Configuring Organisational Resources and Coordinating Business Operations in the Practice of Polish MNEs: Towards Excellence in International Management?

Abstract

The starting point for discussion in the paper is the belief that being present on international markets offers only an opportunity, not a guarantee, of benefiting from internationalisation, in particular in relation to the most advanced transaction “Ot” advantages (according to the OLI paradigm). Thus, the following paper focuses on two main aspects of international management, i.e. the spatial configuration of organisational resources and the coordination of business operations, which both largely condition benefits from multinationality. The main purpose of this study is to assess the degree of resource configuration and activity coordination among MNEs representing the so-called latecomers in the global economy (in this case MNEs from Poland). In order to achieve this goal, we use firm-level data obtained from a survey conducted among Polish MNEs and their foreign affiliates. Our findings indicate that resource configuration and activity coordination are limited among the surveyed enterprises (they remain at a medium level). Although Polish MNEs report benefits from undertaking international activities, the majority of them are not yet able to maximise the results at the current stage of their development.