Bill Barnes is the president and chief operating officer of Barnes Electronics. He founded the company and has led it to its prominent place in the elec¬ tronics field. He has manufacturing plants and outlets in 40 states. Barnes is finding, however, that he cannot “keep track’’ of things the way he did in the past. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of decentralizing the firm’s decision-making activities among the various local and regional man¬ agers. Also discuss what functions Barnes might want to be performed cen¬ trally and why he would choose these functions.

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