Economics, Organization and Management

Chapter 4: Coordinating Plans and Actions

Joe MahoneyUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Milgrom and Roberts (1992): Chapter 4 Economics, Organization & Management

“It is surely important to inquire why coordination is the work of the price mechanism in one case and of the entrepreneur in another.” Ronald Coase (1937)

“Modern business enterprise took the place of market mechanisms in coordinating the activities of the economy and allocating its resources. In many sectors of the economy the visible hand of management replaced what Adam Smith referred to as the invisible hand of market forces.” Alfred Chandler (1977)

Milgrom and Roberts (1992): Chapter 4 Economics, Organization & Management

“ If there really were some basic intrinsic advantage to a system which employed prices as planning instruments, we would expect to observe many organizations operating with this mode of control, especially among multidivisional business firms in a competitive environment. Yet the allocation of resources within private companies (not to mention governmental or non-profit organizations) is almost never controlled by setting administered transfer prices on commodities and letting self-interested profit maximization do the rest. The price system as an allocator of internal resources does not pass the market test.” Martin Weitzman (1974)

Milgrom and Roberts (1992): Chapter 4 Economics, Organization & Management

Coordination Problems

Resource Allocation Problem: This problem concerns the allocation of a fixed set of resources among various possible uses.

Synchronization Problem: The timing of effort needs to be coordinated precisely (e.g., a rowing team).

Assignment Problem: Allocate effort and minimize duplication of effort.

Milgrom and Roberts (1992): Chapter 4 Economics, Organization & Management

Scale and Structure

The anticipated scale of a firm’s operations predictably affects more than just the scale of each part, it also determines the degree of specialization the firm should adopt.

With larger operations, a firm may be able to afford more specialized equipment, more distribution outlets nearer to customers, a larger number of plants, training programs for its employees tailored to particular circumstances, and so on.

Milgrom and Roberts (1992): Chapter 4 Economics, Organization & Management

Economies of Scope

A firm like General Electric may enjoy multi-product economies of scale in producing small electric motors, using these motors to make:

Food processors Hair dryers Fans Vacuum cleaners

Milgrom and Roberts (1992): Chapter 4 Economics, Organization & Management

Strategic Coherence

Strategic coherence is the search for complementary activities that are mutually supporting:

Product strategy Manufacturing policy Equipment choice Personnel compensation policies Supplier relations Accounting methods

Milgrom and Roberts (1992): Chapter 4 Economics, Organization & Management

The Coordination Problem. The key role of management in organization is to ensure coordination. The survival and success of the organization is crucially dependent on achieving effective coordination of the actions of the many individuals and subgroups in the organization, on making sure that they are all focusing their efforts on carrying out a feasible plan of action that will promote the organization’s goals, and on assuring that the plan is adjusted appropriately to remain feasible and appropriate as circumstances change.

The Incentive Problem. Ensuring that the members of the organization are properly motivated is very important as well.