The digital transformation of industrial players

Digitalization is transforming the industrial landscape. Smarter products, data-based services, and new business models promise to reshape the whole manufacturing industry. But just below the visible excitement lurk unexpected tensions and challenges that can make digital transformation an excruciating journey for industrial companies. In this article, we decipher the digital transformation strategy choices of leading industrial firms in a highly innovative country. We then identify four dominant tensions that managers need to sort out. We also provide guiding principles for selecting a digital transformation strategy capable of overcoming each of the identified tensions.     

From AI to digital transformation: The AI readiness framework

Strategies and means for selecting and implementing digital technologies that realize firms’ goals in digital transformation have been extensively investigated. The recent surge in artificial intelligence (AI) technologies has amplified the need for such investigation, as they are being increasingly used in diverse organizational practices, creating not only new opportunities for digital transformation but also new challenges for managers of digital transformation processes. In this article, I present a framework intended to assist efforts to address one of the first of these challenges: assessment of organizational AI readiness—that is, an organization’s ability to deploy AI technologies to enable digital transformation, in four key dimensions: technologies, activities, boundaries, and goals. I show that this framework can facilitate analysis both of an organization’s current sociotechnical AI status and of the prospects for the technology’s fuller value-adding, sociotechnical deployment. The AI readiness framework invites fuller theorizing of the roles that AI can—and will—play in digital transformation.     

Creating an innovative digital project team: Levers to enable digital transformation

Digital transformation encompasses an organization's ability to adapt, respond, and position itself for success in the face of rapid technology evolution. A critical structure in achieving successful digital transformation is the digital project team, yet there is little research on how they are created and developed. Much of the focus has been on agile methodologies and processes but there is less research to inform organizations on digital team dynamics such as roles, empowerment, learning, and leadership development. This article describes our findings from a multilevel study of the IT function of 60 companies, including fieldwork at five company sites involving more than 130 semistructured interviews with senior level IT professionals. We identify four essential team-based levers that enable digital transformation: (1) diverse and targeted team composition, (2) iterative goal setting, (3) continuous learning, and (4) talent management. Using company examples and practices, we describe how digital leaders are using these levers to propel their organizations forward in the journey toward digital transformation.     

Managing for competency with innovation change in higher education: Examining the pitfalls and pivots of digital transformation

Digital transformation recently converged on organizations as a new paradigm—a must-have exemplar—to enable competitive advantage. While the effects of digital transformation and their analytics, along with platform technologies, are becoming pronounced in companies, there is still a need to examine their implications on higher education. In light of the dynamics of digital transformation, how can higher education better manage the shift toward newer competencies and the need for innovation presented by the emergence of digital technologies? In this article, I examine the issues around the need for this balance—often defined in strategy as ambidexterity, or the need to address both competency with innovation—by outlining the historical trajectories that led to this problem in higher education, identifying three common pitfalls that higher education programs and administrators face, and tying these issues to higher education’s absorptive capacity. To resolve these pitfalls, this article builds upon absorptive capacity frameworks for education practitioners and strategies as a prospective change management tool.     

Changing the game to compete: Innovations in the fashion retail industry from the disruptive business model

Unprecedented competition and emergent technologies have posed a challenge to many traditional retailers in recent years. Yet within this competitive environment, emerging innovative business models have thrived and successfully disrupted the industry. We analyze the nature of disruptive business-model innovations and the ways they disrupt the fashion retail industry. To that end, we examine three disruptors in the industry: born-digital brands, AI-enabled demand forecasting and product design, and collaborative consumption. After introducing the concept of disruptive business-model innovation, we discuss the three disruptors’ effects on the fashion industry. We find that all of these models keenly answer fundamental needs unmet by current business models, such as offering quality products at a competitive price, curated services, and sustainable consumption. At the same time, all three disruptors suggest effective operation models for handling demand uncertainty, inventory management, and timely responses to the market, all of which are inherent issues for current push supply chains and forecast-based, inventory-driven systems. Based on this analysis, we discuss important implications for both academics and industry practitioners.     

From caterpillar to butterfly: experiencing spirituality via body transformation

ABSTRACT

Consumers increasingly seek out the spiritual to enlighten their inner emptiness and find their inner selves. We add a physiological, embodied perspective, which has been commonly overlooked in extant research as a valuable opportunity for individual consumer spirituality. Interpretative investigation of body-transforming consumers uncovers a powerful reincarnation process that eventually leads to the self-renewal and reunion of body and mind. We find that the consumption of body-transforming substances initiates a mindful, spiritual consumer journey allowing consumers to actively develop and experience their inner spirituality through recurring cycles of reduction, reflection and release. These findings allow us to develop implications for a broader understanding of consumer spirituality where the active consumer seeks unity in the self and beyond.     

