Emerging Capabilities in Manufacturing Companies: a New Taxonomy of Company's Transformations

The international community has reported anincreasing flow of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). Countries attract FDI according to their potential based on location's competitive advantages. Within developing nations, those with rich natural resourcesused to be highly sought after; however, FDI flow rationale changed from seeking location inherent advantages to those reflecting developed capabilities and market opportunities. This can beseen in the emergence of countries such as Singapore and China. This book explores the above phenomenon and aim to answer the question of how can subsidiaries upgrade their roles to support their corporations and the local economy? After exploringcases reporting shift from Mexico to China, the research concentrates on the evolution of VW Group. The research outputs are: a New Taxonomy of Company Transformations which aims to describe how subsidiaries of modern MNEs influence corporate growth; Definitions for Plant & Subsidiaries, and anInternationalization & Subsidiary Typology that explain the roles that plants/subsidiaries are able to play for the network rather than the classic view of what the network pursue through them.