Hymer's analysis of the multinational organization: Power retention and the demise of the federative MNE

This paper links Hymer's later contributions to an important aspect of the literature on the management of the MNE- namely- that on the federative MNE. The key point from this literature is that embeddedness in host country networks is potentially a source of strategic power for subsidiaries and thus a serious challenge to the MNE headquarters' monopoly over strategy. Hymer's analysis, due to the stress that it puts on power, suggests that rather than 'putting up' with power dilution, MNEs will seek to reduce the federative nature of multinationality. In this paper we have concentrated on explaining the preponderance of Regional MNEs as an illustration of Hymer's power retention thesis. © 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.