本研究旨在探討子公司重要性從何而來。本研究提出環境競爭性、子公司當地事業關係、以及母公司國際關注共同探討對子公司重要性的影響。經過分析，本研究發現環境越競爭、子公司在當地與競爭者、顧客的關係越密切，對於子公司的重要性越有顯著的正向影響。此外，母公司國際關注具有中介效果，說明母公司能夠對子公司在企業內的重要性具有顯著的正向影響。整體而言，本文貢獻在於證明子公司所在的當地市場以及外部網絡關係對子公司是重要的。同時子公司如何獲取母公司的關注，對於子公司在企業內的重要性亦具有明顯的影響效果。

What determines the importance of subsidiary in MNE? In this paper, we shed light in this question by linking the environment competitiveness, subsidiary business relationships, and headquarters international attention to the subsidiary importance. We test our hypotheses by questionnaires of 197 subsidiaries in Taiwan. Our results indicate that the environment competitiveness, customer business relationship, and competitor business relationship have a positive effect on the subsidiary importance. We also find that headquarters international attention into its effect between the subsidiary context and importance. We discuss implication for the MNE literature, internal and external network, and the literature on the subsidiary’s and headquarters’ role.

子公司因為具有連結企業內部關係與市場外部關係的角色而變得相當關鍵。外部關係能增加子公司的網絡資本，補足子公司在競爭優勢上的需求；而在內部關係上，母公司能扮演賦予子公司正統性與提升重要性的角色。為了要獲得內外部網絡關係的利益，控制與協調就成為重要的管理因素。管理關係網絡需要成本，要管理不同空間與市場之間的網絡關係更不是件容易的事。組織規模越大，控制與協調功能越容易失效。為了要能夠減少管理上的成本與壓力，管控子公司的方式是多國籍企業視為達到管理平衡的重要策略。因此，要如何整合這些不同背景的專屬資源，企業所要面對的挑戰也就越高。在多國籍企業組織結構下，子公司將面對回應當地以及全球整合這兩股力量。當子公司掌握越多競爭優勢，母公司越會認同子公司的能力，也越會被子公司所回饋的能力影響。在給予子公司最大自主性的前提下，母公司可藉由對子公司優勢創造的評估、獲利能力的鑑定、或是經由外派人員的方式，讓母公司在全球佈局的策略有一定的掌握度，更可因此提升企業的競爭綜效。 接著，母公司除了思考要透過「誰」來關注、「何時」關注、以及「為何」關注外，更要能夠克服組織結構上的惰性，讓組織結構搭配知識能力，以達到管理多元鑲嵌組織的目標。此外，由於資源與管理能力的限制，母公司不可能對所有的子公司或是市場投以公平的注意程度。所以母公司會運用激勵誘因的方式掌握子公司，也會在時間與成果上做出取捨。當環境越競爭、不確定性越高時，為避免受限於過去的經營模式，母公司應當重視外部資訊的重要性，並適時的給予子公司獨立經營的空間。藉由觀察市場的競爭同業或是標竿企業的動作，有助於母公司制定具實用性的策略，在適合的時間給予子公司實質的幫助。當母公司能夠真正了解子公司，並結合子公司專屬能力時，不但有助於激勵子公司，對於企業競爭優勢的發展將產生正面的效益。

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