海外子公司定位、协调与控制研究

【作者】 侯仕军；

【导师】 薛求知；

【作者基本信息】 复旦大学 ， 企业管理， 2005， 博士

【摘要】 在知识和智力资本竞争日趋激烈以及快速变革的全球环境下，跨国公司总体(而非仅仅总部或个别单位)必须不断建设新竞争优势以维持其市场竞争地位。而发挥众多海外子公司的创业创新能动性又是建设这种竞争优势的关键。这种能动性在提高当地回应能力、促进全球学习和全球整合方面具有巨大潜力。本文以公司竞争优势来源理论和海外子公司定位、协调与控制研究成果为理论背景，探讨如何系统地定位、协调和控制数量不断增加和重要性不断增强的海外子公司以充分发挥它们的创业创新能动性，促进新增知识和能力的创造与转移，强化跨国公司总体智力基础。本文分8章进行论述。第1章是绪论，阐述了研究背景、研究动机、选题依据、研究思路、研究路线、章节安排、创新点及基本概念。第2章首先回顾和评述海外子公司定位、协调与控制研究理论现状，发现本领域的研究视角从总部逐渐过渡到子公司；相应地，研究对象从跨国公司整体和母公司下沉到子公司。主要不足在于：关于子公司的定位主要具有总部主导的内向性和事后性，很少从子公司与当地消费者等互动以及事前安排的角度进行考察；大量研究过于关注子公司定位、协调和控制模式本身，而对通过适当模式促进子公司创业创新精神的发展与扩散的研究还不够；研究仍然受到局限于成本和风险最小化导向的内部化理论的强烈影响。其次，阐述了公司竞争优势来源理论演变及其对跨国母子公司管理理论的启示。主要启示在于：现代跨国公司的持续竞争优势主要源于国际经营活动中对具有核心竞争能力属性的新增知识的持续开发和利用。而且在海外子公司创造并跨边界转移和共享差异性的知识与能力是建立与维持持续竞争优势的关键。第3章和第4章基于全球一体化—当地回应的战略框架，综合影响海外子公司定位差异的环境、总部指派和子公司选择三种因素，引入嵌入性概念，建立基于双重嵌入性框架的海外子公司整合式定位模型，探讨海外子公司的定位机理及其转变。环境层面，跨国公司在业务、职能和地区三个经营维度的扩张以及全球一体化和当地回应两种冲突性基本环境压力相互交织，使海外子公司面临一种复杂、动态、立体性的压力结构。这种压力结构为跨国公司及其广泛分布的海外子公司实现全球规模经济及学习创新提供了多重来源。总部指派层面，跨国公司总部为应对激烈的能力竞争，需要深入了解环境压力结构及其蕴含机会，调整母子公司之间的战略责任重心和定位，才能适应环境压力的要求并抓住其中的机会。从子公司自身选择来看，海外子公司自主的内部嵌入和外部嵌入行为分别反映了其利用母公司现有优势、获取新优势的积极主动性，并借以成为公司网络中的活跃节点。其中第3章在基于这种双重嵌入性提出的海外子公司整合式定位模型中，根据子公司嵌入行为划分并验证了Jarillo与Martinez(1990)及Taggart(1997)提出的积极型、自治型、接受型和静止型四种子公司定位模式的存在。该模型表明，在立体性环境压力的交互作用下，海外子公司定位需要在基于总部战略选择和资源承诺的情况下从自身视角出发通过能动性地内部嵌入、外部嵌入取得母公司优势利用者和新优势获取者之间的平衡。第4章探讨了在两种环境压力动态发展与平衡过程中，双重嵌入框架下的海外子公司随着海外发展阶段的演化，在内部嵌入和外部嵌入方面不平衡发展导致定位从传统模式(母公司优势利用者)到新型模式(新优势获取者)的转变及动因。第5章和第6章分析了定位海外子公司之后如何通过协调和控制整合海外子公司的资源和活动实现跨国公司全球经营的战略目标。其中第5章聚焦海外子公司协调。海外子公司之间一体化程度的增强有利于作为新优势获取者的子公司之间有效转移与共享资源和能力，从而实现能力增值、增强公司总体特有优势并改进整个公司业绩。这种一体化程度的增强意味着子公司间的关系模式从分散模式到整合模式的转变。在这种转变过程中，跨国公司适应不同程度的协调需求可以选择诸多正式和非正式的协调机制。而随着海外子公司之间横向依赖性逐渐增强，子公司之间、母子公司之间知识特别是默会知识的流动规模日益扩张，子公司关注的活动越来越需要非程式化的决策和反应，这对非正式化协调机制提出了更强的需求。第6章聚焦海外子公司控制。本章将控制机制分为输入控制、行政组织控制、产出控制和社会化控制等方式，但适应于子公司定位及其发展阶段的演变，更有必要实行更加灵活的非正式控制。同时本章指出，在海外子公司作为新优势获取者的定位日益突出、子公司间日益整合以及当地环境动荡化发展背景下，跨国公司总部要改变过去“单一中心”格局下母子公司之间支配与被支配的关系状态，实行支持服务性的控制，通过灵活、高度回应性的控制和发挥母合优势增进母子公司关系伙伴化，强化“多中心”格局下子公司当地回应和创造新资源与能力的有效性。第7章根据前面关于海外子公司定位、协调与控制的分散论述综合提出整合式的基于海外子公司创业创新能动性的定位、协调与控制模型，并实证研究它们之间的关系。实证结果表明东道主环境动荡性、总部协调控制以及子公司本身的资源能力基础和嵌入行为对自身创业创新能动性从而对创造新增资源能力优势具有显著影响。第8章总结本文研究结论，提出本研究不足及以后的研究建议，阐述本研究对中外跨国公司母子公司定位、协调与控制管理的启示和意义。主要研究创新和贡献：(1)本文一反海外子公司定位、协调与控制的理论脉络发展的历史逻辑，遵从组织跟随战略的现代组织管理逻辑，首先考虑母公司及其子公司的战略定位，其次才是组织层面的协调和控制。(2)本文系统地将定位、协调与控制三个主题的分散研究整合为一个模型。而且该模型从战略性层次上重视海外子公司创造公司特有优势的企业家精神，超越内部化逻辑，具有明显的价值创造导向性。(3)从子公司视角深入探测海外子公司的创造性，搜集到子公司创造新资源和能力基础的大量证据。更多还原

