Large Multinational Corporations Research Articles

How to do HRM with numbers? A performative lens on HR metrics, HR analytics and HR algorithms

AbstractThis study examines the performativity of using numbers in the context of human resource management (HRM). We use performativity as a theoretical lens to understand how such quantification affects individuals and work. We theorise three performative effects of quantification based on multiple case studies using internal documents and semi‐structured interviews. To do this we analysed six HRM quantification projects (including cases of algorithmic HRM) at a large French multinational corporation. Each use of quantification creates a specific form of performativity. Our work complements the sparse but growing literature on metrics, analytics and algorithms in Human Resources, focusing not on the kind of reality numbers represent but on how they impact different stakeholders.

Board leadership in global ventures: A bibliometric analysis

Board leadership in global ventures: A bibliometric analysis

Corporate Scandals as Punctuating Events That Change Human Resource Roles

Corporate scandals disrupt the landscape for organizational leaders and employees, providing a burning platform that creates new momentum for change. Here, we explore the implications for the human resources (HR) function as organization-level responses to scandals cannot occur without individual-level changes in employee behaviors—the domain of HR. We apply event systems theorizing to uncover the nature of the scandals through notions of strength, space, and time to better understand the range of possible outcomes for HR function roles. Empirical data are presented from in-depth qualitative case studies carried out in five large multinational corporations in the pharmaceutical, chemical, and financial services industries. Subsequently, we uncover how organization-level scandals punctuate the equilibrium of organizational operations, facilitating a recalibration of the balance between the potentially competing institutional logics of moral legitimacy and business priorities. We furthermore challenge universal HR role typology theorizing regarding the direct influence of external stakeholders on the role that HR can adopt inside organizations. Overall, we demonstrate that organizational responses to corporate scandals require individual-level and collective employee behavior change, placing the HR function at the intersection of managing risk, compliance, and legal requirements.

Local firms spillovers from multinationals’ exports in Switzerland

This paper aims to examine how local firms can learn from the export activities of large multinational corporations (MNCs). Arguing that MNCs’ export activities could act as catalysts for local firms, allowing them to start exporting or intensify their export volume, we hypothesize that the size and extent of export spillovers depend on the linkage between local firms and MNCs, the geographical distance between them in the home country, and the foreign export market destination in terms of psychic distance from the home market. Using Swiss manufacturing firm-level data, we found support to this learning by exporting effect through which local firms benefit from the presence of MNCs’ exporter counterparts and the export activities of their upstream MNCs’ suppliers, with particular effects of the nature and the physical location of destinations. From these findings, several important academic and practical implications are exhibited and discussed

The role of shipping and logistics MNCs in economic development: a case study of how Maersk contributed to Vietnam’s ascendence to an export oriented economy

This paper assesses the role shipping and logistics foreign direct investment (FDI) plays in developing country export performance, exemplified by the case of the large multinational corporation (MNC) Maersk’s investments in Vietnam. The paper aims to generate a deeper understanding of how the introduction of advanced shipping and logistics services by a foreign investor contributed to export growth. The paper is based on a longitudinal case study of Maersk in Vietnam employing more than 100 interviews from Maersk, Maersk’s clients, subcontractors, and industry experts conducted between 2003 and 2016, complemented and validated by primary commercial data from Maersk, and secondary industry- and market data. The paper finds that during that period, Maersk impacted Vietnam’s export performance through five mechanisms: 1. Building infrastructure; 2. Creating connectivity and market access; 3. Reducing transaction and logistics costs; 4. Bringing buyers and sellers together; and 5. Upgrading export capabilities. While transport and logistics MNCs’ role in building infrastructure and reducing trade costs is described in the literature, the paper provides novel insights into their role as intermediaries in trade that provide value chain access and transparency, reduce transaction costs for buyers and producers, and upgrade export capabilities. The paper suggests that Maersk’s contributions to Vietnam’s export growth from 2003 to 2016 in part can be attributed to its unique competitive advantages originating from its superior organization, technology, and capital intensity. The paper contributes to the literature by deepening it’s understanding of the mechanisms through which large shipping and logistics MNCs influence developing countries’ export-led industrialization; by proving novel insights into the role of Maersk in Vietnam’s development path; and by providing and validating an analytical framework for analyzing shipping and logistics MNCs’ role in export led development that may inspire future research,

