1. Intuit Case Discussion
Managing in Information-Intensive Companies
January 25, 2013

2. Intuit created profitable growth 2002 onwards

3. Four design parameters
Formal groupings
By (mix of) functions, business units, geography, project teams
Location of decision rights
Which decisions at what level
Processes
Sequence of activities to organize work
Management responsibilities
Balance between unit and cross-unit focus

4. Step 1. Formally group into sharply defined business units that have important decision rights
Intuit: organically grew from one to 5+ product-markets
Personal
Finance
Quicken
Supplies
Checks, Forms
Employer
Services
Payroll
Accounting
QuickBooks
Business Unit
Various
Businesses
and Products
Vertical
(Acquisitions)
Primary Product
Small Business
and Personal
Norrington
Professional
Tax
ProTax
Consumer
TurboTax
Solutions
Manack
Allanson
CEO
Bennett
Push decisions “down,” give units freedom,
hold them accountable, reward performance

5. Step 2. Develop a strong set of “service minded” functions
Bennett put new senior people in charge of technology, process excellence, IT, procurement
Doubled spending in HR
Allocated decisions into three buckets: corporate function only, BU only, BU with corporate function guidance

6. Step 3. Develop processes to get work done
Intuit example of e-store:
BUs
Functions

7. Step 4. People: Develop joint responsibilities—”T-shaped”
T-shaped managers excel in the dual task of delivering performance for their own
unit (the vertical part of the T) and contributing to other units by helping, sharing
knowledge, and coordinating work (the horizontal part of the T)
Management levers to develop effective collaboration
E.g., processes
Cross unit collaboration
Levers emphasizing duality
E.g., evaluation and promotion criteria including both dimensions
Unit
focus
Management levers to create unit performance
Clear responsi-bilities and targets
Accountability