MNC SUBSIDIARY STAFFING ARCHITECTURE: BUILDING HUMAN AND SOCIAL CAPITAL WITHIN THE ORGANIZATION
Kristiina Mäkelä, Dr., Swedish School of Economics and Business Administration, Finland
Ingmar Björkman, Professor, Swedish School of Economics and Business Administration, Finland
Mats Ehrnrooth, Dr., Swedish School of Economics and Business Administration, Finland

Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to explore human and social capital –related advantages and disadvantages associated with four archetypes of subsidiary staffing. We suggest that each of the archetypes (local-internal, local-external, global-internal, and global-external) can fulfill different needs in managing knowledge stocks and flows within the MNC. The local-internal archetype may carry a dual role in both exploiting existing knowledge stocks in their local markets and transferring market knowledge to the headquarters, through the co-existence of a high level of market knowledge and external social capital combined with at least some degree of MNC-specific knowledge and social capital. The local-external archetype, in turn, can play a valuable role in the exploration of new non-redundant knowledge. The global-internal archetype serves a key function in transferring knowledge and best practices from the headquarters to the subsidiaries. Lastly, the global-external archetype seems to have limited human- and social–capital related advantages.
Keywords: staffing, human capital, social capital, knowledge