQ) play in the process of spreading knowledge in the internal and external network of transnational companies (TNC)? In our paper we approach this topic based on an understanding of TNC as ‘small world’ networks – a concept from the field of social psychology introduced by Milgram (1967). We employ this concept to show that RHQ as knowledge hubs foster knowledge transfer and competence building within TNCs. The main contribution of our paper is that we develop a formalized approach that provides a proof that RHQ can considerably influence information and knowledge transfer processes in TNCs. By doing so, we try to reduce a gap in research on RHQ.
-
Regional Headquarters as mode of control for tnc subsidiaries a network oriented perspective
Research Papers in Economics, 2012Co-Authors: Jörg Freiling, Sven M. LaudienAbstract:Our conceptual paper sheds light on the role of Regional Headquarters in coordinating the information and knowledge transfer within the transnational company (TNC) understood as globally dispersed network. We presume that organizational units are embedded in an internal network which is mainly dominated by the TNC Headquarters (HQ) and at least one external network that is determined by relationships to the host government, suppliers, customers, (competing) firms, other organizational units, universities, and research labs. We regard the importance of local conditions that may lead to local-based subsidiary knowledge creation which is not triggered off and controlled by the HQ. This forces the HQ to recapture control over the subsidiary initiative to be able to govern it in an adequate and from a superior TNC point of view beneficial way. We believe that RHQ can be employed as organizational tools in this context to ensure an internal flow of information of adequate quality and quantity which resolves the problem of lacking information and shows how RHQ can fulfil this task. The paper contributes to business research by giving a distinct and widely new insight into the mode of operation of RHQ within TNC based on a network-oriented, information-focused perspective.
-
Regional Headquarters Capabilities as Key Facilitator of the Coordination of Transnational Business Activities
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2012Co-Authors: Jörg Freiling, Sven M. LaudienAbstract:Transnational corporations (TNCs) recently face a dilemma: they coevally have to exploit global-based as well as locally enrooted business opportunities ('glocal dilemma'). This brings the aspect of formal and informal coordination to an issue. In our conceptual paper we focus on formal coordination and employ a capability-based perspective to address the specific coordination role Regional Headquarters (RHQ) as structural coordination tool play in this context. Based on a framework borrowed from entrepreneurship theory, we outline necessary capabilities of RHQs to be able to carry out their coordinative function in a sufficient way. Our paper enhances existing knowledge by highlighting the up to now widely disregarded coordinative power of RHQ structures subject to specific competences.
-
overcoming liabilities of foreignness by modes of structural coordination Regional Headquarters and their role in tncs
2011Co-Authors: Sven M. Laudien, Jörg FreilingAbstract:In our chapter, we show how internationalisation-based performance outcomes can be amended by using a Regional Headquarters (RHQ) structure. We assume that ‘transnational corporations’ (TNCs) act restrained by a so-called GLOCAL dilemma caused by a coeval need for realising standardisation advantages and ‘location-specific advantages’ (LSA). Thereby, we believe that these opportunities are not necessarily linked to the same level of geographical aggregation. We further take into account that emerging ‘liabilities of foreignness’ (LOF) exert influence on the performance effect of cross-border transactions and highlight the important role information quality plays in this context. To back our general line of reasoning, we employ the information cost approach (Casson, 1998, 1999) as theoretical frame of our chapter. This approach enhances the common one-dimensional view on transactions costs (e.g. Williamson, 1985) by understanding these costs as two-dimensional phenomenon made up of ‘observation costs’ and ‘communication costs’. Additionally, the approach explicitly considers information quality, which is useful to our analysis. Against this background, we discuss how performance effects triggered by a use of RHQ evolve subject to basic types of organisational structures used by TNCs. We contribute to business research by providing a theoretically founded and widely new performance-based angle on the RHQ phenomenon. It combines different research streams that focus influences on cross-border business activities by relying on either the idea of LOF or the idea of LSA.
