no / The proportion of skilled labour in subsidiaries is influenced by size and development of host country, and subsidiary role, the latter being connected to autonomy and intra-organisational relationships. In this paper, we conceptually explore subsidiary¿s proportion of skilled labour in relation to subsidiary role within the context of a small developed country. Specifically, we draw on the literature of strategic development of multinational corporations, and insights of inward foreign direct investments in small developed countries. This is presented in a unifying framework in order to predict diverse categorizations of subsidiary role¿s impact on the proportion of skilled labour in subsidiaries.

by Ho King Leung. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 96-111). / Abstract also in Chinese. / ABSTRACT (IN ENGLISH) --- p.i / ABSTRACT (IN CHINESE) --- p.iii / TABLE OF CONTENTS --- p.iv / LIST OF TABLES --- p.vi / LIST OF FIGURES --- p.viii / ACKNOWLEDGMENT --- p.ix / CHAPTER / Chapter I. --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / Overview: Issues and Problems --- p.1 / Importance of the Study --- p.2 / Chapter II. --- REVIEW OF LITERATURE --- p.5 / Predominant Perspectives of Parent-subsidiary Research --- p.5 / Functionalist Approach --- p.6 / Configuration/Coordination Framework --- p.7 / Strategic Process Control Approach --- p.8 / Subsidiary Strategy and Development Approach --- p.9 / Summary --- p.10 / The Importance of the Parent-subsidiary Relationship Effectiveness --- p.11 / Heritage of Organizational Communication --- p.13 / Classical Mechanistic Approach --- p.14 / Decision/Information Processing Approach --- p.14 / Human Relations Approach --- p.14 / General Systems Approach --- p.15 / Summary --- p.16 / The Role of Electronic Medium in Parent-subsidiary Communication --- p.16 / Facets of Parent-subsidiary Communication --- p.19 / Communication Frequency --- p.20 / Communication Quality --- p.21 / Feedback --- p.21 / Openness --- p.22 / Content Coerciveness --- p.23 / Chapter III. --- MODEL DEVELOPMENT --- p.25 / Centralization/Subsidiary Autonomy --- p.26 / Formalization --- p.28 / Norms of Information Sharing --- p.30 / Parent-subsidiary Relationship Effectiveness --- p.32 / Chapter IV. --- DATA AND METHODOLOGY --- p.35 / Study Context and Research Design --- p.35 / Sample and Sampling Procedures --- p.36 / Questionnaire Design and Measurement Scales --- p.38 / Measurement Scales of Endogenous Variables --- p.39 / Measurement Scales of Exogenous Variables --- p.41 / Control Variables --- p.42 / Measure Validation Procedure --- p.43 / Chapter V. --- DATA ANALYSIS AND RESULTS --- p.45 / Data Analysis Strategies --- p.45 / Tests of Hypotheses --- p.46 / Direct Effects on Communication Frequency and Quality --- p.46 / Predictors of the Effectiveness of Parent-subsidiary --- p.46 / Relationship --- p.48 / Communication Quality as a Mediator --- p.48 / Contingent Effects --- p.50 / Chapter VI. --- DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION --- p.52 / Discussion --- p.52 / Theoretical Contributions --- p.57 / Managerial Implications --- p.60 / Limitations of this Research and Directions for Future Research --- p.62 / Conclusion --- p.64 / TABLE 1-23 --- p.65 / FIGURE 1-4 --- p.92 / BIBLIOGRAPHY --- p.96 / APPENDICES --- p.112 / APPENDIX I. An Introduction Letter --- p.112 / APPENDIX II. Project Summary --- p.113 / APPENDIX III. Questionnaire --- p.114

Digitalization may have opened up the scope of easy remote interaction among companies, but it has also brought the unwanted baggage of "distance", especially those who have a large number of subsidiaries spread all over the continents. Taking this into consideration, it has been seen that multinational companies (MNCs) who have their subsidiaries around the globe face challenges to share their learnings among them. This means on one side digitalization enables integration efficiently within those who share similarities and also with the stakeholders in the local environment. On the other side, digitalization created a detachment among subsidiaries who are distantly located. Subsidiaries learned new skills and adapted new routines based on their local environment while going through the transition of digitalization. It can be seen that sharing of these learnings between the subsidiaries were impacted due to this transition. But with the MNCs, reaping the benefits of digitalization, they are ready to take the next step of switching somewhat permanently, a hybrid work culture, which includes digitalization of many in-person interactive events and training. The focus of this dissertation is to analyze the challenges MNCs will face while building learning mechanisms especially among those subsidiaries that are distantly located. Along with it the needs that are evolving from within the MNCs have been identified because, if they are attended efficiently it will facilitate to overcome these challenges.

