Kanematsu Seminar
International Business Workshop (Jointly supported by Kanematsu Seminar)
International Business Workshop
Jointly supported by Kanematsu Seminar
Date & Time | Thursday, January 31, 2019, 10:00am - 3:20pm |
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Place | Seminar Room at RIEB (Kanematsu Memorial Hall, 1st Floor) |
Intended Audience | Faculty, Graduate Students, Undergraduates, and People with Equivalent Knowledge |
Langage | English |
10:00am~10:10am
- Opening Remarks
- Nobuaki HAMAGUCHI (RIEB, Kobe University)
10:10am~11:00am
- Topic
- Keynote Speech: Springing from Where? How Emerging Market Firms Become Multinational Enterprises
- Speaker
- Jean-Francois HENNART(Department of Management, Tilburg School of Economics and Management [Netherlands]/ DIG, Politecnico di Milano [Italy] / RIEB, Kobe University)
- Abstract
- In this paper, I argue that the emergence of emerging market MNEs (EMNEs) cannot be satisfactorily explained by the OLI paradigm because of its twin assumptions that foreign direct investment (FDI) requires firm specific advantages (FSAs) and that country-specific advantages (CSAs) are freely available to all comers. I relax these assumptions and introduce a bundling model that shows that local firms in emerging markets can obtain, through their control of CSAs, the bargaining power they need to acquire FSAs and become EMNEs. Developed market MNEs (DMNEs), on the other hand, find it more difficult to obtain access to emerging market CSAs. As a result, EMNEs pose a significant threat to DMNEs.
11:00am~11:50am
- Topic
- Global Linking Beyond Lean: A Case of New Product Development at Toyota Technical Center in the US
- Speaker
- Shinichi ISHII (Graduate School of Business, Osaka City University)
- Abstract
- This research addresses the following question: How do Japanese automobile assemblers link their global new product development (NPD) activities while they have localized foreign subsidiaries? We analyze the history of NPD projects at Toyota's R&D center in the U.S. from 1990 to 2010s and focuse on how they have localized and managed NPD projects in the U.S. in the collaboration with headquarter in Japan. We will show main findings related to mechanisms and engines for global NPD link directed by the foreign subsidiary from our case study based on our interview to over 340 people (mainly engineers and designers).
11:50am~1:30pm Lunch Break
1:30pm~2:10pm
- Topic
- Liability or Asset? Multifaceted Bridging Functions in MNCs: An Empirical Study of Japanese Foreign Subsidiaries
- Speaker
- Ting LIU (Graduate School of Economics, Osaka University)
- Abstract
- In this study, we conducted 60 interviews in 13 Japanese foreign subsidiaries and developed a theoretical model that illustrates how bridge individuals' language skills influence the headquarter (HQ)-oriented and subsidiary-oriented bridging functions, which are related to HQ-subsidiary relationships and interpersonal relationships within the subsidiary. We illuminate the effects of bridging functions on HQ's practice transfer and adaptation to local subsidiaries. We also propose the individual-level effects of language skills and bridging functions on team–member exchange (TMX) and leader–member exchange (LMX). Further, we highlight the hidden group of local recruited parent country nationals (PCNLs) and their particular bridging position, group identification, and status.
2:10pm~2:30pm Coffee Break
2:30pm~3:10pm
- Topic
- How Inpatriates Internalize Corporate Values in a Multinational Company's Headquarters
- Speaker
- Tomoki SEKIGUCHI (Graduate School of Management, Kyoto University)
- Abstract
- For multinational companies (MNCs), shared corporate values are effective means to manage headquarters (HQ)-subsidiary relations. However, it is quite challenging for MNCs' HQ to disseminate and share the corporate values with foreign subsidiaries because MNCs are geographically dispersed, internally differentiated, and culturally and linguistically diverse. The current study focuses on the role of inpatriates, foreign subsidiary employees invited to HQ, in transferring corporative values from HQ to foreign subsidiaries. By integrating international adjustment and organizational socialization literatures with the on-the-job learning perspective, we develop a model in which job-related and psychosocial factors at HQ promote the internalization of corporate values among inpatriates, which would promote the dissemination of corporate values at foreign subsidiaries after repatriation. The empirical study using a sample of 110 foreign subsidiary employee-supervisor dyads in a Japanese MNC, in which these employees were assigned to the Japanese HQ as inpatriates, generally supported our theoretical model and hypotheses. Specifically, we found that developmental job assignments and psychosocial mentoring during inpatriation influenced the internalization of corporate values, which was partially and sequentially mediated by proactive socialization behavior and organizational identification.
3:10pm~3:20pm
- Closing Remarks
- Ralf BEBENROTH (RIEB, Kobe University)