Organizational identity work in MNE subsidiaries: Managing dual embeddedness

This paper adopts an organizational identity work perspective to examine how MNE subsidiaries manage dual embeddedness to strategically position themselves in both their local context and in the global MNE. Prior research suggests that although dual embeddedness provides benefits, it also brings cha...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of international business studies 2022-12, Vol.53 (9), p.1997-2022
Main Authors: Colman, Helene Loe, Grøgaard, Birgitte, Stensaker, Inger G.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Business and Management
Business community
Business education
Business Strategy/Leadership
Concept formation
Embeddedness
Entrepreneurship
Flexibility
Identity
International Business
Legitimacy
Management
Multinational corporations
Organization
Subsidiaries
Work
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Summary:This paper adopts an organizational identity work perspective to examine how MNE subsidiaries manage dual embeddedness to strategically position themselves in both their local context and in the global MNE. Prior research suggests that although dual embeddedness provides benefits, it also brings challenges, as subsidiaries must effectively balance external pressures and expectations with internal ones. Through a qualitative case study of organizational identity work in the subsidiaries of a Norwegian MNE, we reveal the process through which subsidiary members manage dual embeddedness in their day-to-day work. We develop a model that conceptualizes organizational identity work in MNE subsidiaries as an ongoing process, one that enables the subsidiary to position itself as a legitimate actor across contexts, while reproducing the perceived tensions of dual embeddedness. This combination thus continually fuels organizational identity work. Our findings have both theoretical and managerial implications. We provide important theoretical insight into how MNE subsidiaries achieve flexibility to position themselves as globally and locally embedded. For managers, this implies that trying to remove the tensions of dual embeddedness – for instance, by privileging the global above the local – may hinder flexibility.
ISSN:0047-2506
1478-6990
DOI:10.1057/s41267-022-00563-1