ABSTRACT
In this paper we analyze the influence of a subsidiary’s external environment, of its task and of its mode of ownership and its mode of market entry on the development of its role for the case of German subsidiaries in Central Europe. We define a subsidiary’s role as a three-dimensional construct, consisting of a subsidiary’s tasks, its value chain activities and its respective geographical scope. Drawing on a sample of 99 subsidiaries from the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland, we find that a subsidiary’s host country, its tasks and its mode of market entry influence the development of its role. We find no evidence for the influence of subsidiary’s mode of ownership. Especially, “geographical market proximity seeking”-subsidiaries seem to follow a different path of development than subsidiaries where this task is of minor importance as they tend to perform a smaller number of value chain activities and tend to expand these value chain activities with regard to their geographical scope more incrementally. doi:10.1300/J097v13n02_05 [Article copies available for a fee from The Haworth Document Delivery Service: 1-800-HAWORTH. E-mail address: <docdelivery@haworthpress.com> Website: <https://www.HaworthPress.com" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">https://www.HaworthPress.com> © 2007 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.]
