International Human Resource Management-MJ Version

The integration–responsiveness framework

In a recent discussion about the international management research commu-
nity Bartlett and Ghoshal (2002: 7) identify the integration-responsiveness
(I–R) framework (see Figure 2.4) as the ‘almost universally adopted lens for
viewing both the strategic content and the organizational processes that
defined the operations of the MNC’. Its origins are generally seen to lie in the
doctoral dissertations of C.K. Prahalad and Yves Doz in the mid-1970s,
although the influence of the contingency framework of Lawrence and Lorsch
(1967) is universally acknowledged. Rugman (2002) indicates that the frame-
work might even have earlier roots in Fayerweather’s (1960, 1969) textbooks
that present a model of ‘unification vs. fragmentation’. Regardless of its exact
origins, however, the integration–responsiveness framework remains an excel-
lent tool to diagnose the conflicting demands on MNCs, both in terms of strategy

Strategy and Structure of Multinational Companies 49

Mainly knowledge flows

(technology products,processes, systems)

Transnational: Integrated network

International: Coordinated federation

Mainly financial flows

(capital out; dividends back)

resources and capabilitiesDistributed specialized

Formal system controls;

(planning, budgetting)

(key strategic decisions made centrally)Tight, simple controls;

Complex process of coordination andcooperation in an environment of

shared decision-making

resources, people and information amongLarge flows of components, products,

interdependent units

Multidomestic: Decentralized federation

(strategic decisions decentralised)Loose, simple controls;

Global: Centralized hub

Mainly flow of goods

FIGURE 2.3

Characteristics of the four organizational models (adapted from Bartlett and
Ghoshal, 2000: 508, 514)