Vol.:(0123456789)
Management Review Quarterlyhttps://doi.org/10.1007/s11301-020-00185-7
1 3
Digital transformation: a review, synthesis and opportunities for future research
Swen Nadkarni1 · Reinhard Prügl1
Received: 14 July 2019 / Accepted: 28 March 2020 © The Author(s) 2020
AbstractIn the last years, scholarly attention was on a steady rise leading to a significant increase in the number of papers addressing different technological and organiza-tional aspects of digital transformation. In this paper, we consolidate existing find-ings which mainly stem from the literature of information systems, map the terri-tory by sharing important macro- and micro-level observations, and propose future research opportunities for this pervasive field. The paper systematically reviews 58 peer-reviewed studies published between 2001 and 2019, dealing with different aspects of digital transformation. Emerging from our review, we develop inductive thematic maps which identify technology and actor as the two aggregate dimensions of digital transformation. For each dimension, we derive further units of analysis (nine core themes in total) which help to disentangle the particularities of digital transformation processes and thereby emphasize the most influential and unique antecedents and consequences. In a second step, in order to assist in breaking down disciplinary silos and strengthen the management perspective, we supplement the resulting state-of-the-art of digital transformation by integrating cross-disciplinary contributions from reviewing 28 papers on technological disruption and 32 papers on corporate entrepreneurship. The review reveals that certain aspects, such as the pace of transformation, the culture and work environment, or the middle manage-ment perspective are significantly underdeveloped.
Keywords Digital transformation · Digital disruption · Technological disruption · Corporate entrepreneurship · Literature review · Research agenda
JEL Classification M10
* Swen Nadkarni [email protected]
Reinhard Prügl [email protected]
1 Chair of Innovation, Technology & Entrepreneurship, Zeppelin University, Am Seemooser Horn 20, 88045 Friedrichshafen, Germany
S. Nadkarni, R. Prügl
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1 Introduction
Digital transformation, defined as transformation ‘concerned with the changes digital technologies can bring about in a company’s business model, … products or organizational structures’ (Hess et al. 2016, p. 124), is perhaps the most per-vasive managerial challenge for incumbent firms of the last and coming decades. However, digital possibilities need to come together with skilled employees and executives in order to reveal its transformative power. Thus, digital transforma-tion needs both technology and people. In the last years, scholarly attention, par-ticularly in the information systems (IS) literature, was on a steady rise leading to a significant increase in the number of papers addressing different technological and organizational aspects of digital transformation. In the light of this develop-ment, we are convinced it is the right time to map the territory and reflect on the current state of knowledge. Therefore, in this paper we aim at providing a descriptive, thematic analysis of the field by critically assessing where, how and by whom research on digital transformation is conducted. Based on this analysis, we identify future research opportunities.
We approach this objective in two steps. First, we adopt an inductive approach and conduct a systematic literature review (following Tranfield et al. 2003; Web-ster and Watson 2002) of 58 peer-reviewed papers dealing with digital transfor-mation. By applying elements of grounded theory and content analysis (Corley and Gioia 2004; Gioia et al. 1994) we identify important core themes in the lit-erature that are particularly pronounced and/or unique in transformations enabled by digital technologies. In a second step, in order to assist in breaking down dis-ciplinary silos (Jones and Gatrell 2014) and avoiding the building of an ivory tower (Bartunek et al. 2006; Fuetsch and Suess-Reyes 2017), we supplement the pre-dominantly IS-based digital transformation literature with a broader man-agement perspective. Accordingly, we integrate cross-disciplinary contributions from reviewing 28 papers on technological disruption and 32 papers on corporate entrepreneurship.
We find these research fields particularly suitable for informing digital trans-formation research for two reasons. First, by reviewing the literature on techno-logical disruption we hope to derive implications regarding technology adop-tion and integration. Burdened with the legacy of old technology, bureaucratic structures and core rigidities (Leonard-Barton 1992), incumbents may face major challenges in this respect during their digital transformation journey. Second, we expect corporate entrepreneurship to add a more holistic perspective on firm-internal aspects during the process of transformation, such as management influ-ence or the impact of knowledge and organizational learning.
Our findings and related contributions are threefold: First, based on a sys-tematic and structured analysis we develop digital transformation maps which inductively categorize and describe the existing body of research. These thematic maps identify technology and actor as the two aggregate dimensions of digital transformation. Within these dimensions, we reveal nine core themes which help to disentangle the particularities of digital transformation processes and thereby
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Digital transformation: a review, synthesis and opportunities…
emphasize the most influential and unique antecedents and consequences of this specific type of transformation. Thus, it becomes possible to identify the predom-inant contextual factors for which research would create the strongest leverage for a better understanding of the challenges inherent in digital transformation. Sec-ond, we contribute to the advancement of this field by elaborating opportunities for future research on digital transformation which integrate the three perspec-tives mentioned above. In particular, informed by corporate entrepreneurship, we find that the important middle management perspective on digital transfor-mation has thus far been largely neglected by researchers. Also, emerging from our review we call for more studies on the various options for integrating digital transformation within organizational architectures and existing processes. Third, in reviewing the adjacent literature on technological disruption and corporate entrepreneurship, we strengthen the valuable management perspective within the primarily IS-based discussion on digital transformation. This way we avoid the reinvention of the wheel while at the same time enable the identification of cross-disciplinary research opportunities. We hope to stimulate discussion between these different but strongly related disciplines and enable mutual learning and a fruitful exchange of ideas.
2 Conceptual foundations
Technology as a major determinant of organizational form and structure has been well acknowledged by academics for a long time (Thompson and Bates 1957; Wood-ward 1965; Scott 1992). Following a significant decline of interest in this relation-ship until the mid-1990s (Zammuto et al. 2007), innovations in information tech-nologies (IT) and the rise of pre-internet technologies have revitalized its relevance in the context of organizational transformation. Thus, the literature on IT-enabled organizational transformation, a concept which originates from the field of informa-tion systems (IS) that has caught considerable academic attention starting back in the early 1990s (Ranganathan et al. 2004; Besson and Rowe 2012), may be seen as one of the scholarly roots of digital transformation research. In his seminal book, Morton (1991) argued that companies must experience fundamental transforma-tions for effective IT implementation. In the course of the years a shift of attention occurred from technological to managerial and organizational issues (Markus and Benjamin 1997; Doherty and King 2005). Non-technological aspects such as lead-ership, culture, and employee training were found to be equally important for suc-cessful IT-enabled transformation (Markus 2004). This is supported by Orlikowski (1996) who found empirical evidence from a 2-year case study that organizational transformation was in fact enabled by technology, but not caused by it.
Today, information technologies have become ‘one of the threads from which the fabric of organization is now woven’ (Zammuto et al. 2007, p. 750). Digital tech-nologies are considered a major asset for leveraging organizational transformation, given their disruptive nature and cross-organizational and systemic effects (Besson and Rowe 2012). In order to achieve successful digital transformation, changes must occur at various levels within the organization, including an adaptation of the core
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business (Karimi and Walter 2015), the exchange of resources and capabilities (Cha et al. 2015; Yeow et al. 2018), the reconfiguration of processes and structures (Resca et al. 2013), adjustments in leadership (Hansen and Sia 2015; Singh and Hess 2017), and the implementation of a vivid digital culture (Llopis et al. 2004). Therefore, the scope of our review revolves around digital transformation at the organizational level only (in contrast to implications at the individual level).
In this study, we conceptualize digital transformation at the intercept of the adop-tion of disruptive digital technologies on the one side and actor-guided organiza-tional transformation of capabilities, structures, processes and business model com-ponents on the other side. In other words, and in line with Hess et al. (2016), we define digital transformation as organizational change triggered by digital technolo-gies. Hence, we argue that two perspectives of digital transformation within organi-zations must be captured: a technology-centric and an actor-centric perspective. To exploit the technology-centric perspective we include the literature on technological disruption (e.g. Tushman and Anderson 1986; Anderson and Tushman 1990) and merge it with research on digital transformation. For the actor-centric perspective, we derive essential implications from the field of corporate entrepreneurship (Guth and Ginsberg 1990), which we believe may add valuable insights regarding actor-driven innovation and renewal processes within firms. In the following, we offer a brief introduction to both concepts and their relationship with digital transformation.
Rice et al. (1998) define disruptive innovations as ‘game changers’ which have the potential ‘(1) for a 5–10 times improvement in performance compared to exist-ing products; (2) to create the basis for a 30–50% reduction in costs; or (3) to have new-to-the world performance features’ (p. 52). Similarly, Utterback (1994) empha-sizes this disruptiveness at the firm and industry level and provides a similar ‘game changer’ definition in terms of ‘change that sweeps away much of a firm’s existing investment in technical skills and knowledge, designs, production technique, plant and equipment’ (p. 200). Tushman and Anderson (1986) distinguish between prod-uct and process disruptiveness. Product disruptiveness encompasses new product classes, product substitutions, or fundamental product improvements. Process dis-ruptiveness may take the form of process substitutions or process innovations which radically improve industry-specific dimensions of merit. Christensen and Raynor (2003) introduce a further form of disruptive innovations, namely disruptive busi-ness model innovations, which represent the implementation of fundamentally dif-ferent business models in an existing business.
We argue that digital technologies may reflect in all of these definitions of dis-ruptive innovation. They may represent new-to-the-world product innovations, dis-locate existing processes, and open up entirely new business models. As resumed in a recent study by Li et al. (2017), e-commerce for instance is defined as a disruptive technology (Johnson 2010) which involves significant changes to an organization’s culture, business processes, capabilities, and markets (Zeng et al. 2008; Cui and Pan 2015).
Corporate entrepreneurship (CE) on the other side is a multi-dimensional con-cept at the intersection of entrepreneurship and strategic management in existing organizations (Zahra 1996; Hitt et al. 2001; Dess et al. 2003). We adopt the concep-tualization proposed by Guth and Ginsberg (1990, p. 5), who argue that corporate
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Digital transformation: a review, synthesis and opportunities…
entrepreneurship deals with two phenomena ‘(1) the birth of new businesses within existing organizations, i.e. internal innovation or venturing, and (2) the transforma-tion of organizations through renewal of the key ideas on which they are built, i.e. strategic renewal.’ Particularly the aspect of strategic renewal in corporate entrepre-neurship, also labelled as strategic change, revival, transformation (Schendel 1990), reorganization, redefinition (Zahra 1993), or organizational renewal (Stopford and Baden-Fuller 1994), provides a promising interface to digital transformation. As stated by Covin and Miles (1999, p. 50), corporate entrepreneurship ‘revitalizes, reinvigorates and reinvents’—processes also required for digital transformation. Various authors have stated that corporate entrepreneurship is a vehicle to improve competitive positioning and transform corporations (Schollhammer 1982; Miller 1983; Khandwalla 1987; Guth and Ginsberg 1990; Naman and Slevin 1993; Lump-kin and Dess 1996). Considering the disruptive nature of many current digital tech-nologies, we believe that organizations need to fundamentally renew and redefine the key ideas of their business in order to fully exploit the potential of digitization and eventually achieve successful transformation. The literature places particular attention on the role of middle managers as the locus of corporate entrepreneurship (Burgelman 1983, Floyd and Wooldridge 1999). Concluding, we will review the research on corporate entrepreneurship and identify those contributions which we believe may offer valuable knowledge regarding actor-driven internal renewal and change processes in the light of digital transformation.
Our review of the literature on digital transformation, technological disrup-tion and corporate entrepreneurship is conducted in a two-step approach. First, we review, analyze and synthesize existing articles on digital transformation. Then, in a second step we supplement these findings be simultaneously reviewing the litera-ture stream on technological disruption and corporate entrepreneurship. We believe a separate analysis and contrasting of the research streams is appropriate for two reasons: first, it provides the reader with more clarity on the status quo of digital transformation knowledge and prevents the confusion of concepts emerging from different literature fields. Second, white spots and opportunities for future research regarding digital transformation become much more visible in such a structured approach.
3 Research methodology
A systematic review is a type of literature review that applies an explicit algorithm and a multi-stage review strategy in order to collect and critically appraise a body of research studies (Mulrow 1994; Pittaway et al. 2004; Crossan and Apaydin 2010).
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This transparent and reproducible process is ideally suited for analyzing and struc-turing the vast and heterogeneous literature on digital transformation. In conducting our review, we followed the guidelines of Tranfield et al. (2003) and the recommen-dations of Denyer and Neely (2004, p. 133)1 as well as Fisch and Block (2018) in order to ensure a high quality of the review.
The nature of our review is both scoping and descriptive (Rowe 2014; Paré et al. 2015) as we aim to provide an initial indication of the potential size and nature of the available literature as well as to summarize and map existing findings from digi-tal transformation research. By developing opportunities for future research, our review further contributes to the advancement of this field and stimulates theory development.
