The role of personal contacts of foreign subsidiary managers in the coordination of industrial multinationals : the case of Finnish subsidiaries in P…

2004

This study attempts to extend current knowledge of inter- and intra-firm relationships in industrial markets. In particular, the study seeks to illuminate the distinction between individual and organizational actors in business-to-business markets as well as the coexistence of formal and informal mechanisms of coordination in multinational corporations. The main questions addressed are: 1) what factors influence the occurrence of personal contacts of foreign subsidiary managers in industrial multinational corporations? and 2) how such personal contacts enable coordination in industrial markets and within multinational corporations?The theoretical context of the study is based on: 1) the int…