THE ‘COMPANIZATION’ ORGANIZATIONAL MODEL; Managerial challenges and responses in a peculiar hybrid organization. A case study on Plantagon International.

Abstract

This Master thesis aims at exploring a new-to-the-market organizational model, the Companization, and the managerial practices used to face challenges and tensions related to it. Studying the Swedish social enterprise Plantagon International, this paper attempts to understand which peculiar hurdles are encountered by hybrid organizations and how they react. Through an extensive literature review in the academic fields of Institutional Logics, Profit-Nonprofit Partnerships, and Hybrid Organizations, the author develops an analytical framework with the purpose of categorizing organizational areas interested by hybrid-specific challenges and available responses suggested by academia. These responses are then compared to the findings from Plantagon International in the analysis, and the most interesting practices are used to complement the analytical framework developed. Among them, a specific focus is placed on the reverse stream of funding shown by Plantagon’s hybrid structure. Finally, recommendations are provided to scholars for future research and to Plantagon’s management for the delicate transitional phase the organization is going through.