IBS Lunchtime Research Seminar - When democracy erodes: Autocratization and general manager succession in multinational subsidiaries

You are cordially invited to attend an International Business and Strategy Departmental Research Meeting, during which there will be a presentation by Dr Peder Greve, Henley Business School. A reminder that attendance for IBS (full time, research oriented) staff and full-time students is compulsory, and where possible, must be in person. Individuals unable to attend in person, due to legitimate reasons will be provided a Teams link on request. Non-IBS staff are welcome to attend, but must register prior to the event. If you have not received the email invite please email Angie Clark

Please join us in Room 108, Henley Business School, if you would like to attend, please register using the link below:

Please make sure you let me know in advance if you intend to attend in person so that the correct amount of catering is booked.

Date: Wednesday 18th November HBS Room 108

Time: 13.00 - 14.30

Abstract:

In this paper we study how multinational enterprises (MNE) respond to autocratisation events – defined as events that abruptly change the political rules and erode democracy in a host country – by examining the impact of autocratisation on foreign subsidiary general manager (GM) succession. Building on the notion of MNE adaptation, we argue that GM succession events will be more likely to occur in the wake of such political shifts. Yet, drawing on threat rigidity theory, we also contend that such MNE responses are unlikely to be uniform across the MNEs’ subsidiary network. Using panel data from 4,088 foreign subsidiaries of Japanese MNEs, we show that accumulated subsidiary experience and institutional distance between home and host countries negatively moderate GM succession propensity following autocratisation. Overall, our study challenges the notion that GM succession is a habitual response to altering political contexts, showing that leadership stability may under certain conditions emerge as the MNE’s preferred response to geopolitical turbulence and uncertainty.