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Designing Matrix Structures to Fit MNC Strategy
Author(s) -
Egelhoff William G.,
Wolf Joachim,
Adzic Mihael
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
global strategy journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.814
H-Index - 24
eISSN - 2042-5805
pISSN - 2042-5791
DOI - 10.1111/j.2042-5805.2013.01059.x
Subject(s) - multinational corporation , matrix (chemical analysis) , sample (material) , similarity (geometry) , organizational structure , computer science , industrial organization , business , economics , artificial intelligence , management , physics , image (mathematics) , materials science , finance , composite material , thermodynamics
Matrix structures and network designs are the primary organizational alternatives available to MNCs to implement increasingly complex multidimensional strategies. Despite a growing interest in matrix structures among MNC managers, theory about how to design and fit the different types of matrix structure to MNC strategy is largely absent from the scholarly literature. To address this gap, the present study develops an information‐processing model of strategy‐structure fit for MNC matrix structures. It does this by modifying and extending logic already established for fitting elementary structures to MNC strategy. Hypotheses based on the model are empirically supported, using a sample of 57 G erman MNCs with matrix structures. Multivariate discriminant analysis further reveals that an important element of strategy—the technological similarity of products in an MNC —is still missing from the literature and proposed model.