Middle management transformed a company’s business
operations into a network-based system by mobilising new groups across
organizational boundaries. These groups played a central role in the
development and testing of the new practices.
By taking advantage of the opportunities presented to it,
the middle management was also able to sell the idea and practices of the
collaborative network to the decision-makers of the group. This shows that
changes in business operations do not always need to be initiated by the top
executives; the middle management is also capable of doing it.
These are some of the findings presented by Matti Virkki,
Lic.Sc. (Econ.), in his doctoral dissertation for the Aalto University School
of Business. Virkki examines the changes in the fertilizer business, the main
field of operations of the Kemira Corporation. As a result of the
transformation, Kemira’s fertilizer division, which until then had been a
functions-based business unit in the corporation, developed into Kemira
GrowHow, an independent network-oriented and offerings-based company.