We have seen that exporting and contractual agreements are the least demanding modes of entry in terms of the amount of structure and coordination required. Generally, companies engaged in such activities want to create an office within the firm that will facilitate and stimulate international trade without disturbing the rest of the company. Many companies establish an office within the marketing department to handle export and franchising activity; other contractual arrangements are handled by an international office within the R&D department. Other companies assign the exporting function to a separate office, thereby awarding it slightly higher status within the company. Figure 11.2 shows two possible ways of incorporating international activities into the overall organization structure.
Usually appointments to international offices are made when things seem to be "getting out of hand." For most small firms that are beginning the internationalization process via exports or contractual agreements, either of the arrangements shown in Figure 11.2 is a very appropriate form of organization structure.
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