Local responsiveness vs Reducing costs

Question 1

High pressure for both

Answer 1

Such as Ford

Need to meet local needs but also want to benefit from economies of scale

Decentralised functions such as marketing and R+D

Keep functions such as finance centralised while still providing customised cars

Production in local regions to recent to demand and keep transportation costs down

standardise some parts of the production process

Question 2

Low pressure for local responsiveness and high pressure to reduce costs

Answer 2

Mining industry

Achieve economies of scale on a global scale as production can be standardised (same everywhere)

Centralised decisions

Question 3

Low pressure for local responsiveness and reducing costs

Answer 3

Starbucks

When demands similar in all markets, no major changes needed

Question 4

High pressure to be locally responsive and low pressure to reduce costs

Answer 4

Mcdonalds

local branches have expertise and make own decisions

most decentralised