With the centralized approach, the training originates at the headquarters and then corporate trainers travel to the subsidiaries, and often adapt to local situations.
[6] [6] Polycentrism is one of the three legs in the EPG framework that "identifies one of the attitudes or orientations toward internationalization that is associated with successive stages in the evolution of international operations"[7] Polycentrism can be defined as a host country orientation; which reflects host countries goals and objectives with respect "to different management strategies and planning procedures with regard to international operations.
In the most extreme views of polycentrism, it is the "attitude that culture of various countries are different, that foreigners are difficult to understand and should be left alone as long as their work is profitable.
"[8] Although there is great benefit to taking into consideration local preferences in the host country when it comes to international business practices, a polycentric approach has its obstacles once implemented.
"[7] Management usually loses coordination of its international subsidiaries usually because they are forced to operate independently of one another, and establish separate objectives and plans which meet the host countries criteria.
"[7] This is very accurate in several aspects of the products delivery including pricing, customer service and well-being, market research, and channels of distribution.
"[8] There are a few other drawbacks to the polycentric approach which may restrict a multinational company from completely realizing its full potential in the host country.
A polycentric approach should only be used within a company in which there is a certain amount of comfort in allowing the host country to make all major decisions, following their own procedures and objectives.
[6] The third and last aspect of the EPG model is the geocentric portion, this notion focuses on a more world-orientated approach to multinational management.
The main difference of geocentrism compared to ethno- and polycentrism is that it does not show a bias to either home or host country preferences but rather spotlights the significance of doing whatever it takes to better serve the organization.
[2] This is evident in the sense that upper management does not hire or delegate responsibility to an individual because they best exemplify the host or home countries opinions.
[2] Furthermore, geocentrism boils down to product differentiation, diversifying functions in the sense that different markets require dissimilar behavior, and lastly geographic location.
[2] It is the overall goal of geocentrism to form a collaborative network between headquarters and subsidiaries; this arrangement should entail a set of universal standards that can thus be used as a guideline when attacking key business decisions.
The most effective way to enforce geocentrism is with a formal reward system that encourages both subsidiary and headquarters managers to work for global goals rather than just defending home country values.
[2] Secondly, there is a large number of customers available to MNC's internationally that require a geocentric approach in order to be effectively targeted.
[2] With that said, geocentrism is an ideology that must be accepted by any corporation operating globally in order for any sort of success and long term stability to be attained.
However, there are certain aspects of the business life in which ethnocentrism and polycentrism are more adequate models to follow, but functional smoothness and success in both home and host countries is dependent upon upper managements ability to select individuals who are world orientated as opposed to home or host country centered.