While prior research has recognized the importance of intra-firm competition or cooperation for innovation and performance, we know little how competition and cooperation should be internally organized by firms. This paper aims to address this critical gap by focusing on the following questions: (a) what conditions drive cooperation and competition within the multinational? and (b) how does competition and cooperation dynamically change over time? To answer our research questions a single case study of SKF – a manufacturing MNE with headquarters in Sweden - is performed on two analytical levels (headquarters/subsidiaries). Our preliminary analysis shows that organizing for cooperation and competition depends on the environmental, organizational and object-related conditions. Such conditions, however, are not limited to HQ’s initiatives but it may also be a subsidiary-led process. Thus, the cooperation and competition interplay is an outcome of the HQ’s strategic orientation as well as subsidiary’s autonomy, local responsiveness and its ability to innovate.
Competitive session