Abstract
-
This paper proposes a new model of the multinational firm, the Global Multi-business Firm (GMBF), with strategic foci on resource assembly and organizational animation. The demands of technology, globalization of customers, and competitive evolution do not permit haphazard local pursuit of either markets or capabilities, but require the GMBF to offer a broad global, multi-business perspective.
-
The headquarters has a newly delicate, complex yet limited role of providing a global approach to strategic management. At the same time, the headquarters cannot hold tightly to its units, lest they become trapped in “managing for the last struggle”, rather than the future. We summarize this challenge as “command without control”.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
By ‘democratized’, we mean that the sense of an organizing logic based on central command and control has been replaced by an organizing logic in which individual units and their managers have a real voice in strategic decisions, based on the markets that they experience, the assets that they have available, and the network ties that they have built in both their local environments and with their peers within the multinational firm.
References
Bartlett, C. A., & Ghoshal, S. (1989). Managing across borders: The transnational solution. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
Buckley, P. J., & Casson, M. (1976). The future of the multinational enterprise. London: MacMillan.
Doz, Y. L., Williamson, P., & Santos, J. (2001). The metanational. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
Florida, R. (2005). The world is spiky. The Atlantic Monthly, 2005(October), 48–51.
Friedman, T. L. (2004). The world is flat: A brief history of the twenty-first century. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux.
Ghemawat, P. (1991). Commitment: The dynamic of strategy. New York: Simon and Shuster.
Ghoshal, S., & Nohria, N. (1989). Internal differentiation within multinational corporations. Strategic Management Journal, 10(4), 323–337.
Goerzen, A. (2007). Global cities and multinational corporation investment. In S. Tallman (Ed.), A new generation in international strategic management (pp. 229–244). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
Hamel, G., & Prahalad, C. K. (1985). Do you really have a global strategy? Harvard Business Review, 63(4), 139–148.
Hedlund, G. (1986). The hypermodern MNC—A heterarchy? Human Resource Management, 25(1), 9–25.
Hill, C. W. L. (2007). International business (6th ed.). Boston: McGraw-Hill Irwin.
Kogut, B., & Zander, U. (1992). Knowledge of the firm, combinative capabilities, and the replication of technology. Organization Science, 3(3), 383–397.
Kogut, B., & Zander, U. (1993). Knowledge of the firm and the evolutionary theory of the multinational corporation. Journal of International Business Studies, 24(4), 625–645.
Koza, M. P. (2001). Nexia international. In J. de la Torre & Y. Doz (Eds.), Managing the global corporation. Boston: McGraw Hill.
Levitt, T. (1983). The globalization of markets. Harvard Business Review, 61(3), 92–102.
Lewin, A., & Koza, M. P. (1999). How to manage in times of disorder. Financial Times, Mastering Strategy Series, 22. Nov. 1999.
Nohria, N., & Ghoshal, S. (1997). The differentiated network: Organizing the multinational corporation for value creation. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Ohmae, K. (1985). Triad power: The coming shape of global competition. New York: Free Press.
Porter, M. E. (1986). Changing patterns of international competition. California Management Review, 28(2), 9–40.
Rugman, A. M. (2000). The end of globalization. London: Random House Business Books.
Rugman, A. M. (2005). The regional multinationals: MNEs and “global” strategic management. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Tallman, S. (2004). John Dunning’s eclectic model and the beginnings of global strategy. In J. Cheng & M. Hitt (Eds.), Managing multinationals in a knowledge economy, advances in international management (15th ed., pp. 43–55). Oxford: Elsevier.
Tallman, S., & Fladmoe-Lindquist, K. (2002). Internationalization, globalization, and capability-based strategy. California Management Review, 45(1), 116–135.
Tallman, S., Jenkins, M., Henry, N., & Pinch, S. (2004). Knowledge clusters and competitive advantage. Academy of Management Review, 29(2), 258–271.
Tong, T. W., & Reuer, J. J. (2007). Real options in multinational corporations: Organizational challenges and risk implications. Journal of International Business Studies, 38(2), 215–230.
Yip, G. (1994). Total global strategy. New York: Prentice Hall.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Tallman, S., Koza, M.P. Keeping the Global in Mind. Manag Int Rev 50, 433–448 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11575-010-0045-0
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11575-010-0045-0