Despite such importance attributed to both autonomy and planning, a better understanding of the nature of the relationship between autonomy and planning effectiveness could be useful. To study such a relationship, multinational firms offer a logical context with their parent companies and subsidiaries having relationships that range from low to high autonomy for the subsidiaries [25–27]. The decision on the extent of autonomy to delegate to subsidiaries for IS planning is critical because greater autonomy can provide them with systems critical to their local success and thereby the success of the multinational firm.