For the purpose of data collection, we exclusively limit our focus on peer-reviewed academic journals as recommended by McWilliams et al. (2005). Thus, we opted to exclude work in progress, conference papers, dissertations, or books. First, based on discussion among the authors and the reading of a few highly-cited papers, we designed our search criteria using combinations of keywords containing ‘digital* AND transform*’, ‘digital* AND disrupt*’, ‘digitalization’, and ‘digitiza-tion’. Then, we manually searched each issue of each volume of the leading jour-nals in the management2 and IS field (AIS Basket of eight).3 In addition, we run our search query against five different electronic databases: Business Source Pre-mier (EBSCO), Scopus, Science Direct, Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), and Google Scholar. We used all years available and only included articles referring to business, management, or economics in order to exclude irrelevant publications. We abstained from including digital innovation in our search (the only exception in our sample is a recent literature review by Kohli and Melville (2019), in order to capture consolidated insights). Although we realize that it is a hot topic in IS research at the moment (e.g. Fichman et al. 2014; Nambisan et al. 2017; Yoo et al. 2010, 2012), we aim to concentrate our focus on papers dealing with digital transformation on a broader level (firm and industry), rather than with transitions within innovation management.
Our first search query was conducted mid 2017 and yielded an initial sample of 1722 publications. This very large sample was mainly due to the broad ambiguity of the terms ‘digital’ and ‘disrupt’. Given these broad search parameters, we anticipated that only a small fraction of this very large sample would prove to be of substantive relevance to us. To select these relevant articles for our final sample, we performed
2 The search included Academy of Management Journal, Administrative Science Quarterly, Entrepre-neurship Theory and Practice, Journal of Management Studies, Strategic Management Journal.3 The search included European Journal of Information Systems, Information Systems Journal, Infor-mation Systems Research, Journal of the Association for Information Systems, Journal of Information Technology, Journal of Management Information Systems, Journal of Strategic Information Systems, MIS Quarterly, MISQ Executive.
1 The development of clear and precise aims and objectives; pre-planned methods; a comprehensive search of all potentially relevant articles; the use of explicit, reproducible criteria in the selection of arti-cles; an appraisal of the quality of the research and the strength of the findings; a synthesis of individual studies using an explicit analytic framework; and a balanced, impartial and comprehensible presentation of the results.
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Digital transformation: a review, synthesis and opportunities…
a predefined and structured multi-step selection process (similar to the approach of Siebels and Knyphausen-Aufseß 2012; Vom Brocke et al. 2015) and defined specific criteria for inclusion (Templier and Paré 2015). The filters during our selection pro-cess included (1) scanning the titles, (2) reading abstracts, (3) removing duplicates, (4) full reading and in-depth analysis of the remaining papers, and finally (5) cross-referencing and backward searching by looking through the bibliographies of the most important articles to find additional relevant work. The initial pool was split in half between two panelists who separately performed the scanning of titles, analysis of abstracts and removal of duplicates. After these early steps, the sample could be narrowed down to 155 articles. As we arrived at step 4 “full reading and in-depth analysis of the remaining papers”, both panelists read and independently classified each of the remaining 155 studies. During this process, papers qualified for the final sample if they satisfied three requirements: (1) articles were required to have their primary focus and contribution within digital transformation research or digitally-induced organizational transformation (e.g. a vast number of papers inadequately captured the topic of digital transformation as they primarily focused on business model innovation), (2) articles needed to be based on a sound theoretical foundation and therefore not primarily practitioner oriented (such as articles that offer popular recommendations to business leaders on how to survive digital transformation), (3) papers that were not addressing digital transformation at an organizational level (e.g. the rise of home-based online businesses by entrepreneurs) were dismissed. When-ever disagreements emerged regarding the inclusion or classification of an article, we engaged in discussion and tried to resolve the issue together to make our selec-tion rules more reliable. We updated the review in the autumn of 2018 for any arti-cles that had appeared between then. Following this approach, 58 studies passed all five selection steps and were included in our final sample.
Within this sample, conceptual articles (27) and case studies (20) are dominant. Roughly 60% of the articles stem from the IS literature, while 40% cover a broader management perspective of digital transformation. While the reviewed papers span a time frame from 2001 to 2018, approximately eighty-percent of articles were pub-lished within the past 5 years, indicating the relative novelty of digital transforma-tion as a research discipline. The distribution of our sample according to journals is provided in Table 4 of “Appendix”.
Upon the recommendation of Webster and Watson (2002), our categorization and analysis of the literature was concept-centric. First, to facilitate analysis and build a basis for our initial coding, each selected paper was reviewed to determine the fol-lowing database information.
(1) Article title, (2) outlet, (3) research methodology, (4) sample, (5) region, and (6) key findings (see full database in Table 5 of “Appendix”). Next, we started cod-ing our sample, adopting elements of the approach introduced by Corley and Gioia (2004). We began by identifying initial concepts in the data and grouping them into provisional categories and first order concepts (open coding). Then, we engaged in axial coding (Locke 2001) and searched for relationships and common patterns between and among these provisional categories, which allowed us to assemble them into second order themes. Finally, we assigned these second order themes to aggregate dimensions, representing the highest level of abstraction in our coding. In
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sum, reviewing and analyzing the extant literature, 194 coded insights were gener-ated within the field of digital transformation: 61 first order concepts, nine second order themes, and two aggregate dimensions. The nine second order themes repre-sent core themes across the papers, which finally constitute two aggregate dimen-sions: technology and actor. In conclusion, we define digital transformation as actor-driven organizational transformation triggered by the adoption of technology-driven digital disruptions. The result of the coding process is a high-level inductive map of the core themes in digital transformation research (Fig. 1).
4 Results
The reviewed studies from our sample provide a rich body of knowledge regarding the specific contextual factors of digital transformation. This may be beneficial to both researchers and practitioners enabling a more comprehensive understanding of the peculiarities of digital transformation (in comparison to previous technology-driven transformations).
4.1 Macro‑level findings
On a macro level, the central observation emerging from our review is that both tech-nology- and actor-centric aspects take center stage within this debate. This is also reflected in various definitions of digital transformation provided in the sample. For example, Lanzolla and Anderson (2008) represent the technology-centric side and emphasize the diffusion of digital technologies as an enabler for transformation. Such digital technologies may include big data, mobile, cloud computing or search-based applications (White 2012). Similarly, Hess et al. (2016) note that digital transformation is ‘concerned with the changes digital technologies can bring about in a company’s business model, which result in changed products or organizational structures or in the
Pace of Change & Time to Market
Distributed Value Creation & Capture
Technology Capability& Integration
Consumer & other Stakeholder Interface
Market Environment & Rules of Competition
Company Culture
Transformative Leadership
Managerial & Organizational Capabilities
Work Environment
Second Order Themes Aggregate Dimensions Second Order Themes
ActorTechnology
Fig. 1 Digital transformation high-level thematic map emerging from the analysis of the literature
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Digital transformation: a review, synthesis and opportunities…
automation of processes’ (p. 124). However, Hess et al. (2016) also highlight the role of actors (e.g. managers) in promoting transformation processes, while facing the chal-lenge of simultaneously balancing the exploration and exploitation of resources. Lead-ers must have trust in the value and benefits of new IT technologies and support their implementation (Chatterjee et al. 2002).
In total, we find an almost even distribution of papers studying the two dimensions of technology and actor: 33% are technology-centric, 34% are actor-centric, and 33% of papers cover both technology and actor. However, within these two dimensions we observe a rather uneven distribution of articles by second order themes. On the tech-nology-centric side, we find that understanding the implications of digital technologies on the consumer interface and market environment are highly active research streams. In comparison, understanding the pace of change in times of digital transformation and its direct impact on incumbents is so far comparably understudied. On the actor-centric side, our review reveals a very dominant focus on leadership and capabilities in a digi-tal context, while in contrast company culture and work environment thus far received less recognition. We also find that the status-quo of digital transformation literature is rather diverse, in a sense that papers discuss topics across various categories of our thematic map and are therefore not restricted nor focused to a specific unit of analy-sis. The vast majority of articles is related to adjacent topics of digital transformation underpinning its nature as a diverse and broad field of research while again indicating its emerging nature.
In addition, we observe some degree of diversity in the theoretical foundations drawn upon. Different theories are applied by several authors to capture the context of digital transformation, e.g. alignment view, configuration theory, resource-based view, dynamic capabilities, organizational learning theory, network view or business process reengineering. It would be interesting to use other theoretical angles, for example from the literature on corporate entrepreneurship and technological disruption, in order to increase theoretical diversity. Such an exchange with different fields of research would broaden the scope of the field and help bridging an ivory divide. Finally, from a meth-odological perspective, we observe that actor-centric papers primarily use case studies while technology-centric studies at this point are pre-eminently conceptual. In general, the literature is scarce regarding quantitative empirical evidence. We see this as a strong indicator for the early stage of digital transformation research.
4.2 Micro‑level findings: the technology‑centric side of the equation
In the following, we present and discuss the most important findings of the second order themes within the technology-centric dimension. In Fig. 2 we provide a thematic map for this dimension and in Table 1 a brief summary including illustrative quotes.
4.2.1 Pace of change and time to market
In times of digital transformation, the speed of technological change is dispropor-tionally accelerating with new digital capabilities being rolled out every year. The technological capability of applications such as the Internet of Things (IoT), big
S. Nadkarni, R. Prügl
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Tech
nolo
gy-
driv
en
Pace
of c
hang
e &
tim
e to
mar
ket
Incr
ease
d sp
eed
of d
ecis
ion
mak
ing
& p
rodu
ct la
unch
es
(Bha
radw
aj e
t al.,
201
3)
Dig
ital t
echn
olog
ies r
evol
utio
nize
d th
e pr
oces
s & p
ace
of tu
rnin
g an
inno
vativ
e id
ea in
to a
bus
ines
s (Ve
y et
al.
2017
)
Less
tim
e to
resp
ond
to
disr
uptiv
e th
reat
s by
com
petit
ors
(Gro
ver &
Koh
li 20
13)
Tec
hnol
ogy
capa
bilit
y &
in
tegr
atio
n R
ole
and
sign
ifica
nce o
f dat
a as
on
e of
the
mos
t pow
erfu
l ass
ets i
n th
e di
gita
l era
(e.
g. G
ünth
er e
t al.
2017
, Ng
& W
aken
shaw
201
7)
Sign
ifica
ntly
hig
her c
ompu
ting
pow
er, d
ata
stor
age
and
info
rmat
ion
dist
ribut
ion
of c
ross
-bou
ndar
y di
gita
l tec
hnol
ogie
s(e.
g. D
rem
el e
t al
. 201
7; R
ayna
& S
triu
kova
201
6)D
emat
eria
lizat
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of ta
ngib
le
prod
ucts
and
obje
cts,
like
CD
s, bo
oks,
or m
achi
nery
(L
oebb
ecke
and
Pic
ot 2
015)
Impo
rtanc
e of
flex
ible
IT (C
ha e
t al.
2015
),ne
w e
nter
pris
e pl
atfo
rms (
El S
awy
et a
l. 20
16),
and
scal
able
ope
ratio
nal b
ackb
one
(Seb
astia
n et
al.
2017
) Con
sum
er &
ot
her
stak
ehol
der
inte
rfac
e
Cus
tom
er b
ehav
ior,
know
ledg
e, a
nd
pref
eren
ces a
re in
crea
sing
ly in
fluen
ced
by o
nlin
e cu
stom
er-to
-cus
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er
inte
ract
ion
via
plat
form
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soci
al m
edia
(B
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an 2
012,
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16)
Inst
ant a
cces
s to
data
redu
ces
info
rmat
ion
asym
met
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betw
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selle
rs a
nd b
uyer
s (e
.g. G
rana
dos &
Gup
ta 2
013) In
term
edia
ries a
re re
plac
ed b
y m
ulti-
side
d di
gita
l pla
tform
s and
net
wor
ks to
mat
ch
selle
rs a
nd b
uyer
s (e.
g. B
hara
dwaj
et a
l. 20
13; E
vens
201
0; P
agan
i 201
3)
Dist
ribu
ted
valu
e cr
eatio
n &
va
lue
capt
ure
In th
e di
gita
l era
, the
buy
er,
not t
he se
ller,
dete
rmin
es th
e di
men
sion
s of v
alue
that
mat
ter
(Kee
n &
Will
iam
s 201
3)D
igita
l tec
hnol
ogie
s off
er o
ppor
tuni
ties
for c
usto
mer
s to
co-c
reat
e pr
oduc
ts
with
the
man
ufac
ture
r (e.
g. E
l Saw
y et
al
. 201
6; N
g &
Wak
ensh
aw 2
017)
Val
ue is
incr
easin
gly
co-c
reat
ed
and
capt
ured
in a
serie
s of
partn
ersh
ips i
n a
valu
e ne
twor
k (e
.g. E
vens
201
0)
Mar
ket e
nvir
onm
ent
& r
ules
of c
ompe
titio
n
Dig
ital t
echn
olog
ies i
ncre
ase
inno
vatio
n ne
twor
k kn
owle
dge
hete
roge
neity
(Lyy
tinen
et a
l. 20
16)
Mar
ket i
nfra
struc
ture
bec
omes
incr
easin
gly
inte
rcon
nect
ed w
ith th
e em
erge
nce
of d
igita
l pl
atfo
rms,
netw
orks
, and
eco
syst
ems (
e.g.
G
rove
r & K
ohli
2013
; Maj
chrz
ak e
t al.
2016
)
Dig
ital t
rans
form
atio
n re
defin
es, b
lurs
and
eve
n di
ssol
ves e
xist
ing
indu
stry
bo
unda
ries,
lead
ing
to
cros
s-in
dust
ry c
ompe
titio
n
(e.g
. Sia
et a
l. 20
16; W
eill
& W
oern
er 2
015)
Free
flow
of d
igita
l goo
ds
prec
ipita
tes a
n er
osio
n of
pro
perty
rig
hts (
Loeb
beck
e &
Pic
ot 2
015)
Fig.
