An Educational Approach for Present and Future of Digital Transformation in Portuguese Organizations

Carla Santos Pereira,Maria João Ferreira,David Fonseca,Fernando Moreira,Natércia Durão

doi:10.3390/app10030757

Carla Santos Pereira, Maria João Ferreira + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/app10030757

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Abstract

The current technological evolution allows us to easily and quickly obtain more information, computing capacity, communication and connectivity, in addition to allowing new forms of collaboration between disperse networks of diversified actors. This new reality not only offers enormous potential for innovation and enhanced performance for organizations but also, extends beyond the classic boundaries to affect individuals, other organizations and society in general. At the same time, this reality makes the ability of organizations to uphold their competitive advantage more challenging, since the control of the elements of their operating environment decreases drastically as they increasingly control the elements of the same environment. This is how the digital transformation of organizations becomes unavoidable, because otherwise they tend to disappear. In this context, it is necessary to infer our students’ methods for researching, identifying and taking solutions about if organizations in Portugal are already living the aforementioned digital transformation or if they are aware of the need to adapt to this new reality. The main goal of this research formatted as educational approach, is to evaluate and compare the current state of digital adoption in terms of the preparation according to the prevailing technological categories (pillars and innovation accelerators), as well as future priorities of organizations in the implementation of digital transformation in Portuguese organizations. To evaluate such objectives, a Project Based Learning (PBL) approach was used to reinforce the research and decision-making skills of undergraduate business students. Based on the results obtained, it can be concluded that organizations are aware of the need to accommodate the digital transformation not to fail and disappearing. However, it is not possible to conclude which strategy is to be adopted by the organizations, and how such a strategy will affect the organization as a whole, in particular as in respect of its business model.

Highlights

Over time, societies and economies have undergone complete transformations through the inclusion of new artifacts, namely the steam engine in the 18th century and railroads in the 19th century
As a result of the four questions relating to the characterization of the organization, we only had access to the answers to two of them’: A2 (“What role do you play in the organization?”) and A4 (“What is the general feeling of your organization when it comes to technological disruption?”)
Question A4 (“What is the general feeling of your organization when it comes to technological disruption?”), for which they can chose one of four options, we find that the most chosen option was “Provides new opportunities to improve business” (61%), the other options being of little relevance “Helps in the conquest of new markets” (18.2%) and “Represents a threat to the survival of the organization” (6.5%)

Summary

Introduction

Societies and economies have undergone complete transformations through the inclusion of new artifacts, namely the steam engine in the 18th century and railroads in the 19th century. In order to better understand the impact that DT is having, data provided by the IDC study in 2017 shows that DT investment has tended to increase by 27% each year (2017–2020), and are projected to potentially reach around $6.3 trillion in 2020 [1]. Digital Transformation (DT) in recent years has emerged as a phenomenon that cannot be ignored by society in general, or by organizations in particular. It is argued that organizations must find ways to innovate with these technologies and develop, according to Hess et al [14], “strategies that embrace the implications of digital transformation and drive better operational performance”. According to the knowledge on IT-enabled transformation, the literature shows that technology itself is only part of a complex puzzle that has to be solved in order for organizations to stay competitive in the digital age. According to Hausberg et al [15], there is currently no consensual definition that provides a comprehensive understanding of the phenomenon, as well as its implications at various levels of analysis

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