Dimitris Manolopoulos

Roles of foreign‐owned subsidiaries in a European peripheral economy

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to advance understanding of the context and essence of foreign investments in an intermediate‐level economy and to revitalize the discussion on the differentiated strategic roles of subsidiaries within the multinational enterprise (MNE) network.Design/methodology/approach – A unique questionnaire‐based survey – including 112 usable responses – was carried out. The role of subsidiaries is categorized according to their market and value‐added scope. Pair‐wise analysis has identified six roles for foreign operations (local servers, advanced replicas, regional operators, regional hubs, global specialists, and world product mandates). Average responses, frequency distribution and statistical analysis have been used in order to identify the prevalence of each subsidiary type in Greece.Findings – Findings indicate that foreign operations in the focal country have a rather market‐seeking rationale. However, a considerable percentage of MNEs aims at widening the functional sc...

An Investigation into International Assignment Directions of R&D MNE Employees: Evidence from Greece

In this study, we explore the effects of the roles of research and development (R&D) laboratories, roles of subsidiaries and level of technological intensity of the sector in which multinational enterprise (MNE) subsidiaries operate on international assignment directions of R&D employees. International assignments are an underinvestigated issue in the international human resource management literature despite its significant research and managerial importance. In particular, to the best of our knowledge, no prior research on international assignments of R&D employees has been undertaken and so the current study aims at filling this void in the literature. Based on a large quantitative research on MNE subsidiaries operating in Greece, the findings suggest that variables of the aforementioned categories of factors influence different international assignment directions, with roles of the R&D subsidiary exerting the most crucial effect. Researchers may examine the unexplored issue of R&D employee international assignments to a larger extent, while MNE management can particularly take into account the micro (laboratory) context of R&D international assignees when developing effective international human resource management programmes.

Predictors of career preferences of MNC knowledge professionals

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to find out the influence of the roles of Research and Development (RD and of employee‐related characteristics on future career preferences of knowledge professionals in these laboratories. Career preferences include managerial, technical, project‐based and entrepreneurial paths.Design/methodology/approach – This study draws on a large scale study of 921 professionals employed in 70 RD and age and education of the employee stand out as predictors of career preferences of examined professionals.Research limitations/implications – Notwithstanding that this is a study that took place in a country with an advancing economy, it is seemingly the first that incorporates ...

Export Propensity During the Period of Economic Recession: The Impact of Home-Country Factors and Firm-Level Characteristics

Purpose – We survey the export propensity of firms during the period of economic recession. Our aim is to complement existing literature, by considering the influence of home-country characteristics (corruption, bureaucracy, current financial situation, competition intensity) as predictors of firms’ export decisions. Methodology – Combining diverse theoretical perspectives, we argue that firms’ export strategy can be reasonably modelled by integrating elements from the environmental determinism theory and the resource-based view of the firm. Research evidence on the factors impacting on export decisions is based on a sample of 136 (local and foreign) firms operating in Greece. A logistic regression model was run with export propensity being the dependent variable. Findings – Our results indicate that not only firm-level variables (technological competencies and country of origin) are significant determinants of exporting, but considerable attention should also be placed on specific characteristics of the domestic environment. In particular, bureaucracy and the current financial situation seem to influence the managers’ decision to export. Originality/value – This paper contributes to the field by highlighting the impact of the domestic factors on export propensity, which have been neglected among the micro-level export studies. Further, we present evidence for export propensity in an ‘intermediate-level’ EU peripheral economy during the current economic era. Implications – Given that this study is based on a country hard hit by the economic recession, it provides useful implications for managers and policy makers.

Entrepreneurship and Multinational Subsidiaries’ Performance in an Era of Financial Crisis and Economic Uncertainty

ABSTRACT Since entrepreneurial foreign investments may act as a catalyst for economic recovery in crisis periods, we examine the influence of entrepreneurship-related variables on the performance of multinational subsidiaries in Greece, in an era of financial recession and high economic uncertainty. Our conceptual foundation identifies in-house technological capabilities, autonomy and strategic mandates as core predictors of subsidiaries’ entrepreneurial aspects. Drawing upon a questionnaire-based survey of 87 foreign firms operating in the focal economy, our findings suggest that subsidiaries’ product mandate role and increased autonomy impacts positively on performance. Surprisingly enough, the performance effect of technology-related variables linked to entrepreneurship seems insignificant.

Single or Hybrid Career Paths of MNC RD&E Employees?

Recent developments in the career choice literature have shown a clear transition from the traditional view of linear career paths to a multiple career theoretical approach (Feldman and Ng, 2007). During the past decade, researchers have concentrated much more on the inevitability of career change and its benefits than on its infrequency and drawbacks (Feldman, 2002). Thus, traditional perceptions and models that marginalised the multidirectional career view are commonly considered aged and obsolete.

Career Orientations of the 21st-Century Knowledge Professionals

Early perceptions of human resource management conceived careers as a progression up an ordered hierarchy within an organization/corporation. In recent years, though, this has been changed, since employees’ career development is seen not as being chosen based on a ‘linear model’ but, rather, as carefully constructed through a series of planned (and maybe asymmetric) choices that people make throughout their employment. This is especially the case for the main implementers of corporate knowledge, that is, namely knowledge professionals. The impact of a wide range of transformations that reshaped the modern workplace, and in particular the underlined imperatives of the new knowledge economy (advances in technology, intensification of competition, mobility of the labour force, and changing skill requirements), have totally reformed employment relationships and, as a result, created the need for the highly skilled workforce to revalidate its career perspectives in an environment of shifting priorities.