Internationalization Motives and Corporate Parenting among Indian Multinational Corporations in Ireland: A Qualitative Investigation incorporating Headquarter-Subsidiary Perspectives

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the drivers for location choice by multinationals from India. In this context, we have also captured the HQ-subsidiary interactions and unveiled the parenting approach... [ view full abstract ]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the drivers for location choice by multinationals from India. In this context, we have also captured the HQ-subsidiary interactions and unveiled the parenting approach in reference to the revised typology of corporate parenting styles proposed by Gurkov & Morley (2017).  

Design/Methodology/Approach –The data was collected from the senior management of top six Indian MNCs set up in Ireland.  Semi-structured interviews conducted over a period of 8-10 months recorded the HQ and subsidiary perspectives. The study inductively synthesizes and categorizes the data into themes to further discuss the phenomena, inconsistencies and the evolving parenting roles on the landscape of Indian multinationals and Irish subsidiaries.  

Findings – The empirical findings of the study elucidates the strategy of Indian MNCs to internationalize in Ireland is organic and primarily through Greenfield investments. The proximity to other European countries, access to knowledge and infrastructure clusters that enable innovation, availability of multi-lingual talented workforce, better tax regime for corporates and support from the development authorities drives Indian investments in Ireland. The parenting style followed by some multinationals was observed to be Zeus style where there is addition of financial value but other types of value extraction from the subsidiary. Some multinationals also exhibited Athena style of parenting through balanced exchange of value in their interactions with their subsidiaries.  

Originality/value – The study has presented theoretical and empirical evidence that contribute to management theories. The insights as well as the variations in studying an emerging market MNC inspire real advances in HQ-subsidiary relationships influencing corporate parenting style.

Keywords – internationalization motives; headquarters; subsidiaries; corporate parenting styles; India.