Answer:
To switch from a product to a customer orientation, companies must undertake structural changes that align with their new focus on customer management. Companies should invest in process harmonization, standardization, and formal IT-enabled workflows to make cross-functional and cross-unit coordination easier. Additionally, companies must adapt their organizational structure, goals, purpose, strategy, mission, and employee performance to align with the new customer orientation
Explanation:
Companies should consider the following structural changes:
Structural change: Companies must adapt their organizational structure to align with the new customer orientation. This includes changing the organization's hierarchy, chain of command, management systems, job structure, and administrative procedures.
Strategic change: Companies must make changes to the overall goals, purpose, strategy, or mission of the organization. This involves changing what products or services the company offers, the target customer segments or markets the company tries to reach, how the company distributes its products or services, its position in the global economy, and who it will partner with for manufacturers, distributors, and other logistical needs.
People changes: Companies must improve employee performance, skills, attitudes, behaviour, and loyalty to the organization, as well as enhance manager-subordinate relationships, group cohesion, and employee sense of achievement. This involves replacing all of the top-level managers in hopes of creating a new organizational culture, or small-scale changes such as working to change employee attitudes through things such as team building or other behavioral activities.
Process change: Companies must improve the overall workflow efficiency and productivity within an organization. This involves making changes to an organization's production operations, such as how it produces its products, how it delivers its services or how it handles everyday business practices.