Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
  • Publication
    Combinations of Mechanisms for an Effective Global Integration of Business Processes within Multinational Companies
    (European Operations Management Association, 2015-06-29)
    Multinational company theory broadly considers mechanisms for global integration of headquarters-subsidiaries relationships. But only few studies analyze mechanisms for individual global integration of firms' components and adopt a systems approach to examine multiple mechanisms simultaneously with different levels of intensity. In this research we derive hypotheses on an ideal combination of centralization-based, formalization-based, people-based, and information-based mechanisms for each of eight supply chain business processes. Based on organization theory we argue that the combination of integration mechanisms used to individually integrate a given business process globally has to fit with the conditions of that process to positively affect corporate performance.
  • Publication
    Adding the Perspective of Process Integration to the Bartlett and Ghoshal Typology of Multinational Companies
    (Academy of Management, 2014-08-01) ; ;
    Goerzen, Anthony
    Our current understanding of MNC organization has traditionally focused on the hierarchical interdependence between headquarters and subsidiaries. Yet, the pressure caused by globalizing markets and the rise of emerging market MNCs has forced all MNCs to escalate their search for ways to add value and to reduce costs. This effort has pushed firms to go beyond headquarter subsidiary integration, aligning multiple business functions and their typically interdependent activities through cross-functional integration along business processes. In this paper, we argue that the horizontal process organization is a distinct key component of any MNC's organizational structure, requiring equal consideration beyond the hierarchical structural organization perspective established in the integration responsiveness (IR) framework used to create typologies of MNCs' international strategy and structure (Bartlett and Ghoshal, 1987; Prahalad and Doz, 1987). To describe MNCs in a more meaningful way, one should consider not only the hierarchical interdependence between headquarters and subsidiaries but also the cross functional integration along business processes. We combine the literature on MNC's organizational structure in international business with the operations management literature on process organization to develop an extended integration framework. We then hypothesize eight typologies of MNCs and discuss respective examples from business practice. We conclude that the traditional focus on headquarter-subsidiary integration in the IR framework ignores a substantial variance among MNCs that could be better accounted for by considering MNCs' integration of business functions along their business processes.
  • Publication
    An Empirical Analysis and Extension of Factors Driving Global Integration of Business Processes Within MNCs
    (Strategic Management Society Press, 2015-05-30) ; ;
    Goerzen, Anthony
    Previous work has generally viewed multinational companies as a group of monolithic units that can be characterized in a uniform way (i.e., either integrated or responsive). Environmental and industrial factors that facilitate global integration of these headquarters-subsidiaries relationships are extensively studied. Our research, in contrast, decomposes firms into their business processes. Bridging literature on business process orientation, we hypothesize that (1) global integration and (2) cross-functional integration of business functions that perform activities of the processes (i.e., intra-company factors) and (3) customers and (4) suppliers that pursue the processes along value chains (i.e., intercompany factors) significantly affect global integration of similar business processes among geographically dispersed subsidiaries. A large-scale sample of multinational companies, headquartered in North America, Europe, and Asia should provide evidence.