Critical Perspectives on International Business最新文献

{"title":"Multinational corporations and the blocking of trade unions in Germany","authors":"Helene Langbein","doi":"10.1108/cpoib-02-2023-0012","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/cpoib-02-2023-0012","url":null,"abstract":"<h3>Purpose</h3>\u0000<p>This study aims to analyze the effect the liberalization of industrial relations in Germany has had on trade unions’ influence on companies’ decisions. Particular attention is given to European measures of flexibilizing company law and how they affect industrial relations in Germany.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->\u0000<h3>Design/methodology/approach</h3>\u0000<p>After presenting a theoretical basis regarding industrial relations and corporate governance, the paper then demonstrates, via a case study, the effects of the flexible European company law. It examines the strategic avoidance of trade union activity at SAP, a case that ended up before the European Court of Justice.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->\u0000<h3>Findings</h3>\u0000<p>The flexibility of European company law allows companies to limit the influence of trade unions on company decisions. Limiting trade unions' internal participation weakens their position overall. Precautionary measures to protect employees’ rights help to reduce the dangers of this process.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->\u0000<h3>Originality/value</h3>\u0000<p>The influence of European law brings a new perspective to the transformation of the German industrial relations model. The analysis of the strategy of using the legal type of the European company (Societas Europaea) to limit the internal activity of trade unions demonstrates the connection between institutional settings and corporate governance.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->","PeriodicalId":46124,"journal":{"name":"Critical Perspectives on International Business","volume":"33 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2024-02-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139981197","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Bulls and bears: inscribing SOEs’ roles into the global climate agenda","authors":"Olga Garanina, Daria Klishevich, Andrei Panibratov","doi":"10.1108/cpoib-12-2022-0140","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/cpoib-12-2022-0140","url":null,"abstract":"<h3>Purpose</h3>\u0000<p>This study aims to explore when and under what conditions state-owned enterprises (SOEs) become important players in orchestrating the global climate action and what their roles are as domestic or international (de)carbonizers.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->\u0000<h3>Design/methodology/approach</h3>\u0000<p>This is a conceptual paper that aims to advance understanding of the role of SOEs in addressing the global climate challenge. The authors build on the institutional theory to capture the importance of home-country climate regulation mechanisms and advance knowledge on the internationalization of SOEs. The authors review the literature on the institutional boundaries that shape the environmental activities of firms at home and abroad and develop the argument on the influence of home country institutions and internationalization on the role of SOEs in the global climate agenda.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->\u0000<h3>Findings</h3>\u0000<p>In this study, the authors elaborate the SOEs’ climate action matrix and offer three propositions based on the fact that SOEs’ environmental strategies are driven by the interests of the state as owner and the scope of SOEs’ internationalization. First, the authors propose that the level of home country’s climate policy ambition explains SOEs’ stance on climate action. Second, scope of internationalization explains SOEs’ stance on climate action. Third, the progressive/increasing involvement of SOEs in climate action enhances the country’s climate stance.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->\u0000<h3>Originality/value</h3>\u0000<p>The authors incorporate the climate argument into international business (IB) studies of SOEs’ internationalization, a novel approach that helps us to advance the knowledge on the complex issue of corporate climate action. The authors argue for a dynamic and reciprocal relationship between home/host countries and SOEs’ climate engagement. In doing this, the authors contribute to the IB research and policy agenda by exploring SOEs’ engagement in advancing the global climate agenda.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->","PeriodicalId":46124,"journal":{"name":"Critical Perspectives on International Business","volume":"200 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2024-02-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139946379","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Sharing the ownership in Peru and Mexico: the case of a French MNE prompting the SDGs achievement","authors":"Nicolas Aubert, Miguel Cordova, Gonzalo Hernandez","doi":"10.1108/cpoib-12-2022-0133","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/cpoib-12-2022-0133","url":null,"abstract":"<h3>Purpose</h3>\u0000<p>This study aims to investigate how a French multinational enterprise (MNE) is developing employee stock ownership (ESO) in its subsidiaries in Peru and Mexico, both Latin American countries with deep social and economic inequalities.