Practice transfer in MNCs: a process of tension and contestation

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to further the understanding of how the transfer and adoption of headquarters (HQ)-mandated work practices are shaped by ongoing struggles among the multiple actors of a subsidiary. This paper suggests an alternative perspective for theorizing and researching the management practices and structures that emerge in the face of HQ demands for divergent practice change in subsidiaries, namely, a theory of practice approach. Design/methodology/approach The paper reports the findings of an ethnographic field study in a UK subsidiary of a multinational corporation based in Denmark. Findings The study provides a relevant contribution by demonstrating how the degree of adoption of alternative, HQ-mandated work systems undergoes dramatic changes over time due to socially dynamic negotiations and struggles between interest groups in a subsidiary. Research limitations/implications A practice theoretical approach unveils the underlying social micro-dynamics that shape the degree to which employees in subsidiaries “internalize”, actively sustain or disrupt divergent practices representing a given contextual rationale. Originality/value The practice perspective provides a way for understanding how the practices and rationales that emerge locally in response to HQ-demands are under ongoing (re)reconstruction. It responds to calls for research on why and how contextual rationales, institutional or cultural features, actively are made salient, polarized or convergent, in conflictual practice transfer processes due to local contingencies.