I think you're right about things like chain of command; most companies are hierarchical in this way. But I think there's a fallacy that's widely believed that people "at the top" see things more clearly than those... not at the "top". I think we see very little no matter where we are, and we have to rely on each other to get the whole picture. To me, this indicates that a more flat structure makes sense: I'm good at the tech thing, you're good at the budgeting thing, if suddenly you stop being good at the budgeting thing I want someone else to do it, and vice versa.