CHAPTER FIVE
ALIGNING SUPPORT FUNCTIONS
CHAPTERS 3 AND 4 SHOW HOW ENTERPRISES create shareholder value by aligning their business units with the corporate strategy. But organizations also create value by aligning their support units with the business unit strategy. Consider the approach advocated by Larry Brady, president of FMC Corporation:
I doubt that many companies can respond crisply to the question, “How does staff provide competitive advantage?” . . . We have just started to ask our staff departments to explain to us whether they are offering low cost or differentiated services. If they are offering neither, we should probably outsource the function.1
Support or shared-service units, such as human resources, finance, purchasing, and ...
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