IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/intman/v11y2005i2p143-161.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Information technologies and the future of the multinational enterprise

Author

Listed:
  • Sambharya, Rakesh B.
  • Kumaraswamy, Arun
  • Banerjee, Snehamay

Abstract

In this paper, we highlight the pervasive influence of information technologies on multinational enterprise (MNE) operations, strategies and structures. The democratization of information technologies has diminished geographic distance and compressed response times for MNEs. In turn, this has led to an increased and simultaneous emphasis on both global efficiencies and local responsiveness. We explore the consequences of this change in emphasis for MNE strategic and structural orientations as established by Bartlett and Ghoshal's typology of MNE strategies. Our conclusion is that the distinctions between the four strategic orientations are becoming increasingly blurred and MNE structures are becoming more organic in nature. In addition to discussing these changes, we also highlight emerging challenges that MNEs face in an increasingly borderless, time compressed world.

Suggested Citation

  • Sambharya, Rakesh B. & Kumaraswamy, Arun & Banerjee, Snehamay, 2005. "Information technologies and the future of the multinational enterprise," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 11(2), pages 143-161, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:intman:v:11:y:2005:i:2:p:143-161
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1075425305000153
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Child, John, 1984. "New technology and developments in management organization," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 12(3), pages 211-223.
    2. Suresh Kotha, 1995. "Mass customization: Implementing the emerging paradigm for competitive advantage," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(S1), pages 21-42.
    3. Anne-Wil Harzing, 2000. "An Empirical Analysis and Extension of the Bartlett and Ghoshal Typology of Multinational Companies," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 31(1), pages 101-120, March.
    4. Guillen, Mauro F., 2002. "What is the best global strategy for the Internet?," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 45(3), pages 39-46.
    5. Srilata Zaheer & Shalini Manrakhan, 2001. "Concentration and Dispersion in Global Industries: Remote Electronic Access and the Location of Economic Activities," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 32(4), pages 667-686, December.
    6. Siew Meng Leong & Chin Tiong Tan, 1993. "Managing Across Borders: An Empirical Test of the Bartlett and Ghoshal [1989] Organizational Typology," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 24(3), pages 449-464, September.
    7. Sumantra Ghoshal, 1987. "Global strategy: An organizing framework," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 8(5), pages 425-440, September.
    8. Dossani, Rafiq & Kenney, Martin, 2003. "Went for Cost, Stayed for Quality?: Moving the Back Office to India," UCAIS Berkeley Roundtable on the International Economy, Working Paper Series qt0b7764tt, UCAIS Berkeley Roundtable on the International Economy, UC Berkeley.
    9. John H Dunning, 1995. "Reappraising the Eclectic Paradigm in an Age of Alliance Capitalism," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 26(3), pages 461-491, September.
    10. John H Dunning, 1988. "The Eclectic Paradigm of International Production: A Restatement and Some Possible Extensions," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 19(1), pages 1-31, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Pedro Domingos Antoniolli, 2016. "Information Technology Framework for Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Demand Management: a Brazilian Case Study," Brazilian Business Review, Fucape Business School, vol. 13(2), pages 27-55, March.
    2. Zorzini, Marta & Stevenson, Mark & Hendry, Linda C., 2014. "Coordinating offshored operations in emerging economies: A contingency-based study," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 323-339.
    3. Fan, Di & Zhu, Cherrie Jiuhua & Nyland, Chris, 2012. "Factors affecting global integration of Chinese multinationals in Australia: A qualitative analysis," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 13-26.
    4. Conti, Claudio Ramos & Parente, Ronaldo & de Vasconcelos, Flávio C., 2016. "When distance does not matter: Implications for Latin American multinationals," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(6), pages 1980-1992.
    5. Sunil Mithas & Jonathan Whitaker & Ali Tafti, 2017. "Information Technology, Revenues, and Profits: Exploring the Role of Foreign and Domestic Operations," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 28(2), pages 430-444, June.
    6. Maria Adenfelt & Katarina Lagerström, 2006. "Organizational rejuvenation for knowledge exploitation: Exploring corporate entrepreneurship in an MNE," Journal of International Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 4(2), pages 83-98, September.
    7. Nicolai Pogrebnyakov, 2017. "A Cost-Based Explanation of Gradual, Regional Internationalization of Multinationals on Social Networking Sites," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 57(1), pages 37-64, February.
    8. Özcan, Gül Berna & Coronado Mondragon, Adrian E. & Harindranath, G., 2018. "Strategic entry and operational integration of emerging market firms: The case of Cemex, Beko and Tata Steel in the UK," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 242-254.
    9. Stephanie Lu Wang, 2023. "Digital technology-enabled governance for sustainability in global value chains: a framework and future research agenda," Economia e Politica Industriale: Journal of Industrial and Business Economics, Springer;Associazione Amici di Economia e Politica Industriale, vol. 50(1), pages 175-192, March.
