Skip to main content
Log in

Entrepreneurship in multinational enterprises: A Penrosean perspective

  • Published:
Management International Review Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract and Key Results

  • This paper applies Penrose’s (1959) insights on the quantity of managerial services required for firm-level organic expansion to the analysis of entrepreneurial activities in MNEs.

  • We use these insights to build a framework relevant to entrepreneurial activities in MNEs, and then apply this framework to assess the metanational model (Doz/Santos/Williamson 2001) in terms of the quantity of managerial services required to implement it.

  • Penrose’s (1959) insights on firm-level growth processes are still relevant to the analysis of entrepreneurial activities in MNEs.

  • The quantity of managerial services required for the effective functioning of the metanational model appears to be particularly high, and the benefits of this model should therefore be carefully weighed against the potential costs.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Athanassiou, N./ Nigh, D., Internationalization, Tacit Knowledge and the Top Management Teams of MNCs, Journal of International Business Studies, 31,3, 2000, pp. 471–487.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bartlett, C. A., Multinational Structural Evolution: The Changing Decision Environment in International Divisions, Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business School 1979.

    Google Scholar 

  • Birkinshaw, J., The Determinants and Consequences of Subsidiary Initiative in Multinational Corporations, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 24,1, 1999, pp. 9–36.

    Google Scholar 

  • Birkinshaw, J., Entrepreneurship in Global Firms, London: Sage Publications 2000.

    Google Scholar 

  • Birkinshaw, J./ Hood, N./ Jonsson, S., Building Firm-specific Advantages in Multinational Corporations: The Role of Subsidiary Initiative, Strategic Management Journal, 19,3, 1998, pp. 221–241.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blanc, H./ Sierra, C., The Internationalisation of R&D by Multinationals: A Trade-off between External and Internal Proximity, Cambridge Journal of Economics, 23,2, 1999, pp. 187–206.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burgelman, R. A., Strategy Making as a Social Learning Process: The Case of Internal Corporate Venturing, Interfaces, 18,3, 1988, pp. 74–85.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cantwell, J./ Piscitello, L., The Emergence of Corporate International Networks for the Accumulation of Dispersed Technological Competences, Management International Review, 39, Special Issue 1, 1999, pp. 123–147.

    Google Scholar 

  • Doz, Y./ Santos, J./ Williamson, P., From Global to Metanational: How Companies Win in the Knowledge Economy, Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press 2001.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dunning, J. H., The Contribution of Edith Penrose to International Business Scholarship, Management International Review, 43,1, 2003, pp. 3–19.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ghemawat, P., Distance Still Matters: The Hard Reality of Global Expansion, Harvard Business Review, 79,8, 2001, pp. 137–147.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ghoshal, S./ Hahn, M./ Moran, P., Management Competence, Firm Growth and Economic Process, Contributions to Political Economy, 18,1, 1999, pp. 121–150.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gnyawali, D. R./ Grant, J. H., Enhancing Corporate Venture Performance through Organizational Learning, The International Journal of Organizational Analysis, 5,1, 1997, pp. 74–98.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kim, W. C./ Mauborgne, R. A., Effectively Conceiving and Executing Multinationals’ World Wide Strategies, Journal of International Business Studies, 24,3, 1993, pp. 419–448.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kostova, T., Transnational Transfer of Strategic Organizational Practices: A Contextual Perspective, Academy of Management Review, 24,2, 1999, pp. 308–324.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nohria, N./ Ghoshal, S., Differentiated Fit and Shared Values: Alternatives for Managing Headquarters-Subsidiary Relations, Strategic Management Journal, 15,6, 1994, pp. 491–502.

    Google Scholar 

  • Penrose, E. T., The Theory of the Growth of the Firm, Oxford: Basil Blackwell 1959.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pitelis, C., A Theory of the Growth of the Transnational Firm, Contributions to Political Economy, 19,1, 2000, pp. 71–89.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pitelis, C., A Note on Cyert and March (1963) and Penrose (1959): A Case for Synergy, mimeo, 2005.

  • Prahalad, C. K./ Bettis, R. A., The Dominant Logic: A New Linkage between Diversity and Performance, Strategic Management Journal, 7,6, 1986, pp. 485–501.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rugman, A. M./ Verbeke, A., A Note on the Transnational Solution and the Transaction Cost Theory of Multinational Strategic Management, Journal of International Business Studies, 23,4, 1992, pp. 761–771.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rugman, A. M./ Verbeke, A., Subsidiary-specific Advantages in Multinational Enterprises, Strategic Management Journal, 22,3, 2001, pp. 237–250.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rugman, A. M./ Verbeke, A., Edith Penrose’s Contribution to the Resource-based View of Strategic Management, Strategic Management Journal, 23,8, 2002, pp. 769–780.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rugman, A. M./ Verbeke, A., Extending the Theory of the Multinational Enterprise: Internalization and Strategic Management Perspectives, Journal of International Business Studies, 34,2, 2003, pp. 125–137.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rugman, A. M./ Verbeke, A., A Perspective on Regional and Global Strategies of Multinational Enterprises, Journal of International Business Studies, 35,1, 2004, pp. 3–18.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rugman, A. M./ Verbeke, A./ Yuan, W., Re-conceptualizing the Classification of Subsidiary Roles in Multinational Enterprises, mimeo, 2005.

  • Scott, R., Institutions and Organizations, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage 1995.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tallman, S./ Fladmoe-Lindquist, K., Internationalization, Globalization, and Capability-based Strategy, California Management Review, 45,1, 2002, pp. 116–135.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tan, D., The Limits to the Growth of Multinational Firms in a Foreign Market, Managerial and Decision Economics, 24,8, 2003, pp. 569–582.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Verbeke, A./ Yuan, W., Subsidiary Autonomous Activities in Multinational Enterprises: A Transaction Cost Perspective, Management International Review, 45,1, 2005, pp. 31–52.

    Google Scholar 

  • Xu, D./ Shenkar, O., Institutional Distance and the Multinational Enterprise, Academy of Management Review, 27,4, 2002, pp. 608–618.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zaheer, S., Overcoming the Liability of Foreignness, Academy of Management Journal, 38,2, 1995, pp. 341–363.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Verbeke, A., Yuan, W. Entrepreneurship in multinational enterprises: A Penrosean perspective. MANAGE. INT. REV. 47, 241–258 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11575-007-0014-4

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11575-007-0014-4

Key Words

Navigation