IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hhb/cbsint/1999-003.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Mnc As A Differentiated Network: Subsidiary Technology Embeddedness And Performance

Author

Listed:
  • Andersson, Ulf

    (Uppsala University)

  • Forsgren, Mats

    (Department of International Economics and Management, Copenhagen Business School)

  • Pedersen, Torben

    (Department of International Economics and Management, Copenhagen Business School)

Abstract

There has been a growing interest in looking upon the MNC as a differentiated network in the sense that subsidiaries have access to different types of resources and therefore perform differently in its market-place and within the MNC. Yet, even though subsidiaries are the object of intense interests, remarkably little have been written about assessment of subsidiary performance. In short, the possibilities of subsidiaries seem to generate more attention in the literature than their results. The two distinctive features of this paper lie in the development of the concept of subsidiary performance and the exploration of the linkage between subsidiary embeddedness and performance. More specifically, by drawing on literature about organizational learning, absorptive capacity and embeddedness in business relationships, some hypotheses will be formulated about the casual link between subsidiary environment and subsidiary performance. The hypotheses are tested in an LISREL-model based on data of 98 subsidiaries belonging to Swedish multinationals.

Suggested Citation

  • Andersson, Ulf & Forsgren, Mats & Pedersen, Torben, 1999. "The Mnc As A Differentiated Network: Subsidiary Technology Embeddedness And Performance," Working Papers 3-1999, Copenhagen Business School, Department of International Economics and Management.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhb:cbsint:1999-003
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://openarchive.cbs.dk/cbsweb/handle/10398/6621
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sumantra Ghoshal & Nitin Nohria, 1989. "Internal differentiation within multinational corporations," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 10(4), pages 323-337, July.
    2. Forsgren, Mats & Pedersen, Torben & Foss, Nicolai J., 1999. "Accounting for the strengths of MNC subsidiaries: the case of foreign-owned firms in Denmark," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 8(2), pages 181-196, April.
    3. Gupta, Anil K. & Govindarajan, V., 1994. "Organizing for knowledge flows within MNCs," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 443-457, December.
    4. Andersson, Ulf & Pahlberg, Cecilia, 1997. "Subsidiary influence on strategic behaviour in MNCs: an empirical study," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 6(3), pages 319-334, June.
    5. Jeffrey H. Dyer, 1996. "Does Governance Matter? Keiretsu Alliances and Asset Specificity as Sources of Japanese Competitive Advantage," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 7(6), pages 649-666, December.
    6. D. Eleanor Westney, 1993. "Institutionalization Theory and the Multinational Corporation," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Sumantra Ghoshal & D. Eleanor Westney (ed.), Organization Theory and the Multinational Corporation, chapter 3, pages 53-76, Palgrave Macmillan.
    7. Peter J. Lane & Michael Lubatkin, 1998. "Relative absorptive capacity and interorganizational learning," Post-Print hal-02311860, HAL.
    8. Gary Hamel, 1991. "Competition for competence and interpartner learning within international strategic alliances," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(S1), pages 83-103, June.
    9. John H Dunning, 1988. "The Eclectic Paradigm of International Production: A Restatement and Some Possible Extensions," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 19(1), pages 1-31, March.
    10. Andersson, Ulf & Forsgren, Mats, 1996. "Subsidiary embeddedness and control in the multinational corporation," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 5(5), pages 487-508, October.
    11. Yves Doz & C. K. Prahalad, 1993. "Managing DMNCs: A Search for a New Paradigm," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Sumantra Ghoshal & D. Eleanor Westney (ed.), Organization Theory and the Multinational Corporation, chapter 2, pages 24-50, Palgrave Macmillan.
    12. James G. March & Robert I. Sutton, 1997. "Crossroads---Organizational Performance as a Dependent Variable," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 8(6), pages 698-706, December.
    13. Thomas W Malnight, 1996. "The Transition from Decentralized to Network-Based MNC Structures: An Evolutionary Perspective," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 27(1), pages 43-65, March.
    14. P. R. Cowley, 1988. "Market structure and business performance: An evaluation of buyer/seller power in the pims database," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 9(3), pages 271-278, May.
    15. Balaji S. Chakravarthy, 1986. "Measuring strategic performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 7(5), pages 437-458, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Omar Salgado, 2011. "Barriers to the accomplishment of a subsidiary's strategic role: how location and corporate networks influence subsidiary performance," RAC - Revista de Administração Contemporânea (Journal of Contemporary Administration), ANPAD - Associação Nacional de Pós-Graduação e Pesquisa em Administração, vol. 15(2), pages 261-282.