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->\u0000<h3>Design/methodology/approach</h3>\u0000<p>This is a qualitative case study which conducted interviews with representatives of the French MNE and its subsidiaries in Peru and Mexico.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->\u0000<h3>Findings</h3>\u0000<p>The employee stock purchase plans offered by the company to its employees support the achievement of the sustainable development goals (SDGs) 1, 8 and 10 in these countries.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->\u0000<h3>Social implications</h3>\u0000<p>The authors argue that MNEs could become flagships in the SDG achievement in emerging economies.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->\u0000<h3>Originality/value</h3>\u0000<p>By contributing to better workplace outcomes and enhanced corporate performance, ESO is in line with SDG 8. ESO also fulfills SDGs 1 and 10 by allowing employees to build up savings and wealth, whose lack is the main source of inequality and poverty. Reciprocity and binary economics theories explain these relationships.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->","PeriodicalId":46124,"journal":{"name":"Critical Perspectives on International Business","volume":"276 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2024-02-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139909946","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Multinational firms as emissaries of decent work: worker responses to progressive HRM in a foreign retailer in Japan","authors":"Ödül Bozkurt, Chul Chung, Norifumi Kawai, Motoko Honda-Howard","doi":"10.1108/cpoib-12-2022-0131","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/cpoib-12-2022-0131","url":null,"abstract":"<h3>Purpose</h3>\u0000<p>The paper aims to provide an understanding of how the transfer of progressive human resource management (HRM) practices may or may fail to render multinational enterprises (MNEs) institutional entrepreneurs creating change in job quality and decent work to underprivileged workers in the low-pay retail sector in Japan.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->\u0000<h3>Design/methodology/approach</h3>\u0000<p>The paper draws on survey questionnaire data and interviews with workers and management in a foreign retailer in Japan.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->\u0000<h3>Findings</h3>\u0000<p>The findings suggest that even where MNEs may provide some measurable material improvements in job quality, in this case equal pay for equal work, the total outcomes are nevertheless shaped by institutional context and constraints. In this case, the improvement in pay was intertwined with flexibility demands that were possible to meet for some workers but not others. In particular, women with care responsibilities and competing demands on their time were not able to experience “decent work” in the same way as others.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->\u0000<h3>Research limitations/implications</h3>\u0000<p>The study had a relatively low response rate, due to lack of discretion over time experienced by workers in Japan, as well as limited data on program outcomes, with interviews conducted with a small number of participants.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->\u0000<h3>Practical implications</h3>\u0000<p>The study suggests that spaces and opportunities exist for MNEs to diverge from dominant practices in given host country locations and exercise a level of agency as emissaries of decent work but successful outcomes require a very thorough understanding of individual worker experiences within the institutional constraints of given environments.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->\u0000<h3>Social implications</h3>\u0000<p>The study offers insights into the complexities of initiatives by MNEs to contribute to the provision of decent work, particularly for workers in underprivileged positions including women in low-pay sectors such as retail, as firm-level practices lead to variable outcomes when filtered through local institutions.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->\u0000<h3>Originality/value</h3>\u0000<p>The study brings together a focus on firm-level practices that inform much of the international HRM and international management scholarship with an emphasis on the experiences of workers, which is pursued in the sociology of work, to investigate whether MNEs can be actors in the realising of the Sustainable Development Goals around decent work.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->","PeriodicalId":46124,"journal":{"name":"Critical Perspectives on International Business","volume":"138 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2024-02-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139762330","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Toward a future discourse on global value chains","authors":"Pushkar Pushp, Faisal Ahmed","doi":"10.1108/cpoib-08-2022-0086","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/cpoib-08-2022-0086","url":null,"abstract":"<h3>Purpose</h3>\u0000<p>The discourse on global value chains (GVC) is undergoing a transformation in terms of its conceptualisation, theorisation and pragmatic applications. Today, the production systems have become more complex as global economic order continues to witness marked geo-economic manoeuvring. Thus, the direction of discourse on GVC ought to move from mere theoretical propositions toward becoming more evidence based. There have been recent studies that have used the governance and upgrading propositions by Gary Gereffi and others to seek quantitative evidence. This study aims to decipher the quantitative discourse on GVC and to set the emerging and future research agenda.