In the 1990s, Rubbermaid acquired Little Tikes hoping to enter the toy and playground equipment market. Rubbermaid was attracted to this market because many of the product components used in the industry were the same rotationally molded plastics Rubbermaid used. To enter the commercial playground market, Rubbermaid had acquired some privately owned traditional commercial equiptment manufacturers: Ausplay and Iron Mountain Forge. They also acquired Paris Playgrounds because of the entry opportunity into soft-modular playground equipment more suitable for indoor use (think McDonald's playgrounds). Finally, Rubbermade/Little Tikes also acquired Omni another leader in soft-modular play equipment.

Rubbermaid failed in it's efforts to integrate into the commercial playground market. They failed to innovate, failed to properly distribute, and struggled with integrating Rubbermaid Corporate with the four commercial play units they acquired. Rubbermaid rolled out SAP for all units, consolidated and streamlined product lines for the traditional outdoor product, and leveraged Little Tikes Consumer R&D Group to polish the design of the commercial play line. SAP caused lead times to double. Gary Kemper, who was in charge of consumer and commercial lines, was stretched too thin. He shifted his own focus back to the consumer line, effectively neglecting the commercial line, and Little Tikes were soon getting left behind. Lack of communication in management due to poor management/poor distribution, and poor corporate structure caused much of these issues.

What type of organization would you create to maximize communication? What elements of the horizontal organization and the network organization would you employ?

If we take the organization into the future, let's assume there is one manufacturing facility and all admin and support functions are done in a central corporate location. Also assume a worldwide network of independent sales reps for the traditional and soft-modular play lines. Draw an organizational chart to include sales, marketing, R&D, and any necessary administrative functions.