Transferring Organizational Practices: A Diachronic Perspective from China

Despite extensive research on the transfer of organizational practices by multinational firms, the role that time plays in this process has been neglected. A prominent theoretical assumption is that as overseas subsidiaries become more embedded in the local environment, they increasingly take on the practices that prevail locally (Farley et al., 2004; Rosenzweig and Nohria, 1994). However, longitudinal studies that would allow an assessment of the veracity of this assumption or its implications have been sparse; most studies provide one-off, synchronic ‘snapshots’ of organizations. This chapter sets out to answer two key questions. Firstly, what affect does the passage of time have on transferred organizational practices? Secondly, and more specifically, does isomorphism of multinationals’ overseas subsidiaries with host country organizational practices increase over time?