General Mills produces and sells a variety of food products in numerous countries. Access its home page and look at the company overview at the following address:

www.generalmills.com

Now consider Kirby Company. It manufactures and sells one product line—vacuum cleaners and their accessories. Access its home page at the following address:

www.kirby.com

Instructions

a. On the basis of information from the Web site, how would you divide General Mills into responsibility centers? Give examples of possible investment centers, profit centers, and cost centers.

b. On the basis of information from the Web site, how would you divide Kirby into responsibility centers? Give examples of possible investment centers, profit centers, and cost centers.

c. What organizational factors might account for the differences between the two firms’ responsibility center systems?