The domestic exporter strategy is characterized by heavy centralization of corporate activities in the home country of origin. Nearly all international companies begin this way, and some move on to other forms.

          The multinational strategy concentrates financial management and control out of a central home base while decentralizing production, sales, and marketing operations to units in other countries.

          Franchisers create, design, finance, and initially produce in the home country, but for product-specific reasons must rely heavily on foreign personnel for further production, marketing, and human resources.

          In a transnational strategy, nearly all the value-adding activities are managed from a global perspective without reference to national borders, optimizing sources of supply and demand wherever they appear, and taking advantage of any local competitive advantages.

          The configuration, management, and development of information systems tend to follow the global strategy chosen. Centralized systems are those in which systems development and operation occur totally at the domestic home base. Duplicated systems are those in which development occurs at the home base but operations are handed over to autonomous units in foreign locations. Decentralized systems are those in which each foreign unit designs its own unique solutions and systems. Networked systems are those in which systems development and operations occur in an integrated and coordinated fashion across all units.

          Domestic exporters tend to have highly centralized systems in which a single domestic systems development staff develops worldwide applications. Multinationals’ foreign units devise their own systems solutions based on local needs with few if any applications in common with headquarters. Franchisers develop a single system usually at the home base and then replicate it around the world. Transnational firms utilize networked systems in which there is a solid, singular global environment for developing and operating systems. [Figure 16-3]

FIGURE 16-3 Global strategy and systems configurations The large Xs show the dominant patterns, and the small Xs show the emerging patterns. For instance, domestic exporters rely predominantly on centralized systems, but there is continual pressure and some development of decentralized systems in local marketing regions.

          There are three principles in developing a global company and information systems support structure.