Decentralized Operations

Sherry Smith is the president/CEO of Tiller Components. She founded the firm and has led it to become an industry leader in the area of automobile manufacturing components and parts. The company has plants in over 35 areas across the country. Smith is finding that she cannot manage and stay on track with things the way she was able to in the past.

Discuss the decision-making approaches (centralized and decentralized) that you might use if you were the CEO of Tiller Components and how this would affect the different local and regional managers.

• What activities would be conducted centrally and which would you decentralize?
• How would the shifts in this method of decision-making and management that you suggest impact the company overall?
• Further, how can the use of analytical tools assist Smith with better understanding how each of her divisions and segments are performing?