Organization Structures of Multinational Corporations.

This paper is concerned with an analysis of similarities and differences in the organization structure of multinational corporations based in the United States and four European countries. The empirical investigation focused on companies operating under similar contextual constraints. Five dimensions of structural characteristics were examined: (1) basic organizational orientation, (2) structure of the relationships between the corporate headquarters and its foreign operating units, (3) the degree of centralization/decentralization, (4) the standardization of procedures, and (5) organizational flexibility. The results of the survey reveal certain similarities, but they also reveal significant variations in the organization structure of multinational firms of different national origin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]