Does the Managerial Imagination play a role in choosing the location of Multinational Companies Regional Headquarters?

Nicholas Perdikis, Michael Savvas

Abstract


This paper proposes that the managerial imagination should be considered as a fundamental determinant of the location of a multinational company’s regional headquarters. The paper surveys the literature on the determinants of multinationals’ locational choice for regional headquarters and the role of the managerial imagination in company strategic decision making. It then develops a model, based on contingency theory, which outlines how locational choices are influenced by the managerial imagination. The model does this by incorporating it into decision making. The managerial imagination plays an important role in the decision making process by bringing congruence or harmony or alignment amongst several possibly conflicting decision variables. In this way the managerial imagination plays a central role in strategic decision making within the company and in particular in deciding the location of regional headquarters.


Keywords


Managerial imagination; Multinational companies; Regional headquarters; Decision making; Strategic thinking

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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3968/12382

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