In 2011, Hasbro was showcased in Fortune magazine’s list of the 100 Best Companies to Work For in the United States, at number 59. The awards are based on indicators such as health care provision, work-life balance, and professional training and development opportunities. Obviously, Hasbro has been effective at maintaining a positive organizational culture among its employees and has been publicly recognized as doing such. With over 5,800 employees globally, and 3,000 just in the U.S., it must have taken the company some trial and error to get to the position they’re at now. Strong corporate cultures endure over time and are identical in different locations and different divisions; therefore, Hasbro has had to work hard to implement a corporate culture that is consistent across all of their global locations. Hasbro is an example of a firm with a flat organizational structure, as the company tends toward deference to expertise and responsiveness to customers rather than deference to seniority and rule following.
If Hasbro were to pursue a strategy of horizontal integration, it would consider acquiring or merging with other toy-maker competitors such as Mattel. A couple months ago, I reported on how Hasbro had partnered with digital game-maker Zynga, the company known for creating popular Facebook games such as FarmVille and Words with Friends, to create physical board-game versions of these games. This is an example of the company’s corporate-level strategy and is a cross