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Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Challenges in establishing global collaboration
T2 - temporal, strategic and operational decoupling
AU - Friesl, M
AU - Silberzahn, R
PY - 2012/4
Y1 - 2012/4
N2 - Collaboration among the subsidiaries of multinational enterprises (MNEs) can lead to major synergies and efficiency gains. Despite these benefits, global collaboration is still only partly corporate reality. Research indicates that major obstacles still lie in establishing subsidiary collaboration. Initiating global collaboration requires strategic renewal with profound implications for MNEs’ local operations. In this article we investigate the process of strategic renewal leading to global collaboration and the challenges involved. We present a longitudinal case of an international IT company and its effort to establish global collaboration among its subsidiaries. The case analysis reveals that the establishment of global collaboration was affected by a decoupling of headquarters and subsidiaries along three dimensions: temporal, strategic and operational. Our findings have implications for research on global collaboration as well as strategic renewal. Practitioners can benefit from a discussion of challenges in the establishment of a collaborative strategy in MNEs and suggestions for how these challenges can be overcome.
AB - Collaboration among the subsidiaries of multinational enterprises (MNEs) can lead to major synergies and efficiency gains. Despite these benefits, global collaboration is still only partly corporate reality. Research indicates that major obstacles still lie in establishing subsidiary collaboration. Initiating global collaboration requires strategic renewal with profound implications for MNEs’ local operations. In this article we investigate the process of strategic renewal leading to global collaboration and the challenges involved. We present a longitudinal case of an international IT company and its effort to establish global collaboration among its subsidiaries. The case analysis reveals that the establishment of global collaboration was affected by a decoupling of headquarters and subsidiaries along three dimensions: temporal, strategic and operational. Our findings have implications for research on global collaboration as well as strategic renewal. Practitioners can benefit from a discussion of challenges in the establishment of a collaborative strategy in MNEs and suggestions for how these challenges can be overcome.
KW - Subsidiary collaboration
KW - Multinational corporations
KW - Strategic renewal
U2 - 10.1016/j.lrp.2011.11.004
DO - 10.1016/j.lrp.2011.11.004
M3 - Journal article
VL - 45
SP - 160
EP - 181
JO - Long Range Planning
JF - Long Range Planning
SN - 0024-6301
IS - 2-3
ER -