What influence does the management style have in international subsidiaries?


Managers of international subsidiaries work at critical interfaces within multinational companies and bear strategic responsibility for corporate activities and operations in their respective countries. However, this influence has hardly been scientifically investigated to date. With their article "Entrepreneurial leadership and MNE subsidiary performance: The moderating role of subsidiary context" Prof. Dr. Almasa Sarabi, Prof. Dr. Dr. Fabian J. Froese as well as Prof. Daniel H.M. Chng and Prof. Dr. Klaus E. Meyer contribute to closing this research gap.

"Building on the scientific literature on entrepreneurship and strategic leadership, we have developed a model that examines this influence in more detail. Our analyses are based on questionnaire data from 291 male and female managers of international subsidiaries in South Korea, which we combine with archive data", the first author of the study, Almasa Sarabi, describes the approach of the scientists. "Our results show that the management style of the responsible persons in the subsidiaries strengthens the performance, by that we mean in this context the work productivity, of their respective companies and that this relationship is shaped by the context of the subsidiary".

Managers of international subsidiaries can influence how productive the company is through their own management style. In the company itself, however, this requires a certain management culture that allows for appropriate management styles. For example, a working atmosphere that gives managers freedom of choice, is less rigid and more complex has a positive effect on productivity in the company. "Our study contributes to a better understanding of the important role these individuals play within multinational companies and broadens our understanding of the management of international subsidiaries," concludes Prof. Froese, holder of the Chair of Human Resources Management and Asian Business at the Faculty of Business and Economics of Georg-August-Universität Göttingen.

The article was published in the renowned journal "International Business Review": Almasa Sarabi, Fabian J.Froese, Daniel H.M. Chng, Klaus E.Meyer: Entrepreneurial leadership and MNE subsidiary performance: The moderating role of subsidiary context (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ibusrev.2020.101672)

Almasa Sarabi was a research assistant at the Chair of Human Resources Management and Asian Business of Fabian Froese and received her doctorate in 2017. Today she is Assistant Professor for International Human Resources Management at the Friedrich-Alexander Universiät Erlangen-Nürnberg. Daniel H.M. Chng is Associate Professor of Management at the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS). Klaus E. Meyer is Professor of International Business at the Ivey Business School of Western University in Canada.