Page 137 - International Marketing

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BRILLIANT'S Managing International Market 139

1. Their product lines are less diverse.
2. Their products are sold to end users.
3. Marketing is the critical variable.
4. All of their products are marketed through similar channels.
5. Products are changed for local consumer needs.
Geographic organization has many advantages. Delegation of line
authority and responsibility is explicit. Co-ordination of product sales and
manufacturing is enhanced and overall there is a pooling of experience in
problem areas.
A significant disadvantage of this structure is that a large number of
'super' executives are needed to run the organization effectively. Another
one is that individual product may suffer because there is no single executive
responsible for the specific product activities.
3. Product organization
The third structure assigns world-wide responsibility to product group
executives at the line management level. The coordination of activities in a
geographical area is handled through specialists at the corporate staff
level. The firm is segregated along product lines, each division is a separate
profit centre with the division head directly accountable for profitability.
Decentralization is critical in this structure.

Chief Executive Officer

VP—Admin Services VP—Operating Support

Product A Product B

US European Asian US European Asian
Manager Manager Manager Manager Manager Manager

China China
Manager Manager
Singapore Singapore
Manager Manager

Fig.: Product Management Organizational Structure
Corporations that operate within the structure usually share the
following characteristics:
1. They have a variety of end-users.
2. Their product lines are highly diversified and employ a high level
of technological capacity.