The MNE as a network of dynamic intra-organisational relationships: The temporality and multiplexity of subunit triads

Abstract

For over four decades, International Business scholars have been conceptualizing and empirically examining the organisational structure of the multinational enterprise (MNE). However, the intra-organisational relationship is still treated as secondary to the dyadic actors involved in the relationship (e.g. headquarters and subsidiaries) and outcomes (e.g., knowledge transfer, performance, relationship quality). It remains unclear what characterises such relationships have beyond subunits’ roles, motivation, or control mechanisms and how they are structurally dynamic. In this thesis, I take the MNE intra-organisational relationship as the unit of analysis and ask: What constitutes the dynamic nature of MNE intra-organisational relationships? To answer this question, I extend the concepts of temporality and multiplexity in the business network perspective of the MNE in the International Business discipline. I do so by borrowing network theory extensions from the two scholarly fields of Industrial Marketing and Purchasing and Organisational Studies. I offer a conceptual framework that takes a processual and pluralistic view of the networked MNE relationship and positions a subunit event-based triad as a significant structural component. I use a qualitative single case study approach with multiple embedded sub-case studies and triangulate data from 44 semi-structured and unstructured in-depth interviews, 66 network pictures, field note memos (including photographs), and secondary data (organisational documents and social media). I also develop analytical procedures to triangulate between textual and visual data. This thesis offers three contributions to the International Business scholarly conversation on the MNE. First, a view of the MNE as a network of dynamic intra-organisational relationships. Second, a pluralistic understanding of the networked relationship that includes a diversity of content, type, and its event-based nature. Third, configurations of the MNE subunit triads that permutate over time based on event triggers and subunits types. Types of subunits include global service organisations that create a bridge between heterarchical and hierarchical network structures. My conclusions develop, theoretically and empirically, a processual understanding of the MNE and how it is distinctive from other International Business related phenomena. Ultimately, such insights allow practitioners to understand how they may respond to critical events within the MNE to garner organisational efficiency and resilience.