There are various modes of control. The most influential ones are the following −

Personal Controls

Personal controls are achieved via personal contact with the subordinates. It is the most widely used type of control mechanism in small firms for providing direct supervision of operational and employee management. Personal control is used to construct relationship processes between managers at different levels of employees in multinational companies. CEOs of international firms may use a set of personal control policies to influence the behavior of the subordinates.

Bureaucratic Controls

These are associated with the inherent bureaucracy in an international firm. This control mechanism is composed of some system of rules and procedure to direct and influence the actions of sub-units.

The most common example of bureaucratic control is found in case of capital spending rules that require top management’s approval when it exceeds a certain limit.

Output Controls

Output Controls are used to set goals for the subsidiaries to achieve the targeted outputs in various departments. Output control is an important part of international business management because a company’s efficiency is relative to bureaucratic control.

The major criteria for judging output controls include productivity, profitability, growth, market share, and quality of products.

Cultural Controls

Corporate culture is a key for deriving maximum output and profitability and hence cultural control is a very important attribute to measure the overall efficiency of a firm. It takes form when employees of the firm try to adopt the norms and values preached by the firm.

Employees usually tend to control their own behaviour following the cultural control norms of the firm. Hence, it reduces the dependence on direct supervision when applied well. In a firm with a strong culture, self-control flourishes automatically, which in turn reduces the need for other types of control mechanisms.