Exam 11: Organizational Structure and Controls

Which of the following is NOT a preliminary task of the strategic center firm in a strategic network?

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

Which of the following is a TRUE statement about organizational structures for implementing business-level strategies?

Some experts consider the ______ structure to be one of the 20th century's most significant organizational innovations because of its value to diversified firms.

The three multidivisional structures that are used to implement a diversification strategy are the competitive form, the strategic business unit form, and the integrated form.

According to Michael Dell, an overemphasis on financial controls to produce attractive short-term results contributed to performance difficulties at Dell, Inc. This point emphasizes the importance of properly balancing the use of strategic and financial controls.

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.

Agatha Adams founded Insurance Specialists to process medical claims for physicians' practices. She plans to compete on the basis of cost, offering the lowest processing cost per claim in her market area. Ms. Adams' company should:

The matrix organization has a dual structure combining functional specialization and business product or project specialization.

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

Internal competition for corporate resources is effective for companies with an unrelated diversification strategy, but dysfunctional for companies with a related constrained strategy.

The multidivisional structure was initially designed to produce three major benefits over the functional form. Which of the following is NOT one of the three benefits?

The cooperative form is an M-form structure in which horizontal integration is used to bring about interdivisional cooperation.

The competitive form of the M-form structure is characterized by complete independence among the form's divisions. Unlike the divisions included in the cooperative structure, divisions that are part of the competitive structure do not share common strengths.

Failure to properly structure an organization can contribute to poor strategic decisions and eventually bankruptcy.

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

Companies and business units of large diversified firms using the cost leadership strategy should use strategic controls.

McDonald's operates through a franchising system wherein the head office uses strategic and financial controls to ensure that the franchises are creating the greatest possible value. This is an example of a(n):

With a related diversification corporate-level strategy, financial controls are used by corporate leaders to verify the sharing of appropriate strategic factors such as knowledge, markets, and technologies across businesses.

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?