In an era of polycrisis, lead firms play a pivotal role in maintaining productivity and stability across global production networks (GPNs). This study examines the resilience strategies employed in response to external uncertainties and disruptions that constitute the polycrisis. Our conceptual framework integrates GPN and operations management perspectives, capturing both internal and external drivers of strategic decision-making. Empirically, we apply a survey of Danish manufacturing firms to identify the nature of these strategic choices. Most firms are affected by the polycrisis and take precautions through expanding business intelligence and early warning systems. Findings reveal a preference for cautious strategies involving modest changes, such as buffer and scanning, over more radical and costly options, like redundancy and supplier flexibility, which involve changes to the firm's global configuration. This research offers empirical insights into firm-level strategizing and implications for GPN governance.

We analyze the complexity of virtual expatriation and the conflicting requirements it imposes for engaging employees remotely. Virtual expatriates must supervise and control remote employees while also fostering shared values and encouraging their engagement, but without the benefit of co-location, which has traditionally been assumed to be the reason for expatriation. Thus, the expatriate’s physical and psychological detachment from the supervised employees challenges the fulfillment of these functions. How can they lead, control, and facilitate engagement virtually? It calls for a leadership style that is more aware of this dilemma and its different manifestations across cultural contexts. We draw on Social Exchange Theory and examine the role of ambidextrous leadership (that combines fostering creativity and experimentation with providing guidance and monitoring) in promoting employee engagement. Moreover, we examine whether cultural intelligence, communication effectiveness, and interaction frequency might reinforce the positive relationship between ambidextrous leadership and employee engagement. Our empirical setting is the shipping and logistics MNC, Maersk, where we collect quantitative and qualitative data from employees whose supervisors are virtual expatriates, as well as from the virtual expatriates themselves. Our findings suggest that virtual expatriates need a more complex leadership style to engage employees from a distance, one that, in a flexible manner, combines opening and closing behaviors. Additionally, our results indicate that such engagement is strengthened among ambidextrous leaders who behave in a culturally intelligent way and who maintain frequent interactions with employees. Communicating effectively is a direct predictor of the employees' engagement, rather than a boundary condition.

Abstract Research Summary The geopolitical turmoil of recent decades has heightened uncertainty for multinational enterprises and raised the question whether foundational theories in global strategy retain explanatory power. This article frames a Point‐Counterpoint addressing this question. We situate the debate in the field's reflection on the timeliness of global strategy theories, examine seven foundational theories, and introduce the FACTs about theorizing on global strategy amid geopolitical tensions: four changing contextual conditions around state intervention, which is now Fast and Active, unfolds through distinct Channels, and pursues precise strategic Targets. While the Point suggests that geopolitics requires a major rethinking of existing theory, and the Counterpoint argues existing theories remain valid, we take a third path and offer FACTs as a roadmap for extending existing theories in the field. Managerial Summary Recent geopolitical upheavals are reshaping the environment for multinational enterprises. This article frames an ongoing debate on whether the foundational theories of global strategy still apply and proposes the FACTs of state intervention framework to help managers navigate the new context. State intervention has become Fast, Active (states as strategic players, not just rule‐setters), operating through subtle Channels beyond formal regulation, and pursuing precise Targets in strategic sectors. For managers, this means political feasibility increasingly overrides economic efficiency in entry decisions; reputation and Environmental Social and Governance considerations reshape make‐or‐buy choices; conflicting jurisdictional demands constrain global architecture; digitalization questions the need for physical foreign assets; and within‐country subcultures matter more than national averages. Global strategy can help managers reassess their strategies built on assumptions of an integrated, rule‐based, efficiency‐oriented world order, and prepare for fragmented, security‐driven competition.