    10. Zorzini, Marta & Stevenson, Mark & Hendry, Linda C., 2012. "Customer Enquiry Management in global supply chains: A comparative multi-case study analysis," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 121-140.
    11. Gregor Murray & Patrice Jalette & Jacques Bélanger & Christian Lévesque, 2014. "The ‘hollowing out’ of the national subsidiary in multinational companies: is it happening, does it matter, what are the strategic consequences?," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 20(2), pages 217-236, May.
    12. Rong, Ke & Kang, Zhengyao & Williamson, Peter J., 2022. "Liability of ecosystem integration and internationalisation of digital firms," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 28(4).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Moghaddam, Kaveh & Sethi, Deepak & Weber, Thomas & Wu, Jun, 2014. "The Smirk of Emerging Market Firms: A Modification of the Dunning's Typology of Internationalization Motivations," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 359-374.
    2. Julius H. Johnson, Jr. & Dinesh A. Mirchandani & Seng-Su Tsang, 2008. "Competitive Dynamics, Global Industry Cycles, Integration-Responsiveness, and Financial Performance in Emerging and Industrialized Country Markets," International Journal of Business and Economics, School of Management Development, Feng Chia University, Taichung, Taiwan, vol. 7(1), pages 61-88, April.
    3. Conti, Claudio Ramos & Parente, Ronaldo & de Vasconcelos, Flávio C., 2016. "When distance does not matter: Implications for Latin American multinationals," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(6), pages 1980-1992.
    4. Gloria Ge & Hugh Wang, 2013. "The impact of network relationships on internationalization process: An empirical study of Chinese private enterprises," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 30(4), pages 1169-1189, December.
    5. Yung-Heng Lee & Yann-Haur Huang & Mei-Jane Chan, 2009. "An Empirical Study Of Wholly-Owned Subsidiaries And Joint Ventures For Entry Into China Markets," Global Journal of Business Research, The Institute for Business and Finance Research, vol. 3(2), pages 9-22.
    6. Mauri, Alfredo J. & Lin, Jing & Neiva De Figueiredo, João, 2013. "The influence of strategic patterns of internationalization on the accuracy and bias of earnings forecasts by financial analysts," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 725-735.
    7. Reinhold Decker & Xuemin Zhao, 2004. "SMEs' Choice of Foreign Market Entry Mode: A Normative Approach," International Journal of Business and Economics, School of Management Development, Feng Chia University, Taichung, Taiwan, vol. 3(3), pages 181-200, December.
    8. Françoise Hay & Christian Milelli, 2013. "The endless quest to strategic assets by Chinese firms through FDI: From Inward to Outward Flows," Working Papers hal-04141202, HAL.
    9. Iavor Marangozov, 2005. "From Practice to Theory of the International Joint Ventures," Economic Studies journal, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences - Economic Research Institute, issue 2, pages 44-77.
    10. Chris Wagner, 2020. "Deducing a state-of-the-art presentation of the Eclectic Paradigm from four decades of development: a systematic literature review," Management Review Quarterly, Springer, vol. 70(1), pages 51-96, February.
    11. Pease, Stephanie & Paliwoda, Stanley & Slater, Jim, 2006. "The erosion of stable shareholder practice in Japan ("Anteikabunushi Kosaku")," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 15(6), pages 618-640, December.
    12. Naoki Yasuda & Hitoshi Mitsuhashi, 2017. "Learning from Political Change and the Development of MNCs’ Political Capabilities: Evidence from the Global Mining Industry," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 57(5), pages 749-774, October.
    13. Brock, David M. & Hydle, Katja Maria, 2018. "Transnationality – Sharpening the Integration-Responsiveness vision in global professional firms," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 117-124.
    14. Brouthers, Keith D. & Brouthers, Lance Eliot & Werner, Steve, 1996. "Dunning's eclectic theory and the smaller firm: The impact of ownership and locational advantages on the choice of entry-modes in the computer software industry," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 5(4), pages 377-394, August.
    15. Jones, Chris & Temouri, Yama, 2016. "The determinants of tax haven FDI," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 51(2), pages 237-250.
    16. José Manuel Martins Caetano & António Caleiro, 2005. "Corruption and Foreign Direct Investment:What kind of relationship is there?," Economics Working Papers 18_2005, University of Évora, Department of Economics (Portugal).
    17. Kang Park, 2003. "Patterns and strategies of Foreign Direct Investment: the case of Japanese firms," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(16), pages 1739-1746.
    18. Breunig, Karl Joachim & Kvålshaugen, Ragnhild & Hydle, Katja Maria, 2014. "Knowing your boundaries: Integration opportunities in international professional service firms," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 49(4), pages 502-511.
    19. Oskar Villarreal Larrinaga, 2010. "The Dodecagon of Internationalisation: A Theoretical Integration Model," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(1), pages 3-24.
    20. McWilliam, Sarah E. & Kim, Jung Kwan & Mudambi, Ram & Nielsen, Bo Bernhard, 2020. "Global value chain governance: Intersections with international business," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 55(4).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:intman:v:11:y:2005:i:2:p:143-161. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/601266/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.