1. As Cisco grew into an industry giant did they use a product or function orientation? Why? Would you have used the same orientation? 2. After the 2001 restructuring did Cisco change their product/function orientation? Was this the right thing to do? Why? 3. Before the restructuring, how did Cisco cultivate their culture? How would you describe their culture? Did they have any rituals, ceremonies, or myths? Did the culture support their mission? 4. What types of incentives/motivations did Cisco use in their customer focus initiative? Was it effective? How could you have improved the initiative? 5. How did Cisco manage their restructure and re-allignment? What do you think would have been the response to this change? Could …show more content…

Cisco began to take advantage of their own resources while also bringing customers in even closer with internal affairs. Starting in 1991, Cisco shifted their IT department to a more “client funded” model. This allowed the IT department to act more of its own business within the company, which significantly increased their budget. Cisco also surveyed many customers to get an idea of what they were doing right, and what they were doing wrong. The surveys were effective in letting Cisco know where they needed to improve, and also by learning what was creating some dissatisfaction in unhappy customers. They received direct feedback on how to improve their products, and they could map trends in unsatisfied customers. I would say that their customer initiative program was successful, because it further helped them find a niche in their market, and improve upon the things that they were doing wrong. The initiative could have been improved however, if they also surveyed the employees of the company and got their opinion as well. That way, they’d have the input from both sides of the story. Directly before Cisco realized that they needed to restructure their operations, 13000 engineers worked on products across 44 autonomous teams. Their main objective was to consolidate their different branches and work together more. They also consolidated their product lineup, using more common parts on each of their products in order to cut down on expenses. I think