General Manager Succession in Multinational Enterprise Subsidiaries

Abstract

This dissertation, based on interviews with over 40 managers and quantitative data on over 1,900 foreign subsidiaries, aims to provide new insights regarding subsidiary general manager (GM) changes in multinational enterprises (MNEs). I study continual GM change, individual succession event, the decision-making process through which different types of subsidiary GM successors are selected, and how they link to subsidiary performance. I found that GM succession decisions are path dependent and evolving, can be influenced by MNE environments, and need to be based on both GM successor nationality and origin. My dissertation underscores the complexity of subsidiary GM succession and bridges succession strategy with implementation.