Purpose This paper aims to examine employees’ adoption of knowledge sourced from other multinational company (MNC) units. From a contingent approach, it analyzes how the fit between the integration mechanisms directed toward the MNC units (i.e. centralization, formalization and socialization) and three knowledge governance mechanisms directed toward the employees (incentives, networks and information and communication technology systems) affects knowledge adoption from other organizational units. Design/methodology/approach Within one MNC, a multilevel model was developed and tested on 341 individuals nested in 70 departments worldwide. Two sources of information were used: the employees’ survey provided information on knowledge adoption and the applied knowledge governance mechanisms, and the department managers’ survey provided information about the integration mechanisms at the corporate level. Findings The results confirm that integration mechanisms by themselves have no direct effects on knowledge adoption, but they influence the context where this process occurs by affecting the contextual conditions of ambiguity, uncertainty and flexibility. The applied knowledge governance mechanisms will only lead to increased knowledge adoption if a fit exists between the integration and knowledge governance mechanisms. Originality/value While much of the knowledge-based view literature has focused on MNCs’ transfer of knowledge across units, this study focuses on the effective adoption or use of the transferred knowledge, known as knowledge effectiveness. In addition, this study adopts multilevel modeling and contributes to the knowledge governance approach by showing that the effectiveness of knowledge governance mechanisms is contingent on their fit or misfit with the integration mechanisms applied at the corporate level.

Purpose This study aims to explore means for promoting local and global innovation, where two mechanisms play a key role: R&D investments and training. The authors suggest that, given their different purposes, R&D investments and training moderate the relationships between knowledge sourcing and both local and global innovation in different ways. Design/methodology/approach The authors test the hypotheses on a sample of multinational corporations (MNCs) (headquarters of Brazilian multinationals and subsidiaries of foreign multinationals) operating in Brazil, an emerging market. Respondent companies were sourced from the Bovespa Stock Exchange list and a local Best Companies Ranking. Roughly 1,000 companies were invited to participate in an annual survey over an eight-year period (2012–2019) via an online questionnaire. The final sample comprises 108 observations from 87 companies. Hypotheses were tested using a hierarchical linear model in the software R. By measuring the variables at two points in time with a five-year gap, the authors can infer cause and effect relationships. Findings The results confirm all of the hypotheses. R&D investments positively moderate the relationship between knowledge sourcing and local innovation (H1) and negatively moderate the relationship between knowledge sourcing and global innovation (H2). Training has a positive moderating effect on the relationship between knowledge sourcing and global innovation (H3) and a negative moderating effect on the relationship between knowledge sourcing and local innovation (H4). Practical implications No one practice can enhance the effect of knowledge sourcing on both local innovation and global innovation. Firms looking to foster local innovation should concentrate on increasing R&D investments, while firms wishing to foster global innovation should focus on providing training to their employees. Originality/value This study contributes to the literature by discussing the particularities of local and global innovation and exploring mechanisms (i.e. R&D investments and training) that can foster or hinder local and global innovation. The authors advance the extant literature on location choices for R&D activities by exploring the mechanisms that affect the type of market targeted by such innovation (local or global), thereby addressing calls for more studies on how local knowledge activities affect overall MNC innovation. The authors also respond to calls for more studies on the role of human resource management (HRM) practices, such as training, in fostering innovation, especially in emerging markets.

Objective: Early and accurate diagnosis of prostate cancer (PC) is crucial for effective treatment. Diagnosing clinically insignificant cancers can lead to overdiagnosis and overtreatment, highlighting the importance of accurately selecting patients for further evaluation based on improved risk prediction tools. Novel biomarkers offer promise for enhancing this diagnostic process. In this study, we aimed to externally validate a previously developed urine and plasma biomarker test in a biopsy-naïve population. Materials and methods: Urine and blood samples were prospectively collected from 362 biopsy-naïve men with suspected PC before they underwent transrectal prostate biopsies. The expression levels of a 10-gene mRNA panel were quantified using reverse transcription/quantitative polymerase chain reaction of both urine and plasma. These gene expression levels, combined with clinical features and plasma prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels, were used to predict the presence of International Society of Urological Pathology grade group ≥ 2 PC. Results: Complete data were available for 314 patients. The sensitivity and specificity of the biomarker test were 87% (95% CI: 79–93%) and 42% (95% CI: 36–49%), respectively. The area under the curve was 0.76 (95% CI: 0.7–0.82) for the biomarker test probability and 0.65 (95% CI: 0.59–0.72) for PSA (p = 0.02). The test’s negative predictive value was 89% (CI: 81–94%). Conclusion: This study did not replicate the previously reported high accuracy of the biomarker test, highlighting the need for further refinement and robust external validation to ensure reliable performance across diverse patient populations.

