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What happened to the transnational? The emergence of the neo-global corporation

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  • Jacqueline Mees-Buss

    (University of Sydney Business School)

  • Catherine Welch

    (University of Sydney Business School)

  • D. Eleanor Westney

    (MIT Sloan School of Management)

Abstract

Bartlett and Ghoshal’s transnational ‘solution’ for managing the MNC remains popular among scholars and practitioners alike. However, our in-depth qualitative study of Unilever, an exemplary case of a transnational, found that in the period 2000–2012 the company evolved into a very different organizational form with a distinct set of characteristics. We call this the neo-global corporation. In explaining how and why this transformation occurred, we turn to organizational evolutionary theory, and use our case to generate a multi-cycle process model of MNC evolution. Given the dynamism of the MNC and its environments, we anticipate that the neo-global will also eventually transform, and call for more organization-level case studies of MNCs in future international business research.

Suggested Citation

  • Jacqueline Mees-Buss & Catherine Welch & D. Eleanor Westney, 2019. "What happened to the transnational? The emergence of the neo-global corporation," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 50(9), pages 1513-1543, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:jintbs:v:50:y:2019:i:9:d:10.1057_s41267-019-00253-5
    DOI: 10.1057/s41267-019-00253-5
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