Impact of internationalisation on business decision-making: the Australian experience

The research considered the impact on the range of decision areas available to strategy setting for organisations internationalising part of their operations to reduce costs. The research utilised qualitative research data collected from interviews with 10 CEOs based on a structured interview guide formulated around the principal issues identified in the literature. Thematic analysis was used to extract evidence in relation to issues identified in the literature as well as new issues not currently identified .It found that internationalisation significantly reduced the range of decision areas available for strategic decision making. This affected the range of inputs to the formulation process, as well as the strategic choice options available. Organisations internationalising operations to reduce costs should increase levels of staff involvement through revolutionary strategy formulation processes, adopted more centralised corporate strategy processes and utilise a clearly differentiated and sequential relationship between corporate and business level strategies. The findings indicate that different strategy formulation processes are required for different levels of internationalisation of operations to reduce operating costs. Research into international strategy must recognize the change in the approach to strategy formulation that occurs as organisations increase their level of international operations. Future research to identify whether the currently generally adopted strategy formulation processes are adequate for all levels of internationalisation of operations should be pursued.