Structural Configurations of Russian Multinationals: Empirical Study of Contingency Factors Influence

Russian multinationals are consolidating their positions among other emerging multinationals which raises an interest of researchers from both strategic management and international business. The specificities of their formation and development, the peculiarities of their context attract attention to different aspects of their business life. The paper aims to consider the notion and elements of structural configurations of Russian multinationals and identify contingency factors that influence their combinations. A profound literature review on the topic allowed detecting five key elements of structural configuration of Russian multinationals which include decentralization of decision-making, formalization and control, complexity, inter-firm horizontal integration mechanisms and inter-firm knowledge and expertise transfer mechanisms. The conceptual model developed in the paper was tested on the sample of 213 Russian multinationals with the use of multiple linear regression. The analysis showed statistically significant associations between the elements of strategic orientation, environment and structural configuration of multinationals. As well, it confirmed significant moderating effect of company’s international orientation on direction and strength of relationships between key contingency factors and structural elements.

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