【Abstract】 Confronted with the global environment characterized by increasingly furious competition for knowledge and intelligence as well as rapid change, Multinational companies (MNCs) as a whole (rather than only the headquarter or individual units) have to continuously build marginal competitive advantages to maintain the market position. It is key to building this kind of advantages to exert the initiative of many overseas subsidiaries. Subsidiaries’ initiative has great potential in the respect of promoting local response, worldwide learning and global integration.Based on the existing theoretical study on the origin of corporate competitive advantages and the position, coordination and control of overseas subsidiaries, the dissertation probes into the systematic way to position, coordinate and control the overseas subsidiaries, which are growing in the number and importance. The main objective is to exert their initiative to advance the creation and transferring of marginal knowledge and capability as well as to consolidate the intelligence foundations of the whole company.The dissertation is divided into 8 sections to address this theme. The first chapter of introduction sets forth the study background, motives, basis of the specific theme, the thinking thread, research course, the sections planning, points of innovation and the basic concepts.The second chapter reviews and comments the theoretical study on the position, coordination and control of overseas subsidiaries in the first place. It shows that the angle of view is gradually transferred from the headquarter to the subsidiaries; accordingly, the study object goes down from the whole and parent company to the subsidiaries. There is some insufficiency in this area. Firstly, the positioning of overseas subsidiaries is characterized by introversion and after-action reviewing, dominated by the headquarter and rarely examined from the angle of view of the subsidiary-consumers interaction and beforehand arrangement. Secondly, the mode of position, coordination and control themselves is addressed too much, but there is lack in the study on the development and diffusion of subsidiary initiative through appropriate mode of such kind. Thirdly, the research is still greatly impacted by the theory of internalization which is costs and risks minimum oriented. Lastly, the research pays too much attention to the management’s authority and responsibilitythemselves and largely neglects the demands essence reflected by them. In the next place, the second chapter sets forth the evolution of the theory of origin of corporate competitive advantages and its revelation for the parent-subsidiary management in the MNCs. The sustainable competitive advantages of modern MNCs mainly originate from continuous exploration and exploitation of marginal core knowledge and capability. In addition, it is key to building and maintaining the sustainable competitive advantages to create characteristic knowledge and capability as well as cross-border transfer them to share in.Grounded on the strategic framework of Global Integration(GI)—Local Response (LR) , the third and fourth chapters integrate the three factors affecting the difference of subsidiary position, that is, the environment, the headquarter assignment and subsidiary choice, introduce the concept of embeddedness, establish an integrated position model based on the framework of dual embeddedness, and discuss the position mechanism and its transitions. In the respect of environment, with the expansion of businesses, functions and regions by MNCs as well as the conflicting and interweaved basic environmental forces of GI and LR, overseas subsidiaries are confronted with a kind of complex, dynamic and solid structure of pressure. Such kind of pressure structure provides MNCs and their worldwide overseas subsidiaries with multi-sources of global scale economy and learning. In the aspect of headquarter assignment, in order to cope with the furious competition for capability, it need to, based on understanding the pressure structure and the opportunities embedded within it, adjust the barycenter of strategic responsibility and position between the parent and subsidiaries so that they can respond to the environmental forces and tackle these opportunities. As for the subsidiary choice, their independent activities of internal and external embeddedness reflect their initiative to exploit the existent parent advantages and explore marginal ones respectively. By doing so, they become the flourishing nodes within the corporate network.Thereinto, the third chapter puts forth an integrated position model based on the dual embeddedness, and classifies subsidiaries into four kinds of position of Active, Autonomous, Receptive (Jarillo