Challenges of transformation: The case of Norilsk Nickel

As Russia’s largest mining company, Norilsk Nickel was for much of its history an archetypal Soviet institution. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the subsequent prolonged economic crisis, in 2001 new management came into the company with the objective of transforming the company into a modern global corporation. In the years that followed, management pushed through a series of radical changes to the organisation and its operations. Simultaneous with these changes, the company extended its asset base in Russia and acquired assets outside the country. The progressive direction of the company was, however, taking it further and further out on a limb and the programme of transformation was not being matched and supported by public policy and regulation. Pressures came to a head in the middle of 2008 when a change in the structure of company’s ownership and a collapse of metal prices combined to bring about increased involvement of the state in company’s affairs and a more national emphasis to its strategic orientation.