What happens when organizations have politics as their biggest strength?

My consulting practice within organizations in the profit, government and plural (non-profit) sector has brought me various insights and tremendous experience when it comes to organizational culture and decision-making processes. One of these insights concerns the difference in perceived and actual core competencies – some of these organizations actually have politics as their biggest strength. Their growth and survival are entirely dependent on some form of politics. 

Here, the term "politics" is seen as a subset of power, i.e., an informal power, illegitimate in nature, while the term "power" is "the capacity to effect (or affect) organizational outcomes." (Mintzberg, 1983, p. 5)

The problem here is that politics is not a core competence because it does not fulfill two out of three criteria: it does not make a significant contribution to the perceived customer benefits and it is not difficult to be imitated by competitors. Therefore, even not obvious at start, these organizations are not equipped for a long-term viability. To thrive, they have to re-imagine themselves and start building more lasting capabilities. 

Reference: 

Mintzberg, H. (1983). Power In and Around Organizations. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.