This paper analyzes how MNCs’ intermediate units—those that exercise authority over other subsidiaries—apply specific control mechanisms: centralization, formalization, outcome control, and socialization. We combine agency and network theory to explain how intermediate units’ dual agency role—as both principal and agent— and their network embeddedness form the choice of control mechanisms. More specifically, we propose hypotheses on how the intermediate units’ internal and external relationships determine their choice of control mechanism. We study this issue in the context of Spanish intermediate units —owned by European MNCs— that exercise authority over subsidiaries in Latin America.

Research SummaryNew technology plays a key role in shaping the global strategy of the MNC. We propose a perspective on how and why a novel technological development-blockchain technology-and its relevant applications affect the global strategy of the MNC. We focus on the trade-offs associated with cryptocurrencies, smart contracts, and blockchain data, and provide several real-world examples. While cryptocurrencies could lower financial costs and broaden consumers' payment options, they require new investments in cybersecurity and payment infrastructure. Smart contracts could increase trust in collaboration due to their automated, transparent, and inflexible rules, but their rigidity can harm collaboration. Finally, while blockchain data can enhance the MNC's analytics capabilities, it can also jeopardize consumer privacy.Managerial SummaryIs blockchain technology all hype or a useful advancement for global firms? We propose that this technology has merits and drawbacks for financial transactions, collaboration, and data analytics. Cryptocurrencies have stolen the headlines and several leading organizations have already added them as payment methods. Their merits include lower transaction fees, better security, and higher speed, but they require expensive infrastructure and carry a stigma. Smart contracts can streamline agreements between parties but lack the flexibility that global firms need when interacting with suppliers and partners. Novel blockchain data can be plugged into marketing dashboards but can also threaten consumer privacy. Overall, the jury is still out on the role of blockchain technology for global firms.

This research explores the potential of supervised machine learning techniques in transforming raw data into strategic knowledge in the context of human resource management. By analyzing a database with over 205 variables and 2,932 observations related to a telco multinational corporation, this study tests the predictive and analytical power of classification decision trees in detecting the determinants of voluntary employee turnover. The results show the determinants of groups of employees who may voluntarily leave the company, highlighting the level of analytical depth of the classification tree. This study contributes to the field of human resource management by highlighting the strategic value of the classification decision tree in identifying the characteristics of groups of employees with a high propensity to voluntarily leave the firm. As practical implication, our study provides an approach that any organization can use to self-assess its own turnover risk and develop tailored retention practices.

Research summary:International alliances facilitate learning among firms by providing access to knowledge embedded in different countries, yet we do not know how the partnering firms' distinct national contexts shape their learning in alliances. This study brings together research on learning in alliances and research on national innovation systems to examine how innovation policies in the respective home countries of the focal firms and their partners can increase the effectiveness of knowledge acquisition in alliances. Our analyses indicate that supply-side innovation policies in the focal firms' home countries and demand-side policies in their partners' home countries increase the focal firms' knowledge acquisition from their partners.Managerial summary: Firms engaging in alliances should consider their national innovation system as a strategic resource they can leverage not only to improve their own knowledge sourcing but also to become a more attractive partner in international alliances, potentially opening opportunities for engaging in reciprocal knowledge exchange. Managers can expect more learning opportunities when allying with foreign partners from countries with innovation policies that stimulate public technology purchasing or encourage public-private R&D collaboration. In turn, managers of firms from countries with innovation policies that provide funding and talent for R&D can capitalize on these resources to improve their firms' knowledge acquisition from foreign partners.

