2 management - School of International Business and ...

Günter S. Heiduk
– fourthly, caring for the normative diffusion of the power of globalization by encouraging
discourses on global benefits, necessities, opportunities, threats and challenges. »It is
this discourse, and how the global manager approaches this, that would play a crucial role
in the globalization strategy’s success.” 4
The evolution toward a global strategy usually is initiated by reaction to new external pres-
sure such as main technological breakthroughs which change the competitive environment or
by self-driven entrepreneurial spirit that destroys old paradigms.The internal top-down process
should create awareness for change. The activated driving forces should be channeled into a new
kind of formal governance structure that emerges with the vision of internalizing globalization.
Motivated new managers who incorporate a mindset and capabilities that are open for change
are the key to success. The creation or integration of new organizations in foreign countries
(subsidiaries, branches, joint ventures, mergers) result in a hybrid governance structure where
coalitions for and against change evolve. The winner creates new (and more complex) social
network structures. Social mobilization and normative diffusion create pressure for learning to
embrace the norms of the new organization. Organizational change succeeds when a new corpo-
rate culture is achieved and diffused through social mechanisms. It goes without saying that or-
ganizational structures do not achieve the steady-state equilibrium as long as globalization is an
ongoing process. There is evidence that transformation of the organizational structure of MNCs
often lags behind the change in the external environment. This seems to be due to insufficient
social mobility. The speed and intensity of the socialization process depends considerably on the
complexity of the organization, its size and the quality and numbers of agents whose role is to
initiate, promote and carry on new norms.
Developing a model which allows experimental tests starts with the following hypotheses [Groo-
thuis and Akbar, p. 56]:
– firstly, the larger the company, the slower the transformation;
– secondly, the more complex the organization, the longer the socialization lag;
– thirdly, the higher the number of effective social agents (managers), the faster the organi-
zational change.
The experiment with different types of companies confirms the hypotheses. Empirical uncertain-
ties could result from under – or overestimation of the organizational complexity. Putting the theo-
ry into practice requires primarily the availability, competence of social agents as well as codified
organizational knowledge.
The evolutionary path of organizational structures in national, international, multinational, trans-
4 Groothuis and Akbar, 2007, p. 50.
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