Strategies to Enhance Knowledge Transfer: Lessons from a Multinational Corporation

Overview: To maximize the rent-yield of the innovation and product development process, firms attempt to commercialize knowledge through activities that require effective knowledge transfer. Knowledge transfer remains a challenge for most firms, however, due to the recipient organization’s lack of ability to absorb and apply new knowledge. We examined four knowledge-transfer projects within a large multinational corporation. We identified important actions, lessons learned, and recommendations that practitioners can use to enhance their own knowledge-transfer processes.

‘Partly’ globalized networks and driving mechanism in resource-based state-owned enterprises: A case study of J Group

In the context of economic globalization, while multinational enterprises from developed countries occupy a high-end position in the global value chain, enterprises from developing countries are often marginalized in the world market. In China, resource-based state-owned enterprises (SOEs) are tasked with the mission of safeguarding resource security, and their internationalization development ideas and strategic deployment are significantly and fundamentally different from those of other non-state-owned enterprises and large multinational corporations. This study provides ideas for the globalization policies of enterprises in developing countries. We consider J Group in western China as a case and discuss its productive investment and global production network development from 2010 to 2019. We found that J Group was ‘partly’ globalized, and there are multiple core nodes with the characteristics of centralized and decentralized coexistence in the production network; in addition, the overall layout centre shifted to Southeast Asia and China; however, its global production was restricted by the enterprise’s investment security considerations, support and restrictions of the home country, political security risk of the host country, and sanctions from the West. These findings provide insights for future research: under the wave of anti-globalization and ‘internal circulation as the main body’, resource SOEs should consider the potential risk of investment, especially keeping the middle and downstream industrial chain in China as much as possible.

Exploring Social Credit for Fairness in Cloud Computing Networks

Cloud-based computing networks have taken over the digital landscape. From small non-profits to large multinational corporations, more and more entities have been offloading computing effort to the cloud in order to take advantage of the increased cost-efficiency and scalability of cloud computing. One of the new types of cloud that have emerged is P2P cloud, which disengages from a traditional datacenter setup by allowing users to instead share their own computing hardware into a cloud to reap the benefits of cloud computing's advantages at an even lower cost. However, this new paradigm comes with a slew of challenges: (i) security, when operating with the devices of strangers and (ii) fairness when not operating in a market-based system. This paper aims to address these two issues by proposing an algorithm based on social credits for a P2P cloud system that uses a social network to establish its security measures. We implement our new Social Credit algorithm along with two other task-migration-based load-balancing algorithms adapted for a P2P social cloud in “Cloudsim Plus”, and the relative gains are shown in terms of fairness and other related metrics.

Hit Me(n)

Abstract In the Global South, the adoption of the so-called Western diet in recent decades has resulted in a global pandemic of obesity and lifestyle-related diseases. However some academics argue that this diet should be reframed as the ‘neoliberal’ diet, one which is the outcome of a profit-driven industrial food system in which large multi-national corporations have disproportionate power to make, distribute, promote, and sell their products. Instead of framing lifestyle-related non-communicable diseases (NCD s) as the personal failure of the individual, this lens calls for a critique of a food system which shapes individual food and lifestyle choices. Yet social attitudes remain slow to respond to this shifting view of this pressing food-related NCD public health issue. Sugar is a key part of the formulation of many ultra-processed foods that are responsible for poor diet-related health outcomes. Hit Me(n) uses protest art as a communications tool to reframe the issue for the audience. It draws attention to the dopamine system in the brain by juxtaposing sugar alongside other addictive substances and behaviours that drive similar pleasure-seeking patterns. It further draws attention to the role that corporate and product branding plays in normalising and glorifying certain addiction-linked substances and behaviours. It questions who has the power to shape the system, and who does not.

