Designing Organizations

"R&D investment raises the fixed costs of doing business."

"Leaders who understand their organizations can articulate the negatives as well as the positives of their organizations."

"Strategy dictates which activities are most necessary."

"As we move away from command and control leadership, managers can lead larger numbers."

"Today's customers want sourcing relationships, information and exchange, electronic data interchange, single point of contact, and one invoice."

"Unfortunately, in the typical situation no one type of structure best fits the business strategy."

"Management may have to change the entire structure of the organization."

"Rotated managers can more effectively participate in cross-functional teams."

"Use different points of view to stimulate information exchange and learning."

"Managers in the hierarchical structure have authority and control of resources, but what is the power base of the integrator?"

"Variety, change, and speed are the determinants in the choice of the new organizational structure."

"The best way to deal with lost neutrality is to substitute reciprocity."

"There is a front-end structure that is focused on the market segments and/or geography and a back-end structure that is focused on products and technologies."

"A network of independent companies?each doing what it does best?acts together as if it were virtually a single corporation. "

"In the case of a virtual corporation, the business strategy is the partnering strategy."

"The new information technology offers many opportunities for creating information to integrate the value chain."

"Strategy is the place to begin."

"Neither fit nor commitment is sufficient by itself; both are needed."