2
Them
atic
map
for t
echn
olog
y-dr
iven
them
es in
dig
ital t
rans
form
atio
n lit
erat
ure
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Digital transformation: a review, synthesis and opportunities…
Tabl
e 1
Sum
mar
y of
em
erge
nt th
emes
from
the
digi
tal t
rans
form
atio
n lit
erat
ure:
the
tech
nolo
gy-d
riven
side
Agg
rega
te d
imen
sion
Seco
nd o
rder
them
esEx
ampl
es o
f firs
t ord
er c
once
pts
Illus
trativ
e qu
otes
Exam
ples
of o
ther
sour
ces a
ddre
ss-
ing
the
seco
nd-o
rder
them
e
Tech
nolo
gy-d
rive
nPa
ce o
f cha
nge
and
time
to m
arke
tIn
crea
sed
spee
d of
dec
isio
n m
ak-
ing,
pro
duct
laun
ches
, con
veni
-en
ce o
f new
bus
ines
s for
mat
ion,
tim
e-to
-mar
ket
‘Tec
hnol
ogy
has a
llow
ed fi
rms
to sp
eed
up d
ecis
ions
that
oth
-er
wis
e m
ight
be
slow
ed d
ue to
in
form
atio
n flo
ws u
p an
d do
wn
the
hier
arch
y’ (B
hara
dwaj
et a
l. 20
13, p
. 476
)
Gro
ver a
nd K
ohli
(201
3) a
nd
Mor
eau
(201
3)
‘The
clo
ud a
nd a
ll so
rts o
f pla
t-fo
rms h
ave
revo
lutio
nize
d ho
w
to se
t up
and
run
a bu
sine
ss.
Inno
vativ
e id
eas c
an b
e re
aliz
ed
in d
ays,
and
the
corr
espo
ndin
g bu
sine
ss se
t up
alm
ost “
over
-ni
ght”
‘ (Ve
y et
al.
2017
, p. 2
3)Te
chno
logy
cap
abili
ty a
nd in
tegr
a-tio
nEx
pone
ntia
l adv
ance
men
ts in
the
pric
e/pe
rform
ance
cap
abili
ty,
dem
ater
ializ
atio
n of
tang
ible
pr
oduc
ts, a
gile
and
scal
able
dig
i-ta
l inf
rastr
uctu
re fo
r sea
mle
ss
tech
nolo
gy in
tegr
atio
n
‘Dig
ital p
rodu
cts a
nd se
rvic
es
emer
ge a
s sub
stitu
tes f
or
esta
blis
hed
offer
ings
. The
y off
er
supe
rior p
erfo
rman
ce a
nd h
ighe
r be
nefit
s to
cons
umer
s and
bus
i-ne
sses
than
thei
r phy
sica
l/ana
log
coun
terp
arts’
(Loe
bbec
ke a
nd
Pico
t 201
5, p
. 153
)
Cha
et a
l. (2
015)
, Dre
mel
et a
l. (2
017)
, Eve
ns (2
010)
, Gün
ther
et
al.
(201
7), H
ess e
t al.
(201
6),
Koh
li an
d Jo
hnso
n (2
011)
, Koh
li an
d M
elvi
lle (2
019)
, Lyy
tinen
et
al.
(201
6), R
ayna
and
Stri
ukov
a (2
016)
, Res
ca e
t al.
(201
3), S
ebas
-tia
n et
al.
(201
7) a
nd S
ia e
t al.
(201
6)‘D
ata
stora
ge c
apab
ilitie
s and
co
mpu
ting
spee
d ha
ve e
nabl
ed
data
col
lect
ion
at a
n un
prec
e-de
nted
scal
e’ (N
g an
d W
aken
-sh
aw 2
017,
p. 1
3)
S. Nadkarni, R. Prügl
1 3
Tabl
e 1
(con
tinue
d)
Agg
rega
te d
imen
sion
Seco
nd o
rder
them
esEx
ampl
es o
f firs
t ord
er c
once
pts
Illus
trativ
e qu
otes
Exam
ples
of o
ther
sour
ces a
ddre
ss-
ing
the
seco
nd-o
rder
them
e
‘Int
ensi
ve in
tera
ctiv
e di
gita
l con
-ne
ctiv
ity to
the
outs
ide
requ
ires
inte
grat
ion
betw
een
the
outs
ide
and
insi
de o
f the
ent
erpr
ise
that
go
es b
eyon
d th
e tra
ditio
nal E
RP
and
supp
ly c
hain
man
agem
ent
inte
grat
ion
para
digm
’ (El
Saw
y et
al.
2016
), p.
142
Con
sum
er a
nd o
ther
stak
ehol
der
inte
rface
sC
o-cr
eatio
n of
pro
duct
s and
ser-
vice
s with
cus
tom
ers,
cons
umer
be
havi
or, c
onsu
mer
kno
wle
dge,
co
nsum
er a
naly
sis,
mul
ti-si
ded
digi
tal p
latfo
rms e
limin
ate
inte
r-m
edia
ting
func
tion,
info
rmat
ion
ubiq
uity
rais
es e
xpos
ure
of le
ad-
ers t
o st
akeh
olde
rs
‘IoT
app
licat
ions
will
be
mos
tly
focu
sed
on c
o-cr
eatio
n an
d co
m-
mun
ities
… F
or in
stan
ce, P
hilip
s in
dica
ted
the
use
of c
o-cr
eatio
n as
type
of c
usto
mer
rela
tions
hip
for t
heir
IoT
prod
uct ‘
Hue
’, si
nce
custo
mer
s can
des
ign
thei
r ow
n lig
ht re
cipe
s’ (D
ijkm
an e
t al.
2015
, p. 6
77)
Bha
radw
aj e
t al.
(201
3), E
l Saw
y et
al.
(201
6), E
vens
(201
0),
Gra
nado
s and
Gup
ta (2
013)
, H
agbe
rg e
t al.
(201
6), I
ves e
t al.
(201
6), L
eong
et a
l. (2
017)
, Llo
pis
et a
l. (2
004)
, Loe
bbec
ke a
nd P
icot
(2
015)
, Maj
chrz
ak e
t al.
(201
6),
Ng
and
Wak
ensh
aw (2
017)
, Pa
gani
(201
3), S
ebas
tian
et a
l. (2
017)
, Set
ia e
t al.
(201
3), S
ia
et a
l. (2
016)
, Vey
et a
l. (2
017)
, and
W
eill
and
Woe
rner
(201
5)‘I
n th
e ne
w d
igita
l mar
ketp
lace
, co
nsum
ers a
re u
sing
mob
ile,
inte
ract
ive
tool
s to
beco
me
inst
ant e
xper
ts o
n pr
oduc
t and
se
rvic
e off
erin
gs’ (
Ber
man
201
2,
p. 1
6)
1 3
Digital transformation: a review, synthesis and opportunities…
Tabl
e 1
(con
tinue
d)
Agg
rega
te d
imen
sion
Seco
nd o
rder
them
esEx
ampl
es o
f firs
t ord
er c
once
pts
Illus
trativ
e qu
otes
Exam
ples
of o
ther
sour
ces a
ddre
ss-
ing
the
seco
nd-o
rder
them
e
‘If a
lead
er a
t any
leve
l doe
s not
un
ders
tand
how
to u
se th
e di
gita
l w
orld
and
its a
ccom
pany
ing
instr
umen
tatio
n, a
nd if
they
do
not u
nder
stan
d th
e po
wer
that
it
has o
n th
eir r
elat
ions
hips
with
th
eir s
take
hold
ers…
then
they
w
ill b
e se
rious
ly le
ft be
hind
’ (B
enni
s 201
3, p
. 635
)Te
chno
logy
-dri
ven
Dist
ribut
ed v
alue
cre
atio
n an
d ca
ptur
eVa
lue
crea
tion
and
capt
ure
are
driv
en a
nd c
o-cr
eate
d in
net
-w
orks
with
mul
tiple
par
tner
s, va
lue
is a
lway
s shi
fting
and
a
mov
ing
targ
et
‘As m
ore
prod
ucts
and
serv
ices
be
com
e di
gita
l and
con
nect
ed,
netw
ork
effec
ts b
ecom
e th
e ke
y di
ffere
ntia
tor a
nd d
river
of v
alue
cr
eatio
n’ (B
hara
dwaj
et a
l. 20
13,
p. 4
75)
Ber
man
(201
2), E
l Saw
y et
al.
(201
6), L
oebb
ecke
and
Pic
ot
(201
5), M
att e
t al.
(201
5), N
g an
d W
aken
shaw
(201
7), P
agan
i (2
013)
, Ray
na a
nd S
triuk
ova
(201
6) a
nd S
ebas
tian
et a
l. (2
017)
‘In
mul
ti-si
ded
plat
form
mar
kets
, va
lue
is n
ot c
reat
ed in
the
trans
form
atio
n of
goo
ds, b
ut in
th
e m
edia
tion
of th
ese
good
s be
twee
n di
ffere
nt k
inds
of u
sers
, w
ho p
ay fo
r acc
ess t
o th
e ne
t-w
ork…
in v
alue
net
wor
ks, v
alue
is
co-
crea
ted
and
reve
nues
are
sh
ared
am
ongs
t all
parti
cipa
nts’
(E
vens
201
0, p
. 53)
S. Nadkarni, R. Prügl
1 3
Tabl
e 1
(con
tinue
d)
Agg
rega
te d
imen
sion
Seco
nd o
rder
them
esEx
ampl
es o
f firs
t ord
er c
once
pts
Illus
trativ
e qu
otes
Exam
ples
of o
ther
sour
ces a
ddre
ss-
ing
the
seco
nd-o
rder
them
e
‘Dig
ital b
usin
ess w
ill b
e dr
iven
in
its n
ext p
hase
s by
valu
e ar
chite
ctur
es ra
ther
than
bus
ines
s m
odel
s’ (K
een
and
Will
iam
s 20
13, p
. 646
)M
arke
t env
ironm
ent a
nd ru
les o
f co
mpe
titio
nD
ynam
ics o
f bus
ines
s env
iron-
men
t, in
ter-c
onne
cted
bus
ines
s in
fras
truct
ures
, em
erge
nce
of
inno
vatio
n ne
twor
ks, c
ross
-in
dustr
y co
mpe
titio
n, e
rosi
on
of p
rope
rty ri
ghts
, kno
wle
dge
hete
roge
neity
, dem
and
harm
o-ni
zatio
n
‘The
sim
ulta
neou
s inc
reas
e in
en
viro
nmen
tal t
urbu
lenc
e, th
e re
quis
ite sp
eed
of o
rgan
izat
iona
l ch
ange
, and
the
inte
nsifi
ed u
biq-
uity
of d
igita
l tec
hnol
ogie
s are
sp
awni
ng a
phe
nom
enon
that
is
mes
sy, c
ompl
ex, a
nd c
haot
ic’ (
El
Saw
y et
al.
2010
, p. 8
35)
Bha
radw
aj e
t al.
(201
3), D
rem
el
et a
l. (2
017)
, Eve
ns (2
010)
, Gro
ver
and
Koh
li (2
013)
, Koh
li an
d Jo
hn-
son
(201
1), L
eong
et a
l. (2
017)
, Lo
ebbe
cke
and
Pico
t (20
15),
Lyyt
-in
en e
t al.
(201
6), M
ajch
rzak
et a
l. (2
016)
, Mar
kus a
nd L
oebb
ecke
(2
013)
, Maz
zei a
nd N
oble
(201
7),
Mith
as e
t al.
(201
3), R
ayna
and
St
riuko
va (2
016)
and
Sia
et a
l. (2
016)
‘As d
igita
l int
erco
nnec
tivity
be
com
es v
irtua
lly u
biqu
itous
, it
over
com
es p
hysi
cal b
arrie
rs a
nd
enab
les t
he p
ossi
bilit
y of
reac
h-in
g m
ore
peop
le a
nd o
f bui
ldin
g a
netw
ork
base
d on
inte
rests
ra
ther
than
on
geog
raph
ical
loca
-tio
n’ (L
anzo
lla a
nd A
nder
son
2008
, p. 7
6)
1 3
Digital transformation: a review, synthesis and opportunities…
Tabl
e 1
(con
tinue
d)
Agg
rega
te d
imen
sion
Seco
nd o
rder
them
esEx
ampl
es o
f firs
t ord
er c
once
pts
Illus
trativ
e qu
otes
Exam
ples
of o
ther
sour
ces a
ddre
ss-
ing
the
seco
nd-o
rder
them
e
‘The
new
kid
on
the
bloc
k ca
n co
me
“out
of t
he b
lue”
, fro
m
anyw
here
—it
does
not
hav
e to
be
a w
ell-k
now
n co
mpe
titor
in y
our
indu
stry’
(Vey
et a
l. 20
17, p
. 23)
‘Tw
o-th
irds o
f res
pond
ents
sa
id th
ey w
ere
expe
rienc
ing
a hi
gh le
vel o
f thr
eat …
from
en
terp
rises
in o
ther
indu
strie
s th
at h
ave
exist
ing
rela
tions
hips
w
ith th
eir c
usto
mer
s’ (W
eill
and
Woe
rner
201
5, p
. 32)
S. Nadkarni, R. Prügl
1 3
data, cloud computing, and mobile technologies significantly increases the overall pace of change. For example, entire industries, like the newspaper business, have been transformed and digitized within a very short period of time (Karimi and Wal-ter 2015). Further, the cloud and online platforms have revolutionized the process and pace of turning an innovative idea into a business (Vey et al. 2017). Today, innovative ideas can be realized within days and companies set-up literally ‘over-night’. In this sense, in the digital world striving for a ‘first-mover advantage’ due to a ‘winner takes it all’ environment has become more important for incumbent firms (Grover and Kohli 2013) as they have much less time to respond to such threats and should not give away first-mover advantages too easily.
