Cross-border relocations of headquarters in Europe

The Corporate Headquarters in the Contemporary Corporation: Advancing a Multimarket Firm Perspective

“…To further understand whether and how location matters, scholars have studied CHQ relocations (e.g., Baaij, Mom, Van den Bosch, & Volberda, 2012b;Birkinshaw et al, 2006;Laamanen et al, 2012). Indeed, between 1998 and 2012, 21% of the Fortune Global 500 firms moved their CHQs (McKinseyGlobalInstitute, 2013).…”

“…Several factors in the firm's internal and external contexts have been revealed to affect the (re-)location of the CHQ (Desai, 2009). For example, Laamanen et al (2012) find that high taxes and a high employment rate increase the likelihood of relocation, whereas a central location and low taxes increase the attractiveness of the CHQ's current location. Birkinshaw et al's (2006) study of Swedish firms further substantiates the suggestion that the CHQ is not a stable entity, but that it transforms over time to meet internal and external demands.…”

“…Scholars have, for example, focused on the effects of macroeconomic factors, such as shocks related to foreign currencies (Jacque & Vaaler, 2001), unemployment, and taxes (Laamanen et al, 2012) on CHQ design and location. Another important, albeit still small, sub-strand of the literature examines international differences between CHQs, arguing that the institutional, legal, and cultural heritage of the country of domicile will have significant effects on the CHQ (Collis et al, 2007Schollhammer, 1971).…”

“…The second stream deals with the CHQ in the multinational firm-a firm that operates across several geographic markets (Bartlett & Ghoshal, 1989). Researchers active in this stream have primarily explored CHQ (re-)location (e.g., Birkinshaw, Braunerhjelm, Holm, & Terjesen, 2006;Laamanen, Simula, & Torstila, 2012) and CHQ-international subsidiary relationships (e.g., Bouquet & Birkinshaw, 2008;Nell & Ambos, 2013). Scholars' focus on specific phenomena from these different perspectives has led to CHQ research in the two streams becoming increasingly disconnected.…”

The Size and Composition of Corporate Headquarters in Multinational Companies: Empirical Evidence

“…As a result, although the relocation of headquarters to a different country would lead to the loss of jobs in those obligatory and some distinctive value creating headquarters functions, they might be offset by an increase in local operational jobs. Moreover, we did not examine the physical location of headquarters jobs (Birkinshaw et al, 2006;Laamanen et al, 2012), and some of these could perhaps be left in the country even as they report to the new headquarters location. Losing an MNC headquarters will, therefore, likely lead to the loss of certain activities in that country that could justify the concern protectionist policy makers have with regard to the nationality of ownership.…”