Gabler Verlag - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
-
organization in american mncs the perspective of the european Regional Headquarters
Management International Review, 1992Co-Authors: Daniel G Sullivan, Gabler VerlagAbstract:Daniel Sullivan, Assistant Professor of International Business, A.B. Freeman School of Business, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, U.S.A. In the MNC, perceiving opportunities for integration requires a multicountry view of company, competitive, and political conditions. As such, home office managers typically champion multinational integration and a mechanistic organization (Doz 1986). Conversely, proximity to local conditions prompts subsidiary managers to advocate national responsiveness and an organic design (Bartlett/Ghoshal 1989). So predictable are these predispositions that Doz and Prahalad (1984, p. 57) conclude "needs for responsiveness typically enter the MNC via subsidiary managers, whereas needs for integration are more acutely perceived by Headquarters executives." Predictable too is the division of research of organization in the MNC. One group sets Headquarters as the point of reference (Heenan/Perlmutter 1979, Bartlett 1981, Bartlett/Ghosal 1989, Daniels et al. 1984, Doz 1986, Edstrom/Galbraith 1977, Egelhoff 1989, Roth/Morrison 1990) while another sets subsidiary characteristics as the principal research variables (Goehle 1980, Cray 1984, Garnier 1982, Hulbert/Brandt 1980). Child (1972) suggests something may be amiss. He cautioned that the definition of the sample in terms of its organizational status can lead to different findings. Systematic error arises, Hambrick (1981) added, because of the differing perceptions of senior executives and subordinates. Taking heed of these warnings, we study organization in American MNCs from the perspective of managers of the European Regional Headquarters (RHQ). The view from the RHQ is theoretically ideal because its mission is to manage the tension between Headquarters' call for global efficiency and local subsidiaries' push for national effectiveness (Heenan/Perlmutter 1979). Executing this mandate requires the Regional executive maintain a matrix of sensitivities, alert to the imperative of pooling resources, gaining synergies, promoting standardization, and managing product cycles while simultaneously safeguarding the benefits of subsidiaries' responsiveness to local employees, competitors, markets, and governments (Daniels 1987). Research Themes Three themes guide this research. The first marks the relationship between the co-called "science" and "art" of business that delineates the firm's formal structure versus its informal substructure (Pascale 1977).(1) Traditionally, study of organization in the MNC has emphasized the technical elements of an MNC's organization under the presumption that managers objectively prescribe the "idealized rationality" of the desired structure by impartially allocating roles, rules, and responsibilities among managers, units, and divisions (Stopford/Wells 1972; Egelhoff 1989). Recent work has highlighted the social elements of organization, emphasizing the influence of the "dialectical rationality" that is enacted by the informal substructure and that sanctions patterns of decision making that do not singly respect the standards of efficiency (Benson 1977, Ranson et al. 1980, Greenwood/Hinings 1988, Prahalad 1983). Cases studies that address this issue report that organization in the MNCs is a self-sustaining merger of formal and informal processes configured to meditate political and economic imperatives (Bower 1970, Bartlett 1981, Prahalad/Doz 1987, Bartlett/Ghosal 1989). However, scant research has empirically analyzed the interdependence of the prescribed framework and substructure perspectives, especially with respect to organization in the MNC. Therefore, we take the position that integrated study of the formal structure and informal substructure explains how managers develop the modes of interpretation, rules of action, and provinces of meaning that enact an organization (Ranson et al. 1980). The second theme is that the coordination and control tasks of Doz's (1986) generic global strategies reveal characteristics of the organization of an MNC. …
Sven M. Laudien - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
-
competence building in transnational companies the role of Regional Headquarters in subsidiary coordination
2015Co-Authors: Jörg Freiling, Sven M. LaudienAbstract:Overcoming trade-off like constellations has been a core challenge in business and management in the last years. Mass customization is one example in this regard; the debate on organizational ambidexterity (March, 1991) is another. Overcoming the ‘glocalization’ challenge is the trade-off debate relevant to this chapter. ‘Glocalization’ (Rugman & Brain, 2003; Rugman & Verbeke, 2004) is a neologism for the coeval need to standardize on a global scale and to access location-specific advantages by adaptations on a local scale.
