Final answer:
Answer D, 'It makes it difficult for the brand manager to coordinate with the various departments within the organization,' accurately reflects a problem with centralized organizational structures. Such structures can hinder brand managers' ability to align strategies across departments due to rigid hierarchies and communication protocols.
Step-by-step explanation:
The question asks about the problems associated with a centralized organizational structure, particularly in the context of advertising and marketing. The correct answer reflects the challenges such a structure might impose. A centralized organizational structure, while facilitating consistent decision-making and control, can pose several problems, including impeding cross-departmental coordination and narrowing the understanding of the broader marketing context by specialized departments.
Specifically, answer D, "It makes it difficult for the brand manager to coordinate with the various departments within the organization," is true. Centralization can create bottlenecks where brand managers find it challenging to align their strategies with the actions taken by various departments due to a rigid hierarchy and communication protocols. Unlike answer A, centralization does allow for a transfer of functions to a brand manager, contradicting the proposal that it does not enable such a transfer. Answer B is incorrect, as a well-designed centralized system can indeed facilitate coordination with external agencies, even though there may be some challenges. Answer C is not necessarily true, as the advertising department in a centralized system may still understand the overall marketing strategy of the brand if there is effective top-down communication. Lastly, answer E suggests that centralization facilitates disassociation with a management system, which is not a characteristic feature or an intended outcome of centralized structures.