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The notion of digital transformation has gained attention in all industries across the globe. The emergence of new disruptive technologies has the potential to impact manufacturing companies’ value chains, to reshape manufacturing systems and to redefine their sources of competitive advantage. Whilst many firms are experimenting with it, recent studies of success stories have proved that their enhanced competitive positioning does not solely depend on the adopted technologies, but more importantly relies on the developed strategies. Yet, the digital transformation strategy literature has heavily focused on its context and content without giving sufficient attention to its process. Managers are therefore not equipped with a comprehensive digital transformation strategy process to help them navigate their digital transformation journey. This research aims at developing a process for formulating digital transformation strategies in manufacturing firms by developing an operationalisable framework entailing the essential constituents of a digital transformation strategy formulation process. This research was undertaken to answer the following research question: How do large manufacturing companies formulate a digital transformation strategy? In addressing the identified research question, three sub-questions were included to address (1) the strategic drivers, (2) the strategic intent and (3) the digital transformation strategy formulation practices in manufacturing. A five-phased approach was designed to develop, refine, validate and operationalise the process. A qualitative multi-case approach was adopted consisting of 22 exploratory, 8 supportive and 3 in-depth cases with several functions within the organisation. Data collection involved various interviews with multiple stakeholders within the companies supplemented with complementary data sources for triangulation purposes. The outcome of this research is a validated digital transformation strategy formulation process comprising 10 pillars for consideration: (1) Pain points, (2) Purpose, (3) Pivot strategy, (4) Point of entry, (5) Participants, (6) Performance measures, (7) Present capabilities, (8) Potential enabling capabilities, (9) Potential alignment capabilities and (10) Potential projects. This research contributes to the current discourse of digital transformation strategy literature by developing a framework addressing the constituents of the strategy process instead of the prevailing strategy context and content. By doing so, it provides a holistic and novel approach that is empirically grounded instead of offering prescriptive guidelines that are either overly generic, idiosyncratic in nature or lacking empirical evidence. It consolidates a number of suitable framework visualisations and classifies the different digital transformation initiatives based on the established classification of former It-enabled transformations. Moreover, it positions the digital transformation strategy within the established strategy literature. By delivering a new capability perspective, it provides a systematic way of breaking down firms’ current capabilities to identify digital transformation opportunities. Based on empirical results, this research provides an initial pragmatic process for managers to systematically deploy during their DT strategy formulation. This study deciphered the genetics of a strategy formulation process for practitioners by providing a modular framework that comprises 10 pillars embodied as a set of strategic considerations. These are deployable in a systematic way through operationalisable parts and suitable tools for industrial workshops. Further research should seek to further refine the framework’s operationalisation and investigate its wider applicability. The exploration of other theoretical lenses is also encouraged.

The capability to rapidly and successfully move into new business models is an important source of sustainable competitive advantage and a key leverage to improve the sustainability performance of organisations. However, research suggests that many business model innovations fail. Despite the importance of the topic, the reasons for failure are relatively unexplored, and there is no comprehensive description of the sustainable business model innovation process in the literature. This research addresses this gap by sequentially employing four research methods. First, a literature review is conducted to synthesise a conceptual model as a framework for an empirical investigation. This investigation used two focus groups with ten participants, interviews with 61 senior managers of 24 organisations, and active participatory research, in which the researcher joined the teams of two different business model innovation projects for several months. The research provides the most comprehensive literature review on the definition and process of sustainable business model innovation to date. It identifies five different process steps of sustainable business model innovation as well as a comprehensive list of key activities and challenges associated with each step of the process. It also discusses how the resulting process framework could be translated into a management tool and outlines some insights on the organisational setup of the process and success factors. These findings can serve as hypotheses to guide further research on sustainable business model innovation and adjacent phenomena. It also provides direction for practitioners engaged in sustainable business model innovation in similar context as the ones investigated. As a result, the research can help organisations to structure their activities better, anticipate key challenges, and build up sustainable business model innovation capabilities.

