Subsidiary management in Malaysian multinational firms

Research on Asian multinational enterprises (MNEs) from the newly industrialized economies (NIEs) has gained popularity recently. But there are limited studies on MNEs from the lesser developed Asian countries and even less research attention has been given to the area of subsidiary management in Asian MNEs. This paper aims to contribute to this knowledge gap with empirical evidence on subsidiary management from a study based on nine case studies of MNEs from Malaysia, a rapidly developing country. Some differences as well as commonalities in the management of their subsidiaries were found among our sample firms. These findings are discussed in relation to the literature on management of subsidiaries in other Asian and western MNEs. Implications for research and limitations of the study are covered