Tortoise,not the hare: Digital transformation of supply chain business processes

With the rapid development of digital technologies, many supply chain professionals are wondering how to move forward. Three technologies are poised to change supply chain business processes: robotic process automation (RPA), artificial intelligence (AI)/machine learning (ML) and blockchain. Based on interviews with supply chain professionals in 14 large, mature manufacturing and service organizations, we outline the promise of each technology and forecast their broad-scale adoption potential. Organizations should take the following measures to ensure their readiness to adopt and effectively use one or more of these technologies: (1) identify a supply chain technology visionary who can lead through the maze of technologies and the changing digital landscape, (2) develop a digital technology roadmap for their supply chain processes, and (3) update foundational information systems.     

Making a first impression as a start-up: Strategies to overcome low initial trust perceptions in digital innovation adoption

High failure rates of digital innovations by start-ups indicate that consumers' initial trust perceptions are make-or-break for their survival. Hence, start-ups have to design adequate business models to manage consumers' initial trust perceptions of digital innovations. Five experiments explore how start-ups can signal trustworthiness in order to overcome low initial trust perceptions and boost adoption. We find three specific design strategies of start-ups' digital business models – customer ratings, benefit communication, and revenue model – to be effective to overcome low initial trust perceptions and to increase adoption of digital innovations. The findings demonstrate that initial trust serves as a critical mediator in the relationship between these design strategies and consumers' adoption intentions. Additionally, the chosen revenue model has differential effects on privacy concerns, which mediate the relationship between revenue model and initial trust. The present empirical insights help start-ups to craft business model design strategies for successful digital innovation launch.     

The effect of diplomatic representation on trade: A panel data analysis

This study addresses current gaps in the empirical literature regarding the effect of diplomatic representation on trade using a panel data set for 100 countries with 5‐year interval data from 1985 to 2005 and four‐digit level industry data. The results indicate that the effect of diplomatic representation on exports in differentiated goods is positive and significant and larger than on exports in homogeneous goods on average, but not statistically different from it. Furthermore, diplomatic representation only increases trade along the extensive margin and not along the intensive margin. The results indicate that diplomatic representation is effective in performing its function as a network search intermediary and that it is a useful policy tool to alleviate market failure.     

From OLI to OLMA: Incorporating Higher Levels of Environmental and Structural Complexity into the Eclectic Paradigm

Theorists using the eclectic paradigm have drastically restricted their analytic scope to the firm and its subsidiaries, rarely exploring more finely grained firm structures, such as business processes. By contrast, organisational theorists examining multinational firm behaviour have employed a richly differentiated array of firm structural forms though without developing a precise delineation of the international business environment. Eclectic researchers are adept at handling environmental, but not structural, complexity, while the reverse seems true for organisational theorists. This study extends the eclectic paradigm by incorporating higher levels of environmental and structural complexity through two methods: (1) a deconstruction of the multinational firm into business processes; and (2) a more complete definition of the international business environment, called geovalent elements. The paper argues that an enhanced eclectic paradigm called OLMA (for Ownership, Location, Mode of entry, and Adjustment) provides the complete set of concepts needed for studying the modern multinational firm.     

Diagnosing a healthcare cybersecurity crisis: The impact of IoMT advancements and 5G

Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) technology remains in early stages of adoption, but advancements and breakthroughs are quickly moving this process forward. There is a critical need for cybersecurity to be a priority in the development of these new tools, alongside design and utility. Given the rapid pace and potential magnitude of the coming advancements in IoMT, if privacy and security risks are neglected, a significant crisis could emerge in the form of more frequent cybersecurity breaches. This article examines the market opportunities and risks associated with IoMT and outlines a plan for proactively mitigating concerns and providing a platform to foster growth, to modify attitudes and behaviors, and to continue to build consumer confidence in the overall health system without sacrificing security.     

The role of emotions in shaping purchase intentions for innovations using emerging technologies: A scenario‐based investigation in the context of nanotechnology

Although emotions may not play a major role as antecedents of consumers′ innovation acceptance, this study proposes that attitude formation works differently in the context of emerging technologies because of their high levels of uncertainty. To investigate the role of emotions in shaping intentions to adopt innovations using emerging technologies, the conceptual model developed in this study integrates cognitive (risks and benefits) and emotional (optimism and worry) elements. A scenario‐based study employing 731 participants tests the model across three nanotechnology‐based product innovations that differ in terms of product category risk. The results of a mediated moderation model show that emotions do play a key mediating role in explaining purchase intentions. Although the study supports the conceptual model regardless of the level of product‐related risk, it finds risk‐related differences in the strength and level of the mediational links. By unveiling the role of emotions in emerging technology contexts, this study has important implications not only for innovation management but also for regulating institutions and public policymakers.     

