In July 2017 we (mesopartner) will host the next annual Summer Academy. This year is special for me, because the theme of the event is about meso-organisations in the economy. Meso organizations are often taken for granted. And it is often assumed that leading or growing a meso organization is like managing a business or a project.
We believe these organizations, and especially their leaders, need some special attention.
For those that wonder what is meant with “meso”, it refers to a specific kind of organization or program that is created with the intent to overcome a whole range of market failures in an economy. Meso-organisations are known by their specificity, for instance to assist specific industries to modernize, or to support start-ups, or to promote investment in particular new technologies or a specific sub-national region. The reality is that while we describe their role in terms of market failure, competitiveness and growth, very often these organizations, their funders and even their clients have very little interest in theoretical concepts like market failure, systemic competitiveness, innovation systems or even modernization. They have a mandate, a limited budget, and many competing demands.
Most of my work is about helping leadership teams of meso organizations to make better sense of their context, to design better programs and services so that they can have a bigger effect on the industries they serve, or to become more resilient.
Increasingly our focus is on helping these organizations to become more innovative, not only in their product/service offerings, but in the way they unleash the creativity of their staff, their networks and how they all learn and discover what is possible in their given social and economic context. It is about stretching the capability, the influence and the adaptiveness of the meso.
To manage a meso organization takes a special kind of person.
- Firstly, the leader must meet the demands of their funders or stakeholders. They must be able to handle a huge bureaucracy and lots of reporting on the often seemingly senseless of indicators and targets that funders require. Spare a thought for those that depend on several sources of funding.
- Secondly, the leader must meet the demands of industries, clients, wanna-be entrepreneurs and dreamers that come knocking on their door. While we can collectively call these businesses “clients”, they are in fact a very diverse group with a mind numbing diversity of requirements, demands, capabilities and competencies. While in an industrialized country it is sufficient to work with those enterprises that shows the right kind of curiosity and willingness to pay for top notch external support, in developing countries these meso organizations are often under pressure to work with lagging enterprises that are struggling to master the basics, marginalized groups and must also contribute to all kinds of social objectives. It is not simply about being at the cutting edge and competitiveness, but also about creating pathways for others to follow. This is very hard to do when there are huge shortages of professional management in companies, poor schooling and a whole host of interconnected market failures that seems to hold everyone from reaching their full potential.
- Thirdly, these leaders must contend with their organizational context. For instance, many meso organizations I work with are associated with research institutions or universities. That means there is a demand on these centers to contribute to the academic objectives of their host. This includes creating opportunities for students to gain work experience, providing post graduate support, procuring raw material and components and running a business through an administration designed for another purpose.
My list could go on. But perhaps at another time.
We’ve been developing tools, instruments and concepts targeted at meso organizations for more than 10 years. This year we will focus on these, without losing focus on promoting the healthy economies of territories and industries.
I am looking forward to the Summer Academy where we can explore these and other issues. Every year we attract a range of experts and practitioners from around the world where we learn together and get to explore issues that we face in the field with a combination of theory and practical simulations. I hope to see you there!
For more information, visit the Mesopartner Summer Academy page.