Abstract
This chapter examines the international responsibilities, or mandates,1 of foreign-owned subsidiaries in Canada, Scotland and Sweden. The primary focus of the chapter is on the factors associated with mandate formation, but the impact of mandates on subsidiary performance is also examined. The chapter is built on two key premises: (1) that mandates are critical to the long-term growth of foreign-owned subsidiaries; and (2) that they are primarily earned by the subsidiary through the initiative of subsidiary managers. The former assumption has been central to much of the strategic management and public policy literature on subsidiary management (e.g. Etemad and Dulude, 1986; Rugman and Bennett, 1982; Science Council of Canada, 1980), and its implications have been explored. The latter assumption, by contrast, has been frequently mentioned (e.g. Crookell, 1986; Crookell and Morrison, 1990; McGuinness and Conway, 1986) but never studied in depth.
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Birkinshaw, J., Hood, N. (1998). The Determinants of Subsidiary Mandates and Subsidiary Initiative: A Three-Country Study. In: Hooley, G., Loveridge, R., Wilson, D. (eds) Internationalization. The Academy of International Business Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-26556-5_2
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