The big size of a company is no longer the ticket to success; nowadays, is the ability to shift and adjust as circumstances in the market change ensures a company to be unbeaten.

In order to stay innovative and competitive, BMW has forgone the old slow-moving bureaucratic system and started to establish networks within each level of the organization.

Cross-functional Team

According to James M.Manyika, a partner at McKinsey & Co. in San Francisco who has studied the effectiveness of such networks, “Cross-functional teams look messy and inefficient, but they are more effective at problem solving.” By organizing cross-functional teams, BMW leverage workers’ tacit knowledge, making them more progressive and productive. This makes BMW stands up among its competitors. BMW encourages workers to build a web of personal ties to speed up the process of problem-solving and innovation, be it in production, design, marketing or R&D.

Discipline V.S. Creativity

To emphasize on creativity, BMW even allows workers to forget about formal meetings, hierarchy, and stamps of approval, when they are pushing on a fresh idea. Besides, unlike Toyota’s standardized lines, BMW empowers its workers to make changes on production when it is necessary. Similar to Dell Computer (DELL), BMW provides the customization option to customers. Hence, each auto moving down the production line is different.

Only change is constant. As the market keeps changing every day, a company should never be satisfied with its current status and management strategy. Being innovative and creative is the only way to be successful.

The article that I have referred to : “Online Extra: The Secret of BMW’s Success“