The Impact of Institutional Reforms on Characteristics and Survival of Foreign Subsidiaries in Emerging Economies

This study goes beyond the conventional notion of the institutional environment of emerging economies and investigates their dynamic context. It examines the complex influences of policy reforms on the characteristics and survival of foreign subsidiaries in emerging economies before and after the 1997 Asian Economic Crisis. This study proposes that FDI policy reforms during times of crisis may not only have a positive effect on institutional munificence for foreign firms, but such drastic reforms may also produce a negative effect (e.g. institutional volatility and complexity) on the environment. We consider how foreign firms effectively respond to the unfavourable forces of the post-crisis environments while taking advantage of the munificence of the policy reforms. We find that foreign subsidiaries tend to take the form of wholly-owned subsidiaries (versus joint ventures), majority joint-ventures (versus minority joint-ventures), or trading operations (versus manufacturing operations) in the post-crisis institutional environment. Consistently, foreign subsidiaries with these characteristics are more likely to survive in the post-crisis environment. Copyright Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2005.

Human capital in multinational enterprises: Does strategic alignment matter?

This research proposes a strategic human capital alignment framework to examine whether the alignment between subsidiary strategy (i.e., exportoriented vs local market-oriented strategy) and human capital (i.e., parent firm vs local-specific human capital) is positively related to subsidiary performance in multinational enterprises (MNEs). We further explore two important exogenous (i.e., foreign exchange rate change) and endogenous (i.e., MNE international experience) boundary conditions, since they may adjust the positive effect of strategic human capital alignment on performance. The analysis, based on 5604 subsidiary observations of 423 MNEs from 1990 to 2012, confirms the positive synergic effect of aligning subsidiary strategy and human capital and shows the moderating effects of foreign exchange rate change and MNE international experience. By presenting the importance of subsidiary strategy – global staffing alignment and the roles of external economic environments and internal organizational capabilities as boundary conditions, the strategic human capital alignment framework suggests that what makes human capital valuable for the firm is its alignment with strategic orientation. Thus managers should carefully deploy the appropriate type of human capital to fulfill the requisite organizational strategy and take into account changing external and internal contextual conditions in applying the framework

Human capital in multinational enterprises: Does strategic alignment matter?

This research proposes a strategic human capital alignment framework to examine whether the alignment between subsidiary strategy (i.e., exportoriented vs local market-oriented strategy) and human capital (i.e., parent firm vs local-specific human capital) is positively related to subsidiary performance in multinational enterprises (MNEs). We further explore two important exogenous (i.e., foreign exchange rate change) and endogenous (i.e., MNE international experience) boundary conditions, since they may adjust the positive effect of strategic human capital alignment on performance. The analysis, based on 5604 subsidiary observations of 423 MNEs from 1990 to 2012, confirms the positive synergic effect of aligning subsidiary strategy and human capital and shows the moderating effects of foreign exchange rate change and MNE international experience. By presenting the importance of subsidiary strategy – global staffing alignment and the roles of external economic environments and internal organizational capabilities as boundary conditions, the strategic human capital alignment framework suggests that what makes human capital valuable for the firm is its alignment with strategic orientation. Thus managers should carefully deploy the appropriate type of human capital to fulfill the requisite organizational strategy and take into account changing external and internal contextual conditions in applying the framework

Subsidiary expansion/contraction during times of economic crisis

This paper compares two real options – within-country growth and across-country operational flexibility – to examine subsidiary expansion/contraction during times of economic crisis. Specifically, we examine how the real options orientations of individual subsidiaries interact with the general characteristics of multinational enterprise networks. Our main findings are that: (a) economic crises can be detrimental for subsidiaries with stronger within-country orientations, and advantageous for those with stronger across-country orientations; and (b) network characteristics are not the sole determinants of subsidiary expansion/contraction – what really matters is how the real options orientations of individual subsidiaries mesh with the overall characteristics of the network they belong to.

Multinational networks during times of economic crisis versus stability

10.1007/s11575-008-0016-xManagement International Review483279-295MINR