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Home country institutions and the internationalisation of emerging market multinationals: an ethnographic study of the organisational control in a Chinese MNC

Lai, Keyan 2016. Home country institutions and the internationalisation of emerging market multinationals: an ethnographic study of the organisational control in a Chinese MNC. PhD Thesis, Cardiff University.
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Abstract

The internationalisation of emerging market multinationals (EMNCs) has been one of the most notable dynamics in international business in recent years. Despite the fact that there has been a growing literature over the last few years, we know very little about how these firms actually organise their work and manage their employees globally. Studies of these infant firms are believed to yield insights about how firms become internationalised and provide us with a unique opportunity to challenge and extend existing international business theory. Drawing on an ethnographic study of a major Chinese firm, this study offers detailed accounts on how the company manages its European subsidiaries and employees. Focussing on the organisational control system, it reveals that Teleman's control system is a highly centralised system with expatriates being placed at the centre, who are motivated by strong corporate culture and a well-designed reward system. This study investigates how such a control system has been developed in a Chinese context. It argues for a dynamic relationship between institutions and corporate actors, and suggests that the control system is the outcome of the company's interactions with the institutional environment in China. An Actor/Institution Interaction Process Model has been developed to capture such a process. This study contribute to the study of MNCs in a number of ways. First, it enhances our understanding of the internationalisation process and behaviours of EMNCs and MNCs in general. Second, with the Actor/Institution Interaction Process Model describing the steps and process by which the interactions between institutions and actors take place, this study opens the mysterious black box of how exactly institutions affect the behaviours of firms. In doing this, the study also demonstrates how studies of EMNCs can contribute to the extension of existing theories in IB.

Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
Status: Unpublished
Schools: Business (Including Economics)
Subjects: H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor > HD28 Management. Industrial Management
Date of First Compliant Deposit: 10 January 2017
Last Modified: 14 Jan 2022 15:57
URI: https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/97299

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