Managing executive attention in the global company

MIT Sloan Management Review

Volumn 48, Issue 4, 2007, Pages

  Birkinshaw, Julian ^a,b   Bouquet, Cyril ^c   Ambos, Tina C ^d,e  

^a LONDON BUSINESS SCHOOL   (United Kingdom)

^b Advanced Institute of Management Research   (United Kingdom)

^c YORK UNIVERSITY   (Canada)

^d UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH   (United Kingdom)

^e UNIVERSITY OF VIENNA   (Austria)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 34547654061     PISSN: 15329194     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Article

References (10)

1. Several studies have examined the challenges of managing executive attention. See T.H. Davenport and J.C. Beck, "The Attention Economy: Understanding the New Currency of Business" (Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2001 );
2. C. Bouquet, "Building Global Mindsets: An Attention-Based Perspective" (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005);
3. W. Ocasio, "Towards an Attention-Based View of the Firm," Strategic Management Journal 18, special issue (Dec. 4, 1998): 187-206;
4. and M.T. Hansen and M.R. Haas, "Competing For Attention in Knowledge Markets: Electronic Document Dissemination in a Management Consulting Company," Administrative Science Quarterly 46, no. 1 (March 2001): 1-28.
5. See A.M. Rugman and A. Verbeke, "Subsidiary-Specific Advantages in Multinational Enterprises," Strategic Management Journal 22, no. 3 (January 2001): 237-250.
6. U. Spiesshofer, "Managing the Balance: A Global Player's Perspective On Institutional Change" (keynote address at the 26th Annual Conference of the Strategic Management Society, Vienna, Austria, Oct. 30, 2006).
7. See J.M. Birkinshaw and N. Fry, "Subsidiary Initiative to Develop New Markets," Sloan Management Review 39, no. 3 (spring 1998): 51-61.
8. Interestingly, a poor track record is also conducive to getting attention, but not the type of attention that subsidiary managers feel is most conducive to creating the right set of conditions for the subsidiary to develop in the future. 3M Co., for instance, recently reacted to the disappointing results of its Canadian subsidiary by almost completely replacing the local management structure. Four out of five VPs were let go; the Canadian CEO who completed our survey was moved to a lesser position in the United States; and a substantial number of middle-level managers ended up being replaced.
9. J. Immelt (untitled presentation at Electrical Products Group conference, Long Boat Keys, Florida, May 24, 2006).
10. See C.A. Bartlett and S. Ghoshal, "Tap Your Subsidiaries For Global Reach," Harvard Business Review 64, no. 6 (November 1986): 87-94.