ADMINISTRATIVE ORIENTATION AND INTERNATIONAL PERFORMANCE

Abstract. A recent trend in international management research has been the development of contingency models that identify optimal planning and management modes for international business units, given key characteristics of the product, market, and industry. In practice, however, planning and management modes appear to be dictated not only by external market and industry conditions, but also by internal aspects of the firm's administrative orientation. The intent of this paper is to examine how aspects of the firm's administrative orientation influence the choice of management modes, and to examine how the choice of management modes impacts international performance. * A primary focus of current international management research rests on the development of contingency models for defining international management activi-ties. Frameworks developed by Lorange and Vancil [1975, 1977], Prahalad and Doz [1980], and Davidson and Haspeslagh [1982], for example, attempt to identify the optimal location and focus of management responsibilities for a business unit, given factors such as competitive conditions, cost structure, market characteristics, technological content, standardization potential, and lif