Rothaermel Exercise 3
Policy and Strategy in Global Competition
BUSI 690

Chapter 11

Discussion Question 11.1 - Why is it important for an organization to have alignment between its strategy and organizational structure? Strategy implementation is the part of the strategic management process that concerns organization, coordination, and integration of how work gets done. It is key to gaining and sustaining competitive advantage” (Rothaermel, 2013, p. 302). “Organizational structure is a key building block of organizational design that determines how the work efforts of individuals and teams are orchestrated and how resources are distributed” (Rothaermel, 2013, p. 305). It is important for an organization to have alignment between its strategy and organization structure because they have an interdependent relationship that has a direct impact on a firm’s performance. Moreover, the relationship is dynamic – changing over time in a predictable pattern as firms grow in size and complexity” (Rothaermel, 2013, p. 309).

Discussion Question 11.3(a) - What commonalities across the products would likely be enhanced by flexible cross-functional teams? Functional structure is a form of organizational structure that groups employees into distinct functional areas based on domain expertise (Rothaermel, 2013, p. 309). One of the main drawbacks to functional strategy is that it frequently lacks effective communication channels between different departments (Rothaermel, 2013, p. 312). “To overcome the lack of cross-departmental collaboration in a functional structure, a firm can set up cross-functional teams, which are temporary teams, comprised of members from different functional areas or departments to work together on a specific project or product, usually from start to completion” (Rothaermel, 2013, p. 313). Gore has product lines consisting