Rapid Response Innovation.

Digital transformation strategy (DTS) involves redesigning various organisational operations to encompass digital technologies and achieve business objectives. In this study, we explored digital strategy and value creation shifts in omnichannel organisations that aimed to deliver seamless online and on-premises (dual-mode) customer experiences. Using comprehensive data on the gambling industry, we focused on the long-term effects of dynamic relationships among multiple DTS events over time. Building on digital strategy and value-creation theory, we observed and analysed organisational changes linked to technological shifts in omnichannel organisations during turbulent times and disruptions. Herein, we discuss the balance between online and on-premises service channels in terms of a DTS pathway, viewing it as a dual-mode value-creation process. By exploring this dual-mode value-creation process, we contribute to DTS theory and omnichannel operations. Furthermore, we enhance theory by unveiling the impact of shifting digital strategy perspectives on the transformation of omnichannel organisations in dynamic and disruptive business environments. We also present strategic propositions for planning and realising DTS requirements for omnichannel service providers in a broad context.

As a result of the Covid pandemic, many organizations realized they needed to create or update their digital strategies. However, it was not clear what they needed to include. This article examines how digital strategy can be analyzed and what a digital strategy could contain.Literature was reviewed to examine articles on digital strategy and the related topics digital business strategy, digital transformation strategy, and digitalization strategy. It was considered how the articles relate to these topics and some inconsistencies were observed.The results of the literature review contribute to an analytical framework useful for evaluating digital strategies. It can also be used as a map for organizations in the process of developing digital strategies.An evaluation is made on the role of technology in the resulting framework. Specifically, the areas innovation and digital value creation are discussed. An extension to the analytical framework is presented that covers these areas with more detail. Four types of digital value creation mechanisms, and four types of innovation, are introduced to facilitate the evaluation.

As the recently hired Marketing Strategist at the Good Glamm Group, year 2022, was entering the board room, he was immediately tasked with critically evaluation of the current e-commerce & Digital marketing strategy of the Brand Sirona, so that one comes up with a transformed / fresh e-commerce & digital marketing strategy - which has lower Revenue:Cost Ratio, Lower Customer Lifetime Acquisition value & more numbers of customer flow at the top & bottom of digital funnel. This as he was told that day, was required to touch unicorn mark for evaluation & increase revenue by 3x times. The marketing strategist gave a thought, then asked the a question to the board, which became the direction changing advice / critique for the company as a whole & Digital strategy in particular for the group. His question to board was “ Do you want me to evaluate /re-frame the e-commerce & digital marketing strategy for the existing Product Value Proposition or does the scope of my work allows me to challenge the current Product value proposition itself, using series of digital tools / processes - to aim at coming up with a new value proposition so that it can then tailor-make a re-created and transformed e-commerce & digital marketing strategy” which mirrors the need-gap-fit of consumer in the market for the given category by using digital tools & softwares. The board was not ready for it as it clashed with their current practice of find market for existing products through digital marketing & e-commerce rather than build the product itself through digital marketing & e-commerce. As the board looked surprised with the question, given that they were looking for a digital marketing strategy already crafted products with lower cost & higher returns using own website, social media and digital tools - but here the newly hired marketing strategist was critically challenging the Product value proposition itself and critically asking “to use digital marketing for product development first”. The marketing strategist used examples of Gillette, Marico and Emami where he had previously had gone through this learning curve - convincing the G3 Board room that core concept of Marketing starts with creating a Product value proposition based on deep insights on gaps consumer need-gaps which are not solved by current products in the market (blue ocean strategy) and hence any attempt to transform the digital marketing strategy would not work if the Product value is proposition is not transformed or freshly created based on digital insights through crawlers and other programmed softwares which scans the G3 consumer landscapes. Once the marketing strategist got the mandate on same he came with disruptive transformation in Digitally Re-created Product Value Proposition, Digitally crafted Minimal Viable Product, Digitally transformed & connected Direct To Consumer (DTC) Own Website, and Digital marketing through a digitally consumer researched mix of DTC, Digital Market Place (Amazon), Social media and Digital tools. The same can be summarized in two lines below