Unraveling the Internationalization Barriers among Oil and Gas SMEs: A Path to Global Expansion

The remarkable expansion of globalization stands as one of the most significant phenomena in the twenty-first century, shaping both the business landscape and robust strategic approaches that prioritize the internationalization of domestic firms. In addition to large multinational corporations, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) also recognize the vast opportunities international markets offer for business growth and development. Furthermore, SMEs that venture into global markets can strengthen their competitiveness and global presence by integrating valuable global experiences and incorporating their benefits into their domestic operations. Despite the potential, SMEs' involvement in the global market has remained disappointingly low, with little improvement since 2011. In light of this challenge, our study endeavors to unravel the multifaceted factors contributing to SMEs' internationalization dilemmas. Analyzing a total of 409 valid datasets, the findings highlighted the main factor behind SMEs' hesitancy to engage in internationalization: a lack of resources. Consequently, it becomes crucial for SMEs, particularly those in the Oil and Gas Equipment and Service segments, to focus on strengthening their resources to facilitate the internationalization process. Complementing this resource-centric approach, adjustments in managers' attitudes are equally crucial, as they have the potential to ignite SMEs' active engagement in international markets, ultimately contributing to national economic growth.

Big business as vanguard: social welfare expansion in China

Why would an emerging market economy without Western democratic institutions provide and promote social welfare to its citizens? This paper explores the driving forces behind the rapid yet unequal expansion of social welfare in China, a phenomenon notable since the late 1990s. Rather than adhering to the conventional state-centered approach that views welfare expansion as a strategy for one-party regimes to seek legitimacy, this study offers an alternate perspective that emphasizes the ‘demand’ side, particularly the role of business. Through a systematic analysis of all 336 Chinese municipalities from 2001 to 2012, the study demonstrates how big businesses act as ‘vanguard,’ pushing local governments to enhance social welfare provision. It suggests that big businesses, in the absence of institutionalized democratic institutions, serve as ‘functional equivalents,’ channeling societal demands to the government. This paper also finds that firms’ influence on social policy in non-democracies is more capability based instead of institutional based; large domestic and multinational corporations are more capable in lobbying the government.

Enhancing Data Security and Predictive URL Analysis: A Comprehensive Approach to Preventing Data Breaches

Abstract: There has never been a time in history when starting and running a profitable business has been more difficult due to the upward trending rising trend in data breaches. Data breaches can have an immediate impact on hundreds of millions or conceivably billions of individualities in the data-driven world of the moment. Data breaches have grown in scope along with digital metamorphosis as attackers take advantage of our every data. Various measures are taken by many companies to control data breaches in order to prevent them. A business or firm may employ techniques like data encryption, human error, data backup and recovery, and data security software. In the case of middle-level and low-level organizations suffering the most cyber-attacks, Many businesses are successful in defending their data from intruders, typically large multinational corporations which engage a specialist and safeguard their own data. Therefore, we can employ some of the standard data breach prevention strategies in our project to ensure that the domain can receive its user data without any consequences. Our project proposes to improve data security where user data must reach their domain without any disruption.

Corporate restructuring in the telecommunications equipment industry: The case of Spain in the late twentieth century

A new technological paradigm coupled with a powerful wave of deregulation and liberalisation that was unleashed worldwide from the 1980s onwards acted as a catalyst for profound transformation in the telecommunications equipment industry, which was dominated at the time by large multinational corporations. These developments, in turn, led to worldwide restructuring in the sector. The present paper hypothesises that the sector’s oligopolistic structure remained, but that it did so under the leadership of new global players that sought to impose their strategies in response to the prevailing conditions. The paper also aims to explain the reasons for the global restructuring in the sector by looking at the strategies, choices, and decisions of the involved multinationals from the viewpoint of the nation-state. Based on the assumption that a separate analysis of one national unit can help to understand the process as a whole, the paper draws on primary sources to describe and analyse the adjustment path within Standard Eléctrica, a Spanish subsidiary first of IT&T and then of Alcatel.

