This research investigates the strategic features of supply chain relationships of foreign subsidiary companies. Previous research simply viewed operational strategy or the decisions of subsidiary companies as devices to implement higher level strategies or as action plans to be implemented. However, growing emphasis on the strategic importance of 'subsidiary companies' and 'supply chain management' suggests a unique opportunity to extend a fundamental debate in strategy formation, whether to see strategy as a design or a process, to the area of operational strategy. To investigate these strategic features, three key themes are adopted from the literature of strategy formation, namely strategic determinants, strategic fit and emergent strategy. Pilot interviews, cross-sectional mail survey, and retrospective company case studies were sequentially carried out with Korean subsidiary companies in China to investigate their relevance. The findings highlight the fact that supply chain relationship of foreign subsidiary companies needs to be viewed as a ''process'' rather than simply as action plans to be implemented. More specifically, the Korean subsidiary companies were not positive initiators of relationship development with respect to either inside or outside normative strategic factors. Rather, the research highlighted the importance of inter-organizational factors based on previous relationships and transactional experience. Managerial integration between the parent· and the subsidiary company mediates the strategic fit between the resource-seeking strategy of a parent company and the density of supply chain relationships established by subsidiary companies. The subsidiary companies decided on an emergent basis, especially when they do not have enough information to judge the willingness and competence of suppliers, and when they are subject to both inter-organizational influences from the parent company and institutional factors within the host country.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:632635 |
| Date | January 2007 |
| Creators | Joo, Young Joon |
| Publisher | University of Manchester |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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