    2. Urmas Varblane & Katrin M??nnik & Helena Hannula, 2005. "Autonomy and Performance of Foreign Subsidiaries in five Transition Countries," William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series wp780, William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Andersson, Ulf & Forsgren, Mats & Pedersen, Torben, 2001. "Subsidiary performance in multinational corporations: the importance of technology embeddedness," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 10(1), pages 3-23, February.
    2. Andersson, Ulf, 1999. "Some notes on subsidiary network embeddedness and its effects on the multinational corporation," Working Papers 1999:3, Uppsala University, Department of Business Studies.
    3. Persson, Magnus, 2006. "The impact of operational structure, lateral integrative mechanisms and control mechanisms on intra-MNE knowledge transfer," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 15(5), pages 547-569, October.
    4. Chiao, Yu-Ching & Ying, Kung-Pao, 2013. "Network effect and subsidiary autonomy in multinational corporations: An investigation of Taiwanese subsidiaries," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 652-662.
    5. Zander, Ivo, 1998. "The evolution of technological capabilities in the multinational corporation--dispersion, duplication and potential advantages from multinationality," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 17-35, May.
    6. Andersson, Ulf & Björkman, Ingmar & Forsgren, Mats, 2005. "Managing subsidiary knowledge creation: The effect of control mechanisms on subsidiary local embeddedness," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 14(5), pages 521-538, October.
    7. Drogendijk, H.J., 2001. "Expansion patterns of Dutch firms in Central and Eastern Europe : Learning to internationalize," Other publications TiSEM 18571cef-0dd0-46ff-82aa-3, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    8. Maria Adenfelt & Katarina Lagerström, 2008. "The development and sharing of knowledge by Centres of Excellence and transnational teams: A conceptual framework," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 48(3), pages 319-338, May.
    9. Adenfelt, Maria & Lagerström, Katarina, 2006. "Knowledge development and sharing in multinational corporations: The case of a centre of excellence and a transnational team," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 15(4), pages 381-400, August.
    10. Matolcsy, Zoltan & Wakefield, James, 2017. "Multinational headquarter control of wholly owned foreign subsidiaries," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(3), pages 275-293.
    11. Urmas Varblane & Katrin M??nnik & Helena Hannula, 2005. "Autonomy and Performance of Foreign Subsidiaries in five Transition Countries," William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series wp780, William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan.
    12. Xuelian Piao & Jon Jungbien Moon, 2019. "When does knowledge similarity help foreign firms improve performance?," Asian Business & Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 18(4), pages 301-323, September.
    13. Pinkse, Jonatan & Kuss, Matthias J. & Hoffmann, Volker H., 2010. "On the implementation of a 'global' environmental strategy: The role of absorptive capacity," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 160-177, April.
    14. Jan Hendrik Fisch & Bjoern Schmeisser, 0. "Phasing the operation mode of foreign subsidiaries: Reaping the benefits of multinationality through internal capital markets," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 0, pages 1-33.
    15. Cerrato, Daniele, 2006. "The multinational enterprise as an internal market system," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 15(3), pages 253-277, June.
    16. Andersson, Ulf, 2001. "Network embeddedness and transfer of information and innovation in MNCS - the dual role of the subsidiary," Occasional Papers 2001/2, Uppsala University, Department of Business Studies.
    17. Reichstein-Scholz, Harriet & Giroud, Axèle & Yamin, Mo & Andersson, Ulf, 2021. "Sales to centre stage! Determinants of the division in strategic sales decisions within the MNE," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(6).
    18. Christoph Doerrenbaecher & Mike Geppert, 2009. "Micro-political Games in the Multinational Corporation: The Case of Mandate Change," management revue - Socio-Economic Studies, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 20(4), pages 373-391.
    19. Dimitratos, Pavlos & Liouka, Ioanna & Young, Stephen, 2009. "Regional location of multinational corporation subsidiaries and economic development contribution: Evidence from the UK," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 44(2), pages 180-191, April.
    20. Dixit Manjunatha Betaraya & Saboohi Nasim & Joy Mukhopadhyay, 2018. "Subsidiary Innovation in a Developing Economy: Towards a Comprehensive Model and Directions for Future Research," FIIB Business Review, , vol. 7(2), pages 109-125, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    MNC; subsidiaries; Sweden;
    All these keywords.

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:hhb:cbsint:1999-003. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Lars Nondal (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/iicbsdk.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.