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Case Study

OCP: Liberating energy to create sustainable growth

By Heather Cairns-Lee and Tawfik Jelassi

17 pages

November 2022

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Reference: IMD-7-2330

The case focuses on the transformation of OCP, a state-owned monopoly that mined and exploited Morocco’s phosphate reserves. By 2021 it had become an organization with a mission to contribute to the sustainability of food security as the custodians of 70% of the world’s phosphate reserves. Phosphate is one of three vital ingredients in fertilizers that are used to grow healthy, drought-resistant plants, and contributes to sustainable agriculture. This is nowhere more urgent than in Africa: sub-Saharan Africa has the world’s fastest-growing population, but an impoverished agricultural system and only one-third of its arable land is cultivated. Helping smallholder farmers to cultivate more land with robust crops could improve the continent’s sustainable agriculture and better feed its population. In 2016 OCP Group’s Chairman, Dr Mostafa Terrab, launched “the Movement,” a vaguely defined initiative to “liberate energy” and develop collective intelligence to build a more purposeful sustainable future. The Movement’s goal was to continue the group’s transformation from a hierarchical phosphate producer to a global, digital and learning organization with a mission to create sustainable growth for everyone. The case describes the Movement’s philosophy, intention and principles: self-organization, an advice process, and collective intelligence based on a shared vision that all people can contribute to the organization and its ecosystem through collaboration. The Movement brings people together to anticipate future challenges and stakeholder expectations and to bring innovative ideas to life. By 2019, the Movement had launched 60 projects involving 9,000 people that have diversified the group’s business activities, enhanced the employee experience, created growth opportunities and community engagement in Morocco and across Africa. Several of these projects have been anchored into the Group and have increased its focus on inclusive business and sustainable development.

Learning Objective

How does change occur through movements within ecosystems?
What are movements, their pros and cons, and what differentiates them from other change initiatives?
What impact can a movement have on cultural transformation?
How does the Movement contribute to delivering OCP’s vision: creating sustainable growth for everyone?
How can organizations manage both exploitation and exploration; and share value and growth with stakeholders and communities

Keywords

Culture, Movement, Energy, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Organizational Learning, Development, Motivation, Exploration, Potential, Employee Well-being, Life-changing Experience, Attitude to Change, Doubt, Sponsorship, Leading by Example, Poverty Elimination, Hunger Elimination, Good Health, Well-being, Quality Education, Gender Equality

Settings

Africa, Morocco
OCP Africa, Manufacturing, Chemicals
2016-2021

Type

Field Research

Available Languages

English

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