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The influence of disruptive events (i.e. external events that are unforeseen and/or unwanted) on companies' global value chains has increased. In this chapter, we discuss how increasing turbulence in the external environment creates different forms of disruption for companies and how these are related to the international organization and geographical dispersion of companies and their value chains. We conclude with reflections on possible strategies and actions companies can adopt to become less vulnerable and more resilient. Overall, resilience denotes a capability that enables the company to operate in a turbulent global business environment. We distinguish resilience into three different phases and strategies that include respectively a pro-active phase with a readiness strategy, an absorptive phase with a response strategy, and a re-active phase with a recovery strategy. Theoretically, we suggest dynamic capabilities theory as a promising perspective to guide future research on global value chain resilience.

Decision makers switch between analytical-rational and intuitive-experiential approaches to decision making, a phenomenon termed “cognitive gear switching.” Such switching is crucial for decision making in any organization. However, how decision makers switch between the intuitive-experiential and analytical-rational approaches, the interplay between these approaches and contextual factors remains poorly understood. We study this in the context of decisions made in ongoing product-development projects, where we distinguish between the decision-making behavior of project managers and other project members. We show that project managers are more likely to switch decision-making approaches when faced with project uncertainty and, in such cases, to favor the analytical-rational approach. As such, we define project managers as “conditional cognitive switchers” and the strategy used as “rationally stepping up.”

Electronic health records (EHR) of large populations constitute a vast untapped resource for data-driven diagnosis and disease progression. We develop a model capable of predicting future steps in a patient’s journey for prostate cancer (PC) and its metastases without relying on direct biomarker-measurements on a set of $18\,529$ EHR. To this end, we 1) harmonise EHR without presumptions–events are sorted and grouped by fundamental a priori principles; 2) develop a new Long-Short-Term Memory (LSTM) recurrent neural network node for learning temporal relations, on which we build an autoencoder based model; 3) derive a graph representation based on unsupervised $k$ -means clustering of events related to PC in the autoencoder’s latent layer. We report $88 {\%}$ predicting accuracy for the targeted metastasis-related events, and lower accuracies for more general events. The model gains interpretability with a graph representation illustrating the patient journey. Most importantly, we predict that $20 {\%}$ of all PC diagnosed patients will progress into metastatic disease one visit ahead of time. For the remaining patients we can predict the next step in their journey. We conclude that the model based on the new LSTM node provides a valuable tool for earlier diagnosis of life threatening metastases and quality assurance of the procedure.

International alliances facilitate learning among firms by providing access to complementary knowledge embedded in different countries, yet we do not know how the partnering firms' distinct national contexts shape their learning in alliances. This study brings together research on learning in alliances and research on national innovation systems to examine how innovation policies in the respective home countries of the focal firms and their partners can increase the effectiveness of knowledge acquisition in alliances. Our analyses indicate that supply-side innovation policies in the focal firms’ home countries and demand-side policies in their partners’ home countries increase the focal firms’ knowledge acquisition from their partners.

Research Summary While multi-project work (MPW) is becoming an increasingly popular work arrangement, its relationship with project performance is understudied. On the one hand, MPW is deployed to increase employee worktime utilization and productivity, which should be reflected in more timely project completion. On the other hand, MPW also brings switching costs due to attention residue and cognitive setup. Based on this trade-off, we derive an inverted U-shaped relationship between MPW and project performance. We find support for this relationship in a longitudinal dataset containing 9,649 project-month-employee observations. More specialized experience, project similarity, and employee familiarity positively moderate the inverted U-shape. Furthermore, the results are robust to a host of model specifications, data structures, assumptions, and alternative explanations. Managerial Summary How many projects can you work on simultaneously? We study this question in the context of new product development (NPD) projects in a multinational organization. We suggest that multi-project work (MPW) might be a double-edged sword. On the one hand, MPW academics or engineers can be more productive by filling the gaps in their schedules and developing time management practices. On the other hand, MPW also carries switching costs. This trade-off creates an inverted U-shaped relationship between MPW and project performance. So, how can MPW be more beneficial or less costly? We find that more specialized employees can benefit more from productivity gains while working with familiar members or similar projects can alleviate switching costs.