and Martinez, 1990)and Quiescent(Taggart, 1997). Then it also validates the existence of such kind of classifications. The model indicates that under the interacting solid environmental pressure, overseas subsidiariesneed to, based on the headquarter’s strategic choice and resources commitment, keep the balance between parent advantages exploitation and marginal advantages exploration through initiative internal and external embeddedness from the angle of view of themselves.The fourth chapter discusses that during the dynamic development and balance of the two kinds of environmental pressure, and with the evolution of the overseas development, the imbalanced development in the aspect of internal and external embeddedness by overseas subsidiaries transfers the position from the traditional one of parent advantages exploitation to the new one of marginal advantages exploration.The fifth and sixth chapters analyze the way to coordinate and control the resources and activities of overseas subsidiaries to accomplish the global strategic goal by MNCs. Thereinto, the fifth chapter focuses on overseas subsidiary coordination. More integrated relationship among subsidiaries can contribute to the effective transferring and sharing among them as marginal advantages explorer so as to realize capability increment, strengthen the whole firm specific advantages and better the whole corporate performance. The buildup of such kind of integration means that the relationship pattern among them changes from separate to integrative. During the process of transition, MNCs can choose a good many formal and informal coordination mechanisms according to different degree of coordination requirements. With the increasing interdependence among subsidiaries, the knowledge flow especially the tacit one is expanding, and activities addressed by subsidiaries need more non- programmed decision and reaction. As a result, there is strong requirement for informal coordination mechanisms.The sixth chapter focuses on overseas subsidiary control. It divides the control mechanisms into inputs control, bureaucratic organizational control, output control and socialization. But it is more necessary to adopt more flexible informal control mechanisms adapted to different subsidiaries’ position and the transition of their development stages. At the same time, the chapter points out that under the background of more prominent position mode of marginal advantage exploration, increasingly integrated among subsidiaries as well as more dynamic host environment, the headquarter needs to transform the past parent-subsidiary relationship ofdominating and being dominated in the "single center" pattern. That is, the headquarter should practise supportive and service control, further the parent-subsidiary partnership through flexible and highly responsive control and parenting advantages, and intensify the effectiveness of subsidiaries’ local response and marginal capability accumulation in the "multi-center" pattern.Warranted by the above separate discourse upon overseas subsidiary position, coordination and control, the seventh chapter proposes an integrated model based on overseas subsidiaries’ initiative, and demonstrates the correlations between them. It shows that the dynamics of the host environment, coordination and control by headquarter, the strength of subsidiaries’ resources and capability as well as their dual embeddedness are significantly related with their initiative to create marginal competence.The eighth chapter of summary brings forward the conclusions, puts forth the main limitations of the dissertation and advice for the future research, and also relates the revelations and meaning to the parent-subsidiary management of position, coordination and control in China and foreign countries’ MNCs.The main academic innovation and contribution: (1) contrary to the historical development logic of the theory on overseas subsidiary position, coordination and control, the author obeys the general organizational management logic of modern MNCs, that is, structure following strategy, considers the parent and its overseas subsidiaries’ strategic position before the organizational coordination and control. (2) the dissertation integrates the separate theme of position, coordination and control into a systematic model. In addition, it emphasizes strategically the overseas subsidiaries’ entrepreneurship to create new firm specific advantages, surmounting the traditional logic of internalization and with the orientation of value creation. (3) the dissertation goes deep into overseas subsidiary creativity, gathering large amount of evidence to support the assumption that overseas subsidiaries strengthen the marginal basis of resources and capability.更多还原