Introduction to International Corporate Structures
2007/// 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.