Transfer and Hybridization in MNEs

Most studies that have made contributions to the questions of hybridization within the context of cross-border transfers in MNEs fall into at least one of the following three larger bodies of literature, namely: Japanization or Transplant, Institutionalist and International Business literature. While not all contributions can be exclusively classified as one or the other, most contributions can be subsumed under either of these bodies of literature (particularly their sub-streams) based on their main theoretical and empirical orientation. The following literature review introduces the Japanization, Institutionalist and International Business literature and their sub-steams and discusses their specific contribution to the question how- and why hybridization of organizational forms and practices – including production systems – occurs in MNEs and their subsidiaries. The chapter closes with a comparison of the strengths and weaknesses of the different bodies of literature. It is shown that no one approach makes an effort to relate systematically the hybridization of subsidiary production systems to the impact of both the strategic and institutional distance and to strategic choices at both the corporate and the subsidiary level.