The simultaneous use of different market entry methods by international service firms is creating complex and compound organisations that operate within and across organisational boundaries. These organisations face variable risks related to control, resource commitment, flexibility and dissemination across their diversely affiliated portfolios. This research seeks to explore how these risks are managed within these diverse affiliations through an investigation of organisational and inter-organisational design.
This study draws on three fields of literature; international market entry, alliance and networks, and organisation design. A number of gaps have been identified in this literature relating to 'how' international service firms, inter-organisational alliances, diverse affiliations and international hotel chains are designed and managed. Using international hotel chains for the primary investigation, a qualitative case study approach was adopted for this study. The research was conducted in three phases; the first served to verify the extent of the phenomenon under study, the second provided insight into organisation design within firm boundaries and the third revealed a detailed picture of inter-organisational design.
A major contribution of this study is the identification of communities of design within diversely affiliated organisations. These communities are created through the different structures and processes employed across portfolios and reinforced by the perceptions of organisation members. Barriers can develop between the communities that limit the degrees of control and flexibility achieved and inhibit organisational potential. A further contribution of this study is the development of a relational-process framework that can be used to build bridges across these communities, break down barriers and enhance relational ties, but only if supported by appropriate control procedures. Managers are recommended to consider the impact of formal mechanistic structures within and across organisational boundaries and the impact of inter-organisational processes on relational ties in designs that cross organisational boundaries in order to enhance the potential of diverse affiliations
