The Global Strategy Journal Best Paper Prize

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The article by Dónal O’Brien, Pamela Sharkey Scott, Ulf Andersson, Tina Ambos and Na Fu, “The Microfoundations of Subsidiary Initiatives: How Subsidiary Manager Activities Unlock Entrepreneurship” (2019), receives the GSJ Best Paper Award.  Drawing on microfoundations and middle-management theory, the article opens the black box between subsidiary entrepreneurial orientation and initiative realization, showing that this link is not automatic but depends on what subsidiary managers do. Using multilevel mediation analysis, the study shows that subsidiary managers mobilize subsidiary entrepreneurial orientation through two distinct pathways: “downward”, by facilitating subsidiary adaptability, and “horizontally” by enabling embeddedness in the local environment. By locating agency within the subsidiary manager rather than at the organizational level alone, O’Brien and colleagues offer a granular account of how entrepreneurship translates into realized initiatives, advancing microfoundational thinking and setting a benchmark for research on subsidiary management in global strategy, and offering a distinctive manager-level mechanism for international entrepreneurship within multinational enterprises.

About the Recipients: 

Dónal O’Brien is a Senior Lecturer in Strategic Management and Global Strategy in the School of Management, People and Organisation at Technological University Dublin, Ireland. He is Chair of the University’s Executive MBA programme and a Senior Fellow of Advance HE. He also represents TU Dublin on the Council of the Irish Academy of Management. His research examines strategy, organisational learning and entrepreneurship in complex international organisations, with particular interests in subsidiary strategy, microfoundations and managerial capability development. This work has been supported by national and international organisations and funding agencies. Working with collaborators in Ireland and internationally, he has published in leading journals in strategy and international business, including the Global Strategy Journal and the Journal of World Business. His scholarship has received national and international awards. Dónal’s work contributes to scholarship on how managers and organisations develop strategic capabilities and respond to complexity in international business contexts.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/donal-o-brien-84572847/
Pamela Sharkey Scott is a Professor of Strategy & International Business at Dublin City University, Pamela Sharkey Scott is a leading international scholar of subsidiaries of multinational enterprises. Her research concerns how subsidiaries and their leaders can contribute to their parent organization. Pamela’s research is published in the world’s premier journals in her discipline, including Global Strategy Journal, Journal of World Business, Journal of Management Studies and Journal of International Business Studies. Her work, has been nominated and awarded by leading international bodies including the Strategic Management Society. She serves on the editorial board of Global Strategy Journal. Combined with her previous corporate career, Pamela has a rich practical experience and a deep understanding of the behavioural, financial and strategic underpinnings of management and leadership within multinational enterprises. Pamela is a committed academic leader who contributes at the highest level to her staff, PhD Scholars and students, School, University, Research and Enterprise Community. She works with national institutions as an expert witness in major proceedings, and as a member of international institutional boards.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/pamela-sharkey-scott-82b8989/
Ulf Andersson is Professor of Business Studies at Mälardalen University. He is a Fellow of the Academy of International Business and the European International Business Academy. Ulf is since 2017 Senior Editor for Journal of World Business. Before he acted as an Area Editor for Journal of International Business Studies 2011 – 2016. His research mainly focuses on subsidiary embeddedness, subsidiary strategy, HQ – subsidiary relations, and network theory. He has published over 100 articles, book sections, and books in among others Global Strategy Journal, Strategic Management Journal, Journal of International Business Studies, Journal of World Business, and International Business Review.

https://www.mdu.se/en/malardalen-university/staff?id=ulf.r.andersson

Tina Ambos is Professor of International Management and Vice-Dean for Societal Impact at the Geneva School of Economics and Management (GSEM) of the University of Geneva, Switzerland. She is also the Director of the Geneva Research Lab for Digital Impact, a partnership with UNICEF. Her research and teaching interests include global strategic management and innovation in the context of multinational corporations, technology start-ups and international (non-for-profit) organizations. She received a Ph.D. from WU Vienna.

Na Fu is Professor of Responsible Leadership and Fellow at Trinity College Dublin, and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). Her research focuses on the future of work, examining how people, technology, and organisations evolve together in response to technological and societal change. Professor Fu has published extensively in leading international journals and has secured over €11 million in competitive research funding. She leads and contributes to major European research initiatives on advanced digital skills, AI adoption, digital transformation, and the future of work, including LEADS, LEADSx2030, TechConnect, and WOTAM. As Founder and Director of the Trinity AI XR Hub, Professor Fu pioneers innovative approaches to developing responsible leadership, advanced digital capabilities, and human–technology skill complementarity through AI and immersive technologies. Professor Fu has established a global academic–industry network spanning Europe, North America, Australia, Asia, and the United Arab Emirates, fostering interdisciplinary research and international collaboration. Her work is driven by a deep commitment to shaping a future of work that is productive, inclusive, and socially responsible.