Orchestrating Innovation in the Multinational Enterprise : Headquarters Involvement in Innovation Transfer Projects

In the past several decades research has emphasized innovation development and transfer as key issues when investigating the multinational enterprise (MNE). This thesis focuses on the question of what factors make headquarters involve itself in innovation transfer projects taking place between a sending and a receiving subsidiary within the MNE. This relates to headquarters active participation and role in the organization of resources (structure) and flows (processes) within the MNE. Using a database covering 169 innovation transfer projects the empirical analysis reveals that distances influence headquarters involvement, albeit in different directions. Systematic differences based on subsidiary and innovation characteristics and headquarters involvement is found. Not only subsidiary characteristics are of importance for headquarters involvement, but also the embeddedness of the subsidiary hosting the innovation transfer project. More specifically, physical and cultural distance between the sending and receiving subsidiaries influence headquarters involvement in the transfer negatively, whereas linguistic and economic distance between the subsidiaries conducting the transfer have a positive influence on headquarters involvement in innovation transfer. Looking more closely at the innovations subject to transfer the results suggests that innovations perceived as complex and important are favored for headquarters support. The same is true for innovations that are related to the core business of the subsidiary. At a subsidiary level, powerful subsidiaries initially receive more of headquarters support, but as subsidiary power increase, headquarters becomes less involved, i.e., a curvilinear effect of power is found. Acquired subsidiaries tend to become favored for headquarters involvement in transfer relative to greenfield subsidiaries. Finally, the results indicate that headquarters involves itself in transfer projects when the subsidiaries hosting the transfer projects have been relationally embedded during the innovation development phase. Theoretically, headquarters involvement can be conceptualized as orchestration of innovations within the MNE, and as a form of resource allocation. Thus, this thesis contributes to the understanding of what influences intra-MNE resource allocation, as well as what factors capture the attention of headquarters leading to innovation orchestration. Headquarters involvement in innovation transfer has implications for setting subsidiaries on evolutionary trajectories

Orchestrating Innovation in the Multinational Enterprise : Headquarters Involvement in Innovation Transfer Projects

In the past several decades research has emphasized innovation development and transfer as key issues when investigating the multinational enterprise (MNE). This thesis focuses on the question of what factors make headquarters involve itself in innovation transfer projects taking place between a sending and a receiving subsidiary within the MNE. This relates to headquarters active participation and role in the organization of resources (structure) and flows (processes) within the MNE. Using a database covering 169 innovation transfer projects the empirical analysis reveals that distances influence headquarters involvement, albeit in different directions. Systematic differences based on subsidiary and innovation characteristics and headquarters involvement is found. Not only subsidiary characteristics are of importance for headquarters involvement, but also the embeddedness of the subsidiary hosting the innovation transfer project. More specifically, physical and cultural distance between the sending and receiving subsidiaries influence headquarters involvement in the transfer negatively, whereas linguistic and economic distance between the subsidiaries conducting the transfer have a positive influence on headquarters involvement in innovation transfer. Looking more closely at the innovations subject to transfer the results suggests that innovations perceived as complex and important are favored for headquarters support. The same is true for innovations that are related to the core business of the subsidiary. At a subsidiary level, powerful subsidiaries initially receive more of headquarters support, but as subsidiary power increase, headquarters becomes less involved, i.e., a curvilinear effect of power is found. Acquired subsidiaries tend to become favored for headquarters involvement in transfer relative to greenfield subsidiaries. Finally, the results indicate that headquarters involves itself in transfer projects when the subsidiaries hosting the transfer projects have been relationally embedded during the innovation development phase. Theoretically, headquarters involvement can be conceptualized as orchestration of innovations within the MNE, and as a form of resource allocation. Thus, this thesis contributes to the understanding of what influences intra-MNE resource allocation, as well as what factors capture the attention of headquarters leading to innovation orchestration. Headquarters involvement in innovation transfer has implications for setting subsidiaries on evolutionary trajectories

Subsidiary embeddedness as a determinant of divisional headquarters involvement in innovation transfer processes

This paper conceptualizes divisional headquarters as an important hub-firm within the MNE, orchestrating innovation transfer processes between subsidiaries. It is argued that the internal and external embeddedness of a subsidiary hosting an innovation development project subsequently influences divisional headquarters involvement in the transfer of that innovation. In this way, embeddedness, i.e., the relationships that firms have with each other in the innovation development phase, is brought to the fore as an important factor for MNE subsidiaries hosting innovation development projects for explaining the involvement of divisional headquarters in a subsequent transfer. This highlights divisional headquarters as an active orchestrator of innovation transfers within the MNE. Data from 169 innovation transfer projects as well as 146 internal and 121 external embedded relationships at subsidiary level support the argument of embeddedness as a driver of divisional headquarters involvement in subsidiary innovation transfer projects. From a business network perspective, the findings highlight the role of internal and external embeddedness during innovation development in the subsequent involvement of divisional headquarters in the transfer phase. Embeddedness is not only important for subsidiaries in the innovation development phase but also for divisional headquarters involvement in, and orchestration of, innovation transfer.Innovation transfer Embeddedness Divisional headquarters Multinational enterprises

