Competitive Organisations and Structures - Activity 1

At the board meeting of BRQ plc, the CEO was musing about how the business could remain competitive. BRQ operate in the dynamic retail technology market selling mainly latest hi-tech gadgets. The competitive nature of the this market means that consumers are expecting high quality products at low prices. BRQ has numerous competitors are driving their costs lower and offering substantial guarantees on their products.

New technology is at the heart of the firm’s production capability. The business has invested heavily in new technology and most of their production is now capital intensive. This increase automation has led to a dramatic increased productivity and quality. However, new, and specific, skills are needed to run this equipment. The company expects to change its machinery every two years.

To have a competitive scale of operation, it manufactures from a number of sites around the world. The company’s headquarters are in the UK with one of their main productive facilities. They also have production sites in the Far East, India, South America, USA. Direct control from the head office is becoming difficult.

The following diagrams represent the firm’s organisational structure and industry averages.

Industry Averages:

Size of Workforce: 1000 workers
Hierarchical Layers: 5 Layers
Dedicated Marketing Teams in Each Market

Tasks

1. Decide how BRQ can make its organisational structure competitive.

2. Decide how BRQ could implement any changes to their organisational structure.
• What they need to do
• When they need to do it (Timeline )