IS planning autonomy in US subsidiaries of multinational firms

Research has suggested that information systems planning is an important challenge to managers of multinational firms. Although studies have examined marketing, finance, and manufacturing, limited research has considered IS planning autonomy in such firms. A field survey of 55 US subsidiaries collected data from matched pairs of senior IS and non-IS managers to test hypotheses based on corporate governance theory and agency theory. The former described their planning autonomy and the latter described organizational characteristics. Data analysis revealed that foreign product diversity, extent of local ownership of the subsidiary, intracompany purchases, and age of the subsidiary were related to the subsidiary’s IS planning autonomy. The findings indicated that parent companies treat the IS function differently from other areas of the organization. Future researchers should investigate the proposed explanations of this difference.