The purpose of this study is to further our understanding about how subsidiary initiatives and asset bundle complementarities influence subsidiary performance. For that purpose, we employ the neo-configurational perspective and the asset bundling model in a novel constellation.
Design/methodology/approach
The empirical part is based on survey data from subsidiary managers of foreign-owned subsidiaries located in the emerging economies of Taiwan and Thailand. After several phone calls, emails, and postal waves we obtained 101 responses from Taiwan and 102 from Thailand. We employ a structural equation model, partial least squares and fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis techniques.
Findings
The result suggests that the way in which subsidiary initiative dimensions drive performance is best explained by the neo-configurational principles of conjectural causation, equifinality and causal asymmetry. It shows that there are a several subsidiary initiative conjectural causations that explain subsidiary performance. In particular, our results suggest that subsidiary initiative dimensions in combination with value chain competencies also require organizational network relationship strength in order to drive performance. We have also expanded previous studies in showing that subsidiary initiatives might be more likely to translate into increased performance if combined with strong inter-organizational network relationships in certain cases.
Originality/value
This research is one of early attempts to investigate the impact of subsidiary initiatives on performance from a framework that encompasses insights from the neo-configurational perspective and the asset bundling model. Our analysis provides insight from subsidiaries located in emerging markets that have previously been looked at only in isolation from symmetric perspectives.
Keywords: foreign-owned subsidiaries, neo-configurational perspective, fsQCA, emerging markets, subsidiary initiatives, asset bundling mode