The dynamics of attention markets in multinational enterprises

Strategy and Entrepreneurship

In Cheng J, Maitland E, Nicholas S, eds., Managing subsidiary dynamics: headquarters role, capability development, and China strategy (Advances in International Management, Volume 22) Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Bouquet C; J M Birkinshaw

Julian Birkinshaw

2009

We examine how internal markets channel the limited attention of corporate headquarters (HQ) executives inside the multinational enterprise. In doing so, we desire to understand three related set of issues: First, why do some HQ executives invest more time and effort than others in the international marketplace? Second, what factors explain the attention that specific subsidiaries attract within the multinational system? Third, how does such attention relate to subsidiary performance? Unlike fully independent local companies, subsidiaries have fundamental ties to a corporate network that can contribute to the realization of local objectives or, on the contrary, restrict their scope of actions and hinder performance. By securing the attention they need from HQ, subsidiaries can achieve benefits that justify their association to the multinational network, without compromising the pursuit of local objectives.

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