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to verify whether digital transformation strategy (DTS) could improve the organizational performance and provide a comprehensive analysis for enterprises on the necessity of implementing digital transformation in the context of China and draw on the perspectives of “Skewed conflict,” “minority dissent theory” and “too-much-of-a-good-thing.” This study investigates the curvilinear moderating role of cognitive conflict between DTS and performance.Design/methodology/approachAn empirical investigation was used to collect a large sample data of Chinese enterprises’ digital transformation. A multiple linear regression analysis with SPSS was used to test the proposed hypotheses such as the inverted U-shaped moderating effect of the cognitive conflict.FindingsIn the Chinese context, DTS has a positive relationship on the short- and long-term financial performance. Moreover, this relationship was moderated by cognitive conflict such that the relationship between DTS and short-term financial performance could be further enhanced under the moderate cognitive conflict; however, the relationship between DTS and long-term financial performance was considerably influenced for higher cognitive conflict.Originality/valueBased on the co-evolution of the information technology/information system (IT/IS) and business strategy, this study clarified the relationships among DTS, digital strategy and business and information technology strategies. By focusing on corporate strategy, this study further examined the effect of digital transformation on both short- and long-term financial performance. To further reveal the micro-psychological mechanisms underlying the effect of DTS on organizational performance, this study confirmed the inverted U-shaped moderating effect of the top management team’s cognitive conflict. Therefore, this research provides a new theoretical perspective for future research in the field of IT/IS, DTS and digital strategy.

To take advantage of information technologies, organizations need to define a clear strategy. Numerous works have provided definitions and phases of digital strategies. Some of these strategies are context-specific, while others deal with the common elements of digital strategies regardless of the digital transformation context. However, these works do not address a holistic approach. This raises ambiguity regarding digital strategy definitions and approaches. To eliminate this ambiguity, the current research tries to take advantage of existing digital strategies to propose a general digital strategy definition and build a general digital transformation approach. This work analyses various digital transformation strategies, to extract and classify their common elements in order to build a general approach that frame and drive the formulation of digital transformation strategies. To define such a general approach, the current paper analyses the effects of IT Governance and Management Strategy on the Digital Transformation Maturity. This analysis identified how IT Governance and Management Strategy can contribute to formulating a digital transformation strategy. Partial Least Square (PLS) was adopted in this research to develop an empirical evaluation for the case of 30 digital strategies and frameworks. Based on this empirical study several results have been presented in this work, namely: determination of a digital strategy definition and identification of a digital strategy approach. The proposed approach is composed of the following building blocks: Strategic Awareness, Business Strategic Planning, IT Organizational Structure, Steering committee, IT Prioritization Process, IT Investment Decisions, IT Strategic Planning, IT Budgeting, IT Reporting, IT Reaction Capacity and Management Strategy.

PurposeThis study aims to examine the mediating role of innovation capability in the relationship between digital transformation strategy and innovation performance of microfinance institutions in Ethiopia.Design/methodology/approachSurvey data were collected from 12 microfinance institutions in Ethiopia through self-administered questionnaires. Statistical analysis was conducted using structural equation modeling with AMOS and SPSS. Covariance-based structural equation modeling was used to test the study hypotheses.FindingsDigital transformation strategy indicators such as (digitization vision, information technology integration, information technology agility and flexibility of information technology) directly affect innovation performance. The innovation capability mediates the relationship between digital transformation strategy indicator (information technology agility) and innovation performance. However, innovation capability does not have mediation effect in the relationship between digital transformation strategy remaining indicators (digitization vision, information technology flexibility and information technology integration) and innovation performance.Originality/valueThe study affirmed the importance of dynamic capability theory and presents noteworthy conclusions applicable to managers, stakeholders, and policymakers. It illuminates how innovation capability serves as a crucial link between digital transformation strategies and innovation performance within microfinance institutions in Ethiopia. This research enhances the current understanding of innovation capability, digital transformation strategy and innovation performance in the literature.

