Abstract:
This case provides an opportunity to discuss how the strategies and structures of governmental agencies should be molded to reflect their political, social, and economic environments, in the context of democratic institution-building in an underdeveloped region. It takes place in one of Spain's newly autonomous regions--Andalusia--in the mid-1980s. The case opens with background information on the creation of the first regional government and on the Institute of Industrial Promotion of Andalusia (IPIA), which was assigned the mission of promoting small and medium-sized privately owned industries in the region. Part A explores how IPIA's management approached the questions of what discourse to use in explaining and justifying its purposes, what clients to serve, what functions to perform, and what techniques to use in order to advance its mission. The strategic tension between serving all business owners in a passive way and actively animating socioeconomic change processes in several particular contexts is highlighted. Part B, which can be used as an epilogue, explores the internal organizational form that the management developed in order to carry out its mission and strategy.
