Profile the idea and features of horizontal differentiation, paying particular attention to its implications to how managers design their company's structure

What will be an ideal response?

In figuring out who does what work, where, when and for whom, MNEs must horizontally differentiate their international operations—that is, managers must divide the company into discrete units that are assigned responsibility for specialized tasks. Failing to tend to these fundamental questions in an effective manner leaves the company open to the risk of building an inefficient operation that ultimately will fail. The idea of horizontal differentiation describes how the company designs its formal structure to perform three functions: specify the total set of organizational tasks; divide those tasks into jobs, departments, subsidiaries, and divisions so the work gets done; and assign authority and authority relationships to make sure work gets done in ways that support the company's strategy. In traditional terms, MNEs resolved these issues on the basis of function, type of business, geographic area, or some combination of these three factors. While the specific design standards of each format differ, they all speak to the matters of horizontal differentiation.