Regional Management as a System

Abstract

0We apply information processing theory to investigate the evolution of regional management. 0Based on a longitudinal case study of a european multinational we capture the overall structural development of the firm and within this context, we conduct an in-depth analysis of two regions and their regional management centres. 0 We conceptualise regional management as a system of differentiated centres. the notion that headquarters can be found in a single location is replaced by the view that headquarters' activities are spatially distributed within a system. Over time, this multi-level system adapts to changing information processing requirements.

MNC organizational form and subsidiary motivation problems: Controlling intervention hazards in the network MNC

“…In this case, autonomy diminishes regional influence on the MNC's corporate decisions. Our results are in line with recent work of Piekkari et al (2010), who show that the highly autonomous and entrepreneurial Asian headquarters of the Finnish firm Kone was suffering from relative isolation. Managers in MNCs are thus well advised to carefully monitor the level of autonomy granted to entrepreneurial headquarters in order to avoid these pitfalls.…”

“…When a regional headquarters' explorative activity exceeds its exploitative activities, autonomy can lead to the isolation of regional headquarters for several reasons. First, an increasing focus on exploring new business and knowledge can lead to a diminished focus on the connection to the overall context of the MNC (Piekkari et al, 2010). Second, and more specifically, as regional headquarters create increasingly context-specific, novel insight and business opportunities, a paradox of exploration arises (Forsgren, 1997): as the degree of valuable, localized competence increases, the ability of the regional headquarters to deploy such competence in other MNC units is diminished, largely because of a lack of oversight.…”

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

“…MNCs are extensively using complex organizational structures with multiple levels of hierarchy. Not only are MNCs using divisional and regional structures (Benito et al 2011;Piekkari et al 2010;Schotter et al 2017), MNCs are also disaggregating parts of their different headquarters in order to fully benefit from location advantages (Baaij et al 2015;Slangen et al 2017). As a result, subsidiaries of MNCs have to manage multiple parents, located in different contexts and geographically dispersed.…”

The strategic location of regional headquarters for multinationals in Africa: south Africa as a host country

“…The importance and value of RHQs in the academic literature has generally focused on RHQs in industrialized countries (Asakawa & Lehrer, 2003;Doz & Prahalad, 1984;Hewett, Roth, & Roth, 2003;Piekkari, Nell, & Ghauri, 2010) although there has been an increasing focus on the Asian markets too (Holt, Gray, Purcell, & Pedersen, 2000;Lasserre, 1996). The result is that we do not yet fully possess an overall framework for understanding how value and decisions are devolved, how location decisions are made (certainly less so than with FDI fl ows), and how their structures and strategies are evolving to accommodate the growth in emerging markets.…”