Moreover, pure digital companies like Facebook, Google or Amazon have sub-stantially raised the overall time to market and speed of product launches (Bharad-waj et al. 2013). With continuous improvements in hardware, software and connec-tivity, these companies set the pace for a tightly timed series of product launches. Thus, firms in the hybrid world (digital and physical) are being put under enormous pressure to also accelerate their product introductions. In a digitally transformed market, the control of speed of product development and launches is increasingly transferred to an ‘ecosystem of innovation’ in the sense of a network of actors with complementary products and services (Bharadwaj et al. 2013).
4.2.2 Technology capability and integration
The technological capability and power of digital transformation applications, such as for example the Internet of Things (IoT), big data, cloud computing, and mobile technologies, is in terms of computing power, data storage and information distri-bution in many cases significantly higher than in previous technology-driven trans-formations. Earlier business transformations were mostly concerned about introduc-ing internal management information systems such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) or customer relationship management (CRM). These transformations were usually limited to improvements to business processes within firm boundaries (see Ash and Burn 2003; Kauffman and Walden 2001 in: Li et al. 2017). But today, cross-boundary digital technologies such as IoT devices (Ng and Wakenshaw 2017), 3D printing (Rayna and Striukova 2016), and big data analytics (Dremel et al. 2017), drive transformations that go far beyond internal process optimizations as they potentially induce drastic changes to business models (Rayna and Striukova 2016), organizational strategy (Bharadwaj et al. 2013), corporate culture (El Sawy et al. 2016; Dremel et al. 2017; Sia et al. 2016), and entire industry structures (Kohli and Johnson 2011).
Further, the review confirms that the role and significance of data itself is chang-ing profoundly and that personal data has become one of the most powerful assets in the digital era (Ng and Wakenshaw 2017). In fact, we believe the impact of the massive increase in quantity and quality of data generated every day (Bharadwaj et al. 2013) and the game changing power of big data analytics (Günther et al. 2017) are yet to be fully experienced and understood by society, economy and academics.
With regards to the process of dematerialization of tangible products and objects (e.g. CDs, books, machinery etc.), triggered by the transformative
1 3
Digital transformation: a review, synthesis and opportunities…
capabilities of digital technologies, the most notable insight is that intriguingly, in many cases the digital substitutes, for example e-books, offer superior perfor-mance and higher customer benefits than their physical counterparts (Loebbecke and Picot 2015). This, for example, is in contrast to the assumptions provided by Christensen (1997) more than 20 years ago, arguing that new disruptive technolo-gies usually provide different values from mainstream technologies and are often initially inferior to mainstream technologies, therefore only serving niche markets in the beginning.
Finally, regarding technology integration, the current state of research empha-sizes the importance of flexible IT (Cha et al. 2015), new enterprise platforms (El Sawy et al. 2016), and a strong and scalable operational backbone (Sebastian et al. 2017) as part of an agile digital infrastructure. The old paradigms of tech-nology integration are not effective any more. However, in a second step we need to reach a more comprehensive understanding of ‘how’ and ‘where’ the integra-tion of technology and transformation activities should be embedded within the organizational architectures of incumbent firms.
4.2.3 Consumer and other stakeholder interface
With regards to the customer interface, which is currently receiving the high-est levels of attention by scholars, we conclude that there is some solid research particularly on changes in consumer behavior (Berman 2012; El Sawy et al. 2016; Ives et al. 2016; Lanzolla and Anderson 2008), consumer preferences (Vey et al. 2017) and consumer knowledge (Berman 2012; Granados and Gupta 2013). Firstly, our review confirms that in the new digital marketplace, consum-ers behave differently than before, and traditional marketing techniques may not apply anymore. Today there are myriad choices to easily gather information about products and services far before the actual purchase. For instance, customer buy-ing decisions are increasingly influenced by online customer-to-customer interac-tion via platforms and social media, where users share products feedbacks, upload home video clips, or publish blog entries (Berman 2012). In this sense, digital technologies are also transforming firms’ customer-side operations (Setia et al. 2013) and customer engagement strategies (Sebastian et al. 2017). For example, reaching out to customers in a digital environment requires digital omnichannel marketing, including e.g. social media, mobile apps, and augmented reality (El Sawy et al. 2016). Secondly, we may note that digital technologies increasingly reduce the information asymmetries between sellers and buyers (Granados and Gupta 2013). In this sense, information ubiquity (Vey et al. 2017) and instant access to data via mobile technologies (Berman 2012) profoundly change the long-established seller–customer relationship. And thirdly, the current literature raises awareness for the emergence of multi-sided business models. While in the ‘old’ world, intermediaries were matching sellers and buyers, in the digital mar-ket place, intermediation increasingly takes place through the establishment of multi-sided digital platforms and networks (Bharadwaj et al. 2013; Evens 2010; Pagani 2013).
S. Nadkarni, R. Prügl
1 3
4.2.4 Distributed value creation and value capture
The review of the literature reveals that the value chain has become far more distrib-uted in times of digital transformation—particularly value creation and value cap-ture. Two major changes can be observed here: (1) digital technologies offer oppor-tunities to customers to co-create products with the manufacturer, e.g. via digital platforms (El Sawy et al. 2016; Ng and Wakenshaw 2017), and (2) on an inter-firm level value is increasingly co-created and captured in a series of partnerships in a value network (Evens 2010). As Bharadwaj et al. (2013) argue, network effects are the key differentiator and driver of value creation and capture in a digital world. The focus of value creation is therefore shifting from value chain to value networks. For this purpose, companies like Google are experimenting with multi-sided business models. In such a multilayered business model, a company gives away certain prod-ucts or services in one layer to capture value at a different layer (Bharadwaj et al. 2013). Google is giving away its Android operating system for free and captures value via the ability to control advertising on every phone that uses Android.
In more general terms, we may conclude that control of value in the digital world is less and less determined by R&D capabilities, competitors, or industry bounda-ries. Instead the buyer, not the seller, determines the dimensions of value that matter (Keen and Williams 2013). Therefore, businesses need to engage with their custom-ers at every point in the process of value creation (Berman 2012). Also, the strong impact of digital technologies on incumbent’s value chains imply some degree of deviation from the classical and often analog core business. For example, new product-related competencies, platform capabilities or value architectures will be required. And, incumbents must prepare for new forms of monetization in the digi-tized marketplace.
4.2.5 Market environment and rules of competition
This is a rather broad and diverse categorization in our review, as it comprises technology-driven changes in the market environment. After consumer-centric aspects this research stream received the most attention by scholars in the review (on the technology-centric side). In sum, the current state of literature recognizes three major developments. First, digital transformation redefines, blurs and even dissolves existing industry boundaries which may lead to cross-industry competi-tion (Sia et al. 2016; Weill and Woerner 2015). Dominant industry logics (Sabatier et al. 2012) apparently do not work anymore in times of digital transformation. The ‘new kid on the block can come out of the blue’ (Vey et al. 2017, p. 23) and even individuals can become competitors as 3D Printing is expected to lead to a sharp increase in competition from SMEs and individual entrepreneurs (Rayna and Striu-kova 2016). And with the emergence of multi-sided business models also incum-bents are starting to disrupt new markets (Weill and Woerner 2015). For instance, Google is disrupting the mobility sector with its self-driving car subsidiary Waymo, while Amazon has introduced AmazonFresh as a grocery delivery service which is seen as a potentially tough competitor to supermarkets. Second, with the emergence of digital platforms, networks, and ecosystems the market infrastructure becomes
1 3
Digital transformation: a review, synthesis and opportunities…
increasingly interconnected (Grover and Kohli 2013; Majchrzak et al. 2016; Markus and Loebbecke 2013). In a broader sense, we see a shift from controlling or par-ticipating in a linear value chain to operating in an ecosystem or network (Weill and Woerner 2015). As different types of innovation networks with different cogni-tive and social translations regarding knowledge emerge, novel properties of digital infrastructure in support of each network are required. Digital technologies therefore increase innovation network knowledge heterogeneity (Lyytinen et al. 2016). Third, the free flow of digital goods precipitates an erosion of property rights and higher risks of imitation (Loebbecke and Picot 2015).
4.3 Micro‑level findings: the actor‑centric side of the equation
In the following, we present and discuss the most important findings of the second order themes within the actor-centric dimension. In Fig. 3 we provide a thematic map for this dimension and in Table 2 a brief summary including illustrative quotes.
4.3.1 Transformative leadership
Understanding the impact of digital transformation on leadership and management behavior is a very active and prioritized research focus. In total, 23 papers in our review explore this aspect. First and foremost, research calls for a shift in the tradi-tional view of IT strategy as being subordinate to business strategy (El Sawy et al. 2016). In the course of the past two decades information technologies have sur-passed their subordinate role as administrative ‘back office’ assets and evolved into an essential element of corporate strategy building. Thus, incumbents should align IT and business strategies on equal terms and fuse them into ‘digital business strat-egy’ (Bharadwaj et al. 2013).
Also, emphasis is placed on the changing nature of leadership itself, caused by digital transformation. Such changes may include rapid optimization of top man-agement decision-making processes enabled by instant access to information and expansive data sets (Mazzei and Noble 2017), new communication principles (Ben-nis 2013; Granados and Gupta 2013), or changes in leadership education (Sia et al. 2016). Further, there is consensus that senior management requires a new digital mindset in order to captain their company’s digital transformation journey. There-fore, incumbents should also rethink their leadership education practices. In the past, leadership programs have been primarily about leadership and communication skills. But in times of digital transformation, executives must become ‘tech vision-aries’ and develop their transformative powers. For example, Sia et al. (2016) have conducted a case study on an Asian bank that uses hackathons to educate their senior managers. Media transparency and exposure are further key challenges of digitiza-tion where top managers may require some additional education. Given the ubiquity of information and the speed of online data dissemination (via mobile phones, viral effects of social media etc.), leaders today are significantly more exposed publicly than their analog predecessors. Therefore, according to Bennis (2013) leadership
S. Nadkarni, R. Prügl
1 3
Act
or-
driv
en
Tran
sfor
mat
ive
lead
ersh
ip
Lead
ers m
ust i
nteg
rate
fu
nctio
nal I
T st
rate
gy a
nd
busi
ness
stra
tegy
(B
hara
dwaj
et a
l. 20
13)
Lead
ers i
n th
e di
gita
l era
are
sign
ifica
ntly
m
ore
expo
sed
publ
icly
than
thei
r ana
log
pred
eces
sors
(Ben
nis 2
013)
Dig
ital t
rans
form
atio
n de
man
ds
chan
ges i
n le
ader
ship
edu
catio
n
(Sia
et a
l. 20
16)
Man
ager
ial &
or
gani
zatio
nal
capa
bilit
ies
Org
aniz
atio
nal l
evel
: cha
lleng
e to
m
anag
e th
e am
bide
xter
ity o
f an
alog
and
dig
ital c
apab
ilitie
s (e
.g. S
ebas
tian
et a
l. 20
17)
Som
e st
udie
s sug
gest
to a
dopt
the
theo
ry o
f dyn
amic
cap
abili
ties (
e.g.
Li
et a
l. 20
17; Y
eow
et a
l. 20
18)
Man
ager
ial l
evel
: muc
h fa
ster
stra
tegy
and
im
plem
enta
tion
cycl
e is
nee
ded
to c
ope
with
pac
e of
dig
ital t
rans
form
atio
n(D
anie
l & W
ilson
200
3)
Com
pany
cu
lture
Incu
mbe
nts n
eed
to d
evel
op th
eir
info
rmat
ic c
ultu
re to
an
info
rmat
iona
l cu
lture
(Llo
pis e
t al.
2004
)
Dig
ital t
rans
form
atio
n de
man
ds a
dat
a-sh
arin
g an
d da
ta-d
riven
cor
pora
te c
ultu
re
(Dre
mel
et a
l. 20
17).
