Title: The transition from a multi-domestic to globally integrated multinational enterprise – in an industry where local taste matters

Authors: Paul Gooderham

Addresses: Department of Strategy and Management, NHH – The Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration, 5045 Bergen, Norway

Abstract: Existing theory suggests that multi-domestic multinational enterprises (MNEs) attempting to make the transition from the multi-domestic to the global state are confronted by two fundamental challenges: a political and a social network challenge. What is lacking is a process theory of how MNEs overcome these challenges. Adopting a theory-building approach, the purpose of this paper is to address this gap. Our setting is a Scandinavian multi-domestic MNE, SCF, which has been engaged in the transition to a distinctly more global state for nearly a decade. More specifically, we focus on the attempts by the corporate centre to integrate the purchasing activities of its group of subsidiaries. We compare its early, and largely unsuccessful, initiative to achieve purchasing integration with its more recent, largely successful, initiative. In so doing, we develop a set of propositions that provides a framework for shaping and guiding the deliberate actions of managers.

Keywords: multi-domestic multinationals; transition to global state; international management; multinational enterprises; MNEs; politics; social networks; purchasing integration; subsidiaries.

DOI: 10.1504/EJIM.2012.045796

European Journal of International Management, 2012 Vol.6 No.2, pp.175 - 198

Published online: 22 Nov 2014 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article