The increasing commercial and social pressure for business leaders to act in a socially responsible manner is undermined by the lack of standards in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) legislation, auditing, indexing, and reporting. Moreover, CSR research is fragmentary and often missing empirical corroboration. It lacks synthesis, uses CSR concepts and terms ambiguously, and is inconsistent in the identification of CSR practices, its formulation and institutionalisation. This study addresses these gaps and discontinuities by first synthesising a range of theories into an explanatory framework. This framework provides the pre-understanding for the collection and analysis of qualitative data drawn from the UK oil and gas industry. The findings highlight the heterogeneous and dynamic nature of CSR operationalisation. The analysis emphasises the dependence of CSR strategy formulation on business leaders’ personal beliefs and biases. These beliefs are tempered by balancing shareholders’ interests and stakeholders’ expectations, and are affected by the global (in the case of corporations) or the local (in the case of corporate subsidiaries and small-medium size enterprises) contexts. These appear to be the main factors influencing leaders’ CSR decisions. The findings also demonstrate a number of challenges that business leaders face when reconciling personal, organisational, industry, global, and societal values and ethical beliefs; and balancing traditional organisational goals, such as profit maximisation, with increased stakeholder empowerment in granting social legitimacy. In addition, the exploration of CSR institutionalisation reveals different approaches in corporate subsidiaries, which fluctuate between the CSR practices of corporate headquarters and those of SMEs. The analysis of these findings results in a proposed hybrid model of CSR Institutionalisation in the oil and gas industry, with a breakdown of identified factors affecting corporate, SMEs’, and subsidiaries’ leaders’ CSR decisions. This thesis contributes to the literature by proposing a number of concepts, including: CSR Nexus and CSR Dynamics models as conceptual syntheses of the theoretical framework; an empirically corroborated CSR Operationalisation model within the studied organisations suggesting a nonconformance with extant CSR research; an observed matrix of business leaders’ CSR Motivations highlighting their diversity in corporations, SMEs, and corporate subsidiaries. Finally, a conceptual CSR Convergence model is proposed, which outlines a comprehensive approach to CSR education and implementation. In a weak and ambiguous CSR regulation and legislation environment, this study endeavours to bridge the gap between CSR research, business organisations, and stakeholders by contributing to the enhancement of CSR understanding, education, and implementation.