Since the invention of transistors, digital technologies have continued to have a profound impact on the global economy. Relentless performance improvements combined with convergence of digital technologies such as artificial intelligence, internet of things, and cloud computing has led to a surge in scale and importance as a source for competitive advantage. However, in 2019, only around 16% of companies managed to realize a significant improvement in business performance from digital transformation (DT). The challenges that organizations face in succeeding at DT can be traced back to strategy formulation and execution. Therefore, the aim of this research is to develop insights and tools to enhance the understanding and practice of digital strategy formulation. A comprehensive review of the literature demonstrated that DT, as an emerging body of knowledge, is lacking an in-depth and applied investigation of digital strategy formulation. The main knowledge gaps are: (1) a lack of guidance on digital strategy formulation process activities and outcomes; (2) limited consideration of the iterative nature of digital strategy formulation and validation; and (3) limited empirical investigation of digital strategy archetypes to guide the formulation process. Addressing this research gap was accomplished over three stages. First, an in-depth exploratory case study was conducted by investigating digital strategy formulation process with active participation research over six months. This investigation identified key process activities and highlighted the role of roadmapping in integrating the outcomes. Second, the findings were supplemented with literature review to design a conceptual framework for agile roadmapping to facilitate the digital strategy formulation process. This framework was then tested and calibrated over three pilot studies with companies across Europe attempting to start their DT journey. Finally, deep learning and natural language processing techniques were employed to empirically investigate the digital strategy of Fortune 500 companies from earnings call transcripts. This empirical investigation identified four digital strategy archetypes that are being employed by companies across various sectors. The findings from this research contribute to a better understanding of digital strategy formulation. It was identified that digital strategy formulation is an ongoing search process for an adequate strategic response to the DT of the economy. Specifically, incorporating agility into the formulation process is an effective way of managing the associated uncertainty of DT. Moreover, the findings demonstrated that proactively iterating between strategy formulation and validation can accelerate the realization of the emergent digital strategy. The proposed framework and the digital strategy archetypes provide a baseline for DT professionals toward a more robust digital strategy formulation. Ministry of Education - United Arab Emirates

This report investigates current practice at the interface between the social (human) decision-making process and digital technology. We want to provide an overview of current learning across various practice contexts, through a unified lens which allows us to assimilate the learning and guide further research. To position 13 cases of integration of human and digital technology in decision-making (Pages 18-88), we propose a three-dimensional space, defined by three axes associated with fundamental questions: 1. Whotakesthedecision?(p.13) 2. Whattypeofdecision?(p.14) 3. Whereinthedecision-makingprocessdoestheintegrationofdigital technologies happen? (p.16). The cases have been collected from academics and managers who study and deploy cutting-edge digital technology for decision-making, on an international basis. Cases were selected to represent a broad range of applications of digital technologies in a variety of decision-making contexts. Each case study presents not just the learnings to date, but also the boundary of current knowledge and future research directions. By cross analysing the cases, we identified themes that are relevant across the three- dimensional space. For each application of a digital technology in decision-making, questions emerge about how to promote the: ii • Adoption of the integration of the digital technology in decision-making, in terms of enablers and barriers (p.90) • Assessment of the integration of the digital technology in decision-making in terms of effectiveness and appropriateness (p.94) • Adaptation of the human systems to integrate digital technologies in decision- making, including inward and outward adaptation (p.100)

