Access the web sites of two Japanese automotive firms: Toyota and Honda (On the Toyota site, the "Operations" and "News" pages will be helpful. For Honda, the "Press," "History" and "Worldwide" pages will be helpful.) Then answer the following questions:

1. Does the behavioral or bureaucratic model seem to more accurately fit the design of each firm?
2. Which basic form of organization design does each firm use?

Internet Exercise

The Chapter 12 opening incident describes changes that CEO von Pierer is implementing at the German firm Siemens AG. Go to the Siemens web site and look at its home page. Look into the company and all of its activities and operations, but focus in particular on its new organizational design. Then answer the following questions:

1. Based on the information at Siemen’s web site, how would you describe its organizational design?
2. Find out as much as you can about situational influences on Siemen’s – its core technology, environment, size, and stage of the organizational life cycle. Is Siemen’s organization design appropriate for its situation influences? Why or why not?
3. Find out as much as you can about Siemen’s corporate-level strategy. Is Siemen’s organization design appropriate for its corporate-level strategy? Why or why not?

Explore Further

Examine the web sites of other electronics and electrical engineering firms. Compare their organization designs with that of Siemens. Some good comparisons would be Swiss-based ABB Ltd., GE, or Hitachi, a Japanese competitor. What similarities can you find in these firms’ organization designs? What differences can you find? Why do you think these differences exist?