Building and Managing a Global Matrix - 8112 Words

Harvard Business School 9-394-016 Rev. April 26, 1999 ABB’s Relays Business: Building and Managing A Global Matrix It was a casual conversation between the chairmen of Asea and Brown Boveri in 1987 about the dismal state of the utilities equipment market that eventually led to merger talks between these two giant power equipment companies. Within weeks of the announcement in August 1987, Percy Barnevik, the CEO of Asea who was asked to lead the combined operations, had articulated a strategic vision for Asea Brown Boveri (ABB). Convinced that the decade-long decline in new power generation capacity would soon reverse itself, he believed that the new technologies and scale economies required to meet the new demand could only be†¦show more content†¦Furthermore, he implemented his â€Å"30/30/30 rule† in which he decreed that all headquarters organizations—from corporate to business area to regional—should be dramatically downsized by relocating 30% of the headquarters personnel to the front-line companies, by having another 30% provide their value added as outsourced services, and by laying off an additional 30%. To set the example, the staffing level at ABB’s combined corporate headquarters was reduced from over 2,000 to only 150. To ensure accountability, Barnevik assigned a team to develop a new transparent reporting system which aimed at â€Å"democratizing information.† Dubbed ABACUS, the system was designed to collect uniform dollar dominated performance data at the level of ABB’s 4,500 profit centers. By allowing comparisons against budget and forecast to be aggregated and disaggregated, ABACUS facilitated analysis within and across businesses, countries, and companies or profit centers. Given control over key resources and provided with current relevant information, managers on the front-lines were expected to act. Barnevik’s â€Å"7-3 formula† reinforced the notion that it was better to decide quickly and be right seven times out of ten than to delay or to search for the perfect solution. â€Å"Better roughly and quickly than carefully and slowly,† he said. â€Å"The only thing we cannot acceptShow MoreRelatedAbb Relay Business: Building and Managing Global Matrix811 Words   |  4 Pagesn the case study titled â€Å"ABB’s Relay Business: Building and Managing a Global Matrix†, the author attempted an examination of the success and challenges that occurred as a result of the decision to merge two medium scale telecommunications companies - Asea and Brown Boveri. The merger was necessitated by the depression in the utility equipment market. As a result of this, the chairmen of both companies met and decided it was in the best interest of the two companies to come together in forming anRead MoreAbbs Relays Business: Building and Managing a Global Matrix711 Words   |  3 Pagesthat there is a clear understanding of the ABBÂ’s matrix structure and the management roles and relationships in the relays business. In executive education programs, participants a re more likely to have had experience in such subtle organization processes, and the instructor can move more quickly from the basic diagnosis to the more evaluative and reflective discussion. 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RIBA plan of work 2013 It was first developed in 1963 and for almost fifty years it was the most definitive work on building design and development in construction industry in UK.It also has a significant effect on global level. The 2013 version is helpful as it gives a framework for organizing and managing a building project by giving us as a tool to define and describe important work stages used in large array of projects. It divides the project management