Complex supply chains span the world connecting a heterogeneous network of firms. Digitisation offers them the opportunity to improve by leveraging, for example: leaner interfirm workflows, swifter data sharing, smarter analytics and knowledge management, greater automation, and empowered decision-making. However, an onerous organisational development and change programme is required to adopt such innovations and move towards a digital enterprise. Research into organisational change tends to be set within the confines of a single firm. Occasionally, it includes clusters of collaborating firms, but rarely does it cover the whole of an extended enterprise supply network. An exception is the supplier development process; yet, studies into its use for digitisation are very shallow. Moreover, research into the adoption and diffusion of enterprise-wide digital technologies has, to date, mostly had to consider them as piecemeal appendages. Suppliers will have choice and may be supportive, ambivalent, or outright hostile to the extent or pace of digital transformation. They may adopt different strategies in response to the investment, capability development, open access, and other such demands placed upon them by the focal firm. This 3-year longitudinal research programme studies Rolls-Royce and a tiered cross-section of 24 of its suppliers, in the aerospace sector, as they confront and embark upon the journey towards a digital enterprise. Literature is synthesised to create a 9 step process, with 28 implementation guidelines, which is given the descriptive title of supplier development for digital transformation (SD/DT). The SD/DT process begins with a strategic review and ends by embedding practices into routine business. The guidelines are used to initiate action research cycles which coalesce around 21 workshops held at various international locations. A theoretical framework is established using a combination of institutional and organisational learning theories. Close to 100 interviews are conducted with buyers and suppliers. Furthermore, supplier scorecards capture quantitative data on a quarterly basis across the supply base. Data is triangulated between supplier outcomes and their relative absorptive capacity. Digital minimum standards are created which provide a shared vision, common vocabulary, and framework for heterogeneous change management. Two interim waypoints are set on the journey towards a digital enterprise and progress is measured for the 24 suppliers in the cohort. Overall, an encouraging success rate is achieved. Also, the use of supplier scorecards to operationalise and measure relative absorptive capacity shows promise. There are only 3 suppliers for whom the results do not triangulate. Transferability is explored together with recommendations for further work.

The Industry 4.0 paradigm (I4.0) as the digitalisation of manufacturing firms denotes the exploitation of real-time data originating from a ubiquitous interconnection of objects, machines and humans (via the internet) across the entire value network. I4.0 not only serves as a catalyst to improve value-adding activities or to design new product and service solutions but also, more fundamentally, enables manufacturing firms to innovate their established business models (BMs). Against this rapid socio-technological shift, manufacturers face the challenge of holistically innovating their BMs. This requires the individualisation of the value proposition alongside the flexibilisation of their value creating and capturing activities, as well as a continuous adaptation and alignment of these activities with the firm���s organisational systems and the resource and competence base. Adopting the view of a BMI (business model innovation) as a system of interdependent activities, the continuous alignment of activities across the BMI is called dynamic consistency. However, it is not clear what mechanisms denote the notion of dynamic consistency. This thesis operationalises the microfoundations of dynamic consistency in an I4.0-driven BMI by empirically investigating six European manufacturing firms. Following the design themes of BMI, it argues that the notion of dynamic consistency comprises three main aspects: (1) a value focus on data and software; (2) a flexi-directional interlinkage to facilitate the exchange of information and materials; (3) agile working ensembles governing changes to the activity system. Moreover, it proposes open-mindedness and integrity of behaviour as a cognitive foundation that facilitates changes to the activity system. Taken together, these microfoundations provide reasoning for manufacturing firms to transform their traditional make-and-sell BM into a sense-and-act BM, yielding higher profits and profitability. The results demonstrate that the notion of BMI as an activity system must be complemented by the cognitive perspective of BMI to sufficiently operationalise the concept of dynamic consistency. This thesis is anticipated to be a starting point for further studies to achieve consistency during I4.0-driven BMI to generate superior and sustained value appropriation for manufacturing firms. Ford Britain Trust, Queens' College

