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Björn Ambos
Title
Prof. Ph.D.
Last Name
Ambos
First name
Björn
Email
bjoern.ambos@unisg.ch
Phone
+41 71 224 7610
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1 - 10 of 85
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PublicationUnravelling Agency Relations inside the MNC: The Roles of Socialization, Goal Conflicts and Second Principals in Headquarters-Subsidiary Relationships(Elsevier Science, 2019)
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PublicationConceptualizing and measuring distance in international business research: Recurring questions and best practice guidelinesDistance is a central concept in international business research, yet there is debate about the construct as well as its operationalization. In this editorial, we address three of the most important recurring questions posed by authors, editors, and reviewers by examining the theory, methods, and data of distance research. We discuss (1) how to theorize on distance, and (2) what method and (3) what data to use when constructing a distance index. We develop practical recommendations grounded in theory, illustrating and supporting them by calculating cross-country distance indices for all available country pairs and two of the most used distance indices: cultural and institutional. We show that, whereas a specific method to calculate distance may matter to some extent, the choice for a specific cultural or institutional framework to measure cultural or institutional distance has a major impact on country–pair distances. Overall, this editorial highlights the importance of matching data and method to the theoretical argument.Type: journal articleJournal: Journal of International Business StudiesVolume: 49Issue: 9
Scopus© Citations 133 -
PublicationWhen do distance effects become empirically observable? An investigation in the context of headquarters value creation for subsidiaries.Integrating distance research with the behavioral strategy literature on MNC headquarters-subsidiary relations, this paper explores how the distance between headquarters and subsidiaries relates to value added by the headquarters. We show for 124 manufacturing subsidiaries in Europe that, on average, distance is unrelated to value added by headquarters but that this effect is contingent upon the extent to which the subsidiary is locally embedded. Only after a certain threshold level of subsidiary embeddedness, distance is negatively related to headquarters value added. This effect is more pronounced for cultural, economic, and administrative distances than for pure geographic distance, highlighting the critical role of contextual variation for MNCs.Type: journal articleJournal: Journal of International ManagementVolume: 23Issue: 3
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PublicationComment on ‘Regional Headquarters: The spearhead for Asia Pacific marketsʼ, Philippe Lasserre. Long Range Planning, Volume 29, Issue 1, February 1996, Pages 30–37Firms seeking to develop or enhance their presence in the Asia Pacific region will, at some point, have to address the question of whether or not to set up a regional headquarters (RHQ). The relevance of the regional headquarters issue for companies operating in the Asia Pacific region is heightened by the rapid economic emergence of those countries and the debate over a new regional grouping for the area. This article seeks to contribute to the debate by describing the various roles RHQs can play and assessing their usefulness in achieving corporate ambitions. It is based on empirical data obtained through informal interviews with Western companies, and through a survey conducted by the INSEAD Euro-Asia Centre in the region in 1992.Type: journal articleJournal: Long Range Planning
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PublicationType: journal articleJournal: Journal of International ManagementVolume: 22Issue: 4
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PublicationThe Psychology of Psychic Distance: Antecedents of Asymmetric PerceptionsAlready on its introduction into the international business literature, the concept of ‘psychic distance’ implied asymmetry in the distance perceptions between country pairs, a characteristic corroborated in subsequent empirical studies. However, predominant empirical operationalizations and their theoretical underpinnings assume psychic distances to be symmetric. Building on insights from psychology and sociology, this paper demonstrates how national factors and cognitive processes interact in the formation of asymmetric distance perceptions. The results suggest that exposure to other countries through emigrants and imports of cultural goods and services have asymmetric effects on psychic distance perceptions. The size of these effects appears to vary with the size of the home country – smaller countries tend, on average, to perceive psychic distances to the rest of the world as smaller than do bigger ones. The reputational status of target countries relative to that of the home country is found to have a non-linear, asymmetric effect on distance perceptions.Type: journal articleJournal: Journal of World BusinessVolume: 51Issue: 2
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PublicationSwitzerland and Europe: Close Neighbours or Distant Relatives?Diese Studie untersucht die psychische Distanz von Schweizer Managern und ihren Handelspartnern. Unsere Daten zeigen, dass die Schweiz und ihre Handelspartner im Ausland sich gegenseitig unterschiedlich weit entfernt wahrnehmen. Diese wahrgenommene psychische Distanz hat einen Einfluss auf ihren Handel. Der Artikel schliesst mit einer Diskussion, wie Schweizer multinationale Unternehmen ihre relative Distanzwahrnehmung nutzen können, indem sie sich als europäischer Hub aufstellen.Type: journal articleJournal: Die UnternehmungVolume: 69Issue: 2
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PublicationChanges at Corporate Headquarters: Review, Integration and Future ResearchIn modern corporations, the corporate headquarters (CHQ) unit is considered central to the fortune of the overall firm. In light of ever-changing environments, changes at the CHQ have become a crucial concern in management research and practice, and scholars have studied a variety of changes at the CHQ. Despite the common focus on the CHQ entity and the potential for cross-fertilization across several research tracks, a coherent picture of this dispersed body of knowledge is lacking. In this article, we review 25 years of research on changes at the CHQ. In so doing, we advance a common language and an overarching framework that integrates the existing knowledge in the intellectual domains of strategy, organizational design and international business research. On this basis, we suggest directions for future research to advance our knowledge of: (1) the pressure for and resistance to changes at the CHQ, (2) interrelationships among changes at the CHQ, (3) change processes at the CHQ, (4) agents involved in changes at the CHQ and (5) adaptive and disruptive effects of changes at the CHQ. Overall, the study provides a conceptual basis for combining the existing knowledge of changes at the CHQ and serves as a guide for future research.Type: journal articleJournal: International Journal of Management ReviewsVolume: 17Issue: 3DOI: 10.1111/ijmr.12044
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PublicationType: journal articleJournal: Zeitschrift Führung + Organisation (zfo)Volume: 84Issue: 1
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PublicationThe Concept of Distance in International Management ResearchThe effect of distance on firms' performance when entering, operating in and across foreign markets is a central issue in international management. However, our understanding of the impact of distance has long been constrained by flawed conceptualizations and unreliable measures. The papers in this issue break new ground both by advancing our theoretical understanding and by introducing new and potentially more useful measures. In this introduction, we provide a brief overview of the evolution of the distance concept before introducing the individual papers. We end by offering observations for future research based on the issues they raise.Type: journal articleJournal: Journal of International ManagementVolume: 20Issue: 1