Multinational Enterprise Organizational Structures and Subsidiary Role and Capability Development: The Moderating Role of Establishment Mode

Multinational enterprises (MNEs) develop structural configurations for managing their geographically dispersed and disaggregated activities. These structures can be classified as (a) simple headquarters configurations (involves corporate, regional, divisional headquarters and mandated units) involving few direct reporting relationships; (b) network organizations involving no direct reporting relationships; and (c) matrix configurations involving multiple reporting relationships. While these structures are built for handling various complexities and purposes, it is unclear how they influence subsidiary role and capability development. We hypothesize how these structures influence subsidiary development and propose a moderating role of MNE establishment mode on the direct structure-subsidiary development relationship. Based on data from 429 foreign subsidiaries in New Zealand, our results show that subsidiary development varies across the structures such that simple headquarters configurations experience the least opportunities to develop. While the matrix and network structures as complex configurations offer distinct paths to subsidiary development, subsidiaries managed under the former are more likely to follow the developmental path of networking and interunit learning, and the subsidiaries managed under the latter are more likely to follow the path of autonomy and innovation. Furthermore, the positive association of network structure with subsidiary initiatives and autonomy is stronger for greenfield subsidiaries, whereas the positive association of matrix structure with subsidiary mandates is stronger for acquired subsidiaries.

Nonprofit Governance: Are Related Board Members Bad for Nonprofits?

Following recommendations from a Congressional panel tasked with improving nonprofit governance, in 2005, the IRS began requiring nonprofit organizations to report the existence of family and business relationships among board members. We study these relationships and find they are common in U.S. nonprofits and not associated with assumed detrimental effects. Rather , we find that organizations reporting relationships between board members have less management spending, lower levels of excess cash, and better reporting quality, while receiving higher contributions. Further, using detailed disclosure information, we find that while both business and family relationships among board members are associated with less administrative spending, lower levels of excess cash, and higher contributions, family relationships are also associated with better reporting quality. Overall, our evidence supports the idea that relationships among board members do not harm nonprofit organizations.

CIO reporting structure and firm strategic orientation – a content analysis approach

Purpose Grounded in the principal-agent theory, this study aims to develop and test hypotheses too, investigate how the firm’s strategic orientations, namely, innovation, growth, differentiation and cost leadership impact the chief information officer (CIO) reporting relationship and structure. Design/methodology/approach The study uses content analysis to analyze a data set of press releases collected from the LexisNexis Academic wire index. The press releases were issued by firms when they hired CIOs between 2003 and 2007, yielding 128 firms, which had specific information about the CIO reporting relationship and structure. Findings The results reveal that firms seeking an innovation, growth or differentiation strategy have their CIOs reporting to the chief executive officer. Research limitations/implications The current study is motivated by the desire to replicate and extend the works of previous researchers who have assessed various CIO issues. Replication takes several forms such as the use of similar or different data sets, different research environments or reinvestigating research concepts through a different theoretical lens. This study makes use of a multi-firm data set spanning five years and the principal-agent theory as the theoretical framework to explore the CIO reporting relationship and structure. Although this study focuses on the hiring trends and the strategic orientations of the firms, future studies should explore other characteristics associated with the CIOs that might have an impact on the reporting relationship such as the years of experience, age, educational background of CIOs and information technology budgets. Practical implications The existing literature has not settled the debate as to whom the CIO should be reporting to and understanding the reporting relationships is important because, in many firms, the organizational structures and the reporting relationships are indicative of the power dynamics and how the organizational resources are controlled and shared. Originality/value Replication studies are important because they confirm, reinforce, extend and provide reliability to the paradigms and knowledge in the discipline, as well as offer reliability of the results upon which scientific progress is based.

A Multi-Methodological Analysis of a Non-Clinical Healthcare Executive and Servant Leader: Attributes and Behaviour’s and their Associations with Reporting Relationships and Business Structures

A multi-methodological approach was used to examine the personal and professional life of a well-respected, nonclinical, healthcare executive for purposes of determining if “Don” was a servant leader and, if so, uncover the antecedents contributing to his leadership style. The results provided the backdrop for examining linkages between servant leadership, reporting relationships, and business structures. Content analysis and Spears’ 10 constructs of servant leaders were used as a priori themes to affirm that Don is a servant leader. Nonparametric testing revealed moderate to strong associations between the reporting relationships of the respondents (x1) and the types of business structures (x2) where the respondents and our servant leader forged their initial relationship and the perceived behaviors and attributes of Don (y). We discovered that relationships, spiritual centeredness, and desire for career advancement served as antecedents in shaping Don’s leadership style. Implications for practice and future research are also addressed.

Disaggregating the headquarters: implications for overseas R&D subsidiaries’ reporting and the subsidiaries’ knowledge-sharing patterns

This study explores the relations between the different parts of headquarters (HQ) to which subsidiaries report and the knowledge-sharing patterns of subsidiaries in multinational corporations (MNCs). Despite the growing interest in the disaggregation of HQ, little is known about how subsidiaries’ reporting relationships with different parts of HQ are associated with the knowledge-sharing patterns of subsidiaries. Based on this motivation, we disaggregated HQ into different parts, i.e., corporate R&D HQ, top management, divisional HQ, and regional HQ, and explored how knowledge-sharing patterns of overseas R&D subsidiaries vary according to the different parts of the HQ to which they report. We found that subsidiaries reporting to corporate R&D HQ show the highest level of external knowledge sharing (EKS), while those reporting to divisional HQ show the lowest level; in addition, subsidiaries reporting to top management show the highest level of internal knowledge sharing (IKS), while those reporting to regional HQ show the lowest level. The study implies that the knowledge-sharing patterns of overseas R&D subsidiaries in MNCs cannot be fully understood without examining the subsidiaries’ reporting relationships with differing parts of the HQ.

Detecting Green-Washing or Substantial Organizational Communication: A Model for Testing Two-Way Interaction Between Risk and Sustainability Reporting

This paper contributes to the expanding landscape of methodological approaches and tools for investigating organizational sustainability communication. Our method allows for exploring two-way interactions between company risk and sustainability reporting. We present a basic but extendable method, while using only publicly available data. Our method adds additional features to established methods: It covers only risk (not returns), as theory mainly supports risk-reporting relationships and not return-reporting relationships. It tests for reverse causality of the risk-reporting relationship and links complementary explanations to different theoretical schools. Our method tests the model by employing data from a market with mandatory sustainability reporting to avoid self-selection bias.