| Summary: | The paper explores the following three areas: how multinational corporations (MNCs) manage the implementation of D&I initiatives within their subsidiaries, the challenges they face due to cultural and institutional differences, and the views of the Singapore society towards D&I and the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community.
45 members of the external stakeholders, comprising of clients, customers and potential talent, were interviewed to find out their views on D&I initiatives implemented by the subsidiaries of MNCs in Singapore. This was to also provide a basis for the interviews with the internal stakeholders. The findings showed that the majority of respondents were benign to financial institutions supporting the LGBT community.
10 subsidiary managers from the banking and finance industry were also interviewed to look into how perspectives, local culture and institutional environment have impacted the decisions on LGBT-related D&I initiatives. The findings showed that culture and the institutional environment have a stronger influence on the subsidiary managers as compared to the perspectives of Singaporeans. The findings also revealed that accounting firms were more cautious towards LGBT-related D&I initiatives due to organisational culture whereas investments banks that had more independence and tighter ties to global headquarters (HQ) were able to implement more LGBT-related D&I initiatives. Global banks with a strong retail presence fell in the middle of the spectrum and were hampered by the conflict between the initiatives of global HQ and the local environment. The key managerial implication of this study is to provide organisations with information that will enable them to enhance their existing D&I initiatives.
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