Multinational headquarters control of UK subsidiaries' advertising decisions

This study confirms the relative importance of the multinational headquarters international co-ordinator as a main player in UK subsidiary-advertising agency relations.

Multinational Headquarters Control of UK Subsidiaries' Advertising Decisions

Paul Michell and Joel Bright

Manchester Business School, UK

This study confirms the relative importance of the multinational headquarters international co-ordinator as a main player in UK subsidiary-advertising agency relations. Five alternative headquarter strategies towards the subsidiary's advertising decision making are identified and their rationales discussed. In general, international headquarter advertising personnel are shown to have substantial control over strategic advertising decisions but allow local adaptation at a tactical level. The research also suggests that during the 1980s such control increased, and that a greater degree of standardized advertising decision...

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