The Implications of Pillar Two for Corporate Tax Reform

Recent proposals for corporate tax reform in Canada call for changing the existing tax on shareholder income to a tax on rents or above-normal profits. A feasible option would be an allowance for corporate equity (ACE) system based on the territorial principle. Canada has agreed to the approach to international corporate tax reform developed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, including the pillar two minimum tax proposal. We explore the compatibility of adopting pillar two with the ACE system. Several elements of pillar two would complement moving to an ACE system. Large multinational corporations would be liable for a top-up tax if their effective tax rates in any given jurisdiction fell below 15 percent. The effective tax rates and the top-up tax would both use the territorial approach and consolidated accounting. The top-up tax would be similar to a tax on excess profits. Pillar two might also mitigate tax competition and reduce the constraints that countries face in increasing their tax rates on excess profits. For these reasons, pillar two would facilitate moving to an ACE system. At the same time, the minimum tax would deter adoption of an ACE if the deduction for the cost of equity finance reduced the pillar two effective tax rate. On balance, pillar two would be compatible with proposed corporate tax reforms.

Sustainable Auditing: Practices and Perceptions in the Accounting Industry

This study aims to explore sustainable auditing practices and perceptions within the accounting industry, focusing on organizational approaches, stakeholder engagement, and implications for future research and practice. A qualitative literature review was conducted to synthesize key findings from existing research. The research revealed a spectrum of sustainable auditing practices adopted by organizations, with large multinational corporations leading in adoption as part of their corporate social responsibility initiatives. However, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) face challenges due to resource constraints and competing priorities. Tailored interventions such as capacity-building initiatives, collaborative partnerships, and simplified reporting frameworks are essential to facilitate sustainable auditing adoption among SMEs. Stakeholders' perceptions vary, with some viewing sustainable auditing positively for enhancing organizational performance and reputation, while others express skepticism about its effectiveness and relevance. Cultural factors influence stakeholders' attitudes, emphasizing the need for context-specific approaches to sustainable auditing. The study underscores the importance of stakeholder engagement, transparency, and capacity-building initiatives for organizations aiming to adopt sustainable auditing practices. Methodological challenges related to measuring and reporting sustainability performance must be addressed to enhance credibility and comparability. Future research should focus on understanding the mechanisms and outcomes of sustainable auditing and developing context-specific strategies to enhance its effectiveness.

Multi-Perspective Analysis of the Sustainable Transformation of Multinational Companies

The sustainability transition has been defined as “a radical shift to a sustainable society” as a response to some of the ongoing issues facing the new mainstream economies. However, the importance of sustainable transition has been overlooked by many countries and large organisations. As climate change and energy scarcity become urgent, many large organisations are pursuing sustainable transformation to achieve low cost and resource reuse. A study of the existing literature reveals that the literature on the sustainable transformation of large organisations and multinational corporations is limited and not analysed more comprehensively. This paper aims to illustrate methods and recommendations for the sustainable transition of multinationals and to analyze the sustainable transition of multinationals using different theoretical factors and sustainability models. For example, the three pillars of sustainability, this section illustrates the operational and technological transformation of multinational companies; the 10 R’s of sustainability and value creation demonstrate the concepts that multinational companies focus on to meet their success criteria for sustainable transformation; and the importance of sustainable transition for multinational companies is also analyzed from the perspective of supply chain and corporate social responsibility. Meanwhile, links are made between these theories and models, indicating the importance of focusing on multiple dimensions for better accomplishing the sustainable transition.