This paper empirically tests a theory laid out in Scholes et al. (2015, p. 315) that the U.S. worldwide tax system reduces the incentive of U.S. parent companies to be tax aggressive in their foreign subsidiaries. Investors subject to a worldwide tax system pay taxes on their worldwide income, regardless of the origin thereof. Therefore, a U.S. investor pays the difference between the effective tax payment abroad and the higher U.S. statutory tax when profits are repatriated. In contrast, investors subject to territorial tax systems gain the full tax savings from being tax aggressive abroad. Our results show that U.S.-owned foreign subsidiaries have a by 1.2 percentage point higher average GAAP effective tax rate (ETR) compared to subsidiaries owned by foreign investors from countries with a territorial system. We contribute to the literature by showing a mechanism, other than cross-country profit shifting, why U.S. multinational companies have higher GAAP ETRs than multinationals subject to territorial tax systems. (authors' abstract) / Series: WU International Taxation Research Paper Series

The present study investigates the phenomenon of organisational acculturation of Egyptian Host Country National middle managers working in three foreign subsidiaries of US, UK, and Swedish MNCs. Host Country National staff (HCNs) are those who work in foreign subsidiaries established in their own countries. HCNs are exposed to the organisational culture of the MNC which is affected by the national culture of the parent company. Accordingly, the concept of cultural adaptation, or organisational acculturation, has been stressed as an essential process for MNCs to deal with problems arising from cultural differences and achieve cross-cultural effectiveness. The topic of the present study is an understudied topic and only few studies addressed the acculturation of HCNs, most of which within the context of Asian-only cultures. The study used a multiple case design and the data were collected using a mixed methods design in which both quantitative and qualitative methods were used. The study was conducted in two phases; the first phase was to compare the work values of the Egyptian middle managers and their UK, US, and Swedish expatriates using a questionnaire on work values, in order to find similarities or differences in work values between the Egyptian managers and their expatriates. To measure the work values of the host national culture, the study used a comparison group of Egyptian middle managers in three local Egyptian firms. In the second phase, in-depth interviews and observation were conducted with a number of Egyptian middle managers who were found to have work values significantly similar to or different from their expatriates work values in the three subsidiaries. This phase was conducted in order to further examine the acculturation phenomenon, and to understand the influence of the Egyptian national culture and the type of control mechanisms used by MNCs on the acculturation process. The results showed that some acculturation effects might have occurred in some work values of Egyptian managers, while other work values might have not been influenced due to the strong effect of the Egyptian national culture. Also, the study found that Egyptians needed both formal bureaucratic and informal cultural mechanisms of control, though with more stress on the formal bureaucratic ones.

Este trabalho é norteado pela hipótese de que subsidiárias de empresas multinacionais do setor químico têm expandido seu papel no país ao longo das últimas décadas, indo além das atividades tradicionais como venda e produção, passando a realizar novas atividades como pesquisa e desenvolvimento (P&D) e marketing estratégico. As atividades de P&D por sua vez também têm evoluído desde projetos mais básicos focados em ajustes de formulações às condições locais para projetos mais complexos que geram novos conhecimentos e possuem alto potencial de aplicação em outras geografias. Por meio de um estudo de caso em uma unidade de negócios de uma subsidiária brasileira de uma multinacional da indústria química, este trabalho investiga, descreve e discute a natureza da inovação nesta unidade de análise. Neste trabalho, são estudados atributos do pool de ideias e do pipeline de projetos proveniente da unidade de negócios sob a luz de informações internas e do referencial teórico proveniente de uma revisão sistemática da literatura. Observou-se que há um grande foco e estímulo ao desenvolvimento da inovação na unidade de análise, e que a mesma parece estar em um processo evolutivo em que se começa a notar o surgimento de ideias e de projetos de inovação disruptivos. A partir do estudo de caso e da discussão baseada em dados internos e na literatura, é possível ilustrar o funcionamento das atividades de P&D em uma multinacional da indústria química com subsidiária baseada no Brasil. Como sugestões para trabalhados futuros é apontada a possibilidade de se organizar um estudo da inovação em subsidiárias no Brasil que envolvam diferentes empresas e setores da indústria. / This work is guided by the hypothesis that subsidiaries of multinational chemical companies have expanded their role in the country over the last decades, going beyond traditional activities such as sale and production, starting to carry out new activities such as research and development (R&D) and strategic marketing. R&D activities have also evolved from more basic projects focused on formulation adjustments to local conditions, to more complex projects that generate new knowledge and have a high potential for application in other geographies. Through a case study in a business unit of a Brazilian subsidiary of a chemical industry multinational, this work investigates, describes and discusses the nature of innovation in this unit of analysis. In this work, the attributes of the idea pool and the project pipeline from the business unit are studied in the light of internal information and the theoretical framework from a systematic review of the literature. It was observed that there is a great focus and stimulus to the development of innovation in the unit of analysis, and that it seems to be in an evolutionary process in which one begins to notice the emergence of ideas and disruptive innovation projects. From the case study and the discussion based on internal data and literature, it is possible to illustrate the operation of R & D activities in a multinational chemical industry with a subsidiary based in Brazil. As suggestions for future work is pointed out the possibility of organizing a study of innovation in subsidiaries in Brazil that involves different companies and types of industries.

