Box is a company based on cloud storage, and Box must compete against many big names in the fast pace and competitive technology industry. However, there is a concern with how to deal with Box’s explosive growth and management properly. Box’s four alternatives are to engage in divisional product structure, bureaucratic structure, both structures, or neither structures. The following options will be evaluated using the criteria of ease of implementation, efficiency, and company culture.
Kathryn Shaw, Debra Schifrin
Harvard Business Review (HR43)
June 01, 2015
Case questions answered:
- Create a divisional structure to deal with its explosive growth. (You may decide whether that structure should be based around geographical areas or around products).
- Create a more bureaucratic hierarchy to increase efficiency and ensure the quality of its products and services. (One of the reasons Google became Alphabet was to ensure that the Google division was run in as efficient a manner as possible).
- Do both of the above.
- Do neither of the above.
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Box: The Evolution of Management Practices in a Start-up Case Answers
Box: The Evolution of Management Practices in a Start-up Case Study Overview
Box is a company based on cloud storage, and Box must compete against many big names in the fast-paced and competitive technology industry. However, there is a concern with how to deal with Box’s explosive growth and management properly.
Box’s four alternatives are to engage in divisional product structure, bureaucratic structure, both structures, or neither structures. The following options will be evaluated using the criteria of ease of implementation, efficiency, and company culture.
The first alternative is for Box to engage in a divisional product structure. The primary advantage is that the employees will have greater accountability. The advantage will strengthen company culture because the employees are held accountable for their product line, thus driving employees to strive to perfect their work.
The second advantage is that the employees can really hone and focus their attention on the specific product that they are working on and become experts on the product and subject given to them by Box. Therefore, this leads to an increase in efficiency as each product is managed by a set of employees who understand the product the most.
The third advantage is that employees will increase their loyalty to their division and Box. Once again, this advantage links to a more robust company culture and sense in the company because employees are united under their respective product teams to create the best product for the company.
However, the first disadvantage is that the divisional product structure could lead to duplicated functions in their products. Therefore, there will be a lack of efficiency, as there will be conflicting interests and functions in programs due to the lack of a unified company.
The second disadvantage that the structure hinders is innovation in the products. There will be no fresh minds to take an outside look at the product and think of a different way to approach the product.
Lastly, the third disadvantage is that there is not enough product diversification in Box to warrant diversification. Box essentially only has one product: cloud storage.
Therefore, there would not be an easy way to implement the divisional product structure, as there are not enough products to do so.
The second alternative is to steer the company towards a more bureaucratic approach.
The first advantage is that bureaucracy can streamline the processes in the company. The bureaucratic structure will take what the top of the company desires and divide the tasks efficiently between all the remaining employees.
The second advantage to this structure is the company can…
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