BNET Business Dictionary
Business Definition for: Centralization
- the gathering together, at a corporate headquarters, of specialist functions such as finance, personnel, centralized purchasing, and information technology. Centralization is usually undertaken in order to effect economies of scale and to standardize operating procedures throughout the organization. Centralized management can become cumbersome and inefficient, and may produce communications problems. Some organizations have shifted toward decentralization to try to avoid this.
Wiktionary Definition for: Centralization
- #The act or process of centralizing, or the state of being centralized; the act or process of combining or reducing several parts into a whole; as, the centralization of power in the general government; the centralization of commerce in a city.
Additional Resources
- Safeway Inc. Announces Enhancements to Marketing Organization; Company Calls Move ``Important Step'' in Centralization Process
- PLEASANTON, Calif. -- Safeway Inc. (NYSE:SWY) announced an important step to enhance and strengthen its centralized marketing organization. As previously announced, the company completed the centralization process in 2002. Today, the company described its latest move as an "important step" in a fine tuning process that has been underway for...
- Research articles 2004-11-08
- Bring it together: at Sinclair, it's all about centralization.(Special report: NAB buyer guide: major station groups)(National Association of Broadcasters, Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc.)
- For Sinclair Broadcast Group, with 61 stations, many in small markets, this NAB show will be all about media-management systems. IT/broadcast convergence products and file-based systems that can help with the group's graphics-centralization project For Sinclair Broadcast Group, with 61 stations, many in small...
- Research articles 2005-03-14
- Idearc CEO Reveals New Executive Council, CFO and General Counsel; Details Sales Organization and Centralization Efforts
- Goal to Grow Revenue, Reduce Expenses and Improve Margins, Create High Performance Culture DALLAS -- Scott W. Klein, Chief Executive Officer of Idearc Inc. (NYSE: IAR) today announced the nine members of his new Executive Council, details on the new sales organization and centralization of Marketing, Finance, Accounting, Human...
- Research articles 2008-09-02
- Decentralized control: networks can enable less centralization; when you do decentralize, it should match application needs: speed, wiring, and manufacturing process design or lifecycle.(Networks)
- History of centralized control in manufacturing and similar environments is--as with most technological developments--a double-edged sword. The situation is reminiscent of the two-headed animal from the Dr. Doolittle children's stories--the "Push-mepullyou." In this case, should the design shape the process or process dictate the design?...
- Research articles 2004-04-01
- Centralization slashes Service's utility costs - Service Merchandise Company Inc. installs Logic One, building management system
- Centralization Slashes Service's Utility Costs NASHVILLE, Tenn. - How does saving 20% to 25% on energy costs sound to you? That's the savings that cataloger Service Merchandise has shown in many showrooms as its Energy Management Department EMD, charged with controlling utility costs, began phasing in a sophisticated,...
- Research articles 1991-06-17
- Gary Hamel: Don't Be a Dinosaur
- Gary Hamel ends his ‘Future of Management’ with a two-chapter ‘how-to’ section, aptly titled ‘Building the Future of Management.’ The first looks closely at two real-world attempts to create more innovative companies. Hamel starts with IBM’s efforts to take its world-beating research and turn it into new...
- Blog posts 2007-11-30
- Players.(Leslie Campbell of Dell Inc.)(Brief Article)
- Staff Player: Leslie Campbell, vice president of worldwide procurement, Dell Biggest challenge: Getting internal customers to support centralization of procurement Promoting professional diversity: Campbell has led an effort to ...
- Research articles 2006-03-02
- Alltel slashes costs with Strategic Sourcing (Purchasing)
- Strategic purchasing and centralization have resulted in more than $1 billion in material cost savings for Alltel. Strategic purchasing and centralization have resulted in more than $1 billion in material cost savings for Alltel.
- Research articles 2007-07-14
- KOREAN PRESIDENTIAL HOPEFUL BLAMES POLITICIANS FOR IMF CRISIS.
- SEOUL, Oct 16 Asia Pulse - Presidential hopeful Chung Mong-joon blamed Korean politicians for the 1997 IMF financial crisis and promised to delegate authority to deputies to prevent a repetition of the "excessive" centralization of power in the exec SEOUL, Oct 16 Asia Pulse -...
