Analyzing cross-national management and organizations: A theoretical framework

The differential social control embedded in core and periphery values indigenous to a cultural setting, and the availability of resources in that setting, are discussed as critical factors for the effective adaptation of organizations and management practices transferred across cultural boundaries. The relationships between these factors and organizational structure, processes, and behavior, are analyzed and specified in a theoretical framework. The framework postulates the importance of congruent or, at least, accommodative relationships between the core values dominating the local setting, and those underlying transferred practices for the effectiveness of ‘imported’ organizational practices. Four main contingencies of local-imported values’ incongruence are described, and their implications for ‘entry’ and ‘coping’ strategies of cross-national organizations are discussed. The framework also offers a scheme for generating hypotheses regarding the effects of values on structures and behavior in cross-national organizations. The theoretical and managerial implications of the scheme are discussed and illustrated.