Dig
ital t
rans
form
atio
n m
ay tr
igge
r cul
tura
l con
flict
be
twee
n yo
unge
r and
com
para
bly
inex
perie
nced
di
gita
l em
ploy
ees a
nd o
lder
but
mor
e ex
perie
nced
pr
e-di
gitiz
atio
n em
ploy
ees (
Kohl
i & J
ohns
on 2
011)
Wor
ken
viro
nmen
t
Dig
ital i
nter
conn
ectiv
ity d
isso
lves
trad
ition
al
hier
arch
ical
wor
k st
ruct
ures
and
rout
ines
and
en
able
s the
em
erge
nce
of c
ross
-loca
tion
team
s(L
oebb
ecke
& P
icot
201
5, W
hite
201
2)
A d
igita
l wor
kpla
ce b
ecom
es
inev
itabl
e to
att
ract
‘bor
n di
gita
l’ em
ploy
ees
(El S
awy
et a
l. 20
16)
Dig
itiza
tion
may
eff
ectiv
ely
lead
to
a gr
owin
g sk
ills g
ap b
etw
een
pre-
digi
tizat
ion
wor
kers
and
rece
ntly
hi
red
digi
tally
savv
y em
ploy
ees
(Koh
li an
d Jo
hnso
n 20
11)
Com
plex
ity o
f dig
ital t
rans
form
atio
n le
ads t
o em
erge
nce
of C
hief
Dig
ital
Off
icer
pos
ition
(Dre
mel
et a
l. 20
17;
Tum
bas e
t al.
2017
)
Org
aniz
atio
nal l
earn
ing
is
key
for d
igita
l inn
ovat
ion
(Koh
li &
Mel
ville
201
8)
Fig.
3
Them
atic
map
for a
ctor
-driv
en th
emes
in d
igita
l tra
nsfo
rmat
ion
liter
atur
e
1 3
Digital transformation: a review, synthesis and opportunities…
Tabl
e 2
Sum
mar
y of
em
erge
nt th
emes
from
the
digi
tal t
rans
form
atio
n lit
erat
ure:
the
acto
r-driv
en si
de
Agg
rega
te d
imen
sion
Seco
nd o
rder
them
esEx
ampl
es o
f firs
t ord
er c
once
pts
Illus
trativ
e qu
otes
Exam
ples
of o
ther
sour
ces a
ddre
ssin
g th
e se
cond
-ord
er th
eme
Acto
r-dr
iven
Tran
sfor
mat
ive
lead
ersh
ipTr
ansf
orm
atio
nal l
eade
rshi
p, fu
sion
be
twee
n fu
nctio
nal I
T str
ateg
y an
d bu
sine
ss st
rate
gy, l
eade
rshi
p ed
ucat
ion,
nat
ure
of le
ader
ship
, em
erge
nce
of C
hief
Dig
ital O
ffice
rs
‘Tra
nsfo
rmat
iona
l lea
ders
hip
is
prop
osed
as a
sign
ifica
nt a
ntec
eden
t of
e-b
usin
ess a
dopt
ion…
Tra
ns-
form
atio
nal l
eade
rshi
p fir
st pl
ays
a ke
y ro
le in
cha
ngin
g ch
arac
teris
-tic
s of c
ultu
re a
nd th
en fa
cilit
ates
e-
busi
ness
ado
ptio
n’ (A
los-
Sim
o et
al.
2017
, p. 3
82)
Ben
nis (
2013
), C
ha e
t al.
(201
5), C
hat-
terje
e et
al.
(200
2), E
l Saw
y et
al.
(201
6), G
erth
and
Pep
pard
(201
6),
Gra
nado
s and
Gup
ta (2
013)
, Hu
et a
l. (2
016)
, Koh
li an
d M
elvi
lle (2
019)
, Ll
opis
et a
l. (2
004)
, Loe
bbec
ke a
nd
Pico
t (20
15),
Maz
zei a
nd N
oble
(2
017)
, Rig
by e
t al.
(201
6), R
indo
va
and
Kot
ha (2
001)
, Sia
et a
l. (2
016)
, Si
ngh
and
Hes
s (20
17) a
nd Y
eow
et
al.
(201
8)‘W
hen
impl
emen
ting
a di
gita
l tra
ns-
form
atio
n pr
ojec
t, it
is im
porta
nt to
ha
ve d
irect
pol
icin
g by
top
man
age-
men
t and
solid
con
grue
nce
betw
een
a fir
m’s
bus
ines
s goa
ls a
nd it
s IT
deve
lopm
ent s
trate
gy, n
ot ju
st co
unt
IT p
roje
cts a
s add
ition
al jo
bs fo
r the
M
IS d
epar
tmen
t’ (L
iu e
t al.
2011
, p.
173
9)‘T
he n
eces
sary
dig
ital t
rans
form
atio
n re
quire
s new
role
s, su
ch a
s a c
hief
di
gita
l offi
cer (
CD
O),
and
orga
niza
-tio
nal s
truct
ures
to b
e es
tabl
ishe
d’
(Dre
mel
et a
l. 20
17, p
. 82)
S. Nadkarni, R. Prügl
1 3
Tabl
e 2
(con
tinue
d)
Agg
rega
te d
imen
sion
Seco
nd o
rder
them
esEx
ampl
es o
f firs
t ord
er c
once
pts
Illus
trativ
e qu
otes
Exam
ples
of o
ther
sour
ces a
ddre
ssin
g th
e se
cond
-ord
er th
eme
Man
ager
ial a
nd o
rgan
iza-
tiona
l cap
abili
ties
Man
ager
ial c
apab
ilitie
s, or
gani
za-
tiona
l cap
abili
ties
‘Org
aniz
atio
ns c
an p
rom
ote
digi
tal
trans
form
atio
n th
roug
h bu
ildin
g th
e dy
nam
ic m
anag
eria
l cap
abili
ties
of th
eir t
op m
anag
emen
t’ (L
i et a
l. 20
17, p
. 4)
Ber
man
(201
2), D
anie
l and
Wils
on
(200
3), E
l Saw
y et
al.
(201
0, 2
016)
, G
rana
dos a
nd G
upta
(201
3), K
arim
i an
d W
alte
r (20
15),
Koh
li an
d M
elvi
lle (2
019)
, Rin
dova
and
Kot
ha
(200
1), S
ands
tröm
(201
6), S
ebas
tian
et a
l. (2
017)
, Set
ia e
t al.
(201
3),
Sing
h an
d H
ess (
2017
), Sv
ahn
et a
l. (2
017)
, Wei
ll an
d W
oern
er (2
015)
‘It i
s cru
cial
for fi
rms t
o us
e ex
istin
g re
sour
ces a
nd c
apab
ilitie
s to
mee
t cu
stom
er d
eman
ds w
hen
impl
e-m
entin
g di
gita
l tra
nsfo
rmat
ion’
(Liu
et
al.
2011
, p. 1
739)
‘We
argu
e th
at in
form
atio
n te
chno
l-og
y in
vestm
ents
and
cap
abili
ties
influ
ence
firm
per
form
ance
thro
ugh
a no
mol
ogic
al n
etw
ork
of th
ree
sig-
nific
ant o
rgan
izat
iona
l cap
abili
ties
(agi
lity,
dig
ital o
ptio
ns, a
nd e
ntre
-pr
eneu
rial a
lertn
ess)
and
stra
tegi
c pr
oces
ses (
capa
bilit
y-bu
ildin
g,
entre
pren
euria
l act
ion,
and
coe
volu
-tio
nary
ada
ptat
ion)
’ (Sa
mba
mur
thy
et a
l. 20
03, p
. 237
)
1 3
Digital transformation: a review, synthesis and opportunities…
Tabl
e 2
(con
tinue
d)
Agg
rega
te d
imen
sion
Seco
nd o
rder
them
esEx
ampl
es o
f firs
t ord
er c
once
pts
Illus
trativ
e qu
otes
Exam
ples
of o
ther
sour
ces a
ddre
ssin
g th
e se
cond
-ord
er th
eme
Acto
r-dr
iven
Com
pany
cul
ture
Cul
tura
l cha
nge,
con
flict
, org
aniz
a-tio
nal l
earn
ing
‘In
the
past,
our
lead
ersh
ip p
rogr
am
has b
een
all a
bout
lead
ersh
ip sk
ills,
com
mun
icat
ion
skill
s. W
e sc
rapp
ed
all o
f tha
t and
our
lead
ersh
ip p
ro-
gram
now
is a
ll ab
out h
acka
thon
s’
(Sia
et a
l. 20
16, p
. 109
)
Alo
s-Si
mo
et a
l. (2
017)
, Dre
mel
et a
l. (2
017)
, El S
awy
et a
l. (2
016)
, Llo
pis
et a
l. (2
004)
, Sch
uchm
ann
and
Seuf
ert (
2015
), Ve
y et
al.
(201
7)
‘Sim
ilarly
, a la
rge
num
ber o
f on-
site
te
chni
cal c
ontra
ct w
orke
rs o
r ser
-vi
ce p
rovi
ders
may
cau
se c
onfli
ct
betw
een
two
cultu
res—
thos
e w
ho
unde
rsta
nd te
chno
logy
and
thos
e w
ho u
nder
stan
d th
e bu
sine
ss’
(Koh
li an
d Jo
hnso
ns 2
011,
p. 1
53)
‘Lea
rnin
g is
ofte
n ne
cess
ary
(alth
ough
not
suffi
cien
t) fo
r dig
ital
inno
vatio
n. F
or e
xam
ple,
in th
e ca
se
of e
xter
nally
ado
pted
IS, k
now
ledg
e dr
ives
opp
ortu
nity
sens
ing,
whi
ch
in tu
rn d
rives
exp
erim
enta
tion
and
subs
eque
nt in
nova
tion’
(Koh
li an
d M
elvi
lle 2
019,
p. 6
)W
ork
envi
ronm
ent
Dig
ital w
orkp
lace
, wor
k str
uctu
res
and
rout
ine,
skill
s gap
‘Fou
r tec
hnol
ogie
s in
parti
cula
r are
ra
pidl
y sh
apin
g th
e fu
ture
of c
orpo
-ra
te IT
and
the
way
that
wor
k w
ill
be u
nder
take
n: M
obile
, Big
dat
a,
Clo
ud c
ompu
ting,
Sea
rch-
base
d ap
plic
atio
ns’ (
Whi
te 2
012,
p. 2
10)
Cha
et a
l. (2
015)
, Han
sen
and
Sia
(201
5), K
ohli
and
John
son
(201
1),
Schu
chm
ann
and
Seuf
ert (
2015
), Se
ufer
t and
Mei
er (2
016)
, Vey
et a
l. (2
017)
S. Nadkarni, R. Prügl
1 3
Tabl
e 2
(con
tinue
d)
Agg
rega
te d
imen
sion
Seco
nd o
rder
them
esEx
ampl
es o
f firs
t ord
er c
once
pts
Illus
trativ
e qu
otes
Exam
ples
of o
ther
sour
ces a
ddre
ssin
g th
e se
cond
-ord
er th
eme
‘As m
ore
‘bor
n di
gita
l’ yo
unge
r em
ploy
ees e
nter
the
wor
kfor
ce w
ith
diffe
rent
val
ues,
they
will
hav
e di
f-fe
rent
exp
ecta
tions
of t
he w
orkp
lace
in
term
s of fl
exib
ility
of l
ocat
ion
and
wor
king
hou
rs, s
ophi
stica
tion
of m
obile
onl
ine
acce
ss, a
nd th
e ex
tent
to w
hich
the
wor
kpla
ce e
nvi-
ronm
ent i
s ‘hu
man
ized
’ (El
Saw
y et
al.
2016
, p. 1
43)
‘With
dig
itiza
tion
and
big
data
ana
-ly
tics c
ross
-loca
tion
team
s em
erge
, an
d tra
ditio
nal h
iera
rchi
cal w
ork
struc
ture
s dis
solv
e an
d tra
nsfo
rm
into
incr
easi
ngly
flex
ible
, in-
hous
e an
d ne
twor
ked
struc
ture
s acr
oss
loca
tions
’ (Lo
ebbe
cke
and
Pico
t 20
15, p
. 151
)
1 3
Digital transformation: a review, synthesis and opportunities…
in the digital era needs to be learned through embracing transparency and adaptive capacity (specifically resilience as the ability to rebound from problems and crisis).
Finally, the vast extent and complexity of digital transformation leads to the emergence of an additional position at the top management level—the Chief Digital Officer (Dremel et al. 2017; Tumbas et al. 2017). Given the immense challenges of digital transformation and the claim for a new mindset and different skills, CEOs or even CIOs are conceivably not the best match (Singh and Hess 2017). Particularly not if they are expected to drive digital transformation in addition to their original tasks.
4.3.2 Managerial and organizational capabilities
Our analysis suggests that in order to effectively drive digital transformation addi-tional and refined capabilities are required—both managerial and organizational (Li et al. 2017)—in comparison to the analogue world.
At the managerial level, for one thing, a much faster strategy and implementation cycle is needed to cope with the pace of digital transformation (Daniel and Wilson 2003). The turbulent and ever-changing digital environment is forcing managers to make decisions and implement strategies significantly faster than they had been pre-viously required to. In order to study managerial capabilities in the context of digital transformation, some studies have adopted the theory of dynamic capabilities (Dan-iel and Wilson 2003; Li et al. 2017; Yeow et al. 2018) as introduced by Teece et al. (1997), Teece (2007, 2014). In particular, results indicate that dynamic capabilities may support the refinement of digital strategy and are therefore not separate from alignment, but on the contrary have the potential to enact and guide the process of aligning.
