ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the making of a subsidiary, the Falconbridge nickel refinery in Kristiansand in Norway. The content of these 'HQ-defined parameters' has changed as markets, communication technology and the political economies of both the home and host economies. Multinational companies have increasingly chosen a more global approach towards their foreign subsidiaries. The Kristiansand staff's major achievement was the development of the Chlorine-Leaching (CL) process for nickel refining. This process was tailor-made for Norwegian conditions as well as very suitable for toll refining. Labour relations can also be used as a litmus test of the subsidiary's adaptation to the Norwegian business system. One should examine the subsidiaries' origins, their strategic value for the mother firms, their adaptation and interaction with local business systems as well as their development of know-how and innovative capabilities. As multinational companies and subsidiaries steadily increase in number such research will not only enhance our knowledge of subsidiaries, but also of multinational enterprise and international capitalism.
