Perception Gaps between Headquarters and Subsidiary Managers

Central Concepts.- Conceptual Framework.- Empirical Study.- Empirical Findings.- Discussion.

Dr. Andrea Daniel finished her doctorate at ESCP Europe Wirtschaftshochschule Berlin, Chair of International Management and Strategic Management (Prof. Dr. Stefan Schmid).

In the past decades, the notion of differentiated subsidiary roles within multinational network corporations has inspired a considerable amount of research. Surprisingly, the question of whether headquarters and subsidiary managers perceive a certain subsidiary’s role in the same way has been neglected. Andrea Daniel not only compares headquarters and subsidiary managers’ perceptions of a subsidiary’s role, but she analyzes the implications of perception gaps for the headquarters-subsidiary relationship. The author develops a novel conceptual framework that allows to examine headquarters-subsidiary relationships and, in particular, the subsidiary role concept. This framework proposes headquarters-subsidiary conflict as the main implication of perception gaps.