How Subsidiaries of Multinational Corporations Drive Organizational Change

Subsidiary initiatives are bottom-up, entrepreneurial processes that have the potential to drive change. They have generally been seen as beneficial for both the headquarters and the subsidiary within a multinational corporation. However, research suggests that only a small number of subsidiary initiatives are actually approved by headquarters, while most fail. From the perspective of the subsidiary, the pragmatic question is how to gain headquarters’ approval.

This meta-synthesis integrates findings from a set of qualitative case studies on this topic. It explores how subsidiary managers can effectively negotiate subsidiary initiatives and offers explanations as to why some subsidiaries outperform others.