A central challenge for firms is to respond and adapt to technological change. Through three related chapters, this dissertation seeks to advance knowledge with a synthesis view of adaptation by unpacking the mechanisms underlying reshaping of technological frames (Chapter 2), strategizing processes (Chapter 3), as well as a typology of interactive dynamics between actors (Chapter 4). Collectively, these chapters suggest the value of how a synthesis lens and opens opportunities for future research. Paper 1 examines how an emancipatory disruptive technology can be turned to serve the interest of those it was meant to displace. Drawing on a qualitative study of the emergence of blockchain technology, we theorize a process model of disruptive capture through which a technology’s meaning can be transformed from an ideological challenge to corporate domination into a technological tool for capturing value. This study spotlights the agency of incumbent actors in not only making sense of new technologies but also actively reshaping their meaning. We emphasize the synthesis nature of this process; whereby the technology evolves into an emergent combination of established and novel aspects. We posit the value of disruptive capture for firms to take advantage of contentious technologies, rather than rejection or resistance. Paper 2 investigates the tensions managers face with novel technologies that blur traditional notions of industry boundaries. Our qualitative study of an oil and gas corporation responding to emerging digital technologies found that managers faced conflicting environmental velocities, specifically the pace, rhythm, and unpredictability of technological change. This led to clashes in temporal norms and assumptions in the processes of technology strategizing. We show how tensions induced managers to become reflexively aware of the intra-firm plurality of temporal assumptions, and through temporal maneuvering, leverage plurality to their advantage. By focusing on processes (i.e., strategizing for technologies) rather than content (i.e., novel technologies), we extend sociocognitive perspectives of technological adaptation by highlighting temporal complexities in how managers do strategizing. Paper 3 theorizes adaptation to nonincremental innovation as a process of confronting and managing contradictions. Specifically, we argue that nonincremental innovations emerge as contradictions to dominant incumbents along dimensions of resource, strategic cognition, and organizational identity. Drawing on insights from dialectics and paradox perspectives, we develop a typology of how firms respond to nonincremental innovation through conflict, mutual adjustment, assimilation, or synergy. Our theoretical model advances a synthesis view of nonincremental innovations, which departs from dichotomies of incumbent and entrant actors and technologies to emphasize the novel combinations that emerge through their interaction.

Organisations all over the world are increasingly becoming digitally enabled, including infrastructure providers and are looking to use this new found a digital way of working to transform the organisation into a more lean, efficient and productive organisation. Digital transformation is not exclusively about digital technology but the fact that technology, which is digital, will enable the organisation to create greater informed decisions around there current and future challenges, objectives and strategy. While many organisations are currently going through a digital transformation process, there are challenges in demonstrating the value of such a transformation process to the broader organisation. This is partly due to the fact that for digital transformation to be successful it must encompass all of the organisation, including traditional business processes and functions that are not prone to change. Furthermore, it can be witnessed that digital transformation is not purely a technical solution but is also an organisational cultural change, one that allows for an agile approach to working and one that acknowledges failure in a positive perspective. A framework is proposed in this paper that utilises the BIM information management processes and adopts them into a digital transformation process. The framework aims to not look at BIM within individual lifecycle stages, but the full adoption of BIM between all the lifecycles stages. Furthermore, it will support the full organisational adoption of BIM within all organisational functions such as risk management, customer reengagement, fiscal management, resource management, ETC. finally, the framework will enable the culture to change requirements by providing a collaborative and transparent environment to digital transformation.

Manufacturing is facing challenges in integrating information technology (IT) with operational technology (OT) and implementing Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) concepts in the industry to increase manufacturing flexibility. This paper addresses the research gap in designing and using next-generation manufacturing execution systems (MES)/manufacturing operations management (MOM) in IIoT to improve manufacturing flexibility through reconfigurability. For this, we follow an abductive research design and build on the literature on Industry 4.0′s information architectures and models to propose a framework for building smart factory capabilities. Using the framework, we collect empirical data on MES/MOM implementation objectives for smart factories for six case studies conducted over a 4-year research project in Denmark (2018–2021), primarily through semi-structured interviews. Through cross-case analysis, we identify seven dominant themes that capture focus areas for MES/MOM implementation for IT/OT integration. We use these findings to present generalized design recommendations for IIoT-connected MES/MOM to support reconfigurability for Industry 4.0 supply chains. Our findings indicate that despite considerable investments from many companies in Industry 4.0 initiatives such as artificial intelligence-based analytics and digital twins, the industry is not yet in a state to extract the data from all its legacy production equipment. Therefore, we present design recommendations to enable Industry 4.0 supply chains with IIoT-connected MES/MOM by using the data from OT devices. Our analysis helps us conclude that open standards and open application programming interfaces (APIs) are key requirements for enhancing IIoT interconnectivity and interoperability to achieve end-to-end integration in supply chains.