Content
Prof. Rebecca Piekkari (Aalto University School of Business)
- Date: calender week 9, 2026
- Time: tbc
- Location: tbc
- Title: Corporate headquarters’ buildings as a control and coordination mechanism: A symbolic approach
- Abstract: The study of control and coordination mechanisms has a long tradition in International Management research. However, the physical building of corporate headquarters, which is infused with meaning and serves as a symbolic resource of control and coordination in the hands of corporate management, has been overlooked. We theorize the corporate headquarters building as a mechanism that we call ‘symbolic spatial control’ – a concept that sits at the intersection of two streams of research: control and control mechanisms in multinational corporations and research on space and aestheticization of the workplace in organization and management studies. Rather than perceiving buildings as passive containers of organizational life, we attribute agency to them by asking the following research question: how are corporate headquarters buildings used as mechanisms of symbolic spatial control in contemporary multinational corporations? Our case study examines three highly visible landmark buildings recently constructed in the Helsinki metropolitan area, Finland. We demonstrate how corporate headquarters are utilized to craft desired corporate identities and strengthen employee engagement. We initiate a conversation in International Management by arguing that corporate headquarters buildings provide senior management with symbolic resources to exert spatial control with a global reach.
Service
