ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses principally on the organizational and strategic characteristics of business units (BUs) in the firms surveyed. It provides an overview of the results from analysis of organizational aspects of the business units. On the basis of this analysis, the chapter suggests that the hybrid form of organization, which is properly composed of both bureaucratic and "organic" organizational characteristics, is more functional in the business units of Japanese firms than is generally thought. The chapter examines some relationships between important organizational characteristics and organizational deadweight (OD). OD has four dimensions: an overemphasis on harmony, economically irrational internal consensus building, free-rider problems, and a lack of management literacy. The chapter also examines the degree of vertical communication via informal paths in an organization in the cases of corporate strategy, BU strategy, and problems at the operational level in a BU.
