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Innovation in MNC’S strategy and structure: the (re) emergence of host country headquarters in large emerging markets

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Abstract

Recent trends in the organization of multinational corporations (MNCs) in large emerging markets point to the (re)emergence of a host country headquarters (HCHQ) as a central structural element to the implementation of MNCs’ strategies in these countries. Yet, academic research on the strategy, structure and the organization of MNCs’ subsidiaries in a country has yet to account for this recent structural phenomenon. To help better understand this innovation in MNCs’ structural organization, we develop a new classification scheme, which focuses on the totality of an MNC’s subsidiaries within a single host country as a unit of analysis. As such, we emphasize an HCHQ perspective rather than a corporate headquarters (HQ) or a subsidiary perspective. We motivate this new classification scheme by leveraging the limitations of prior studies as well as considering the opportunities this new perspective offers for research on MNCs and for practice in international management.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful for support from Startup Grants (Project Number: 9380098 and 7200609), and a Strategic Research Grant (Project Number: 7005199) from City University of Hong Kong, and a Grant (Project Number: 71872185 ) from the National Nature Science Foundation of China.

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  1. City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong

    Xufei Ma & Shu Yu

  2. National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    Andrew Delios

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Ma, X., Delios, A. & Yu, S. Innovation in MNC’S strategy and structure: the (re) emergence of host country headquarters in large emerging markets. Asia Pac J Manag 37, 609–632 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10490-019-09669-x

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