How Do Emerging Multinational Enterprises Release Subsidiary Initiatives Located in Advanced Economies? *

摘要

We revisit the relationship between headquarters and subsidiaries under the context of emerging multinational enterprises (EMNEs) and develop a new model for releasing the subsidiary initia-tive, a significant form of corporate entrepreneurship activities hosted in advanced economies. Drawing upon institutional theory and corporate entrepreneurship theory, we argue that mutual trust between headquarters and subsidiaries serves as a mediating mechanism linking formal institutional distance and subsidiary initiatives. Meanwhile, we propose that communication effectiveness between headquarter and subsidiary plays as a moderator upon such relationships. Communication between the headquarters and the subsidiary positively moderates the relation-ship from formal institutional distance to trust. A sample including 232 EMNEs with headquarters in China and subsidiaries in advanced economies largely support our model on subsidiary initiative. Our model provides a solution to the global integration-local responsiveness paradox.