At the organizational level, one of the most intriguing challenges for incumbents will be to manage the ambidexterity of capabilities in terms of analog and digital capabilities. Firms need to incorporate ‘old’ and ‘new’ capabilities into their organi-zational structure in a complementary and not impeding way. In addition, capabili-ties in two further areas are of particular importance to many firms. First, capabili-ties to implement and operate in networks (Bharadwaj et al. 2013), platforms (Li et al. 2017; Sebastian et al. 2017), and ecosystems (El Sawy et al. 2016; Weill and Woerner 2015). Depending on contextual factors like for example their industry or business model, companies must learn to take advantage of network effects in terms of complementary capabilities while also learn how to become more of an ecosystem rather than continue managing value chains. Second, in the digital era it is essential to develop sensing capabilities, such as entrepreneurial alertness and environmental scanning (Kohli and Melville 2019), in order to identify new ideas and critically evaluate, design, modify and eventually deliver new business models (Berman 2012; Daniel and Wilson 2003).
4.3.3 Company culture
Digital transformation is not exclusively a technology-driven challenge but requires deep cultural change. Everyone within the organization must be prepared with an
S. Nadkarni, R. Prügl
1 3
adaptive skill set and digital know-how. Two major insights can be identified within the existing literature. First, digital transformation demands a data-sharing and data-driven corporate culture (Dremel et al. 2017). Data as such must be recognized much more as a valuable resource and an enabler to become a digital enterprise. This will require higher operational transparency in daily-business and work-routines and a data-sharing mindset among employees. In this sense, incumbents need to develop their informatic culture to an informational culture (Llopis et al. 2004). In comparison to an informatic culture, an informational culture values IT as a core element of strategic and tactical decisions and clearly understands the financial and transformative poten-tial of digital technologies. Second, digital transformation may trigger cultural conflict between younger and comparably inexperienced digital employees and older but more experienced pre-digitization employees (Kohli and Johnson 2011). Management is well advised to prevent that two different cultures arise within the same organization—a group of employees who understand digital technologies and those who have a long-standing track record in the traditional business but are technologically lagging behind. Facilitating a learning friendly culture (Kohli and Melville 2019) and publicly affirm-ing support and trust by the executive level may effectively mitigate such a potential cultural divide.
4.3.4 Work environment
Our review reveals that digital transformation is changing the daily work environment in incumbent firms in terms of work structures (Hansen and Sia 2015; Loebbecke and Picot 2015), job roles, and workplace requirements (White 2012). For example, digi-tal interconnectivity enables the emergence of flexible and networked cross-location teams across the entire geographical company map. In this context, traditional hier-archical work structures dissolve and new opportunities emerge beyond company boundaries, such as the integration of external freelancers (Loebbecke and Picot 2015). Also, the implementation of a digital workplace becomes inevitable. Particularly for ‘born digital’ younger employees a digitally well-equipped workplace may represent a major criterion for their choice of employer (El Sawy et al. 2016). According to White (2012), a digital workplace must be adaptive, compliant, imaginative, predictive, and location-independent.
However, the most notable insight in this perspective is that—in addition to a poten-tial cultural divide—digitization may effectively lead to a growing skills gap between pre-digitization workers and recently hired digitally savvy employees (Kohli and John-son 2011). In fact, while digital technologies significantly help to optimize and acceler-ate many work processes and thereby increase productivity, incumbents must be aware that many employees might not keep pace with this digital high-speed train and feel left behind. It is unclear how such a tradeoff is considered and how firms could handle related conflicts.
1 3
Digital transformation: a review, synthesis and opportunities…
5 Avoiding an ivory tower: drawing on existing knowledge from adjacent research fields
We assume that pre-existing knowledge on corporate transformation processes in general is partly already available and may provide implications for digital transfor-mation. Therefore, at this point in our review, we aim to stimulate a theoretical dis-cussion by identifying potential white spots abstracted from adjacent research fields. For this purpose, we additionally reviewed 28 studies from the literature on techno-logical disruption (to gain technology-centric input) and 32 papers from corporate entrepreneurship (to expand the actor-centric view). By this, we supplement the pre-dominantly IS-based digital transformation literature with a broader management perspective. First, by reviewing the literature on disruptive innovations we hope to derive implications regarding technology adoption and integration. Burdened with the legacy of old technology, bureaucratic structures and core rigidities (Leonard-Barton 1992), incumbents may face major challenges in this respect during their digital transformation journey. Second, we expect corporate entrepreneurship to add a more holistic perspective on firm-internal aspects during the process of transfor-mation, such as management contribution or the impact of knowledge and learning.
We rigorously conducted the same review and analysis process as for our digital transformation sample. A database and concept matrix (Webster and Watson 2002) for the sample on technological disruption and corporate entrepreneurship are pro-vided in Tables 6 and 7 of “Appendix”. The data structures, which summarize the second order themes for both the actor-centric and technology-centric dimension of these additional research fields are illustrated in Figs. 5 and 6 of “Appendix”. Within the main body of this article, we only draw attention toward three key implications (Fig. 4). In the following, we provide a brief synthesis of these implications and their grounding in the respective literature. In a second step, we transfer and apply these implications to the context of digital transformation and integrate them into an agenda for future research opportunities.
5.1 Insights from technological disruption
Existing knowledge from the adoption of disruptive technologies suggests that in order to successfully integrate, commercialize or develop disruptive tech-nologies incumbents need to create organizations that are independent from but interconnected in one way or another with the mainstream business (Bower and Christensen 1995). The reasons for this are manifold. For example, managers are encouraged to protect disruptive technologies from the processes and incen-tives that are targeted to serve established customers. Rather, disruptive innova-tions should be placed in separate new organizations that work with future cus-tomers for this technology (Bower and Christensen 1995; Gans 2016). Further, separation potentially helps to unravel the discord between viewing disruptive innovations as a threat or an opportunity. Exempted from obligations to a parent company, separate ventures are more likely to perceive a novel technology as an
S. Nadkarni, R. Prügl
1 3
Seco
nd O
rder
The
mes
Ag
greg
ate D
imen
sion
s Se
cond
Ord
er T
hem
es
Pace
of C
hang
e &
Tim
e to
Mar
ket
Dis
tribu
ted
Valu
e C
reat
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& C
aptu
re
Tech
nolo
gy C
apab
ility
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tegr
atio
n
Con
sum
er &
oth
er
Stak
ehol
der I
nter
face
Mar
ket E
nviro
nmen
t &
Rul
es o
f Com
petit
ion
Com
pany
Cul
ture
Tran
sfor
mat
ive
Lead
ersh
ip
Man
ager
ial
& O
rgan
izat
iona
l Cap
abili
ties
Wor
k En
viro
nmen
t
Act
orTe
chno
logy
Mid
dle
Man
agem
ent
Pers
pect
ive
CE
liter
atur
ein
dica
tes
that
mid
dle
man
agem
ent
play
sa
cruc
ial
role
inre
defin
ing
afir
m's
stra
tegi
cco
ntex
tan
dby
this
driv
ing
orga
niza
tiona
ltra
nsfo
rmat
ion.
Coo
pera
tion
Man
agem
ent
& O
rgan
izat
iona
l Lea
rnin
g
Org
aniz
atio
nal
lear
ning
and
regu
lar
exch
ange
betw
een
incu
mbe
nts
and
star
t-ups
isfo
und
toac
cele
rate
entre
pren
euria
ltra
nsfo
rmat
ion.
Dis
rupt
ive
Tech
nolo
gy
Com
mer
cial
izat
ion
Exis
ting
know
ledg
esu
gges
tsth
atin
orde
rto
succ
essf
ully
inte
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ean
dco
mm
erci
aliz
eno
vel
and
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uptiv
ete
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zatio
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atar
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nden
tfr
ombu
tin
one
way
oran
othe
rin
terc
onne
cted
with
the
mai
nstre
ambu
sine
ss.
Tech
-cen
tric
insi
ghts
Lite
ratu
re o
n Te
chno
logi
cal D
isru
ptio
n(2
8 St
udie
s)
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r-ce
ntric
in
sigh
ts
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ratu
re o
n C
orpo
rate
Ent
repr
eneu
rshi
p(3
2 St
udie
s)
Dig
ital T
rans
form
atio
n T
hem
atic
Map
(Bas
ed o
n re
view
ing
58 st
udie
s)
Fig.
4
Expa
ndin
g th
e di
gita
l tra
nsfo
rmat
ion
high
-leve
l the
mat
ic m
ap w
ith in
sigh
ts fr
om te
chno
logi
cal d
isru
ptio
n an
d co
rpor
ate
entre
pren
eurs
hip
1 3
Digital transformation: a review, synthesis and opportunities…
opportunity (Gilbert and Bower 2002). And lastly, a freestanding business also enables local adaptation and increased sensitivity to changes in the environment (Hill and Rothaermel 2003).
5.2 Insights from corporate entrepreneurship
Our review of the corporate entrepreneurship literature identifies two major implications that have not been (adequately) considered in digital transformation research yet.
First, the literature indicates that middle management plays a crucial role in redefining a firm’s strategic context and by this driving organizational trans-formation. A middle management perspective has thus far been completely neglected in digital transformation research. We see this as a major gap, since the middle layers of management are ‘where the action is’ (Floyd and Wooldridge 1999, p. 124). Top management should control the level and the rate of change and ensure that entrepreneurial activities correspond to their strategic vision (Burgelman 1983), but middle managers at the implementation level are the driv-ing force and key determinant behind organizational transformation. However, on the downside, middle managers may also represent a major barrier to organiza-tional change (Thornberry 2001). Typically, managers have the task to minimize risks, make sure everything is compliant to the rules and perform their functional roles. Thus, middle managers usually have the most to lose from radical changes and are therefore often the least likely to be entrepreneurial or to support transfor-mations (Thornberry 2001). In order to solve middle and operational manager’s risk-awareness and unleash their entrepreneurial spirit, research suggests encour-aging autonomous behavior (Shimizu 2012). In sum, reviewing the literature on corporate entrepreneurship raises our awareness for the impact of hierarchy and management levels on organizational transformation (Hornsby et al. 2009).
Second, a closer cooperation and regular exchange between incumbents and start-ups in order to accelerate entrepreneurial transformation is proposed (Engel 2011; Kohler 2016). Incumbents should recognize start-up companies as a source of external innovation and develop suitable models for collaboration (e.g. corporate accelerators). In particular, incumbents are advised to implement three common best practices from successful start-ups in order to facilitate transformation: (1) work-ing in small omni-functional teams, (2) goal-driven rapid development instead of bureaucratic processes, and (3) field-level exploration of market potential instead of complex and tedious quantitative models (Engel 2011). In addition, corporate entrepreneurship underlines the importance of organizational learning as a vehicle to drive and shape cultural transformation (Dess et al. 2003; Floyd and Wooldridge 1999; Zahra 2015). We come to understand that learning, and in fact also knowledge management, are intimately tied to the concept of organizational transformation. A culture of learning and knowledge drives experimentation, encourages the develop-ment of an adaptive skill set, reshapes competitive positioning, and opens the minds of employees to new realities (Zahra et al. 1999).
S. Nadkarni, R. Prügl
1 3
6 Opportunities for future research
Based on the cross-disciplinary perspectives from reviewing the literature on digital transformation, technological disruption and corporate entrepreneurship, we propose opportunities for future research on digital transformation. Using our thematic map as a lens to view future research opportunities, we focus on the two dimensions of technology and actor. For the technology-centric dimension we expand on the structural and operational integration of digital technologies and organizational transformation initiatives as well as gaining a deeper under-standing of the pace of technological transformation. For the actor-centric dimen-sion we address three topics: we start at the leadership level by emphasizing the relevance of middle management in digital transformation, after that we refer to the potential skills gap and threat of an employee divide in incumbent organi-zations induced by digital technologies, and finally we move beyond organiza-tional boundaries to turn toward the potential benefits and drawbacks of cooperat-ing with start-ups and pure digital companies to boost transformation. For each area, we propose a set of research questions. Altogether, the agenda is organized around five guiding topics (Table 3).
6.1 Integration of digital transformation within organizational structures and activities in incumbent firms
Our review of the literature on digital transformation reveals a knowledge gap regarding this topic. However, we do gain some interesting cross-disciplinary insights from technological disruption at this point. In fact, as already discussed, studies on technological disruption indicate that in order to successfully inte-grate, commercialize or develop disruptive technologies incumbents need to cre-ate organizations that are completely independent from but interconnected in one way or another with the mainstream business (Bower and Christensen 1995; Gans 2016; Gilbert and Bower 2002; Hill and Rothaermel 2003).
Thus, the question arises as to how incumbents should incorporate their digital transformation activities. Several options and interesting questions arise in this matter that future research may investigate on:
• Which forms of organizational architecture are most suitable for digital trans-formation? Seamless integration of digital technologies requires building an agile and scalable digital infrastructure that enables continuous scalability of new initiatives (Sia et al. 2016). For example, Resca et al. (2013) suggest a platform-based organization. In addition, digital transformation demands a new kind of enterprise platform integration (El Sawy et al. 2016). Given the high intensity of interactive digital connectivity between the outside and inside of a company, traditional enterprise platforms (like ERP) and the ‘old’ supply chain management integration paradigm are in many cases not the most suitable solution anymore. Therefore, flexible IT is a key transformation
1 3
Digital transformation: a review, synthesis and opportunities…
Tabl
e 3
Inte
grat
ive
agen
da fo
r fut
ure
rese
arch
on
digi
tal t
rans
form
atio
n
Rese
arch
topi
cC
orre
spon
ding
seco
nd o
rder
them
eSo
urce
Exem
plar
y Re
sear
ch Q
uesti
ons
Inte
grat
ion
of d
igita
l tra
nsfo
rmat
ion
with
in o
rgan
i-za
tiona
l str
uctu
res a
nd a
ctiv
ities
in in
cum
bent
fir
ms
Tech
nolo
gy C
apab
ility
and
Inte
grat
ion
Revi
ew o
f: D
T, T
D‘H
ow, w
hen,
and
why
are
diff
eren
t for
ms o
f org
ani-
zatio
nal a
rchi
tect
ure
mos
t sui
tabl
e/de
trim
enta
l for
di
gita
l tra
nsfo
rmat
ion?
