Valve, among the world's top video game software businesses, has also become an iconic example of an organization with virtually no hierarchy. A 400-person organization, Valve's exceptional organizational form (described in detail in the case and accompanying employee handbook) contains 100% self-allocated time, no supervisors (and consequently no managerial oversight), a structure so fluid that all desks have wheels to allow free movement between ""cabals"" (teams) on a regular basis (which happens often enough that Valve created a homegrown tracking app to allow peers to locate each other), a unique hiring apparatus that supports recruiting of T-shaped people, and a strictly peer-based performance review and stack ranking. As market forces and customer demand draw Valve into hardware in 2013, Valve questions whether their organizational model has to change as it expands from software into hardware -and, if so, whether they should prioritize strategy over arrangement or structure over strategy.
Opening the Valve From Software to Hardware (B) Case Study Solution
The case therefore presents students using a strategic and organizational challenge which tests pupils' understanding, and the resoluteness of Valve, with respect to the congruence between their organizational model and strategic direction. Students should have read and discussed the (A) case, and Valve's alternatives for entering hardware, prior to the (B) case being dispersed. The (B) case provides significant detail on Valve's first choices but keeps the final result as a work-in-process. Pupils should have read and discussed the (A) case, and the alternatives of Valve for inputting hardware, prior to the (B) case being dispersed. The (B) case provides critical detail on Valve's first decisions but keeps the final outcome as a work-in-procedure.
PUBLICATION DATE: August 25, 2014 PRODUCT #: 415016-PDF-ENG
This is just an excerpt. This case is about STRATEGY & EXECUTION
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