Transitioning from a hierarchical product organization to an open platform organization: a Chinese case study

Jiao Luo; Andrew H. Van de Ven; Runtian Jing; Yuan Jiang

doi:10.1186/s41469-017-0026-x

Transitioning from a hierarchical product organization to an open platform organization: a Chinese case study

Jiao Luo, Andrew H. Van de Ven, Runtian Jing, Yuan Jiang

Strategic Management and Entrepreneurship

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

13 Scopus citations

Abstract

Organizations around the world are designing new forms of organizing in order to deal with the challenges of advances in information technology and digitization that promote increases in customization and innovation in the face of global competition. This paper presents a case study examining the challenges experienced by a large multinational firm as it transforms from a hierarchical product organization to an open platform network organization. We show that (a) role confusion, (b) control imbalance, and (c) staffing mismatches are key challenges associated with organizational redesign. The main lessons drawn from this case are discussed.

Original language	English (US)
Article number	1
Journal	Journal of Organization Design
Volume	7
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1186/s41469-017-0026-x
State	Published - Dec 1 2018

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Runtian Jing thanks the Key Research Project of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (grant number 71432005) for the financial support on this research. Yuan Jiang thanks the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 71672111) for the financial support on this research.

Funding Information:
We are grateful to editor Charles C. Snow and two anonymous reviewers for the suggestions and guidance. We also acknowledge the comments and feedback from the participants in the Organizational Design Community 2016 Annual Conference and the University of Minnesota Carlson SME Seminar Series. Runtian Jing thanks the Key Research Project of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (grant number 71432005) for the financial support on this research. Yuan Jiang thanks the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 71672111) for the financial support on this research. This paper benefited from the Key Research Project of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) to the third author (grant number 71432005), as well as the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 71672111) to the fourth author. The dataset(s) supporting the conclusions of this article will not be shared.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2018, The Author(s).

Keywords

China
Corporate venture
Micro-enterprise
Organization design
Strategy and structure

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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Transitioning from a hierarchical product organization to an open platform organization: a Chinese case study

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

UN SDGs

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