’ (e.
g. p
latfo
rm-b
ased
, flex
-ib
le IT
, ope
n in
nova
tion)
‘Whe
n an
d w
hy is
it a
n ad
vant
age/
disa
dvan
tage
to
star
t dig
ital t
rans
form
atio
n in
a n
ew o
rgan
izat
ion
whi
ch is
com
plet
ely
inde
pend
ent f
rom
trad
ition
al
busi
ness
, as s
ugge
sted
by te
chno
logi
cal d
isru
ptio
n re
sear
ch?
Und
er w
hat c
ircum
stan
ces a
nd w
hy d
o sp
ill-o
ver-e
ffect
s to
the
pare
nt o
rgan
izat
ion
happ
en/
not h
appe
n?’
‘How
, whe
n, a
nd w
hy d
o in
cum
bent
s ben
efit f
rom
ta
king
a ‘l
et a
hun
dred
flow
ers b
loom
’ phi
loso
phy
by st
artin
g di
gita
l ini
tiativ
es a
cros
s all
divi
sion
s si
mul
tane
ously
and
loca
lly to
enc
oura
ge b
road
ex
perim
enta
tion?
’‘H
ow, w
hen,
and
why
do
incu
mbe
nts b
enefi
t fro
m
taki
ng a
‘lau
nch,
lear
n, p
ivot
’ app
roac
h by
star
ting
with
a p
ilot t
rans
form
atio
n pr
ojec
t in
a sm
alle
r m
arke
t or s
ubsi
diar
y?’
Pace
of d
igita
l tra
nsfo
rmat
ion
Pace
of C
hang
e an
d Ti
me
to M
arke
tRe
view
of:
DT
‘Wha
t are
the
para
met
ers t
hat d
efine
the
pace
of
chan
ge?’
‘Why
do
indu
strie
s ado
pt to
dig
ital t
rans
form
atio
n at
a
diffe
rent
spee
d? W
hat a
re th
e pa
ram
eter
s tha
t defi
ne
whe
ther
an
indu
stry
is m
ore
or le
ss tr
ansf
orm
ativ
e?’
The
role
of m
iddl
e m
anag
emen
t in
digi
tal t
rans
for-
mat
ion
Tran
sfor
mat
ive
Lead
ersh
ipRe
view
of:
DT,
CE
‘It m
ay b
e as
sum
ed th
at in
a ‘d
igita
lly tr
ansf
orm
ed’
com
pany
, the
role
of m
iddl
e m
anag
ers t
rans
form
s in
term
s of i
dent
ity a
nd jo
b ta
sks.
Wha
t is p
reci
sely
ch
angi
ng?
How
and
why
do
mid
dle
man
ager
s rea
ct
to th
ese
chan
ges?
’
S. Nadkarni, R. Prügl
1 3
Tabl
e 3
(con
tinue
d)
Rese
arch
topi
cC
orre
spon
ding
seco
nd o
rder
them
eSo
urce
Exem
plar
y Re
sear
ch Q
uesti
ons
‘Wha
t kin
d of
resp
onsi
bilit
ies a
nd fu
nctio
ns in
mid
dle
man
agem
ent h
iera
rchy
are
requ
ired
to a
ccel
erat
e di
gita
l tra
nsfo
rmat
ion?
’ (e.
g. b
usin
ess-
proc
ess m
an-
agem
ent l
ayer
s or c
entra
l adm
inist
ratio
n pl
atfo
rms
that
can
be
shar
ed a
cros
s mul
tiple
initi
ativ
es)
The
role
of m
iddl
e m
anag
emen
t in
digi
tal t
rans
for-
mat
ion
Tran
sfor
mat
ive
Lead
ersh
ipRe
view
of:
DT,
CE
‘Whi
ch m
inds
et a
nd d
igita
l lite
racy
do
mid
dle
man
ag-
ers n
eed
to d
rive
digi
tal t
rans
form
atio
n pr
oces
ses?
H
ow, w
hen,
and
why
are
mid
dle
man
ager
s mot
i-va
ted/
not m
otiv
ated
to d
rive
digi
tal t
rans
form
atio
n?’
‘How
and
why
is d
igita
l tra
nsfo
rmat
ion
affec
ting
the
inte
rface
of t
he to
p m
anag
emen
t tea
m a
nd m
iddl
e m
anag
ers?
’‘W
hat i
s the
impa
ct o
f dig
ital t
rans
form
atio
n on
the
over
all i
mpo
rtanc
e of
the
mid
dle
man
agem
ent
laye
r?G
row
ing
skill
s gap
and
thre
at o
f an
empl
oyee
div
ide
Wor
k En
viro
nmen
tRe
view
of:
DT
‘How
, whe
n an
d w
hy a
re in
cum
bent
s abl
e/un
able
to
miti
gate
a g
row
ing
skill
s gap
and
em
ploy
ee d
ivid
e in
the
face
of d
igita
l tra
nsfo
rmat
ion?
How
cou
ld
diffe
rent
leve
ls o
f kno
wle
dge
and
expe
rienc
e re
sid-
ing
with
in d
iffer
ent e
mpl
oyee
s be
inte
grat
ed in
the
cont
ext o
f dig
ital t
rans
form
atio
n?’
‘How
are
incu
mbe
nts a
ble/
unab
le to
inco
rpor
ate
old
and
new
cap
abili
ties s
imul
tane
ously
with
in th
eir
orga
niza
tion
to m
aste
r the
cha
lleng
e of
tech
nolo
gi-
cal a
mbi
dext
erity
?’
1 3
Digital transformation: a review, synthesis and opportunities…
Tabl
e 3
(con
tinue
d)
Rese
arch
topi
cC
orre
spon
ding
seco
nd o
rder
them
eSo
urce
Exem
plar
y Re
sear
ch Q
uesti
ons
‘Who
in th
e co
mpa
ny is
man
agin
g th
e de
velo
pmen
t an
d tra
nsfo
rmat
ion
of sk
ills a
nd h
ow, w
heng
and
w
hy d
oes t
hat i
mpa
ct o
utco
mes
of d
igita
l tra
nsfo
r-m
atio
n?’ (
e.g.
HR
, sen
ior l
eade
rshi
p, IT
div
isio
n,
func
tiona
l tea
ms,
empl
oyee
s etc
.)C
oope
ratio
n w
ith st
artu
ps a
nd p
ure
tech
com
pani
es
to a
ccel
erat
e di
gita
l tra
nsfo
rmat
ion
Com
pany
Cul
ture
Revi
ew o
f: D
T, C
E‘W
hat a
re th
e co
nstit
uent
pill
ars o
f a d
igita
l cul
ture
w
hich
for e
xam
ple
can
be o
bser
ved
in su
cces
sful
st
art-u
ps?’
‘Wha
t are
the
bene
fits o
f em
ploy
ee e
xcha
nge
pro-
gram
s with
tech
nolo
gy c
ompa
nies
and
star
t-ups
to
scal
e-up
dig
ital s
kills
?’
DT
digi
tal t
rans
form
atio
n, T
D te
chno
logi
cal d
isru
ptio
n, C
E co
rpor
ate
entre
pren
eurs
hip
S. Nadkarni, R. Prügl
1 3
resource in the digital world (Cha et al. 2015). Pursuing an open innovation approach might be another alternative for incumbents.
• When and why is it an advantage/disadvantage to start digital transformation in a new organization which is completely independent from traditional business, as suggested by technological disruption research? Under what circumstances and why do spill-over-effects to the parent organization happen/not happen?? For example, Ravensburger AG, a German toy and jigsaw puzzle company, founded Ravensburger Digital GmbH as a subsidiary in 2009. The purpose of the subsidiary was to become the firm’s digital competence center. In 2017, the digital subsidiary was reincorporated in the parent organization as a digital unit with the goal to apply their digital knowledge to transform the traditional busi-ness segments. We call for more qualitative case study research devoted to this question to develop our understanding in this topic.
• How, when, and why do incumbents benefit from adopting a ‘let a hundred flowers bloom’ philosophy versus taking a ‘launch, learn, pivot’ approach? In the first scenario, a company would start its digital initiatives across all divi-sions simultaneously and locally to encourage broad experimentation. Such an approach was adopted by AmerisourceBergen Corp., an American drug whole-sale company. The company is convinced that digital transformation is a matter of culture that needs to be established across the entire organization. For this purpose, it implemented agile project teams throughout the entire enterprise, of which each focused on different aspects. On the downside, companies follow-ing such a broad approach may risk losing focus and at some point, the various initiatives may start competing against each other. Hence, we believe it is crucial to have a big picture in mind and accordingly allocate resources and attention very thoughtfully. Alternatively, incumbents may start with a pilot transforma-tion project in a smaller market or subsidiary. Arguably, a major advantage is the opportunity to assure that customers are happy with the transformation results and everything is working out well before starting the large roll out in other mar-kets. And it provides incumbents time to fine-tune their initiatives. For example, American medical company Alcon premiered their initial transformation efforts in Brazil before ramping up their rollout in 27 further countries.
6.2 Pace of digital transformation
The rapid pace of technological change is perhaps the most defining characteristic of digital transformation in distinction to previous IT-enabled transformations. Yet, as this topic is only addressed by four papers in our sample it is still to be studied in more depth. For example, there is consensus among the studies that the pace of change has accelerated significantly, however the parameters that define the pace of change remain yet to be defined. Further, we are informed that some industries like the newspaper business have been digitally transformed within a very short period of time (Karimi and Walter 2015), while other branches are still under transforma-tion or are yet to be converted. We posit two exemplary research questions regarding the pace of digital transformation:
1 3
Digital transformation: a review, synthesis and opportunities…
• What are the parameters that define the pace of change? Our review reveals that the speed of product launches (Bharadwaj et al. 2013) and the time it takes to turn an idea into a business (Vey et al. 2017) are two potential indicators, but we certainly need to obtain a more comprehensive conceptualization at this point.
• Why do industries adopt to digital transformation at a different speed? For exam-ple, consider front-runner industries like the media or publishing versus late-comers such as oil and gas. In this specific case, the easiness to dematerialize and digitize the product portfolio is certainly a main reason. However, other indus-tries are less obvious, and we would like to invite future research to investigate upon these conditions. What are the parameters that define whether an industry is more or less transformative?
6.3 The role of middle management in digital transformation
We have learned from our review of the corporate entrepreneurship literature that middle managers are the locus of organizational transformation in incumbent firms (Floyd and Wooldridge 1999; Hornsby et al. 2002, 2009; Shimizu 2012). While top management controls the level and rate of change, middle managers are in charge of execution (Burgelman 1983). Hence, one may conclude that middle managers are the kingpin of digital transformation. Yet, there is not a single paper in our sample that covers a middle management perspective in digital transformation. We believe that this subject has been highly neglected in research to this point and deserves far more attention in future. Several topics are particularly interesting:
• How and why is digital transformation affecting the role, tasks and identity of middle managers? How and why do middle managers react to these changes? Based on our review, we expect a deep change in the nature of middle manage-ment’s role and influence in a ‘digitally transformed’ company ranging from administration to leadership aspects. Middle managers require a new attitude as they move from directing and controlling stable processes and people at the mid-dle of hierarchy to managing resources and connecting people in the middle of networks. In addition, middle managers in the digital era must step up to their role of supporting, enabling, and coaching people to use the available digital tools. They are expected to facilitate the organization.
• What kind of new responsibilities and functions in middle management hierar-chy are required to accelerate digital transformation? The odds are that change fatigue might grow on employees and digital transformation may start faltering. For this purpose, horizontal functions such as business-process management lay-ers or central administration platforms may be implemented (McKinsey & Com-pany 2017). They could be shared across multiple initiatives within the organiza-tion and help to accelerate transformation.
• Which mindset and digital literacy do middle managers need to be the driving force behind digital transformation? How, when, and why are middle managers motivated/not motivated to drive transformation? Research on corporate entre-preneurship emphasizes that middle managers are often the least likely to sup-
S. Nadkarni, R. Prügl
1 3
port change as they are inherently risk-averse, hardly entrepreneurial and very attached to their functional routines (Thornberry 2001). In addition, middle man-agers may easily get stressed about their ‘sandwich’ position in-between senior management and the operational level. So how can we expect middle managers to be the speedboat of digital transformation? Also, incumbents need to carefully evaluate the existing digital skills and literacy of their middle managers. How comfortable do they feel with digital tools, social media, the cloud and similar trends? They may not fulfill their coaching and leadership role if they heavily struggle with technology in the first place.
