Transmission of organisational culture from HQs to overseas subsidiaries in Japanese MNC: a methodological framework

Miroshnik, Victoria (2011) Transmission of organisational culture from HQs to overseas subsidiaries in Japanese MNC: a methodological framework. PhD thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

This thesis unites the issues derived from the research on the relationship between culture and performance, where commitment is regarded as its vital index, in the domain of international business (IB). Despite its importance the concept of transmission of culture has not been examined quantitatively, regardless of qualitative studies proving that organizational culture has significant influence on a firm’s overall performance, and particularly on commitment. In addressing the above gaps, the present thesis develops a resource-based framework that examines whether organizational culture can be regarded as a strategic resource of a multinational company (MNC), what are the factors composing two concepts such as ‘organizational culture’ and ‘organizational commitment’ and whether there is a relationship between these concepts at three levels: a) HQs level in the home country, Japan, b) individual subsidiary level, located in the host country, Thailand, which is culturally very similar to the home country, and c) individual subsidiary level, located in the host country, India, which is culturally very distant to the home country. This theoretical framework essentially integrates theoretical perspectives on HQs-subsidiary relationship and transmission of culture in the multinational company in Asia under the Resource-Based View (RBV). This constitutes an innovative approach both in MNC-related literatures and literatures on culture and commitment. This study adopts positivism as a philosophical approach and uses the extensive review and analysis of literature to build a theory and three studies to test the theory. The methodology of quantitative research employs the three-stage research design; thus, triangulation, a research technique, is used to enhance the rigor of the research findings. Quantitative data analysis involved hypotheses testing using Correlation Analysis, Covariance Analysis, Factor Analysis, Discriminant Analysis, Multiple Regression Analysis and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) research techniques. Major contributions to theory include the development of a research methodology which provides robust conceptualization and measurement of the culture-commitment link and transmission of the culture of the HQs of multinational companies to their subsidiary operations in Asia under the Resource-Based View (RBV) theoretical framework for the analysis of multinational companies in the era of globalization. The results of this research may lead to the conclusion that (a) culture can be regarded as a valuable strategic resource of a company based on the fact of the existence of a strong relationship between culture and commitment, where commitment is considered to be one of the indices of performance, and (b) the transmission of culture in the form of a successful transfer of its major value-components from HQs to subsidiaries indeed takes place. This enables the creation of commitment of the employees in subsidiaries similar to that in HQs, which in turn provides the company with unique and valuable resources that should be regarded as the sources of competitive advantage of this Japanese MNC.

• Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
• Qualification Level: Doctoral
• Keywords: Organizational Culture, International Business, Multinational Companies, Japan, Organizational Commitments, Thailand, India
• Subjects: H Social Sciences > HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform; H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General); H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor > HD28 Management. Industrial Management
• Colleges/Schools: College of Social Sciences > Adam Smith Business School > Management
• Supervisor's Name: Pate, Dr. Judy
• Date of Award: 2011
• Depositing User: Dr Victoria Miroshnik
• Unique ID: glathesis:2011-2789
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 17 Aug 2011
• Last Modified: 11 Dec 2014 13:31
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/2789