Multinational Corporations as Networks

Abstract

The complexity of Multinational Corporations (MNCs) regarding the multiple geographical markets and the dispersed activities within the company often renders centralised management models ineffective and inefficient. The acknowledgement of the increased relevance of foreign subsidiaries and the observation that some subsidiaries take over strategic roles within the MNC led to a conceptualisation of the MNC as a network. In this Chapter, the network perspective of the MNC is explained, nodes and linkages in the network are described and the advantages of this perspective to understand the modern MNC are demonstrated.