Multinational corporations are the most significant busines institutions to emerge in the last century. The hundreds of thousands of subsidiaries that they have spawned have immense influence on all aspects of contemporary life, from telecommunications and toys to pharmaceuticals and forests. In the global business environment, new organizational forms appear almost daily but in most modern multinational corporations the headquarters-subsidiary link remains the primary channel by which the enterprise is managed. It smoothes the progress of inter-unit product, personnel, financial and knowledge flows of every kind and is the conduit through which strategy, control and coordination are implemented. Using data from senior managers of a large sample of Australian subsidiaries of foreign firms, this book brings new practical and theoretical insights into the nature of this vital corporate relationship.