Title: Global factory structure: the role of leadership

Authors: Isaac Nana Akuffo

Addresses: School of Economics and Business Administration, University of Tartu, J. Liivi 4-213, 50409 Tartu, Estonia

Abstract: This paper examined the role of leadership in the global factory structure. The review was based on articles published by peer review ranging from 1984 to 2018 accessed from EBSCO Discovery, Web of Science, Science Direct, Scopus, and Google Scholar. The review was conducted within the context of one key research question. 28 studies were obtained on the global factory, out of which seven considered leadership in the context of global factory structure. The review indicated that scant empirical studies have been conducted on the global factory structure and most data were gathered from manufacturing firms with little attention on the service firms. Firms from emerging economies find it difficult to break into global factory structure due to insufficient resources, strategy and R&D investments. Firms implement the global factory structure to maximise profit and provide tailor-made services to their customers. Findings and recommendations are discussed.

Keywords: leadership; global factory; globalisation; internationalisation; multinational enterprise.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEXPORTM.2018.098922

International Journal of Export Marketing, 2018 Vol.2 No.3, pp.210 - 230

Received: 19 Sep 2018
Accepted: 28 Nov 2018
Published online: 09 Apr 2019 *

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