AN ANALYSIS OF THE ROLE OF THE HEADQUARTERS AND SUBSIDIARIES OF NIGERIAN-BASED MULTINATIONALS IN PROMOTIONAL DECISIONS By GABRIEL A. OKWANDU, Ph.D Department of Business Administration Rivers State University of Science and Technology Port Harcourt And NKESE ANTHONY-UMOREN (Mrs.) Eleme Petrochemicals Company, Port Harcourt ABSTRACT This study sought to determine the roles of the headquarters and subsidiaries of multinational corporations in Nigeria in promotional decisions. Senior Marketing executives of twelve subsidiaries of multinational firms participated in the study and responded to the questionnaire. It was found, among other things, that the Nigerian subsidiary offices dominated promotional decisions in the respondent firms. In some cases, decisions were jointly made by the headquarters and the subsidiary offices. It was also found that participation in promotional decision making by the two levels of corporate governance was not significantly affected by promotional decision area. Based on the findings of this study and background information provided by the literature, coupled with socio-cultural, legal and economic imperatives, it was recommended that corporate management should embrace the current trend in promotional strategy. INTRODUCTION Discussions about the appropriate roles of headquarters and subsidiary managers of multinationals in decision making have occupied both businessmen and theorists for quite some time, and have been particularly heated in the marketing field. Views diverge widely on the degree of autonomy that should be given to the personnel of foreign subsidiaries and the extent to which headquarters should become involved in making local marketing decisions. Underlying these differing viewpoints are certain basic premises about the nature of consumers around the world and about the transferability of marketing Nigerian Journal of Management Sciences Vol. IV, No.2 (December) 2003 1