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->\u0000<h3>Design/methodology/approach</h3>\u0000<p>Through a systematic literature review, the authors first analyse the quantitative studies on GVC carried out during the last two decades. The authors then outline a future research agenda and examine a few relevant modelling techniques that could potentially be used to solicit newer evidence in GVC research.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->\u0000<h3>Findings</h3>\u0000<p>The authors categorise the quantitative discourse on GVC into three crucial themes, namely, GVC framework, GVC participation and position, environmental aspects and regionalisation in GVC. The most commonly used quantitative techniques are gravity model, panel data estimation, structural decomposition analysis and computable general equilibrium modelling.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->\u0000<h3>Originality/value</h3>\u0000<p>This paper contributes to the GVC discourse in two ways. Firstly, the authors argue that the theoretical frameworks within the GVC discourse should be complemented by evidence-based quantitative studies. Secondly, the authors suggest potential modelling techniques that can be used on the emerging and future research agenda.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->","PeriodicalId":46124,"journal":{"name":"Critical Perspectives on International Business","volume":"16 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2024-02-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139679456","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Actor-agency and institutional complexity: multinational corporations’ strategies to combat the framework convention on tobacco control in Brazil","authors":"Mariana Baldi, Frank G.A. de Bakker, Rodrigo Luís Melz","doi":"10.1108/cpoib-12-2022-0130","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/cpoib-12-2022-0130","url":null,"abstract":"<h3>Purpose</h3>\u0000<p>This study aims to analyse the strategic moves used by major tobacco corporations to thwart the ratification of the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) in Brazil.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->\u0000<h3>Design/methodology/approach</h3>\u0000<p>The authors conducted a detailed historical case study spanning 1988–2005 and encompassing the period leading up to Brazil’s FCTC ratification. The authors collected qualitative data from various sources to triangulate and develop a comprehensive historical account.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->\u0000<h3>Findings</h3>\u0000<p>The historical analysis identified three distinct phases. First, the acquisition of a Brazilian cigarette factory, Souza Cruz, by British American Tobacco dramatically altered power dynamics, strengthening the position of the tobacco industry. The second phase regards the era of dictatorship and the efforts of various actors advocating against smoking and the tobacco industry. The third phase involved Brazil’s re-democratisation and the challenges of securing FCTC ratification, during which fierce industry opposition had to be overcome. Throughout these phases, the authors identified four key strategies used by multinational corporations (MNCs) in Brazil to uphold unsustainable practices and products that contradicted public interests instead of reforming them: shaping collective memory, dissimulation, re-presentation and redirecting attention.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->\u0000<h3>Originality/value</h3>\u0000<p>This study contributes to critical international business research on emerging economies by examining how Brazil’s position in the global capitalist system has influenced its dependency and how MNCs produce and maintain cycles of poverty and unsustainable practices through the exploitation of power dynamics within the country.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->","PeriodicalId":46124,"journal":{"name":"Critical Perspectives on International Business","volume":"12 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139461138","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Apocalypse unleashed: a critical perspective on complexity science, catastrophes, and black swan events in international business","authors":"Rolando Gonzales Martinez","doi":"10.1108/cpoib-03-2022-0014","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/cpoib-03-2022-0014","url":null,"abstract":"<h3>Purpose</h3>\u0000<p>The purpose of this study is to propose a methodological approach for modeling catastrophic consequences caused by black swan events, based on complexity science, and framed on Feyerabend’s anarchistic theory of knowledge. An empirical application is presented to illustrate the proposed approach.