Introduction to International Corporate Structures
/// Filed in: MNEs
The
typology of international corporate structures is primarily based
on the global integration/local responsiveness framework. Bartlett,
Ghosahl, Prahalad, Stopford, Teece, Yip, Doz, and other scholars in
international management have traditionally categorized the
international corporate structure of multinational enterprises
(MNEs) according to four possible models: international exporter,
multidomestic, and --more recently-- transnational
(Bartlett.88,Bartlett.87,Bartlett.87b,,Bartlett.92,94,Yip.91,Yip.91a,Yip.00}).
These traditional organizational models of MNEs occupy well-defined
positions in the global standardization/local adaptation matrix and
are useful idealizations to describe and capture the most salient
characteristics of each of the different organizational structures
traditionally adopted by MNEs. In this paper we review the
traditional organizational models for multinational enterprises
(MNEs), discuss their usefulness as ideal models to study the
possible organizational structures of MNEs according to the global
integration/local responsiveness framework, and point out some of
their limitations as accurate characterizations of modern
MNEs.