ABSTRACT
Alongside ensuring control and generating commitment effective HMULs must also implement change. The process of constructing and extending international MUEs involves a high degree of change-based activity, the success of which is dependent upon the executional skills of the middle-management cadre in the field. Also, firms building their international reach through subsidiary/affiliate ‘system’ growth are subject to external global, regional and national economic, technical, competitive and consumerrelated forces. The way in which firms adapt quickly to these changes is, as previous chapters have elucidated, contingent upon their levels of structural and ideological flexibility. Constant change means that MUEs are constantly looking at how they might improve their quality, service and value attributes but, in doing so, will be appraising how they improve work-flow design and behaviours. However, their responsiveness is only one dimension of the degree to which they will be able to cope with change, the other being the means through which they plan and implement change (Jansen et al. 2012). This is made all the more complex in an international context given the distance changes have to travel, with alterations/interventions having to be made to initiatives either at parent or subsidiary/affiliate stages in order to ameliorate failure. There is also a significant adaptive and executional role to be played by field-based personnel given that they are closest to the customer.
