Purpose – The current paper seeks to analyze to what degree theories from different fields of social science are able to explain the home‐region orientation of MNCs. This is necessary since there has been only a relatively narrow, economics‐oriented explanation for such an orientation....

According to existing theory, MNCs with matrix structures are supposed to have more intra-organizational conflict than non-matrix firms. The present study uses a sample of 82 German MNCs to evaluate and reject this general hypothesis. Only MNCs with a product division by geographical region...

This book describes the use of matrix structures in large, complex organizations such as MNCs. Using an information-processing perspective of organization design, it develops a more comprehensive theory for fitting the structural configurations of matrix structures to key characteristics of firm...

Purpose This chapter investigates whether traditional design-oriented coordination instruments or more modern management concepts have a stronger influence on the success of forward technology transfers within MNCs. Design/methodology/approach We conducted an empirical study analyzing the...

Purpose – The purpose of this conceptual chapter is to discuss the limitations of the network organization in multinational corporations (MNCs). Since many IB/IM publications concentrate on the advantages of this organizational form, the focus of the chapter is on identifying the limitations...

The role of HQ in the contemporary MNC has recently received a good deal of research attention. This article argues that the contemporary MNC requires an organizational model that can embrace different perspectives of the HQ role. The same HQ must at times hierarchically lead the firm and at...

This article contrasts traditional models of MNE organizational design against newer models, represented by transnationalism and heterarchy. The important characteristics are fundamentally different. Traditional models tend to be models of equilibrium, while the newer models are largely models...

International strategies and the organizational designs of multinational corporations are in a period of transition; the dominant designs of the recent past are gone and new dominant designs have not yet emerged. This authoritative collection of articles by leading international scholars...