Global DSS

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The essential role of the global DSS is to support global decision making, which must deal with multidimensional complexity. This stems from the multiplicity of the global environments in which multinational corporations (MNCs) operate. The global environment consists of legal (patent and trademark laws, laws affecting multinational operations, etc.), cultural (languages, customs, value systems, religious beliefs, etc.), economic (currency, tax, inflation, interest rates, monetary and fiscal policy, etc.), and political (form and stability of government, governmental policy toward MNCs, etc.) forces.

A global management support system is defined as a management support system to support managers of multinational corporations in their decisionmaking processes and deal with one or more variables that constitute the multidimensional complexities of global decision making that stem from the global environments. Global DSSs consist of a network of DSSs that links parent companies with foreign subsidiaries via telecommunication networks (Eom, 1996).

The global DSS must have several unique functional requirements, such as:

• Global consolidated reporting

• Effective means of communication between the MNC headquarters and its subsidiaries

• Global risk (foreign exchange, political, and tax) management support

• Global joint decision support between headquarters and overseas subsidiaries

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