Knowledge Flows and the Structure of Control Within Multinational Corporations

Abstract

Virtually all research on strategic control within multinational corpo- rations (MINCs) has focused on macro differences in control systems and processes across entire MNCs. Taking a less macro (i.e., subsid- iary-specific contingency perspective), this article examines how, within the same corporation, the nature of corporate control might also vary systematically across subsidiaries. Differences in subsidi- ary contexts are analyzed along two dimensions: (a) the extent to which the subsidiary is a user of knowledge from the rest of the cor- poration and (b) the extent to which the subsidiary is a provider of such knowledge to the rest of the corporation.