中国经济需转型:从追求数量扩张转为注重质量效益——未来十年经济走势思考

中国经济因连年高速增长而积累了内需与外需失衡、投资与消费失衡、经济增长与资源环境承受能力失衡、区域与城乡发展失衡等问题.当前国际金融危机的爆发和冲击使中国这几个失衡问题凸显出来,特别是投资与消费失衡问题突出起来.文章指出,强刺激投资实现的增长将进一步恶化投资与消费的结构,投资增速过快带来的一个问题是产能过剩,而产能过剩带来的一个严重问题是贷款大量增加形成通货膨胀压力.大量的资金投放正在推高资产价格、催生资产泡沫,而且正在逐步形成通货膨胀压力,这也是中国经济的"隐忧"."十二五"起要逐步解决长期积累的这些失衡问题.文章提出,中国经济需要及时进行转型,从追求数量扩张型转为注重增长的质量和效益型,也就是实现经济增长和发展方式转型,使经济真正走上稳定、协调和可持续发展的轨道,走上科学发展的轨道.文章还提出了顺利推进经济转型的未来发展建议,一是适当放缓经济增速;二是致力于调结构,转交经济发展方式;三是深化改革,完善社会主义市场经济体制.     

From crinkly sheds to fashion parks: the role of financial investment in the transformation of retail parks

The retail park is one of the most ubiquitous and significant forms of off-centre retailing in the UK. Originally designed as low-cost accommodation for 'bulky goods', retail parks now include high-rent 'fashion parks' which are eagerly sought by institutional investors for long-term ownership. This paper explains why retail-park ownership, originating in the early 1980s in one-off schemes by locally based property developers, has become the province of major property companies, financial institutions, and asset managers. Growth in rents and capital values has been fuelled by increasing institutional investment, and by fears of a growing scarcity of high-quality developments because of town-planning restrictions. This pressure is now leading to attempts to realize the full capital value of older developments, through processes of 'active management' by the new breed of retail-park owners. In turn, this is leading to increasingly rapid changes of retail occupiers, involving in some cases the expulsion of the original 'bulky goods' retailers for whom retail parks were created. A parallel with the 'Wheel of Retailing' model of institutional change is suggested.     

基于核心企业视角的企业技术创新生态系统构建

文章在归纳国内外关于核心企业理论与企业技术创新生态理论的相关研究基础上,通过分析已有的企业技术创新生态系统结构模型的不足,提出了基于核心企业视角的企业技术创新生态系统结构模型.其中包括:核心企业、技术研发与产品应用、创新生境和创新平台四个部分,并结合生态学理论,深入探讨了各结构部分的内涵和其相互作用关系,阐明了企业技术创新生态系统与自然生态系统在结构上的相同和差异.     

From Discrete- to Continuous-Time Finance: Weak Convergence of the Financial Gain Process1

Conditions suitable for applications in finance are given for the weak convergence (or convergence in probability) of stochastic integrals. For example, consider a sequence Sⁿ of security price processes converging in distribution to S and a sequence θⁿ of trading strategies converging in distribution to θ. We survey conditions under which the financial gain process θⁿ dSⁿ converges in distribution to θ dS. Examples include convergence from discrete- to continuous-time settings and, in particular, generalizations of the convergence of binomial option replication models to the Black-Scholes model. Counterexamples are also provided.     

The Psychic Distance Postulate Revised: From Market Selection to Speed of Market Penetration

In this paper we revise the psychic distance postulate of the Uppsala Model (Johanson and Vahlne, 1977, 1990) by injecting more recent findings (i.e., distinguishing between selection of foreign markets and time needed to achieve sufficient penetration in foreign markets and the role of social capital). The model we propose posits that a higher psychic distance decreases the speed of market penetration. On distant markets, internationalizing technology-based ventures need more time to establish a position in the foreign network and to obtaining positive cash flow. Our model presents social capital as a mean to overcome the psychic distance and to increase the speed of market penetration. We build our model on four case studies on technology-based new ventures internationalizing at very early ages.     

车货匹配平台价值共创逻辑的演进——从“再中介化”到“去中介化”

文章以运满满为研究案例,对车货匹配平台的价值创造活动展开研究,分析平台价值创造逻辑的演进,从中归纳运满满的成功经验,为车货匹配平台的发展提供经验借鉴。研究发现：车货匹配业务是多个参与主体的价值共创活动,物流平台企业介入车货匹配业务后,促使新的车货匹配生态系统的形成,不仅使车货匹配平台的价值共创活动从车货匹配业务向其他增值业务延伸,也使价值实现的要素和价值共创的参与主体产生改变;平台经历了从“再中介化”到“去中介化”的演进,车货匹配生态系统内部“社会价值”的持续创造,为生态系统的发展演进提供了条件。     

Antecedents of intention to use chatbots in service encounters: A meta-analytic review

The trend of using artificial intelligence based chatbots for service encounters has seen a significant spike in recent times. Many studies have attempted to explain the adoption of the technology for various service applications; this study synthesizes the literature through a meta-analysis, for which data from 70 independent studies, with a combined sample size of 20,026 was considered, to understand the influencers of the attitude and intention to use chatbots for service encounters. In addition, this study also sought to understand the moderating role of the culture, the technological characteristics captured through the variables transactional/non-transactional, and informative/entertaining of the hypothesized relationships. Meta structural equation modelling (meta-analytic SEM) was used to analyse the data. The results indicate playfulness, attitude, usefulness, facilitating condition and social influence of the chatbots are the key factors in influencing user adoption. Further, technological characteristics and culture were found to significantly moderate certain relationships in the model. Practical and theoretical implications have also been discussed.