As modificações do ambiente competitivo nos mercados consumidores maduros, o aumento do número de empresas competidoras e a aceleração da propagação de novos conhecimentos e tecnologias vêm provocando alterações nas estratégias das empresas e contribuindo para a ampliação do processo de internacionalização. O Brasil está inserido neste processo, ampliando a participação no mercado internacional, com o aumento do número de empresas de capital nacional com subsidiárias no exterior. As empresas decidem pela aquisição e implantação de unidades industriais no exterior com o intuito de ampliar seus mercados e rendimentos. A subsidiária contribui não apenas para o mercado ao qual serve, mas também para outros mercados, tanto como plataforma exportadora quanto como unidade que gera conhecimento a partir do relacionamento com agentes externos. Dado que o processo de internacionalização é importante tanto para empresas quanto para países, o objetivo em questão é entender qual tem sido a trajetória das empresas brasileiras. Dessa forma, este trabalho analisa a gestão das subsidiárias de empresas brasileiras e os diferentes papéis dessas unidades, pretendendo, além de obter um retrato do cenário atual destas empresas, compreender a dinâmica entre matriz e subsidiárias. Para atender aos objetivos foi realizada pesquisa de natureza exploratória e qualitativa, através de estudo de caso de quatro empresas. Foram utilizadas técnicas de entrevista em profundidade, com o apoio de fontes documentais. O trabalho com múltiplos casos foi fundamental para caracterizar as diferenças de estratégias entre as empresas, assim como para justificar a escolha das mesmas. A pesquisa mostrou que não é possível estabelecer um modelo de gestão típico para as subsidiárias, isto é, não existe alinhamento ótimo entre os elementos da estratégia de gestão da empresa atribuição da subsidiária, grau de autonomia dos gestores, nível de transações de conhecimento, nível de atividades técnicas e mecanismos de gestão. Conclui-se que o alinhamento é dependente da estratégia, que por sua vez é estabelecida em função da análise do ambiente econômico. / The changes in the competitive environment in mature consuming markets, the increase on the number of competing companies and the accelerated propagation of new knowledge and technologies have been producing alterations in company strategies and contributing for the enlargement of internationalization process. Brazil is inserted in this process, extending its participation in the international market by the increase on the number of national companies with subsidiaries abroad. These companies decide for the acquisition and establishment of subsidiaries abroad intending to extend its markets and incomes. These units contribute not only to the market which they serve, but also to other markets, as exporting platform and units that generates knowledge from the relationship with external agents. Given that the internationalization process is important both for companies and countries, the aim of this study is understanding which has been the trajectory of some Brazilian companies. In this way, it was analyzed the management of Brazilian company subsidiaries and the different functions of these units intending to visualize the current scenario of the companies, as well as understanding the dynamics between national headquarters and their subsidiaries. In order to achieve these objectives it was done a qualitative research, through a case study of four companies. Interviewing techniques were used supported by documentary sources. The work with multiple cases was fundamental to characterize different company strategies, as well as to justify the reasons of choice of the companies. The research pointed out that it is not possible to establish a typical model of management for the studied subsidiaries, that is, there is not an excellent alignment between the elements that are part of the management strategy attribution of subsidiary, management mechanisms and levels of managers autonomy, knowledge transaction and technical activities. One may conclude that the alignment depends on the strategy, which on its turn is established by the economic environment analysis.

