Institutional Duality Research Articles

How Do Subsidiaries Confront Institutional Duality? Identity Claims at Hindustan Lever 1961-2009

How Do Subsidiaries Confront Institutional Duality? Identity Claims at Hindustan Lever 1961-2009

HOW DO SUBSIDIARIES CONFRONT INSTITUTIONAL DUALITY? IDENTITY CLAIMS AT HINDUSTAN LEVER 1961–2009

The concept of institutional duality informs us that the subsidiary needs to conform, simultaneously, to isomorphic pressures emanating from two distinct institutional environments: the multination...

BIG BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION LOBBYING IN CHINA: THE PARADOX OF CONTRASTING STYLES

In spite of China's continued authoritarian political system, there is growing recognition that business lobbying is an integral part of the country's policy process at both the local and national levels. As thousands of economic regulations and laws have become key determinants of the fate of industry, all types of companies - state-owned and private, Chinese and foreign - have become active in every stage of the policy process, from setting the agenda to identifying policy options and shaping regulatory implementation. Whereas interacting with officialdom used to be the responsibility of an enterprise's senior leader, it is increasingly common for companies to have a defined position or team in charge of government affairs. ' The number of trade associations representing domestic and foreign companies has grown rapidly, with the greatest expansion recently seen in the proliferation of branches of municipal chambers of commerce outside their home localities (yidi shanghui (ProQuest: ... denotes non-USASCII text omitted.)). 2 Chinese Mainland scholars and journalists previously only used the term "lobbying" (youshui (ProQuest: ... denotes non-USASCII text omitted.)) to refer to the behavior of companies in capitalist countries or multinational companies (MNC) in China, but it is now associated with domestic companies' behavior at home.3 The discussion of "interest groups" (liyi jituan (ProQuest: ... denotes non-USASCII text omitted.)) is even more common.4 Not only has engagement of officialdom risen but, equally importantly, there is growing sentiment that lobbying pays off. Policies for different sectors and the broader economy have been shaped by corporate influence.5 In some sectors, such as energy, it appears that the basic trajectory has been determined less by a coherent government plan than by companies who have manipulated the government to adopt policies consistent with their interests.6 Lobbying affects both domestic and foreign economic policies, and companies lobby successfully for greater protection from imports and for increased liberalization.7 Nevertheless, although we know that industry is active and shapes policy, there is much less information about how industry engages policymakers. Companies lobby, both directly and through associations, but we have only a rudimentary knowledge of the actual strategies and tactics which they employ and of their rate of success. Some observers have emphasized the importance of personal connections (guanxi (ProQuest: ... denotes non-USASCII text omitted.)); but guanxi can be manifested in multiple ways.8 Recent private-sector analyses report that guanxfs currency is less valuable than in the past.9 Yet if so, what other tools are being utilized? Do different kinds of companies or associations engage government differently, and with different results? This article takes a step forward in developing a more comprehensive and systematic way to analyze business lobbying in China to increase our understanding of the tactics and strategies which companies and associations employ as they seek to influence national Chinese public policy. In so doing, we adapt the theoretical framework and methods used to study corporate political activity in advanced economies to the Chinese context. In particular, we report the results of recently conducted surveys of very large companies and national industry associations in China about their lobbying strategies vis-a-vis national government economic policies. The findings indicate surprising commonalities in lobbying behavior across a wide variety of companies, yet identify equally unexpected differences between companies and business associations. In the next section, we review the extant research on government-business relations in China to identify progress to date and the reason for continuing gaps in our knowledge. We then outline our research strategy, with a description of the overarching framework, the design of the surveys and the composition of the sampled companies and associations. …

The contested space of multinationals: Varieties of institutionalism, varieties of capitalism

