International Management

The focus of this chapter is on the multinational corporation (MNC) and, more specifically, on the structures, strategies and processes inherent in the management of the geographically dispersed concern. While more prescriptive thinking and literature in the field of international management (IM) may have assumed, for example, that managerial ‘best practice’ may be readily transposed across borders, the starting premise of the current chapter is that ‘context matters’. In exploring, therefore, the nature of multinational organization, the logics underlying the international dispersal of productive sites within the MNC, and the complex dynamics characterizing the strategic relationship between headquarters and subsidiaries, our point of departure is to offer a grounded and finely grained account of the realities of MNC management and organization. Such an approach highlights the pervasiveness of micro-political contestation between indigenous social actors, as well as expressions of unity.