This study examines how disadvantaged foreign subsidiaries that lack the requisite resources and mandate respond to the realization that a greener technology, a form of digital innovation, is about to disrupt their business. Specifically, we focus on a subsidiary that lacks the requisite resources and mandate for change and yet detects an important technological shift. We draw on the subsidiary issue-selling literature to explore how this subsidiary attempts to mobilize headquarters’ attention and engagement in its interests and concerns. We identify three evolutionary issue-framing mechanisms: matters of fact, concern, and urgency. These mechanisms, influenced by the subsidiary, its local strategic network, and its headquarters, shape the issue-selling process over time. Our study challenges established assumptions about subsidiary roles in MNEs and highlights their critical role in identifying and addressing technological disruptions, thereby pushing the boundaries of current IB research. It highlights the critical role of foreign subsidiaries in identifying and addressing digital and technological disruptions. It shows how even disadvantaged subsidiaries can mobilize headquarters’ attention and engagement in their interests and concerns through issue-selling. It suggests that MNEs need to create a more supportive environment for foreign subsidiaries to engage in issue-selling, especially when it comes to technological disruptions.

Through an inductive study of ten headquarters-subsidiary dyads across three MNEs, this paper identifies enablers of subsidiary influence in proposed strategies from headquarters, i.e., headquarter strategic initiatives. These enablers reside either in institutions themselves or in interfaces with the MNE. Furthermore, I show how these enablers may be leveraged by subsidiaries to either avoid or become involved in headquarter strategic initiatives. This is done through distinct tactics that target different organizational rationales related to the complex relationship between MNEs, subsidiaries and local institutions. The study contributes to the literature on global strategy and headquarters-subsidiary relationships by delineating the role of local institutions, as filtered through subsidiaries, in global strategy.

We build upon the international business and the international trade finance literatures to examine the direct effects of corporate policy of trade finance, and product, marketing, and organizational innovation on the export intensity of foreign subsidiaries of multinational enterprises (MNEs), defined as a share of exports over total sales. We analyse the moderating effect of export knowledge on the relationship between corporate policy of trade finance and export intensity. We hypothesize that foreign subsidiaries utilise corporate policy of trade finance, defined as a set of payment contracts (cash in advance, letter of credit, and open account) that facilitates trade and protects importers and exporters from trade-related risks, together with innovation and export knowledge, to drive their export intensity. We empirically test our hypotheses using a survey dataset with MNE foreign subsidiaries in manufacturing and service sectors operating in Southeast Asia, supplemented with parent-level archival data, and country-level data from public sources. We find that corporate policy of trade finance and innovation are positively associated with export intensity. Export knowledge strengthens the relationship between corporate policy of trade of finance and export intensity. We discuss the contribution of study for the subsidiary exporting literature and the strategic implications of our findings for practice.

This study focuses on dynamics of foreignness. We conducted a multiple case study of seven subsidiaries of European MNEs operating in South Korea and examined their responses taking identity perspective to foreignness. We found that MNEs assign subsidiary managers with prior international experience. Subsidiary managers accentuate the attributes of the foreign identity and facilitate the positioning within the local context by leveraging the assets of multinationality. Our study reveals insights into the identity work in subsidiaries. Further our findings indicate that liabilities of foreignness might persist and that assets of foreignness might be temporary. Investigating how subsidiaries manage foreignness within a particular host country context, our study contributes to the literature on foreignness.