Organizational Charts assignment

Microsoft
http://www.cogmap.com/chart/microsoft

The structure of Microsoft follows the human resources triangle illustrated in slide 3 and 7 in the powerpoint. With William "Bill Gates" being the chairman, which is also the top of the triangle, then Steve Ballmer being the Chief Executive Officer. Although it is not clearly indicated whether or not the departmental heads are also the board of governers ( if they have also invested in the business), the management team consists of Brad Smith, who is the head of the legal and corporation department, Jean-Philippe Courtouis who is the president of microsoft international, Yusuf Mehdi who is the cheif advertising strategist, Craig Mundie who is the chief research and strategy officer,Christopher Liddell who is the chief finance offiicer, Robert Bach who is the president of microsft entertainment, Lisa Brummel who is the head of human resources department, Eric Rudder who is the head of technical strategy department, Ray Ozzie who is the chief software architect, Simon witts who is the head of the enterprise and partnergroup, Kelvin Turner who is the COO, and Bob Muglia who is the president of server and tools business.

From the above, it can be see that Mircosoft separtes the management team according to their functions and the processing of the products. For example, the server and tools business and the finance department. The structure of the organization is similar to the diagram on slide 4 in the powerpoint, where the functional departmentalization is also shown.

Since Microsoft is a multinational business with many different products, delegation will be involved, where the control and authority is passed down from the chairman, to the CEO, then to the different department heads. However, William Bill Gates will have to be responsible for the business since responsibility still remains with the line manager. The chariman and the CEO have a wide span of control over the workers. Although the fewer layers in the hierarchy of the organization can cut down the cost for the business, communication is often less effective when there's a big team of workers. This can be shown in slide 4 in the powerpoint. Below each department, there are fewer number of workers (except for the COO department and the Microsoft entertainment department), so the structure is more narrow, which favors the narrow span of control. Narrow span of control improves the communication between smaller teams, so the communication between the employees and the head of the departments can be very effective, since it is also easier to control and manage. However, having a wide span of control can increase staff morale, and make opportunities for subordinates to take on extra responsibilities and to develop their professional careers.

As the level of hierarchy goes up, the responsiblity and the authority also increases. Since responsiblity cannot be delegated, Bill gates will have to take all the responsiblity. Although some departments have a narrow span of control, overall the structure of the business is a flat organization. Refer to slide 5 and 6 in the powerpoint. Flat organizations are often associate with delayering, and downsizing, which might cut down the cost, but on the same time, it also creates anxiety and sense of insecurity amongst the workers, which indirectly decreases the input of production.

The line which links each departments and the chariman and the CEO, represents not only the line of communication, it also represents the line of authority, through which orders are passed down. For Microsoft, it has a short chain of command since it hs a flat organization, communication between the line manager and the employee might be more clearer and easier from the flat structure, however the communication between the workers and the employers might be hard and may cause miscommunication since it is a big group. For multi-national firms like Microsoft, it is normally bureaucratic, which means there might be unnecessary paper work to do, which uses time and resources.

In the end, since there isn't enough information given about the board of directors and whether or not the decision making is centralized of decentralized, it can only be concluded that the decision making will concentrate on the senior managements, even when the organization is decentralized.

At Amazon, Marketing Is for Dummies

1. link to the article
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_39/b4148053513145.htm?chan=rss_topStories_ssi_5

2. summary
The giant online retailer Amazon.com has created one of the world's strongest brands by avoiding conventional tactics of marketing. While other retailers have been battered and pushed into bankruptcy by spending hundreds of millions of dollars a year on advertising and marketing to build their brands, Amazon spends the money into technology for its website, distribution capability and shipping deals. Amazon also thrived during the recession period because of the company's reputation for for offering low prices, broad selection, and quality services. From this method, Amazon achieved 16% revenue growth. However Amazon have not established a firm customer base for the luxury items. So Amazon started a contest in which everyone can create their own commercial, and the company picks 5 finalist and asks the customers to pick their favourite, in this way there is no need for Amazon to hire advertisement agency.

3 Identify topics from the syllabus
1.5 External environment , 1.4 Stakeholders, 4.1 role of marketing , 4.2 marketing planning, 4.5 promotion,

4. Applies one business tool/theory/technique to the organization

4.2 marketing planning
Amazon's way of establishing a loyal customer base is not through spending hundreds of millions of dollars on marketing, in the contrary, Amazon started the contest in which everyone can create their own commercial. In this way, Amazon can not only save the unnecessary money spent on marketing and other expensive ways of promotion, the new contest way is also more efficient in terms of getting more understanding of what is an effective marketing from the customer's point of view. This form of primary research is appropriate and beneficial to Amazon, since up to date and objectivity helps the company to differentiate its self from other online retailers. By having a low and competitive price during the recession period, Amazon achieved the equilibrium price in the marketing mix with the correct adjustment of price in different financial period. However, Amazon is not successful at selling luxury items, in other words, they might not have a wide range of product mix. Amazon also spend part of the money on distribution capability and shipping which can grant more customer satisfaction. Although the ethics of marketing must also be considered, since the new method of marketing introduced by Amazon is a contest and public based, the aspect of unethical marketing can also be avoided.

However, since Amazon declined to participate in the report, there's a possiblity that the report is biased by reporting too in favor of Amazon.