Business Innovation

Organizational Innovation

Centerless Corporation

Looks differently, acts differently

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Adapted from: The Centerless Corporation, Bruce A.Pasternack and Albert. J. Viscio

 

 

 

 

"Companies have always adapted to larger and more complex forms by having management focus on higher-order levers of performance."

Mind-set Change

In the Centerless Corporation, roles rather than organization get revamped. The Centerless Corporation represents a mindsets change – it does not so much look radically different as it acts radically different.

 

Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO)

How DAOs and Blockchain Can Improve the Organizing of Corporations

 

 

 

 

 

Centerless versus Traditional Corporate Model

Traditional

Centerless

Hierarchical

Flat

Centralized corporate services

No centralized services

Large corporate and divisional staff

Minimal staff at the corporate and group level

Independent, isolated business units

Interdependent, networked business units

Linear chains of command

Nonlinear, flexible and adaptable chains of command

Standard structures of business units for different products and geographies

Customized structures of business units for different products and geographies

Main Features of the Centerless Corporation

A More Open and Interdependent Corporation

  • Built around resources and capabilities  rather than the assets

  • Flat with a network of interdependent business units and strategic alliances

  • Characterized by interdependence rather than the independence of its parts

  • Nonlinear: everything flows up and down in whatever direction it is most effective

  • Flexible structures: there are different structures for different products and geographies in line with specific needs.

  • Manages people with a new type of relationship – New People Partnership – rather that downsizing lists

  • Has a Knowledge Department and a Chief Knowledge Officer

  • Knowledge management: best practices and knowledge flow freely, finding their most productive use  >>>

  • Staff functions are placed in the business units, a service unit, or outsourced – this arrangement allows firms to compete seamlessly with their full set of capabilities no matter where these are housed in the organization.

Business Enablers >> Knowledge    Coherence

New People Partnership

Global Core    Strategic Business Units

Human Barriers to Knowledge Transfer

Business Enablers – the Three Axes

While the traditional corporate business model is structured around individual businesses, the Centerless Corporation is built along three axes: people, knowledge, and coherence. These business enablers are what allow the corporation to breathe and function...  More

Leadership

The real center of the Centerless Corporation is an extended leadership team. The model is leadership driven because traditional management is not enough anymore in today's rapidly changing world.

Flat Organizational Structure

When organizations get large, they become slow, awkward, unmanageable, inflexible, and difficult to focus. They distance people from each other, and consume more energy than they release. Innovation-friendly organizations are flat and participative. They divisionalize to sustain innovation Download PowerPoint presentation, pdf e-book, flexibility and customer intimacy.

Division is a business unit having a clear set of customers and competitors. A division can be independently planned for within the organization and has profit and loss responsibility... More

 

Case Studies Siemens

Keeping Siemens' worldwide sales force abreast of the company's latest technology and best practices requires collaboration on an enormous scale. To accomplish this, sales people must be able to stay in communication with their fellow employees. ShareNet, an innovative knowledge management system used by a division of Siemens. ShareNet attempts to capture the knowledge and experience of Siemen's many dispersed sales and marketing units around the globe, making it available to all. ShareNet enables thousands of employees worldwide to tap into the company's vast knowledge base to gather the latest information about products, customers, and competitors. More importantly, it allows them to do this from any web browser on the planet... More