International Acquisitons in Multinacionals: Under a Force Field

Abstract

The purpose of this essay is to debate the performance of multinational companies concerning the management alternatives of their foreign unities, especially the ones derived from acquisitions, with consequences on the interaction between the headquarters and its subsidiaries or colligates and the managerial learning and knowledge associated to this process. First the problematic of internationalized companies by foreign direct investments – FDI’s, mainly by acquisitions and strategic alliances, is discussed. The intensity of the assimilation and interchange of values and practices within organizations in interacting process is stressed, including a set of typologies derived from the existing related literature. After this, a more specific approach about intra and interorganization aspects of the multinationals is performed, related to strategies, competences and roles of headquarters and subsidiaries, as well as their impact on the knowledge flux and its derived learning modes, evolving a established typologies set. The next step is to discuss two visions about the opposition between the universal and the particular in international management, with global and contextual aspects: a convergence-divergence opposition, like a force field, impacting on the knowledge transfer. Finally, some concluding comments are made, emphasizing, for the purpose of contribution, another type of multinationals typology relating the convergence-divergence duality to the organizational and national levels, as well the positioning of the companies in the resulted matrix.