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->\u0000<h3>Design/methodology/approach</h3>\u0000<p>Thom’s nonlinear differential equations of morphogenesis are used to develop a theoretical model of the impact of catastrophes on international business (IB). The model is then estimated using real-world data on the performance of multinational airlines during the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->\u0000<h3>Findings</h3>\u0000<p>The catastrophe model exhibits a remarkable capability to simultaneously capture complex linear and nonlinear relationships. Through empirical estimations and simulations, this approach enables the analysis of IB phenomena under normal conditions, as well as during black swan events.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->\u0000<h3>Originality/value</h3>\u0000<p>To the best of the author’s knowledge, this study is the first attempt to estimate the impact of black swan events in IB using a catastrophe model grounded in complexity theory. The proposed model successfully integrates the abrupt and profound effects of catastrophes on multinational corporations, offering a critical perspective on the theoretical and practical use of complexity science in IB.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->","PeriodicalId":46124,"journal":{"name":"Critical Perspectives on International Business","volume":"160 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139461136","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Complements or substitutes? Domestic and international network search and SME ambidexterity","authors":"Joanne Wright, Antje Fiedler, Benjamin Fath","doi":"10.1108/cpoib-06-2022-0065","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/cpoib-06-2022-0065","url":null,"abstract":"<h3>Purpose</h3>\u0000<p>Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) use networks to overcome knowledge deficiencies in pursuing innovation. However, balancing the cost and risk of growing networks, especially internationally, with potential gains in knowledge remains a critical challenge. Searching for innovation knowledge in international and domestic networks can be complementary when learning is compressed or as competing when the SMEs capacity to use the new knowledge is exceeded. This paper aims to investigate whether knowledge searches in domestic and international networks are complementary or conflicting in pursuit of innovation.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->\u0000<h3>Design/methodology/approach</h3>\u0000<p>This study is based on firm-level data set comprising 426 SMEs located in New Zealand, an advanced small and open economy. Using multi-level modelling, this study tests competing hypotheses, asking whether domestic and international network searches are complements or substitutes when seeking ambidexterity.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->\u0000<h3>Findings</h3>\u0000<p>The research finds that, in contrast to earlier research, which shows increasing network breadth drives innovation activity, SMEs benefit less from knowledge search across combined domestic and international networks for exploration innovation and ambidexterity. In contrast, exploitation shows no effect, suggesting that combined networks could support exploitation.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->\u0000<h3>Originality/value</h3>\u0000<p>This paper highlights how SMEs mitigate the influence resource constraints have on the partnerships they form and how this translates to ambidexterity. Specifically, recognising that an opportunistic approach to network development may impose future constraints on SME ambidexterity. From a management perspective, the paper recognises that balancing knowledge search across domestic and international networks can facilitate ambidexterity; however, to prevent spreading resources too thinly, this likely requires exit from early domestic innovation network partnerships.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->","PeriodicalId":46124,"journal":{"name":"Critical Perspectives on International Business","volume":"42 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139375113","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The role of institutional and stakeholder interaction in integrated reporting policy development","authors":"Rania AbuRaya","doi":"10.1108/cpoib-12-2021-0110","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/cpoib-12-2021-0110","url":null,"abstract":"&lt;h3&gt;Purpose&lt;/h3&gt;\u0000&lt;p&gt;This study aims to investigate the role of institutional and stakeholder interaction in the development of integrated reporting policy by the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC). It helps advance the theory of integrated reporting and offers insights into its fundamental concepts and relevant issues.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;!--/ Abstract__block --&gt;\u0000&lt;h3&gt;Design/methodology/approach&lt;/h3&gt;\u0000&lt;p&gt;A flexible pattern-matching qualitative research approach is used and an analytical framework of integrated reporting historical foundations and conceptual background is developed. An IIRC case analysis is conducted by using a chronological content analysis of the International Integrated Reporting Framework and related initiatives and publications for integrated reporting policy pronouncements.