Local Responses to Global Integration in a Transnational Professional Service Firm

This study examines the transfer of management practices from a regional headquarters to the local subsidiaries in a transnational professional service firm. Using an in-depth case study of a top-tier transnational professional service firm, we develop an empirically grounded theory. We analyse how partners of local subsidiaries responded to a global integration initiative and identify contingencies that influenced partners' responses to pressures of conformity from the regional headquarters. We found a broad diversity of responses ranging from complying to open resistance when adopting the management practice locally. This diversity of responses is explained by three major categories emerging from our data - local fit, linking practices, and subsidiary resources. By focusing our attention on individual actors and their responses in the light of a multiplicity of institutional interests, norms, and beliefs, this article seeks to expand the global-local debate in multinational corporations.