- Research articles 2002-10-16
- Federated rides strong quarter.(Federated Department Stores Inc.)
- CINCINNATI -- Helped by modestly stronger sales, wider margins and lower costs--and importantly putting behind it a handful of costs tied to store closings and the Macy's home store centralization that depressed the bottom line a year ago--Federate CINCINNATI -- Helped by modestly stronger...
- Research articles 2005-05-16
- Upon the state's shoulders be it.(Congress sends welfare programs back to the states)
- The US House, spurred by the political popularity of workfare programs initiated by Republican governors in WI, CA, MI, and MA, passed a sweeping welfare de-centralization bill. However, the true costs of public service jobs and retraining may be much higThe US House, spurred by the political popularity of workfare...
- Research articles 1995-03-25
- GSK Hire From Pfizer Signals R&D Will Continue to Shrink
- GlaxoSmithKline appointed Ellen Strahlman as it's new chief medical officer, and a perceptive post over at IN VIVO discusses the meaning of the move. (That's her LinkedIn photo.) Her previous job was as Pfizer's vp licensing and worldwide business Development. IN VIVO asks: With so...
- Blog posts 2008-09-12
- Webster Financial Corporation Q3 2007 Earnings Call Transcript
- Question-and-Answer SessionOperator Thank you. [Operator instructions]. Okay, our first question comes from the line of Mark Fitzgibbon with Sandler O'Neill. Please proceed with your question. Mark Fitzgibbon - Sandler O'Neill & Partners Hi, good morning. Gentlemen, you guys have had a... some pretty bad luck with...
- Earnings calls 2007-10-24
- Congressional regulation of subnational governments. (Federalism: Aftermath of the 1980s and Prospects for the 1990s)
- The US Congress has used its powers of preemption under Article VI of the Constitution to supersede laws passed by state and local government units. This trend towards centralization in federal-local government relations in the US has accelerated since 1965. Prior to this period, the pace of centralization in the...
- Research articles 1993-06-01
- 9/11 panel to call for combining spy agencies, member says
- WASHINGTON -- A member of the Sept. 11 commission predicts the panel will support centralization of the nation's intelligence agencies as the only way to prevent future terrorist attacks. "You're going to see unanimous recommendations on the intelligence community ... They couldn't distinguish between a bicycle crash and...
- Research articles 2004-06-21
- One For The Money.
- Hotels discover that a single property management solution can effectively meet the needs of multiple properties. Centralization often provides a company's key to cost-cutting and efficiency. On an individual basis, hotels demonstrate this principle when they consolidate F&B operations, and the single prep ...
- Research articles 2001-01-01
- Atlantic Data Services Develops Consolidation Strategy for Bank Restructure
- QUINCY, Mass.--BUSINESS WIRE--June 25, 1999-- Old National Bancorp Centralizes Bank Operations Atlantic Data Services, Inc. (Nasdaq: ADSC), an IT strategy consulting and systems integration firm, is currently engaged at Old National Bancorp to manage a project plan designed to collapse the charters of 19 affiliate banks in three...
- Research articles 1999-06-25
- Regulatory Reform: No Case for Mandated Clearing
- Craig Pirrong submits: New York University Stern School of Business professors Aarya, Engle, Figlewski, Lynch, and Subrhmanyam (AEFLS) contributed a chapter advocating centralized clearing of credit derivatives in the recent volume Restoring Financial Stability: How to Repair a Failed System edited by Acharya and Richardson. Although the authors are...
- External links 2009-10-26
- Scotts Cultivates a Customer-Centric Supply-Chain Strategy
- Scotts was shipping product according to unreliable forecasts. It had no idea which items were actually needed, or where. To make up for its ignorance, safety stocks were unacceptably high. And communications with retailers were minimal. Scotts was filling up warehouses with fertilizer and letting retailers take over from there....
- Case studies 2004-07-01
- Being the First to OWN the Market
- I get a lot of business plans sent by friends and acquaintances asking for my opinion and it almost seems like it is an unwritten rule of the business plan to list "first to market" as a competitive advantage. What a myth! Being first to market usually means that...
- Blog posts 2007-04-06
