APPEX

CORPORATION
By: Group 12
Chandani Arora
Kawalpreet Singh
Nakul Khandelwal
Navneet Sinha
Shubham Singh
BACKGROUND
 Appex Corporation was founded in May 1986 from the merger
of Appex, Inc. and Lunayach Communications
Consultants(LCC).
 The company had its headquarter in Waltham, MA.
 Provides management information systems and inter carrier
network services to cellular telephone companies. Also LCC
provides design and engineering of cellular radio networks.
 Since 1986, Appex has been at the forefront of the cellular
communications revolution providing products and services to
fuel its growth.
 During 1987-1990, Appex has enjoyed revenue growth of over
1600%.
 Rated as the fastest growing high-technology company in the
United States in 1990 by Business Week.
PROBLEMS FACED BY THE COMPANY

 No development of an underlying planning

structure
 Poor customer service(‘‘call you back attitude’’)
 Loosely structured
 Failures in product development
 Loosing money rapidly
CAUSES
 No defined organizational structure.
 Expenses were not monitored.

 No financial planning was there.

 No prior planning of work.

 No proper intra communication of information.

 Employees lacked discipline.

DIFFERENT STRUCTURES ADOPTED BY APPEX
 Innovative Structure
Circular
Horizontal Structure
 Hierarchical, Functional Structure

Introduction of Product Teams

Introduction of Business Teams
 Divisional Structure
CIRCULAR STRUCTURE
Features Positive Effects Negative Effects

 Non-hierarchical  Free flow of  Employees were

information unfamiliar with
 Concentric circles  customer-based the structure
expanding out  Developed the
from executives to mentality that
customers customer was the
enemy
 Geared towards
responsiveness and
not towards
planning
HORIZONTAL STRUCTURE
Features Positive Effects Negative Effects

 Non-hierarchical  Increases control  Employees did not

within a sub unit respond
 Separate sub units enthusiastically
HIERARCHICAL, FUNCTIONAL
STRUCTURE
Features Positive Effects Negative Effects

 Functions are  Growth of  Politics came into

organized as teams organizational existence
chart  Polarization of
 Sub functions teams (restricting
within teams  Focussed on other departments
completion of involvement)
tasks  Sub-functions
within a team
 System of  Source of authority
Accountability became functional
and not
managerial
 Personalities
became more
pronounced
PRODUCT TEAMS
Features Positive Effects Negative Effects

 Separate teams for  Functional teams  Conflict of

each product were aware of all authority between
the product product teams and
 Product teams co- happenings on a functional teams
existed with daily basis  Resource
functional teams allocation
 More focus on problems across
each product teams
 Increase in time
spent on meetings
 Product teams did
not know about
their authority.
BUSINESS TEAMS
Features Positive Effects Negative Effects

 Teams acting as  Authority lied in  Decrease in

intermediaries the hands of revenue-producing
between the business teams people
product teams and
the corporate  Problems related  Diminishing of
management team to resource customer focus
 Teams that allocations were
operated on the solved  Infrastructure
same network and costs escalated
shared the same
customer base  Less focus on
reported to a company wide
business team financial goals
DIVISIONAL STRUCTURE
Features Positive Effects Negative Effects

 Functions are  Improved  Bad sharing of

grouped together accountability, resources
according to budgeting and  Divisions did not
specific demands planning want to share
of products, resources
markets or  More focus on  Little
customers(ICS & meeting financial communication
IS) targets across divisions
 Greater horizontal  No sense of
and functional  Increased financial
structure and more cooperation among accountability as
complex divisions sub divisions began
integrating to alter their
mechanisms financial
statements
SUGGESTED SOLUTION
 Rotation policy: Provide opportunities for team
members from different divisions to be
interchanged to enhance communication across
divisions.
 More focus must be given to cost and quality.

 A separate division for customer care should be

created.
 There should be proper time management
policies.
THANK YOU