Introduction

Abstract

Traditional concepts in International Business (IB) literature have generally taken a hierarchical and center-dominated perspective of the Multinational Corporation (MNC) in which competitive advantage is generated at the corporate center for subsequent implementation by foreign subsidiaries located at the MNC periphery (Hymer 1976, pp. 41-43, Kutschker/Schmid 2011, p. 340). In contrast, more advanced concepts – such as the geocentric company, the transnational organization or the heterarchy – acknowledge the growing relevance of subsidiaries for the competitiveness of the entire corporation (Schmid et al. 2002, Kutschker/Schmid 2011, pp. 286-31523).

Certain elements of this text have been previously published as parts of a working paper (Schmid/Dzedek 2011) and a journal article (Schmid et al. 2014).