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;!--/ Abstract__block --&gt;\u0000&lt;h3&gt;Findings&lt;/h3&gt;\u0000&lt;p&gt;Institutional and stakeholder pressures within both the organization’s macro and micro contexts have played an effective role in transforming corporate reporting practices. In an integrated reporting context, institutional forces of normative and mimetic isomorphism seem to have more influence on organizations than coercive pressures, where stakeholder pressures with limited official power derive influence from their legitimacy while urgency is evidently implied. Findings indicate that integrated reporting policy has emerged analogously with the institutional environment and stakeholders’ expectations. The distinct nature of integrated reporting has caused a paradigm shift from silo thinking of wealth creation to integrated thinking of value creation.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;!--/ Abstract__block --&gt;\u0000&lt;h3&gt;Research limitations/implications&lt;/h3&gt;\u0000&lt;p&gt;This is an exploratory study that does not consider different prominent integrated reporting models. It has important implications for policymakers in articulating the integration of financial and nonfinancial metrics for reporting overall corporate performance. It can help academics build on integrated reporting foundations for conducting future research and assist practitioners in operationalizing integrated reporting policy into practice. Moreover, it has potential prospects for international business in developing integrated reporting policies and strategies aimed at creating mutual value in specific international contexts.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;!--/ Abstract__block --&gt;\u0000&lt;h3&gt;Originality/value&lt;/h3&gt;\u0000&lt;p&gt;Integrated reporting represents a new internationally developing reporting trend with distinct reporting features and foundations for value creation. The study provides considerable addition to emerging research into the growing awareness of integrated reporting policy, develops a conceptual model of institutional and stakeholder interaction and theorizes on such interplay, identifies the potential influences under which integrated reporting is likely to occur and offers key insights into integrated reporting policy. Hence, it contributes to the ongoing global challenge of promoting the reporting transition","PeriodicalId":46124,"journal":{"name":"Critical Perspectives on International Business","volume":"70 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2023-12-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139053831","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Situated between headquarters and local environment: local managers’ scope for action in training activities","authors":"Martina Fuchs, Johannes Westermeyer","doi":"10.1108/cpoib-06-2023-0046","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/cpoib-06-2023-0046","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Purpose\u0000The purpose of this paper is to explore the scope for action of local human resource managers, who are employed in foreign subsidiaries of multinational companies (MNCs), for implementing training activities. These managers are situated in relationships to headquarters and the local environment. Related to this is the question whether MNCs contribute to the local skill base by implementing training activities or whether they exploit the existing skill formation system.\u0000\u0000\u0000Design/methodology/approach\u0000This study focusses on German subsidiaries of MNCs with headquarters in the USA and the UK, France, China and Japan. The study is based on 107 expert interviews with subsidiary managers and representatives of local stakeholder organisations, such as educational organisations, chambers, economic promotion agencies and governmental bodies in Germany.\u0000\u0000\u0000Findings\u0000The study reveals that headquarters introduce general schemes for training. In addition to these MNC-internal trainings, local managers use their information advantage over headquarters to implement dual training activities.\u0000\u0000\u0000Research limitations/implications\u0000The training activities of subsidiaries are dependent on the institutional settings of the host country.\u0000\u0000\u0000Practical implications\u0000Albeit dual training activities are laborious and tie the local managers down for the medium and long term, the future need of the subsidiary for adequately skilled workforce prompts local managers’ engagement in implementing dual training activities.\u0000\u0000\u0000Social implications\u0000Subsidiaries contribute to the local skill base and do not act in a free-rider position, at least in the German variety of capitalism.\u0000\u0000\u0000Originality/value\u0000The study deepens insights on distanced relations within and how subsidiaries generate scope for action by using this kind of relationships.\u0000","PeriodicalId":46124,"journal":{"name":"Critical Perspectives on International Business","volume":"82 13","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2023-12-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138957920","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}