Short financial essay about the drugs company Ciba Geicy.

Ciba Geicy --------------------------------------------- Ciba had strong Swiss/German roots and was a highly centralized company with most management functions performed either at corporate headquarters or in large country organizations. Corporate headquartersand the country organizations had large groups that provided common services to the operating units. Operating units were evaluated based on direct contribution and little effort was made to allocate centralservices costs to the various lines of business. This organization structure provided limited line-of-business information. …

…financial reporting that "best represented the "the economic picture", e.g. used current cost accounting for fixed assets, inventories are valued at variable cost, and only operating activities are on income statement. *** Ciba-Geigy used contribution by SBU as measure of performance. Operating income was key measure. Used current cost accounting to value inventories and assets. SBU's buy services from corporate if they want to, else shop outside. Projects should be approved according to SBU risk.