Chapter 3

Single-Business Strategy and Functional Organization

The functional organization is the most common of the organizational structures. In fact, all companies begin as functional organizations, whether it is Google in search, Apple in personal computers, or Amazon selling books online. Even when companies diversify or expand internationally, they maintain their functional structures as both a foundation and a key dimension of the organization. Other companies maintain their functional structures even as they grow. BMW is an 80 billion euro company that is managed through a functional organization. The reason is that it is a single business: a passenger car company. The factories, including the one in South Carolina, report to the vice ...

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