1. Issue
The organizational design of a company stays always work in progress and has continuously to be adapted to changing circumstances. Sometimes a step change is necessary, a first time certainly when the company makes the first step towards becoming a Group by acquiring or founding subsidiaries. Whether there are a few subsidiaries to be managed or a worldwide network – the same three questions have to be answered:a) Degree of centralization
The degree of centralization specifies which decisions should remain in the center (mother company, holding), which ones are fully delegated to the local subsidiary or eventually to a regional level. Assigning the authority to decide is linked to exercising control; control as a success factor depends on the legal situation, the type of business activity and the characteristics of the top managers.b) Degree of standardization
Standards define the way in which an activity is carried out: if it is standardized then it is done the same way everywhere. Standards usually are complemented by guidelines which represent a kind of “good practices” which must be evaluated by each subsidiary but do not always have to be followed.c) Execution
Finally it is important to define who executes a task: should this happen within each subsidiary, should the same task of subsidiaries be bundled in a service center owned by the Group or should some tasks be outsourced?2. Potential Consulting Scope
- Audit of an existing organization
- Development of organizational options
- Project Management
- Coaching of an internal project team