Higher education is a key pillar in constructing new knowledge economies for the 21st century, and the digitalization of higher education is a central focus area for national authorities. Visionary discourses from authorities state that the decision-making authority for digital strategies should be centralized to the domain of management. Digitalization is, however, driven by key features of modern technology and may also lead to the transformation of traditional educational methods as well as educational practices. Since the university contains several disciplines, different strategies can be used when products or processes within the disciplines are digitalized. It is important to consider in the ways that different disciplines can proceed to digitalize their educational practices. Based on these interests, our research question is as follows: how do digital strategies in higher education emerge, and how do they align with the educational context? Through a qualitative case study with interviews, participation in workshops, and document analyses, we investigated two digitalization efforts in the fields of medicine and law. We found that the two classical disciplines’ strategic approaches differed substantially. Based on the findings, our main contribution is a digitalization model with two archetypes, namely digital transformation strategy and digital innovation strategy. The model highlight the main object of the respective strategies, but also the institutional reaction to digitalization efforts. An implication from our study is the demonstration of how specific faculties adapt digital strategies to educational practices. This may sometimes lead to the transformation of educational practices, while other times more incremental moderate changes may be implemented. From a practical point of view, policymakers, politicians, educational management, and professionals need knowledge and expertise about the implications of digital strategies for educational practices. Our contribution, we propose, strengthens the understanding of strategies within digital infrastructures in higher education.

ABSTRACTThe diffusion and embeddedness of cyber technology and big data technology is recognized as an opportunity and infrastructure for firms to innovate and transform. But which digital strategies existed firms in manufacturing and other traditional industries can make is still a question under research. The paper pursues to answer this question from the perspectives of data ownership and key value propositions. From the dimension of data ownership and key value propositions, this research proposes a research framework to guide the analyses of digital transformation strategy. The four firms are used to identify five types of digital strategies, namely new product strategy, new value-added service strategy, customized strategy, product embedded in the platform, and platform service / product strategy based on the framework of digital transformation strategy decision. This research suggests that a firm can select the suitable strategy considering his key value proposition and ownership of data which the firm could use. The research contributes to the research and practices on the digitalization strategy and the digital transformation of firms, especially those in emerging economies.

In the age where every firm is digitizing, it is no longer digitisation that leverages a firm’s competitive edge. Instead, it is the know-how of digital business strategy’s optimisation which is increasingly turning into an idiosyncratic strategic value creating resource. But even if that is the case, discerning how to bolster digital business strategy’s optimisation is still a paradox as most of the previous studies have been largely fascinated with digital transformation as a driver of digitisation. As this undermines how firms can discern how to optimise their digital business strategy, it is such a paradox that this paper sought to address by exploring a model for leveraging digital business strategy’s optimisation as a driver of differential value creation. The paper uses interpretivist research paradigm, exploratory research design and qualitative research method to explore and socially construct the opinions of sixty-six digital business managers and IT managers from the energy and chemical sector about the approaches for digital business strategy’s optimisation as well as its impact on value creation and major impediments among the multinational companies in the global energy and chemical industries. The sixty-six digital business managers and IT managers were purposively drawn from eighty multinational energy and chemical companies that are operating in South Africa, Uganda and Nigeria. Apart from investment in relevant digital technologies and digital transformation, findings revealed factors that leverage or even constrain digital business strategy’s optimisation to create differential values to often arise from how the digital business strategy is crafted and utilised as well as digital skills and level of digital culture transition. Such findings contrast theories that indicated strategic levers of digital business strategy’s optimisation to include scope, scalability, speed and sources of value creation of the digital business strategy. However, in conclusion, the paper proposes an alternative digital business strategy’s optimisation model that executives can replicate as an idiosyncratic strategic value creating resource to leverage a firm’s competitiveness in the modern complex digital age.