Orchestrating Innovation in the Multinational Enterprise : Headquarters Involvement in Innovation Transfer Projects

In the past several decades research has emphasized innovation development and transfer as key issues when investigating the multinational enterprise (MNE). This thesis focuses on the question of what factors make headquarters involve itself in innovation transfer projects taking place between a sending and a receiving subsidiary within the MNE. This relates to headquarters active participation and role in the organization of resources (structure) and flows (processes) within the MNE. Using a database covering 169 innovation transfer projects the empirical analysis reveals that distances influence headquarters involvement, albeit in different directions. Systematic differences based on subsidiary and innovation characteristics and headquarters involvement is found. Not only subsidiary characteristics are of importance for headquarters involvement, but also the embeddedness of the subsidiary hosting the innovation transfer project. More specifically, physical and cultural distance between the sending and receiving subsidiaries influence headquarters involvement in the transfer negatively, whereas linguistic and economic distance between the subsidiaries conducting the transfer have a positive influence on headquarters involvement in innovation transfer. Looking more closely at the innovations subject to transfer the results suggests that innovations perceived as complex and important are favored for headquarters support. The same is true for innovations that are related to the core business of the subsidiary. At a subsidiary level, powerful subsidiaries initially receive more of headquarters support, but as subsidiary power increase, headquarters becomes less involved, i.e., a curvilinear effect of power is found. Acquired subsidiaries tend to become favored for headquarters involvement in transfer relative to greenfield subsidiaries. Finally, the results indicate that headquarters involves itself in transfer projects when the subsidiaries hosting the transfer projects have been relationally embedded during the innovation development phase. Theoretically, headquarters involvement can be conceptualized as orchestration of innovations within the MNE, and as a form of resource allocation. Thus, this thesis contributes to the understanding of what influences intra-MNE resource allocation, as well as what factors capture the attention of headquarters leading to innovation orchestration. Headquarters involvement in innovation transfer has implications for setting subsidiaries on evolutionary trajectories

The Contribution of Local Environments to Competence Creation in Multinational Enterprises

How the local environment affect competence development and performance of subsidiarie

Moving beyond the transfer dyad : Exploring network influences on transfer effectiveness

There is a wealth of research analyzing sender-receiver transfers within multinational corporations focusing on the characteristics of (a) the sender, (b) the receiver, (c) the knowledge subject to transfer, and (d) the immediate transfer context. However, less is known about how networks external to the sender-receiver transfer dyad influence the outcomes of a transfer project. In this paper, we focus on the receiving subunits' internal and external networks and how embedded actors in these networks influence transfer effectiveness. More specifically, by means of an inductive multiple-case study, we explore how internal and external networks of subunits influence the effectiveness of capability transfers from headquarters to subunits. We study 18 transfers of the same capability from headquarters to subunits’ innovation projects. We theorize about how the capacity and configuration of receiving subunits’ networks can have a unique and detrimental influence on transfer effectiveness. The results of our study suggest that the receiver in a transfer project is not so much a specific unit as a network

Headquarter resource allocation strategies and subsidiary competitive or cooperative behavior : achieving a fit for value creation

Integrating insights from the literature on the multinational corporation into current perspectives on resource allocation, we argue that the ability of headquarters to create value through resource allocation to subsidiaries within the multinational corporation is contingent on the complementary fit between the resource allocation strategy and the dominant behavior of the receivers of the resources. We expound on a theory and an explanation for the volatility of value creation generated by headquarter resource allocation that includes multiple layers of hierarchy. As a corollary, we extend and contribute to the theorizing on headquarters-subsidiary relations and resource allocation by illustrating different scenarios of the resource allocation process. More specifically, we develop a two-by-two matrix of the resource allocation process that corresponds to different resource allocation strategies of headquarters (winner-picking and cross-subsidization) and subsidiary behavior (collaboration or competition) in multinational corporations. We argue that, depending on which scenario within the matrix is brought to the fore, our understanding of how the resource allocation process plays out between headquarters and subsidiaries will differ and therefore influence value creation within the multinational corporation

Beyond Simple Configurations : The Dual Involvement of Divisional and Corporate Headquarters in Subsidiary Innovation Activities in Multibusiness Firms

We investigate “dual headquarters involvement”, i.e., corporate and divisional headquarters’ simultaneous involvement in innovation development projects hosted by subsidiaries of multibusiness firms. Drawing on selective hierarchical involvement theory and the literature on subsidiary network embeddedness, we analyze 83 innovation projects in 22 multibusiness firms and find that the number of partners in the projects, rather than subsidiary intra- and inter-divisional embeddedness acts as a driver of dual headquarters involvement. We do however find that intra- and inter-divisional embeddedness is positively related to dual headquarters involvement when the number of partners in the innovation project is relatively large. These results lend support to the idea that parenting in complex organizations entail complex headquarters structures. Our results suggest that we need to go beyond simple conceptualizations of headquarters and that considering different dimensions of the innovating subsidiary’s network helps in explaining dual headquarters involvement