ABSTRACT
A conventional view on multinational strategy-making depicts a rational analytical forward-looking process of reasoning at the corporate headquarters to find a proper strategic direction for the enterprise. Forward-looking strategic planning is used to assess the competitive conditions and choose between alternative strategic paths to accomplish long-term corporate goals and guide the execution of those intended aims. The international business literature has considered how firm-specific advantages may drive a multinational organization to engage in foreign direct investment expanding the international business activities of the corporation. Combining central forward-looking planning processes at corporate headquarters with autonomous responses at local business entities provides the means to deal with a turbulent global business environment and satisfies the dual requests for global integration and local responsiveness (I-R). The prescriptive I-R framework is dynamic and conventional strategy recommendations change as the competitive conditions evolve in the turbulent global markets.
