Dividing Line Authority on More than One Basis

Few companies use a single basis for subdividing line authority. Most use a combination, subdividing the selling task more than once, to permit greater specialization. Nearly every large sales department subdivides authority on the geo-graphic basis at some level of organization, but this is done visually in combination with either the product or type-of-customer system. If geographical differences are more important than those of product or type of customer, the primary subdivision is geographical, and the next is at a lower organizational echelon according to one of the other bases. If geographical differences are of lesser importance, the procedure is reversed. The factor most important to the marketing success of the company should form the basis for the first subdivision, and less important factors should determine subsequent breakdowns at lower organizational echelons.