Factors causing tax avoidance practices in multinational companies: Evidence from Indonesia

Tax avoidance by the multinational company has been at the top of the international tax policy agenda since the global financial crisis in 2008. This level of tax evasion raises concerns that large multinational corporations pay meager effective tax rates. Therefore, this study aims to obtain empirical evidence of the influence of transfer pricing, thin capitalization, and tax heaven utilization on corporate tax avoidance. This paper aims to examine the effects of factors that cause tax avoidance practices in multinational companies. This study used 37 multinational companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) for 2018-2020. This study used a purposive sampling method that produced 111 suitable samples. The analytical method used is multiple linear regression analysis through Stata 12 software. Main findings of the study demonstrate that (i) Transfer pricing has a positive effect on the practice of Tax Avoidance (ii) Thin capitalization does not affect the practice of Tax Avoidance, and finally (iii) Tax heaven utilization has a positive effect on the practice of Tax Avoidance.

Expatriation and repatriation as one integrated process: the roles of developmental assignments, repatriate turnover, employee willingness for expatriation and repatriation support practices

PurposeThis paper aims to integrate the perspectives of expatriation and repatriation not as two unrelated stages but rather as one integrated process.Design/methodology/approachA sample comprising 94 human resource (HR) representatives from large Taiwanese multinational corporations (MNCs) provided objective data on the organizational expatriate/repatriate practices.FindingsThe use of developmental assignments was positively related to organizational repatriate turnover, but such a positive relationship was significant only when MNCs used low levels of repatriation support practices. Organizational repatriate turnover was negatively related to employee willingness for expatriation and the use of developmental assignments increased employee willingness for expatriation. Organizational repatriate turnover was a competitive mediator between the use of developmental assignments and employee willingness for expatriation. Moreover, organizational repatriate turnover mediated the relationship when MNCs used low levels of repatriation support practices, but not when MNCs used high levels of repatriation support practices.Practical implicationsMNCs should ensure the use of development assignments is matched with high levels of repatriation support practices and treat expatriation and repatriation management as one integrated process.Originality/valueAs the world economy becomes more integrated, MNCs are increasingly challenged in their efforts to send employees abroad on expatriate assignments that are developmental by design, to reduce organizational repatriate turnover and to increase employee willingness for expatriation. However, there is a lack of understanding about how they are all linked.

In the name of TRIPS: The impact of IPR harmonisation on patent activity in Latin America

We analyse the effect of country-specific regulatory changes consistent with mandates included in the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement on patenting activities in Latin America (LA) with the aim of contributing to the ongoing debate on patent regimes, innovation and development. TRIPS implied tight negotiations between developed and developing countries. By analysing national legislation on IPR in 36 countries, we build a variable that captures when each country exhibits “the spirit of TRIPS”, which may occur before or after signing TRIPS. We follow two goals: i) to assess whether the impact of changing regulation was different in LA in contrast to developed countries; ii) to analyse specifically the impact on patent activities of residents and non-residents in LA in contrast to developed countries. Our results show that regulatory changes aligned with TRIPS increased patent activities in LA more than in developed countries, but only by non-residents. This is consistent with the political economy argument stating that the international agenda on intellectual property rights was pushed by large multinational corporations headquartered in developed countries as part of their globalisation strategies. Our results are also consistent with the economics of innovation literature that suggests that stronger patent regimes only have positive effects on innovation after some national income threshold is attained.

The effect of tax transparency on consumer and firm behavior: Experimental evidence

Tax avoidance among large multinational corporations has considerably increased in recent years, triggering an intense discussion about how to ensure that all pay their ‘fair share’. We propose a novel experimental design to incentive-compatibly model the firm-consumer relationship in a consumer goods market. This new paradigm allows us to analyze the effect of increased tax transparency on consumer and firm behavior in a dynamic framework. We find that absent the threat of being directly exposed as a tax avoiding firm, only 26% of the firms decide to pay taxes. Once tax avoiding firms are identifiable in the market, this rate rises to 58%. Providing market participants additionally with information about the social costs of tax avoidance increases the fraction of tax paying firms further to 74%. We observe that these improvements are the consequence of firms proactively deciding to pay taxes. At the highest level of transparency, we further observe that consumers show a stronger proclivity to boycott tax avoiding firms, even if these firms offer cheaper prices.