GLOBAL MIND-SETS AND COGNITIVE SHIFT IN A COMPLEX MULTINATIONAL-CORPORATION

This article investigates attitudes that underlie international strate gy processes. We propose survey scales of these attitudes and describe tests thai support their reliability and validity as measures. of con structs-including integration, responsiveness, and coordination-that r esearchers have used for many years in case analyses of international strategy and organization. We also propose and validate scales to capt ure the perceived alignment with firms' international objectives of ke y business policies that affect individuals, including accountability for global results, career opportunity and a globally shared meaning s ystem that informs communication and discussion about change. Our disc ussion of these tests offers an assessment of how changing patterns of association among the measures over rime conform to expectations gene rated by the case-based empirical literature. We argue that these patt erns document a process of organizational learning that can link manag ers' mind-sets with senior managers' intentions in the course of proac tive international strategic change. The analysis relies on survey res ponses taken in 1992 and 1995 from 370 managers in 13 country affiliat es and the head office of a U.S.-based diversified multinational corpo ration (DMNC). (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.