Exam 11: Organizational Structure and Controls

____ is the degree to which decision-making authority is retained at higher managerial levels.

The CEO of Transector,Inc.,set a 6.5 percent rate-of-return target for all divisions for the past year. Now,at the end of the year,three of Transector's seven divisions have not met this rate-of-return goal. The division managers of these three under-performing divisions have all secretly contacted executive-placement firms to investigate openings at other firms,because they know their future at Transector is in jeopardy as financial performance is all- important at Transector. Transector probably uses the______structure.

Successful implementation of the differentiation strategy requires a structure that

A worldwide geographic area structure is an organizational form in which

Organizational controls guide the use of strategy,indicate how to compare actual results with expected results,and suggest corrective actions to take when the difference is unacceptable.

A strategic network can be characterized as a loose federation of partners revolving around a strategic center firm.

The benefits of a simple structure include all of the following EXCEPT

Firms seeking to compete on the basis of cost leadership particularly need support from the functions.

Case Scenario 2: Palmetto. Palmetto was an early pioneer of personal data assistants (PDAs)and dominates that market space (in terms of market share)with its core product, the Palmetto Pidgy. Because this product category was entirely new to the market, Palmetto had to internally develop the hardware and software sides of the business, and today it is both a manufacturer of PDAs and a programmer and licensor of its PDA operating system software. Recently, however, the hand-held device maker's performance has taken a dive as a result of slumping sales and costly inventory problems. Palmetto has also had difficulty coordinating its software and hardware businesses, in part because of the near absence of a coherent structure and the differing economics underlying the two. Specifically, hardware for PDAs is increasingly a cost-based business, while software is a highly differentiated one. While Palmetto is doing pretty well in both businesses, its own resource base does not allow it to compete any differently than that proscribed for other industry participants (that is, it competes on cost with hardware and features with software). In addition to the issues created by these fundamental differences, other large companies are entering both the equipment (such as Sony)and software (such as Microsoft)sides of its business, putting further pressure on margins. Management has decided that it is unable to focus on the complexities of each of these businesses so it is opting to break Palmetto into two separate, independent public companies - Pal, Inc. will be devoted to hardware and Mettolink, Inc. will be devoted to software. -(Refer to Case Scenario 2). All of the following structural characteristics are important to implementing Mettolink's strategy EXCEPT

Organizational structures must be both stable and flexible.

Which of the following multidivisional structures is CORRECTLY paired with the appropriate corporate-level strategy?

Which of the following is NOT a variation of the multidivisional structure?

Define the three major dimensions of organizational structure: specialization,centralization,and formalization. How do these dimensions vary in organizations implementing the cost leadership,differentiation,and cost leadership/differentiation strategies?

Firms seeking to differentiate particularly need support from the and functions.

Describe the organizational structures used to implement the three international strategies.

Firms such as Textron Inc. that frequently acquire and divest other firms are most likely to use the structure.

Leslie is a newly graduated certified public accountant with a specialty in corporate tax. She wishes to join an organization (not an accounting firm)that will allow her to concentrate on corporate tax and become deeply proficient in this area. Leslie should look for a position in a firm with a______structure.

Structural stability affects the organization's ability to

Ortiz is a manager of BRS Corp. Ortiz's division did not meet financial targets this year. Ramirez,manager of another division,has indicated that Ortiz's division incurred significant costs which resulted in Ramirez's division setting record profits for the year. As a result,performance for BRS as a whole exceeded projections. Which pairing of organizational structures for BRS and bonus for Ortiz is most plausible?

The cooperative multidivisional firm