Micro-politics in Management Transfer: The case of Japanese subsidiaries in China

Compared to continuous research efforts devoted to cross-country management transfer, research that explores the functioning and institutionalisation of management practices at subsidiary level is relatively under-explored. In this paper, the author suggests that traditional headquarters centred research focus has neglected the developmental aspects of cross-country management transfer, and hence showed an incomplete picture of how and why subsidiary management practices are formed. Following the political economy approach, the author argues that such developmental aspects of transfer has to be understood in subsidiary management team’s choices and actions, which shape, and are shaped by, the competitive, institutional and corporate pressures facing subsidiaries.