More from these Authors

• Article | Management Science | Forthcoming

  Who Lives in the C-Suite? Organizational Structure and the Division of Labor in Top Management

  Maria Guadalupe, Hongyi Li and Julie Wulf

  Top management structures in large US firms have changed significantly since the mid-1980s. While the size of the executive team—the group of managers reporting directly to the CEO—doubled during this period, this growth was driven primarily by an increase in functional managers rather than general managers, a phenomenon we term "functional centralization." Using panel data on senior management positions, we show that changes in the structure of the executive team are tightly linked to changes in firm diversification and IT investments. These relationships depend crucially on the function involved: those closer to the product ("product" functions, e.g. marketing/R&D) behave differently from functions further from the product ("administrative" functions, e.g. finance/law/HR). We argue that this distinction is driven by differences in the information-processing activities associated with each function, and apply this insight to refine and extend existing theories of centralization. We also discuss the implications of our results for organizational forms beyond the executive team.

  Keywords: communication; organizational design; functions; centralization; M-form; hierarchy; top management team; C-Suite; information technology; activities; diversification;

  Citation:

  Guadalupe, Maria, Hongyi Li, and Julie Wulf. "Who Lives in the C-Suite? Organizational Structure and the Division of Labor in Top Management." Management Science (forthcoming).

  CiteView DetailsSSRNRead Now

  Related

• Teaching Note | HBS Case Collection | 2013 (Revised from original 2007 version)

  Goodyear and the Threat of Government Tire Grading (TN)

  Felix Oberholzer-Gee and Dennis Yao

  Teaching note to 707494.

  Keywords: Rubber Industry; United States;

  Citation:

  Oberholzer-Gee, Felix, and Dennis Yao. "Goodyear and the Threat of Government Tire Grading (TN)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 707-537, April 2013. (Revised from original March 2007 version.)

  CiteView DetailsPurchase

  Related

• Case | HBS Case Collection | 2013 (Revised from original 2012 version)

  Doing Business in China

  Felix Oberholzer-Gee, Michael Shih-ta Chen, Nancy Dai and G.A. Donovan

  This case examines the challenges and opportunities of doing business in China. It highlights China's remarkable economic transformation in the decades leading up to 2012 in the context of its history, culture, and politics. The case summarizes the main obstacles faced by businesses operating in the country—rising costs, human resource constraints, and increasing competition—with examples provided by HBS alumni working in Greater China. These lessons are brought home in the experience of one alumnus who is looking to expand his cosmetics company in China's rapidly changing business environment. Among other pressures he must manage intense competition, restrictions on access to capital, and product safety and quality concerns.

  Keywords: emerging market finance; emergent countries; strategy; business history; Economic History; Emerging Markets; Business Ventures; Strategy; China;

  Citation:

  Oberholzer-Gee, Felix, Michael Shih-ta Chen, Nancy Dai, and G.A. Donovan. "Doing Business in China." Harvard Business School Case 713-428, March 2013. (Revised from original September 2012 version.)

  CiteView Details

  Related