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Within contemporary research on the multinational corporation (MNC), the topic of headquarters' involvement has grown considerably in importance. As the central organisational unit in the MNC, headquarters has the potential to add value to the firm by performing an administrative and entrepreneurial role. While the administrative role concerns synergetic coordination and control activities, the entrepreneurial role pertains to developing and implementing new innovations such as management innovations at the corporate-wide level.

Existing literature has generated valuable insights into headquarters' administrative and entrepreneurial role and the potential to create value for the MNC. However, more research is needed on how headquarters can advantageously involve itself and integrate subsidiaries to ensure that their activities are aligned with the MNC strategy without impinging upon subsidiaries' autonomy and without incurring their resistance to headquarters' coordination, control, and innovation activities.