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Author ORCID Identifier
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4935-8834
AccessType
Campus-Only Access for Five (5) Years
Document Type
dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Degree Program
Management
Year Degree Awarded
2020
Month Degree Awarded
February
First Advisor
Anurag Sharma
Second Advisor
Steven Floyd
Third Advisor
Anna Lamin
Fourth Advisor
Robert Nakosteen
Subject Categories
International Business | Strategic Management Policy
Abstract
In a Multinational Enterprise (MNE), the corporate headquarter (HQ) manages a complex organization comprising networks of subsidiaries operating across national boundaries in varied business environments of their respective host countries. As such, subsidiaries compete to gain the finite HQ attention to ensure engagement and resources. Scholars have theorized that HQ attention and the resources that follow support subsidiary financial performance equivocally. However, recent research has indicated that this positive relationship between HQ attention and subsidiary performance is moderated by factors such as subsidiary-level initiatives, and that attention brings with it administrative burdens that have the potential to undermine subsidiary performance. In this dissertation, I examine the effects of HQ attention on both individual subsidiaries located in a single foreign country as well as on the overall country-level operations. Following extant scholarship, I theorize that HQ attention facilitates meaningful interactions between the MNE and subsidiary level managers, leading to mutually agreed objectives that provide the framework for resource flows to host country. Moreover, I posit that for market seeking MNEs operating in a fast-growth emerging market country, the primary objectives would be growth. Thus, HQ attention and subsequent engagement with subsidiaries operating in an emerging market is likely to result in resource flows that support growth both of individual subsidiaries and of the overall country-level operations. Upon testing my model on a set of MNE subsidiaries operating in India, I find support for my main theoretical expectation that HQ attention is positively associated with subsidiary sales growth. I do not find, however, the expected association between HQ attention and the growth of host country operations; instead, my analysis shows that HQ attention leads to a reduction in the number of subsidiaries operating in the host country, suggesting perhaps some consolidation and rationalization of the overall country-level operations. In sum, in this dissertation, I theoretically propose and empirically test the proposition that, for market-seeking subsidiaries operating in fast-growing emerging markets, HQ attention facilitates the development, implementation, and monitoring of host-country strategy.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.7275/16000243
Recommended Citation
Sewak, Mayank, "THE EFFECT OF MNE HEADQUARTER ATTENTION ON OPERATIONS IN A FOREIGN COUNTRY: EVIDENCE FROM MARKET SEEKING MNEs IN INDIA" (2020). Doctoral Dissertations. 1867.
https://doi.org/10.7275/16000243
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_2/1867
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