Paper info

HANDLING THE LOCAL IN THE GLOBALISED FIRM – WHAT DECIDES THE MODE?

Christina Öberg

The paper was published at the 32nd IMP-conference in Poznan, Poland in 2016.

This paper sets to explain modes of local reconfigurations between already internationalised firms. It takes its motivation from how companies are increasingly globalised and as a consequence, when they join forces, organisational and/or business partner overlaps may present themselves. To come to turns with these overlaps, the firms may reconfigure their representations (local offices) in terms of additional acquisitions, divestures, cancellations or rearrangements so as to minimise overlaps. The paper asks what decides modes of reconfigurations as the consequence of such overlaps. A single case study including multicountry observations constructs the empirical data. It focuses on an acquisition between two internationalised firms and the reconfiguration of their country and regional-level sales organisations. Findings indicate how the presence preceding the joining of forces between the firms guides decisions rather than the search for ‘optimal’ locations. Business partners, specifically customers, play a part in deciding locations, and hence, what representations to keep. Contributions are made to the literature on internationalisation and specifically to how the local is handled in already internationalised firms and to research on what happens following a market entry. Practical relevance related to this is found in the increased globalisation of firms and hence expected increased frequencies of issues as those presented in this paper.