In recent years, firms in almost all industries have conducted a number of initiatives to explore new digital technologies and to exploit their benefits. This frequently involves transformations of key business operations and affects products and processes, as well as organizational structures and management concepts. Companies need to establish management practices to govern these complex transformations. An important approach is to formulate a digital transformation strategy that serves as a central concept to integrate the entire coordination, prioritization, and implementation of digital transformations within a firm. The exploitation and integration of digital technologies often affect large parts of companies and even go beyond their borders, by impacting products, business processes, sales channels, and supply chains. Potential benefits of digitization are manifold and include increases in sales or productivity, innovations in value creation, as well as novel forms of interaction with customers, among others. As a result, entire business models can be reshaped or replaced (Downes and Nunes 2013). Owing to this wide scope and the far-reaching consequences, digital transformation strategies seek to coordinate and prioritize the many independent threads of digital transformation. To account for their company-spanning characteristics, digital transformation strategies cut across other business strategies and should be aligned with them (Fig. 1). While there are various concepts of IT strategies (Teubner 2013), these mostly define the current and the future operational activities, the necessary application systems and infrastructures, and the adequate organizational and financial framework for providing IT to carry out business operations within a company. Hence, IT strategies usually focus on the management of the IT infrastructure within a firm, with rather limited impact on driving innovations in business development. To some degree, this restricts the product-centric and customer-centric opportunities that arise from new digital technologies, which often cross firms’ borders. Further, IT strategies present systemcentric road maps to the future uses of technologies in a firm, but they do not necessarily account for the transformation of products, processes, and structural aspects that go along with the integration of technologies. Digital transformation strategies take on a different perspective and pursue different goals. Coming from a business-centric perspective, these strategies focus on the transformation of products, processes, and organizational aspects owing to new technologies. Their scope is more broadly designed and explicitly includes digital activities at the interface with or fully on the side of customers, such as Accepted after one revision by Prof. Dr. Sinz.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the humanitarian service management categories that influence long-term transformation within complex community-based service ecosystems.Design/methodology/approachThis study utilizes mixed methods to present a dynamic model that provides insight into the complexities of supplying, distributing and transporting charitable resources to underserved communities. The interdisciplinary study draws on the theory of service-dominant logic and service science, presents critical elements of transformative service research and uses system dynamics approach to propose a visual causal loop model.FindingsThis study develops a dynamic model for studying humanitarian service and value propositions in underserved communities. This paper combines the extant literature to emphasize key humanitarian service categories that influence, and are influenced by, service exchanges within community-based contexts.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper is limited in providing quantitative methods in analyzing the case study data. However, the research is still helpful in providing acumen via the causal loop diagram to specifically look into each variable and see their cause and effect relationships in the community-based ecosystem. The research represents an opportunity to model the humanitarian aid and relief scenarios to help make more effective decision-making interventions.Practical implicationsThe model serves as a managerial tool to determine critical services that optimize resource utilization within the community-based service ecosystems. Insights from this research are broadly applicable to the contexts of humanitarian logistics and supply chain management (HLSCM) solutions for community-based ventures.Originality/valueThis paper conceptualizes how the management of service-for-service exchanges, logistics services and charitable donation management provides transformational humanitarian services and value propositions within underserved communities. This study further provides fundamental contributions by addressing research gaps in the HLSCM domain by supporting service research and the community-based context.

