The subject of communication and control in a MNC has traditionally been dealt with in terms of stakeholder requirements and organizational, managerial, and decision-making requirements. Under the assumption that information is an MNC's most important strategic weapon, this chapter approached the subject of control and communication from the cybernetic viewpoint.
The issue of information systems design and management is an orphan in both international business and management information systems literature. Writers of international business textbooks believe that the subject is too specialized and too complex to be understood by the typical international business student or manager. Writers of MIS textbooks, on the other hand, believe that there is no reason to address the use of information technology in MNCs because differences between domestic and transnational procedures are insignificant. As this chapter pointed out, that is not the case. In addition to environmentally imposed constraints on trans border data transmission, there are numerous other impediments that must be overcome. The literature on these impediments is extremely scarce.
The panoply of technology-both hardware and software-is the INFO structure, which is superimposed on the MNC's INFRA structure of land, people, material, equipment, and money. Individual information systems, when integrated into a global information system, form a powerful managerial tool that enables MNC managers to identify and exploit business opportunities across the globe.
An MNC's ability to compete in future global markets will depend on the speed with which its management begins building an organizational strategy and structure that facilitate the movement of information across the globe. A modern GLOB IS integrates electronic data processing (EDP), office automation (word processing, spreadsheets, databases, and expert systems/artificial intelligence software packages), and telecommunications systems, thereby opening up entirely new ways of thinking about customers, markets, productivity, coordination, service, competition, products, and organization.
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