Procter & Gamble: Organization 2005 (A) [Piskorski & Spadini, 2007]
September 25, 2012

Case Discussion Questions

These questions are mainly for class discussion. However, they will also be quite helpful in preparing for the quiz. The possible essay questions for the exam have already been sent in the guidelines for the first exam.

U.S. Divisional Structure in 1955 (Diagram 1) 1. What are the benefits of organizing by product rather than function? By using the product strategy brand managers in the same product division competed in the marketplace but shared access to strong divisional functions. Those transferred best practices and talent across many brands foresting leading edge competencies in the R&D,
Country R&D labs were expensive to maintain and reinvented the wheel with each new product initiative. 10. Who has lost power/authority in this structure? Country managers / Leaders / GM’s

Global Matrix Structure, 1995-1998 (Diagram 5) continental 11. What are the major changes in this structure compared to the ones shown in Diagrams 3 and 4? Global functional senior vice presidencies were created to manage functions across all regions to create strong regional functions. Global R&D vice presidencies were established to manage R&D for a given product division worldwide they reported directly to global category presidents and were dotted line reports to the global SVP of R&D 12. Why did P&G introduce dotted lines between Global Category Leaders and Country Category Leaders? This structure allowed for the creation of global technical center in different regions each with core competency in a specific product category, this would be applied to global branding strategies. 13. What problems did the matrix run into? Matrix management structure had never been symmetrical, each function developed its own strategic agenda, which largely revolved around maximizing its own power within the company rather than cooperating with other functions an business units to win in the market place.it was very difficult for regional managers focused on particular countries to