IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/jorgde/v9y2020i1d10.1186_s41469-020-00079-8.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Reflections on the design of corporate headquarters

Author

Listed:
  • Andrew Campbell

    (Hult International Business School)

Abstract

The design of corporate headquarters (CHQ) is a specialist and important area of organization design. It is important because of the influence that a CHQ has over the portfolio of businesses it owns. A good CHQ can improve the performance of its businesses. A bad CHQ causes its businesses to perform less well. This article describes the lessons learned from a 30-year career researching, advising, and governing corporate leaders. It covers the reasons why CHQ design is so important, why CHQ design work often also involves strategy work, what activities are needed at the CHQ level, and the problem of subtracted value. The ambition is to help practitioners design better CHQ and help researchers design more relevant research.

Suggested Citation

  • Andrew Campbell, 2020. "Reflections on the design of corporate headquarters," Journal of Organization Design, Springer;Organizational Design Community, vol. 9(1), pages 1-7, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jorgde:v:9:y:2020:i:1:d:10.1186_s41469-020-00079-8
    DOI: 10.1186/s41469-020-00079-8
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1186/s41469-020-00079-8
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1186/s41469-020-00079-8?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Feldman, Emilie R., 2020. "Corporate Strategy: Past, Present, and Future," Strategic Management Review, now publishers, vol. 1(1), pages 179-206, March.
    2. David Collis & David Young & Michael Goold, 2007. "The size, structure, and performance of corporate headquarters," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(4), pages 383-405, April.
    3. Foss, Nicolai J, 1997. "On the Rationales of Corporate Headquarters," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 6(2), pages 313-338, March.
    4. Alfred D. Chandler, 1991. "The functions of the HQ unit in the multibusiness firm," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(S2), pages 31-50, December.
    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. Sven Kunisch & Markus Menz & David Collis, 2020. "Corporate headquarters in the twenty-first century: an organization design perspective," Journal of Organization Design, Springer;Organizational Design Community, vol. 9(1), pages 1-32, December.

    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. Anna Romiti & Mario Vecchio & Chiara Milani & Gino Sartor, 2023. "Italian healthcare organizations facing new dimensions: changes in governance structure," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 27(3), pages 893-921, September.
    2. Sven Kunisch & Markus Menz & David Collis, 2020. "Corporate headquarters in the twenty-first century: an organization design perspective," Journal of Organization Design, Springer;Organizational Design Community, vol. 9(1), pages 1-32, December.
    3. Morikawa, Masayuki, 2015. "Are large headquarters unproductive?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 422-436.
    4. Ambos, Björn & Kunisch, Sven & Leicht-Deobald, Ulrich & Schulte Steinberg, Adrian, 2019. "Unravelling agency relations inside the MNC: The roles of socialization, goal conflicts and second principals in headquarters-subsidiary relationships," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 54(2), pages 67-81.
    5. Randi Lunnan & Youzhen Zhao, 2014. "Regional headquarters in China: Role in MNE knowledge transfer," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 31(2), pages 397-422, June.
    6. René Belderbos & Marcelina Grabowska & Stijn Kelchtermans & Bart Leten & Jojo Jacob & Massimo Riccaboni, 2021. "Whither geographic proximity? Bypassing local R&D units in foreign university collaboration," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 52(7), pages 1302-1330, September.
    7. Kunisch, Sven & Menz, Markus & Birkinshaw, Julian, 2019. "Spatially dispersed corporate headquarters: A historical analysis of their prevalence, antecedents, and consequences," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 148-161.
    8. Su, Cong & Ciabuschi, Francesco & Kong, Lingshuang, 2023. "Headquarters parenting advantage in Chinese MNEs: The moderating role of top managers’ political and International experience," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(2).
    9. Pla-Barber, José & Botella-Andreu, Ana & Villar, Cristina, 2021. "Intermediate units in multinational corporations: A resource dependency view on coordinative versus entrepreneurial roles," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(1).
    10. Ciabuschi, Francesco & Forsgren, Mats & Martín Martín, Oscar, 2012. "Headquarters involvement and efficiency of innovation development and transfer in multinationals: A matter of sheer ignorance?," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 21(2), pages 130-144.
    11. Beugelsdijk, Sjoerd & Nell, Phillip C. & Ambos, Björn, 2017. "When Do Distance Effects Become Empirically Observable? An Investigation in the Context of Headquarters Value Creation for Subsidiaries," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 23(3), pages 255-267.
    12. Teresa da Silva Lopes & Mark Casson & Geoffrey Jones, 2019. "Organizational innovation in the multinational enterprise: Internalization theory and business history," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 50(8), pages 1338-1358, October.
    13. Christine Holmström Lind & Olivia H. Kang, 2017. "The Value-Adding Role of the Corporate Headquarters in Innovation Transfer Processes: The Issue of Headquarters Knowledge Situation," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 57(4), pages 571-602, August.
    14. Emilie R. Feldman, 2021. "The corporate parenting advantage, revisited," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(1), pages 114-143, January.
    15. Benoit Decreton & Henrik Dellestrand & Philip Kappen & Phillip C. Nell, 2017. "Beyond Simple Configurations: The Dual Involvement of Divisional and Corporate Headquarters in Subsidiary Innovation Activities in Multibusiness Firms," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 57(6), pages 855-878, December.
    16. Joseph J. Cabral & Chaoqun Deng & M. V. Shyam Kumar, 2020. "Internal Resource Allocation and External Alliance Activity of Diversified Firms," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(8), pages 1690-1717, December.
    17. Ebrahim, Alnoor & Brown, L. David & Batliwala, Srilatha, 2022. "Governance for global integration: Designing structure and authority in international advocacy NGOs," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    18. Birkinshaw, Julian & Braunerhjelm, Pontus & Holm, Ulf & Terjesen, Siri, 2006. "Why Do Some Multinational Corporations Relocate Their Headquarters Overseas?," Working Paper Series in Economics and Institutions of Innovation 54, Royal Institute of Technology, CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies.
    19. Deschryvere, Matthias, 2009. "Mobility of Corporate Headquarter Functions: A Literature Review," Discussion Papers 1203, The Research Institute of the Finnish Economy.
    20. Julian Birkinshaw & Tina C. Ambos & Cyril Bouquet, 2017. "Boundary Spanning Activities of Corporate HQ Executives Insights from a Longitudinal Study," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(4), pages 422-454, June.

    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:spr:jorgde:v:9:y:2020:i:1:d:10.1186_s41469-020-00079-8. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.