Subsidiary types, activities, and location: an empirical investigation

Paper selected to be included in the AIB Best Paper Proceedings: Ref no. AIB2008-0668Session 2.4.4 - Competitive: Track 4 Subsudiary Evolution and StrategyConference Theme: Knowledge, Development and Exchange in International Business NetworksThe present paper extends the literature on the functions of foreign subsidiaries in the strategies of multinational companies in two ways: (a) by using a series of activities to induce subsidiary roles and (b) by investigating the firm-specific and location-specific determinants of subsidiary roles. Cluster analysis of responses of multinational subsidiary managers in the Asia-Pacific support a four-fold subsidiary typology. Categorical modeling on the resulting subsidiary types showed that several firm-specific and location-specific variables such as firm size, nationality, host market size and the level of host market openness have an impact on subsidiary mandate.published_or_final_versionThe 50th Annual Meeting of the Academy of International Business (AIB 2008), Milan, Italy, 30 June-2 July 2008. In Proceedings of the 50th Annual Meeting of AIB, 2008, p. 17