Too Much is Too Much! Antecedents and Consequences of Change in the Size of Corporate Headquarters

This study explores structural change at the corporate headquarters (CHQ) of the contemporary corporation. Data from a large-scale survey and public sources reveal a counterintuitive finding: While changes in the related elements of the business portfolio encourage change in the CHQ size, the two corporate-level changes combined result in negative firm performance when the level of the changes in the related business portfolio is high. The finding exposes the disruptive nature of high levels of corporate strategic change. The study contributes to research on the CHQ, and corporate strategic change.