Boundary Spanning Activities of Corporate HQ Executives Insights from a Longitudinal Study
通过五年纵向案例研究，识别了跨国公司总部高管在从单一总部向双总部再到虚拟总部转变过程中执行的四种边界跨越活动，并展示了它们如何随时间变化增加价值。
Abstract What are the boundary spanning activities undertaken by the Corporate Headquarters (HQ) executives of a Multinational Corporation? We address this question through a five‐year longitudinal case study of one company as it shifted from a traditional HQ in one location, to a dual HQ in two locations, to a virtual HQ split across multiple locations. By observing how HQ executives prioritized their time over the course of this transition, we identified four generic boundary spanning activities: two ( spearheading and facilitating ) focused on making connections across boundaries, two ( reconciling and lubricating ) focused on overcoming differences in worldview across boundaries. By considering these activities together, and how they vary in importance over time, we show how each boundary spanning activity adds value to the MNC and improves the effectiveness of the internal and external network. An important feature of our study is that we operationalize boundary spanning at the activity level , i.e., in terms of the specific actions taken by corporate HQ executives, to provide a more granular understanding of how boundary spanning works in practice.