As a part of multinational corporations (MNCs), subsidiaries operate in distinct host countries and have to deal with their external context. Host country political embeddedness, in particular, helps subsidiaries to obtain knowledge and understanding of the regulatory and political context, and to get access to local networks. Moreover, they get some guidance and support from their headquarters. Distance between MNC home and host countries, however, alienates subsidiaries from the MNC and influences the extent of subsidiary host country political embeddedness. We suggest that the host country political and regulatory context moderates the effect of distance on subsidiary host country political embeddedness by reducing the need and/or value of headquarters support. Using a sample of 124 European manufacturing subsidiaries, we find that distance (space) and context (place) matter jointly: the impact of distance is stronger for subsidiaries that operate in host countries with low governance quality and low political stability in place.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-10-13T14:10:06Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Sidney Costa.pdf: 15106268 bytes, checksum: 75cbcbbc2a418c258c1cf970ed1b31bb (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-03-16 / The main aim of this research, is to check the level of the influence of the national and international environmental factors about the integration of the subsidiaries of multinational corporations in collaborative networks, and their consequences on the development of innovations in global subsidiaries. The importance of environmental factors determines the success of a country, as well as the networks cooperation that companies are included, even if the academic literature it is extensive and distinguished to dealing with the matter. Although the literature is prolific and affects the organizations, there is still a lack of empirical studies that correlate these issues and show clearly the degree to which environmental factors helps subsidiaries insert themselves into networks of cooperation and the consequences on the development of skills and innovation. In spite of the multinational has scientists in their R&D centers working on innovation projects, the company is not as great as have all the knowledge in place, they are scattered throughout the world as the strategy according metanational. In this context, the inclusion of cooperative relationships could play a key role in making possible access to certain resources and knowledge far. From these inter-organizational relationship and the access to resources and expertise that the network can provide, the multinational by means of their subsidiaries can create and develop innovations that will be shared with all their intra-organizational network. The main hypothesis is that the factors that compose the competitive environment, positively influence the subsidiaries of multinational corporations to insert themselves in enterprise networks and from these relationships, develop global innovations. A survey with a thousand largest corporations was used to answer the hypotheses. From the theoretical complexity and the multiple relationships between variables, was determined using the statistical technique of Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The results revealed that only the national competitive environment exerts a positive influence on the inclusion of subsidiaries in both technical and business networks, but on the other hand, only the international competitive environment showed a significant influence on the creation of innovations in the subsidiaries. The results also showed that only the technical network influences the subsidiaries in the development and creation of innovations. / objetivo principal desta dissertação é verificar o grau de influência dos fatores ambientais nacionais e internacionais sobre a inserção das subsidiárias de corporações multinacionais em redes de cooperação e seus desdobramentos sobre o desenvolvimento de inovações globais nas subsidiárias. É reconhecida a importância dos fatores ambientais condicionantes para o sucesso de um país, assim como das redes de cooperação em que se inserem as empresas, sendo vasta e distinta a literatura acadêmica que trata o assunto. E, embora, seja fecunda a literatura e suas influências nas organizações, ainda há carência de estudos empíricos que correlacionem esses temas e evidenciem em que grau os fatores ambientais auxiliam as subsidiárias a inserirem-se em redes de cooperação e as consequências sobre o desenvolvimento de competências e inovações. Apesar das multinacionais contarem com cientistas em seus centros de P&D trabalhando em projetos de inovação, a empresa por maior que seja não dispõem de todo o conhecimento de maneira local, estes se encontram dispersos no mundo conforme salienta a estratégia metanacional. Nesse contexto, a inserção em relacionamentos cooperativos pode desempenhar papel fundamental ao tornarem possível o acesso a certos recursos e conhecimentos distantes. A partir desses relacionamentos inter-organizacionais e o acesso aos recursos e expertises que a rede pode propiciar, a multinacional por meio de suas subsidiárias pode criar e desenvolver inovações que serão compartilhadas com toda a sua rede intra-organizacional. A hipótese central é a de que os fatores que compõem o ambiente competitivo influenciam positivamente as subsidiárias de corporações multinacionais a inserirem-se em redes de empresas e a partir desses relacionamentos desenvolvam inovações globais. Uma pesquisa survey com as mil maiores multinacionais será usada para responder as hipóteses. A partir da complexidade teórica e dos múltiplos relacionamentos entre as variáveis, foi adotada a técnica estatística de Modelagem de Equações Estruturais. Os resultados mostraram que somente o ambiente competitivo nacional exerce influência positiva sobre a inserção das subsidiárias tanto em redes de negócios quanto técnicas, mas por outro lado, somente o contexto competitivo internacional mostrou influência significativa sobre a criação de inovações nas subsidiárias. Os resultados evidenciam ainda que somente a rede técnica influência as subsidiárias no desenvolvimento e criação de inovações.