Utilizing the broader agency perspective for studying headquarters-subsidiary relations in multinational companies

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Hoenen, Anne Kristin; Kostova, Tatiana
• 署名单位: Vienna University of Economics & Business; University of South Carolina System; University of South Carolina Columbia
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS STUDIES
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0047-2506
• DOI: 10.1057/jibs.2014.31
• 发表日期: 2015
• 页码: 104-113
• 关键词: headquarters-subsidiary roles and relations; multinational corporations (MNCs) and enterprises (MNEs); Agency theory; Principal-agent

摘要

The nature of global business today increases the complexity of multinational companies and highlights the challenges of managing headquarters-subsidiary (HQ-Sub) relationships. We identify key unresolved issues in HQ-Sub relations including closing the gap between headquarters' expectations and subsidiary performance, managing the nested hierarchical relationships across multiple organizational layers, and aligning these relationships across diverse subunits embedded in different social contexts. We propose that agency theory, particularly its more recent progressions, can advance our understanding of these issues and we offer a perspective to guide such research. We discuss several research implications of the static bilateral, static multilateral, dynamic, and social and contextual streams of agency theory.