Organizational Design for Global Marketing Strategy

Senior management needs to align global marketing strategy with an appropriate organizational design. This chapter introduces some pertinent aspects of organizational design encountered by companies with a global footprint. We structure the discussion into three parts. First, we look at the “anatomy” of an organization, which captures the roles, the responsibilities, and the distribution of assets. In this context, the “integration-responsiveness dilemma” is a particularly important concept. We introduce different organizational responses that try to bridge the local versus global tension, such as matrix structures, transnational networks, and regional headquarters. Next, we focus on organizational “physiology,” which concerns the flow of information through the organization, as well as the processes and relationships. We introduce different approaches to coordination and discuss the allocation of responsibilities across hierarchies and value chain activities. Different facets of the relationship between global and regional headquarters, between regional headquarters and national subsidiaries, and among national subsidiaries are also discussed. Finally, we take a brief look at organizational psychology, which relates to norms, values, and culture. As the tacit social order of an organization, corporate culture is often a key lever for improving corporate performance.