I was just reading Seth Godin's Alignment  post where he criticizes Apple for not taking corrective action on the audio version of The Dip which does not work on many iPods; none of Apple's responses addressed the problem:

".. For the last two weeks, the audio version of The Dip has been for sale at the iTunes music store. And for many iPods, it doesn't work. Hundreds of people have written to me and let me know. These hundreds of people have written to Apple, too, and they've shared their notes with me.

In general, the responses from Apple that people are reporting are respectful and straightforward. But none of the responses have addressed the problem. Apple could easily take the product down. Or they could change the description in the store with a note that says, "sorry, but it doesn't work on some iPods, we're working on it", or they could email everyone who had bought one and let them know what the plans are. And, yes, best of all, they could fix it. "

Large companies don't seem to be able to act in alignment - I think its due to the nature of netting out responsibilities across several groups -more "matrix" like than direct style decision making.

Matrix organizations distribute authority to get a lot of work done - but I don't think they can take action quickly or decisively enough - for the kind of situation Seth Godin mentions above.

I find, from experience, that if your working in a large corporation, most of that corporation runs on "automatic" - it's got a set of processes set up that runs almost everything - it does a good job - as long as it's a routine matter.

When something happens that is "unforeseen" or where there's "no procedure", like a contract negotiation that's out of the ordinary, or a problem with a audio file that is somehow not working on one set of iPods, but does work on others - a large, Matrix organization might actually be paralyzed - but the time they figure out what to do - a smaller, nimbler competitor could have already handled the situation 2 or 3 times over again.

Nothing is black or white - I like large airlines - to know that a brand is well known and behind something - on the other hand, I wonder if the kind of problem Seth ran into with The Dip audio file would have been solved by Apple if they were just broken down into smaller, autonomous units that can act decisively.  I mean, if put most of the actual authority for making decision to be Top down, it's hard for a customer service person to take actions on many things.  On the other hand, if you give people too much authority - they may do things not good for the company.

"…If the head of the iTunes store focused on this problem for ten seconds, it would go away. The challenge isn't a lack of tools or resources, it is a lack of alignment. For a service rep in this particular situation, "doing my job" means making the person go away, while "doing the right thing" means taking initiative and actually solving the problem. The customer service reps don't have access to the tools (or the authority) to do what the company would actually benefit the most from.

Getting your team in alignment (having their job match their tools match their mission) is perhaps the first job a marketer has to do."

Hmm..I'm wondering if this is really a "marketing" issue or a "political" issue? - Who has the power or authority to take action?  If it's not in the hands of a customer service rep, maybe there's a reason why.