Assignment
1) This problem is mentioned in the text (see the section on"Functional Silos versus Process Teams"). Your assignment is to propose an organizational solution. To briefly recap, a manufacturer is trying to design the next generation of turbine engines for jet airplanes. The company is divided along functional lines. Engineering designs the engine, production manufactures it, and finance figures out how much to charge for it. The engineers invented a radical new design that used hollow fan blades. The award-winning design used less fuel than conventional engines, but the hollow fan blades were very difficult to build. When the Finance Division computed the marginal cost of an engine, it discovered that the new engines were much more expensive than rival engines, even accounting for the expected fuel savings. No one purchased the engine. How would you make sure that this problem does not recur?
2) An artificial tooth manufacturer sells teeth to distributors through a dealer network. The dealers sell to dental labs, which construct dentures for consumers. The manufacturer has spent a great deal of money advertising its teeth, and it has become the most popular brand of artificial teeth. It is now a dominant firm in the industry. But recently, it has discovered that its rivals are offering very attractive sales incentives for dealers to steer customers toward rival brands. How should the manufacturer respond to this competitive threat? Suggest at least two alternatives