“Better together”: Right blend of business strategy and digital transformation strategies

The article aims to consider the business strategy transformation process in the context of global digitalization and the COVID-19 pandemic in business and the economy. To achieve the goal, the authors analyzed the notions of "IT strategy", "digital strategy" and "digital transformation strategy" and established their hierarchy; the key features of the strategy in the digital world are identified, namely: risk as the basis for development, people as the main business value and the formation of the right mindset of participants in digital transformation; the process of implementing the digital transformation strategy in the company is considered. The objective of the article was achieved through a review of the literature and the use of scientific methods, namely: comparative analysis, synthesis, and historical and logical methods. The results obtained contribute to the understanding of scientists and professionals about the development management process in the digital world.

The banking industry in Kenya must adopt digital transformation to sustain competitiveness and improve customer experience in the context of rapidly evolving digital technologies. Despite the increasing focus on digitisation in the sector, the particular initiatives undertaken by commercial banks and their resulting impact on competitive advantage are not sufficiently comprehended. This study analysed the impact of digital transformation strategies on competitive advantage within commercial banks in Kenya. The primary aim was to evaluate the impact of service automation, data analytics, mobile banking applications, employee upskilling, and digital payment solutions on the competitiveness of banks. The study employed a descriptive design, focussing on 39 commercial banks categorised by tiers, which included 412 functional heads. A multi-stage sampling method integrating proportionate stratified and simple random sampling techniques was utilised to guarantee equitable representation. Employing Yamane’s formula, a sample of 203 respondents was determined. Primary data were collected using structured questionnaires that were pretested with 15 participants and validated by subject experts to ensure content relevance and clarity. Reliability testing employing Cronbach’s Alpha produced satisfactory results (? ? 0.7), signifying robust internal consistency. The analysis of data encompassed both descriptive and inferential statistics. The results were presented visually through charts, graphs, and tables to facilitate interpretation. The findings indicated that all five digital transformation strategies impacted competitive advantage, although their contributions differed in magnitude. The findings indicate that commercial banks must move beyond the simple implementation of digital technologies and prioritise strategic integration to improve customer experience and value creation. Banks ought to implement targeted automation that preserves human engagement for intricate services while improving feedback systems. Banks must enhance data governance and invest in sophisticated, customer-centric analytical tools. Ongoing innovation in mobile banking is advisable, encompassing feature enhancements and improved interoperability, underpinned by robust cybersecurity standards. Prioritising employee upskilling is essential through structured training, digital leadership development, and industry-wide certification. Finally, banks must reassess their digital payment strategies to prioritise user experience, fraud prevention, and differentiated services, while regulators encourage secure and innovation-friendly environments.

Background/Introduction:Integrating military and civilian capabilities in emergency medical teams (EMTs) is underexplored in Poland. Enhanced coordination between these sectors can significantly improve EMT development and deployment, aligning with international guidelines and adapting to Poland’s specific context.Objectives:The primary objectives are to develop policies for seamless civil-military collaboration in EMT operations, establish universally recognized and locally relevant standards, enhance EMT capabilities through joint training programs, implement rapid mobilization and effective coordination strategies, and create interoperable systems for coordination between EMTs and other rapid response capacities.Method/Description:This study employs a multi-faceted approach, including developing joint protocols and communication channels for civil-military coordination, aligning with WHO guidelines while adapting to local needs. It establishes benchmarks for consistency and quality across military and civilian EMTs. Joint training programs focus on skill development, operational coordination, and cultural competence. Agile strategies for rapid mobilization and joint operational plans are designed. Interoperable systems for effective coordination and resource sharing between EMTs and other rapid response teams are developed.Results/Outcomes:The approach facilitates more efficient EMT deployments, enhances operational consistency through standardized protocols, builds competent responders through training, improves rapid response capabilities, and optimizes resource utilization through seamless coordination and interoperability.Conclusion:Leveraging civil-military collaboration can significantly enhance Poland’s EMT capabilities. By focusing on policy innovation, standard setting, capacity building, emergency response, and interoperability, Poland can establish a robust and integrated emergency response framework. This vision strengthens national capabilities and sets a precedent for harmonizing civil and military efforts in emergency medical response globally.