Unbundling European operations: Regional management and corporate flexibility in American and Japanese MNCS

Empirical research on the European operations of 19 American and Japanese m ultinational companies (MNCs) suggested first, that the strategic importanc e of the region did not translate into an enhanced role for regional headqu arters, and second, that American and Japanese MNCs are "unbundling" their European operations as a means of enhancing their flexibility. American MNC s preferred to carve up regional tasks for delegation to local subsidiaries , with coordination assured increasingly by "councils" bringing top Europea n managers together. Japanese MNCs have not altered the formal organization al structure; but the recent internationalization of basic research labs in Europe has forced them to modify their previously monolithic approach to E uropean subsidiaries.