-
Regional Headquarters and their impact on knowledge transfer processes in transnational companies a small world network perspective
Research Papers in Economics, 2013Co-Authors: Sven M. Laudien, Jörg FreilingAbstract:What role do Regional Headquarters (RHQ) play in the process of spreading knowledge in the internal and external network of transnational companies (TNC)? In our paper we approach this topic based on an understanding of TNC as ‘small world’ networks – a concept from the field of social psychology introduced by Milgram (1967). We employ this concept to show that RHQ as knowledge hubs foster knowledge transfer and competence building within TNCs. The main contribution of our paper is that we develop a formalized approach that provides a proof that RHQ can considerably influence information and knowledge transfer processes in TNCs. By doing so, we try to reduce a gap in research on RHQ.
-
Regional Headquarters as mode of control for tnc subsidiaries a network oriented perspective
Research Papers in Economics, 2012Co-Authors: Jörg Freiling, Sven M. LaudienAbstract:Our conceptual paper sheds light on the role of Regional Headquarters in coordinating the information and knowledge transfer within the transnational company (TNC) understood as globally dispersed network. We presume that organizational units are embedded in an internal network which is mainly dominated by the TNC Headquarters (HQ) and at least one external network that is determined by relationships to the host government, suppliers, customers, (competing) firms, other organizational units, universities, and research labs. We regard the importance of local conditions that may lead to local-based subsidiary knowledge creation which is not triggered off and controlled by the HQ. This forces the HQ to recapture control over the subsidiary initiative to be able to govern it in an adequate and from a superior TNC point of view beneficial way. We believe that RHQ can be employed as organizational tools in this context to ensure an internal flow of information of adequate quality and quantity which resolves the problem of lacking information and shows how RHQ can fulfil this task. The paper contributes to business research by giving a distinct and widely new insight into the mode of operation of RHQ within TNC based on a network-oriented, information-focused perspective.
-
Regional Headquarters Capabilities as Key Facilitator of the Coordination of Transnational Business Activities
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2012Co-Authors: Jörg Freiling, Sven M. LaudienAbstract:Transnational corporations (TNCs) recently face a dilemma: they coevally have to exploit global-based as well as locally enrooted business opportunities ('glocal dilemma'). This brings the aspect of formal and informal coordination to an issue. In our conceptual paper we focus on formal coordination and employ a capability-based perspective to address the specific coordination role Regional Headquarters (RHQ) as structural coordination tool play in this context. Based on a framework borrowed from entrepreneurship theory, we outline necessary capabilities of RHQs to be able to carry out their coordinative function in a sufficient way. Our paper enhances existing knowledge by highlighting the up to now widely disregarded coordinative power of RHQ structures subject to specific competences.
-
overcoming liabilities of foreignness by modes of structural coordination Regional Headquarters and their role in tncs
2011Co-Authors: Sven M. Laudien, Jörg FreilingAbstract:In our chapter, we show how internationalisation-based performance outcomes can be amended by using a Regional Headquarters (RHQ) structure. We assume that ‘transnational corporations’ (TNCs) act restrained by a so-called GLOCAL dilemma caused by a coeval need for realising standardisation advantages and ‘location-specific advantages’ (LSA). Thereby, we believe that these opportunities are not necessarily linked to the same level of geographical aggregation. We further take into account that emerging ‘liabilities of foreignness’ (LOF) exert influence on the performance effect of cross-border transactions and highlight the important role information quality plays in this context. To back our general line of reasoning, we employ the information cost approach (Casson, 1998, 1999) as theoretical frame of our chapter. This approach enhances the common one-dimensional view on transactions costs (e.g. Williamson, 1985) by understanding these costs as two-dimensional phenomenon made up of ‘observation costs’ and ‘communication costs’. Additionally, the approach explicitly considers information quality, which is useful to our analysis. Against this background, we discuss how performance effects triggered by a use of RHQ evolve subject to basic types of organisational structures used by TNCs. We contribute to business research by providing a theoretically founded and widely new performance-based angle on the RHQ phenomenon. It combines different research streams that focus influences on cross-border business activities by relying on either the idea of LOF or the idea of LSA.