Assignment:
The Organization of International Business
Read the case on Philips NV.
- Why did Philips' organizational structure make sense in the 1950s and 1970s? Why did this structure start to create problems for the company in the 1980s?
- What was Philips trying to achieve by tilting the balance of power in its structure away from national organizations and toward the product divisions? Why was this hard to achieve?
- What were the points of the organizational changes made by Cor Boonstra? What was he trying to achieve?
- In 2008, Philips reorganized yet again. Why do you think it did this? What is it trying to achieve?
- Write three pages comparing the Hyundai and Kia experience and the Avon experience including what you assess are the negatives or positives to each of their strategies.