The article argues that institutionalist theory applied to multinationals focuses on the issue of ‘institutional duality’, that is, that within multinationals, actors are pressured to conform to the expectations of their home context whilst also being subjected to the transfer of practices from the home context of the MNC itself. This institutional duality leads to conflicts that can be labelled as forms of ‘micro-politics’. The head office managers transfer practices, people and resources to subsidiaries in order to maintain control and achieve their objectives. Local subsidiaries have differential capacities to resist these transfers or to develop them in their own interests depending on their institutional context. The article distinguishes institutional contexts that produce ‘Boy Scout’ subsidiaries, doing what they are told and consequently allowing locally distinctive capabilities to be undermined and those that produce ‘subversive strategists’ which look to deepen their connection with the local context not the MNC itself. These processes are exacerbated by the demands of capital markets which impose performance requirements on MNCs and lead to continuous organizational restructuring. Head offices become stronger in their attempts to impose standards in all their subsidiaries. The consequences of these processes are that except for a few pockets of ‘subversive strategists’, multinationals produce subsidiary ‘clones’ with little ability to leverage the specific assets which the institutional context provides. As it is the subversive strategists that are best placed to be innovative, the problem for the MNC is how to manage this tension.

Subsidiary responses to institutional duality: Collective representation practices of US multinationals in Britain and Germany

New institutionalist studies of human resource management in multinational companies argue that subsidiaries are faced with institutional duality-pressures to conform to parent company practices and to the local institutional environment in which they are based. To date, they have concentrated on how subsidiaries respond to parent company pressures. This article considers how subsidiary management responds to both parent company demands and host country pressures in trying to reconcile the challenges of institutional duality. It focuses on how such responses are shaped by the interdependence of subsidiary management with the parent company and the local environment. It does so by comparing case study evidence of collective representation practices in US-owned subsidiaries in Britain and Germany.

The Diffusion of Calculative and Collaborative HRM Practices in European Firms

The aim of this paper is to trace and explain variations in calculative and collaborative human resource management (HRM) practices between companies and across national borders. Variations and similarities are explained in terms of the convergence and divergence of HRM practices determined by national institutions, and the increasing influence of multinational companies (MNCs). We explore the diffusion of HRM practices in Europe over time, using data sets from two surveys conducted in several European countries in 1995 and 2000. We use institutional explanations for the development of three selected bundles of HRM practices: individual, calculative performance‐oriented practices; collective incentive schemes for the alignment of interests; and collaborative practices that seek to enhance the commitment of employees. We found substantial effects of country‐specific institutions and of the country of origin of MNCs, which clearly support the institutional duality thesis. Foreign‐owned MNCs, especially those that are US‐based, appear to moderate country‐specific institutional effects on the diffusion of the three HRM bundles.

The determinants of MNE subsidiaries' political strategies: evidence of institutional duality

In this study, we develop and test a model of the determinants of political strategies used by foreign subsidiaries of multinational enterprises (MNEs). Using recent theoretical advances in institutional theory that recognize that MNE subsidiaries are confronted with pressures for isomorphism within the corporation (internal legitimacy) and within the host country (external legitimacy), we integrate international business and political strategy literatures to create a multilevel model of subsidiary, host country and parent determinants of political strategy. Our hypotheses are tested using survey and archival data from Western European subsidiaries of US MNEs.

ADOPTION OF AN ORGANIZATIONAL PRACTICE BY SUBSIDIARIES OF MULTINATIONAL CORPORATIONS: INSTITUTIONAL AND RELATIONAL EFFECTS.

We examine the adoption of an organizational practice by subsidiaries of a multinational corporation (MNC) under conditions of “institutional duality.” Drawing on institutional theory, we identify ...

Adoption of an Organizational Practice by Subsidiaries of Multinational Corporations: Institutional and Relational Effects

We examine the adoption of an organizational practice by subsidiaries of a multinational corporation (MNC) under conditions of “institutional duality.” Drawing on institutional theory, we identify ...

Fighting over property: the articulation of dominant and subordinate legal systems governing the inheritance of immovable property among Blacks in Zimbabwe

Opening ParagraphLaw, particularly the law of property, may indeed be an instrument of the ruling class for the reproduction of any given social and economic formation, but few anthropologists have pursued this line of argument. Instead of examining how law was actually generated within particular political and economic contexts, anthropologists concerned with property law in colonial Africa tended to take for granted its existence at a particular point in time, and either to emphasise the institutional duality of colonial and indigenous assumptions and procedures concerning property or to stress the universal elements of legal behaviour despite these institutional differences.