Organisational design implications of global sourcing: A multiple case study analysis on the application of control mechanisms

Global sourcing has become an intended practice for many multinational corporations. Organisational design implications of global sourcing are rarely considered although they are one of the main facets of a global sourcing strategy. By elaborating on the information processing perspective of contingency theory, we derive explanations for the application of different control mechanisms in the global sourcing context. Our findings from case studies at eight multinational companies suggest that variations in control mechanisms can be explained by two contingencies: (1) corporate organisational structure and (2) the distribution of purchasing expertise among subsidiaries. Based on these case study findings, we formulate ten propositions for future research.