Stress test your strategy the 7 questions to ask

Point 102

ANALYZING MANAGERIAL DECISIONS: Bagby Copy Company

Bagby Copy Company is a worldwide producer of copy machines. It manufactures 10 different copiers, ranging from low-end desktop copiers that sell for a few hundred dollars to high-volume document machines that retail for over $200,000. Each copy machine requires a wiring bundle. Each bundle contains several hundred wires and

connectors that provide circuits connecting the paper-flow units, scanner, and photoreceptor to the internal computer logic. The wire harness is plugged into various components during the assembly process. It is possible to assign each major task in this process to different employees. For example, a given employee might focus on one of the many connectors or on testing the completed wire harness. Alternatively, one individual might be assigned the task of producing and testing a completed harness. In either case, there is a group of employees that is assigned individual tasks to produce a wire harness for a particular copier. In total, there are 10 subgroups of wire harness makers. One alternative is to place all 10 groups in one wire harness department. Another alternative is that each of these 10 subgroups can be assigned to and report to a manager responsible for a particular copier. Bagby operates in five European countries. Currently, it has separate subunits in each country, where a country manager handles the manufacturing and marketing of all 10 copiers. The company is considering two alternatives. One would be to

organize its foreign operations around products. In this case, there would be 10 international product managers with decision rights for managing the manufacturing and sale of a particular copier throughout Europe. The company also is considering a matrix organization, organized around product and country.

1. What are the trade-offs that Bagby faces in choosing between specialized and broad task assignment?

2. . What are the trade-offs between these two methods of grouping wire harness makers into subgroups?

3. . Which trade-offs does Bagby face in choosing among the country, product, and matrix forms of organizing its international operations?

All assignments must be completed as Word documents. If you do not have Word you

can use Microsoft WordPad and use the rich text format (.rtf extension)

All assignments must be prepared in the APA format, including references.

Cover page.Use a single cover page that contains the title of the assignment and

your name

.

Margins.All page margins should be the default margins for your word processing

program. Use only the LEFT margin justification setting.

Page numbering.Please use page numbering for all pages except the cover page.

Spacing/Font.All papers should be single spacedonly (this includes spacing between

paragraphs) and a 12 point font

Direct quotes/ paraphrasing.Direct quotes and paraphrasing MUST be referenced

and cited using APAguidelines. Although there is no limit on how many citations are in

the paper, there is a limit of 15% for quotations and 25% for unoriginal wording for this

course. When more than one quarter of a paper seems to be unoriginal, it usually

indicates a problem. Even if sources are properly cited and some of the words are

changed, it raises the question of how much original thinking went into the paper. There

is a big difference between starting with a blank page and writing your own thoughts,

and building the paper around quotes, paraphrased sources, and the altered wording of

another author. You are encouraged to use textbook concepts as you attempt to explain

in your own words the answers to the assignments rather than relying heavily on quoted

material. Try to think about how you would explain your answer to someone who has not taken a managerial economics class. High scores on the originality report in Turnitin.com are not just a result of plagiarism; they can also result from an incorrect quotation/citation

methodology or from using words that have been rearranged from your sources. If you

use someone else’s work you must cite and reference it appropriately.

References

. You must include a separate References page in APA format with each

paper. Any source that is used to develop your paper must be included in this section.