• How and why is digital transformation affecting the interface of the top manage-ment team (TMT) and middle managers? The relationship between the TMT and middle managers is a very special and important relationship which significantly affects both strategy formulation and the quality of implementation. Middle managers are the organizational ‘linking pins’ between top and operational level and thus heavily rely on a good exchange with their superiors. To what extent and in which ways does digital transformation affect this special leader–follower relationship? How are digital technologies changing the speed and quality of information exchange? What is the impact on the inter-personal level?
• What is the impact of digital transformation on the overall importance of the middle management layer? Since the 1950s, research indicates the decline of middle managers in terms of both numbers and influence (Dopson and Stewart 1993; Leavitt and Whisler 1958; Pinsonneault and Kraemer 1997). The shift in emphasis from planning and controlling to speed and flexibility is severely affecting the assumedly ‘slow’ middle. Are middle managers afraid that digital technologies will replace most of their traditional tasks and functions, e.g. com-municating and monitoring strategy? Will digitalization naturally empower lower level operational managers at the bottom and consequently eliminate the middle layer?
6.4 A growing skills gap and threat of an employee divide
Given the complexity and explosive pace of digital technologies, there is a threat of a growing skills gap between pre-digitization workers and recently hired digitally savvy employees (Kohli and Johnsons 2011). A couple of topics are particularly interesting for future research:
• How, when and why are incumbents able/unable to mitigate a growing skills gap and employee divide in the face of digital transformation? Given the increased complexity of digital technologies, traditional IT trainings may not be effective anymore. In a similar vein, how could different levels of knowledge and experi-ence residing within different employees be integrated in the context of digital transformation? Future research might examine the mechanisms required for facilitating or hindering such an integration.
• How and when are incumbents able/unable to incorporate ‘old’ and ‘new’ capa-bilities within their organization? On the one hand firms need to develop new
1 3
Digital transformation: a review, synthesis and opportunities…
capabilities to continuously transform their business, while on the other hand they must leverage their existing knowledge and skills in order to maintain their existing operations. Thus, for the time of transformation incumbents need to develop multi-ple, often inconsistent competencies simultaneously. In this context, how do firms ensure not to lose focus while mastering the challenge of ambidexterity in times of digital transformation?
• Who in the company is managing the development and transformation of skills (e.g. HR, senior leadership, IT division, functional teams, employees etc.), and how and why does that impact outcomes of digital transformation? This question is not addressed by current research at all. However, according to a survey (Capgemini Consulting 2013) this lack of alignment with digital strategy is rather worrisome. Responsibilities for skills transformation and development in times of digitization need to be clearly defined and allocated. Empirical academic research in this direc-tion might be helpful to understand the status-quo in incumbent firms regarding this issue.
6.5 Cooperation with startups and pure tech companies to accelerate digital transformation
Corporate entrepreneurship proposes a closer cooperation and regular exchange between incumbents and start-ups in order to accelerate entrepreneurial transformation (Engel 2011; Kohler 2016). In fact, start-ups are often perceived as the forerunners of digital transformation. They are praised for faster innovation capabilities, higher levels of agility, a culture of risk-taking, and supremely digitized processes and workflows. In contrast, incumbents have more experience, access to capital, established brand trust and a huge customer base. Hence, a cooperation between start-ups and incumbents may be beneficial for both parties. In addition, non-tech incumbents may also consider cooperating with pure digital players which are beyond their start-up phase but are important knowledge carriers in digital matters. Two topics are particularly interesting:
• Assuming that successful start-ups have a good digital culture—what are the con-stituent pillars of such a digital culture? And how could incumbents incorporate these “best practices” and “lessons learned”?
• What are the benefits of employee exchange programs with technology companies or start-ups to scale-up digital skills? For example, in early 2008 consumer goods giant Procter and Gamble and Google have been swapping two dozen employees in an effort to foster creativity, exchange thoughts on online advertisement and strengthen their mutual relationship. This program worked very well for both sides.
7 Limitations and conclusion
Our review is not without limitations. First, the specific objectives and nature of our filtering process applied during the review naturally come with a certain selection bias. For example, data collection, analysis and interpretation remain
S. Nadkarni, R. Prügl
1 3
influenced by the subjective assessments of the researchers. Also, despite being the common rule within systematic literature reviews, searching exclusively in peer-reviewed academic journals might have omitted some relevant research con-tained in books or dissertations. However, by means of a rigorous and transparent search process, an as complete as possible review sample was collected and ana-lyzed subsequently. Second, using a high-level thematic map for such a complex multi-dimensional phenomenon like digital transformation highlights particular connections while it potentially fails to capture others. Specifically, critics may point to the lack of analytical depth within each second order theme. However, we believe that within the limited scope of a review our broad thematic descrip-tion nevertheless adds value to the advancement of this field and should rather be seen as a holistic starting point for future research to dive deeper into the charac-teristics of sub-themes of digital transformation. Finally, we are aware that our focus on the organizational level of digital transformation within the private sec-tor does not fully capture the implications of digital transformation for our soci-ety, as it also occurs at various other levels, such as the individual level or public sector. As such, future researchers may apply alternative approaches to review and synthesize the existing literature on digital transformation. For example, in contrast to our inductive method to code and analyze our sample, it may also be interesting to apply a more deductive and pre-structured method, in particular when focusing on a deeper understanding of the sub-themes emerging from our analysis. Accordingly, future research could benefit from adopting a phenome-non-based research strategy as proposed by von Krogh et al. (2012).
Concluding, our paper contributes to the extant discussion by consolidating, map-ping and analyze the existing research on digital transformation, sharing important macro- and microlevel observations in the literature and proposing corresponding future research directions. Emerging from our review of 58 studies, we develop a thematic map which identifies technology and actor as the two aggregate dimensions of digital transformation and that elaborates on the predominant contextual concepts (second order themes) within these dimensions. From a macrolevel perspective, we observe that the status-quo of digital transformation literature is rather diverse, in a sense that papers discuss topics across various clusters and concepts. Further, we find some degree of diversity in the theoretical foundations drawn upon as well as confirm that the existing literature in general is scarce regarding quantitative empiri-cal evidence. Another important contribution of our paper is bringing different lenses together by integrating knowledge from related disciplinary areas outside IS management, such as technological disruption and corporate entrepreneurship. With our review, we hope to provide a comprehensive and solid foundation for the on-going discussions on digital transformation and to stimulate future research on this exciting topic.
Acknowledgements Open Access funding provided by Projekt DEAL.
Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Com-mons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article
1 3
Digital transformation: a review, synthesis and opportunities…
are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creat iveco mmons .org/licen ses/by/4.0/.
Appendix
See Tables 4, 5, 6 and 7 and Figs. 5 and 6.
Table 4 Distribution of sample across journals
Journal ABS 2015 ranking
Quantity
MIS Quarterly 4* 13MISQ Executive 2 10Journal of Strategic Information Systems 4 3Information Systems Journal 3 3International Journal of Information Management – 3International Journal of Advanced Corporate Learning – 3Technological Forecasting and Social Change 3 2Management Decision 2 2Business Horizons 2 2Academy of Management Journal 4* 1Journal of Management Information Systems 4* 1Information Systems Research 4* 1International Journal of Research in Marketing 4 1Harvard Business Review 3 1MIT Sloan Management Review 3 1European Journal of Information Systems 3 1Industrial Management and Data Systems 2 1Business and Information Systems Engineering 2 1Business Strategy Review 1 1Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research 1 1Strategy and Leadership – 1Business Information Review – 1Human Systems Management – 1International Journal of Arts Management – 1International Journal of Retail and Distribution Management – 1Journal of Media Business Studies – 1
S. Nadkarni, R. Prügl
1 3
Tabl
e 5
Dat
abas
e-di
gita
l tra
nsfo
rmat
ion
sam
ple
(58
Stud
ies,
in a
lpha
betic
al o
rder
)
Aut
hors
(yea
r)O
utle
tM
etho
dolo
gy (s
ampl
e)Re
gion
Key
find
ings
Alo
s-Si
mo
et a
l. (2
017)
Indu
stria
l Man
agem
ent a
nd D
ata
Syste
ms
Qua
ntita
tive
(181
incu
mbe
nt fi
rms)
Spai
nEm
piric
al re
sults
pro
vide
sign
ifica
nt
evid
ence
that
ada
ptiv
e cu
lture
is
the
vehi
cle
by w
hich
tran
sfor
ma-
tiona
l lea
ders
pos
itive
ly in
fluen
ce
digi
tal t
rans
form
atio
nB
enni
s (20
13)
MIS
Qua
rterly
Con
cept
ual
U.S
Info
rmat
ion
ubiq
uity
in a
dig
ital
wor
ld ra
ises
exp
osur
e of
lead
ers
to th
e pu
blic
. Thu
s, eff
ectiv
e le
ader
ship
in a
dig
ital w
orld
nee
ds
to b
e le
arne
d th
roug
h em
brac
ing
info
rmat
ion-
driv
en tr
ansp
aren
cy
and
adap
tive
capa
city
Ber
man
(201
2)St
rate
gy a
nd L
eade
rshi
pC
once
ptua
lU
.STh
e ar
ticle
iden
tifies
cha
ngin
g co
nsum
er b
ehav
ior a
nd c
onsu
mer
kn
owle
dge
abou
t pro
duct
s and
ser-
vice
offe
rings
due
to d
igita
l tec
h-no
logi
es. I
n th
is n
ew m
arke
tpla
ce,
busi
ness
es n
eed
to e
ngag
e w
ith
thei
r cus
tom
ers a
t eve
ry p
oint
in
the
proc
ess o
f val
ue c
reat
ion
and
furth
erm
ore
deve
lop
capa
bilit
ies
to d
esig
n an
d de
liver
new
bus
ines
s m
odel
s
1 3
Digital transformation: a review, synthesis and opportunities…
Tabl
e 5
(con
tinue
d)
Aut
hors
(yea
r)O
utle
tM
etho
dolo
gy (s
ampl
e)Re
gion
Key
find
ings
Bha
radw
aj e
t al.
(201
3)M
IS Q
uarte
rlyC
once
ptua
lU
.SFo
ur k
ey th
emes
are
iden
tified
to
gui
de th
e th
inki
ng o
n di
gita
l bu
sine
ss st
rate
gy a
nd h
elp
prov
ide
a fr
amew
ork
to d
efine
the
next
ge
nera
tion
of in
sigh
ts. T
he fo
ur
them
es a
re (1
) the
scop
e of
dig
ital
busi
ness
stra
tegy
, (2)
the
scal
e of
di
gita
l bus
ines
s stra
tegy
, (3)
the
spee
d of
dig
ital b
usin
ess s
trate
gy,
and
(4) t
he so
urce
s of b
usin
ess
valu
e cr
eatio
n an
d ca
ptur
e in
dig
i-ta
l bus
ines
s stra
tegy
. The
aut
hors
de
fine
digi
tal b
usin
ess s
trate
gy a
s th
e fu
sion
of I
T str
ateg
y an
d bu
si-
ness
stra
tegy
Cha
et a
l. (2
015)
Man
agem
ent D
ecis
ion
Cas
e stu
dy (1
0 ca
ses—
5 fir
ms t
hat
repo
rted
succ
essf
ul IT
-ena
bled
O
T an
d 5
that
repo
rted
less
suc-
cess
ful)
Aus
tralia
This
stud
y de
velo
ps a
n in
tegr
ativ
e m
odel
of I
T-en
able
d or
gani
-za
tiona
l tra
nsfo
rmat
ion
(OT)
. Sp
ecifi
cally
, thr
ee im
porta
nt fi
nd-
ings
are
pro
vide
d. F
irst,
flexi
ble
IT
and
polic
ies w
ere
foun
d to
be
key
trans
form
atio
n re
sour
ces.
Seco
nd,
train
ing,
team
wor
k, le
ader
ship
, an
d pr
ojec
t ow
ners
hip
wer
e id
enti-
fied
as k
ey tr
ansf
orm
atio
n ca
pa-
bilit
ies.
Third
, stra
tegi
c ou
tcom
es
such
as r
espo
nsiv
enes
s, cu
stom
er
satis
fact
ion,
and
bus
ines
s sco
pe
wer
e su
gges
ted
as k
ey tr
ansf
orm
a-tio
n ou
tcom
es
S. Nadkarni, R. Prügl
1 3
Tabl
e 5
(con
tinue
d)
Aut
hors
(yea
r)O
utle
tM
etho
dolo
gy (s
ampl
e)Re
gion
Key
find
ings
Cha
tterje
e et
al.
(200
2)M
IS Q
uarte
rlyQ
uant
itativ
e (6
2 co
mpa
nies
from
va
rious
indu
strie
s)U
.STh
is p
aper
dra
ws u
pon
insti
tutio
nal
theo
ry a
nd th
e co
ncep
tual
lens
of
struc
turin
g an
d m
etas
truct
urin
g ac
tions
to e
xpla
in th
e im
porta
nce
of th
ree
fact
ors—
top
man
agem
ent
cham
pion
ship
, stra
tegi
c in
vest-
men
t rat
iona
le, a
nd e
xten
t of
coor
dina
tion—
in a
chie
ving
hig
her
leve
ls o
f Web
ass
imila
tion
with
in
an o
rgan
izat
ion
Dan
iel a
nd W
ilson
(200
3)Eu
rope
an Jo
urna
l of I
nfor
mat
ion
Syste
ms
Cas
e stu
dy (1
3 m
anag
ers f
rom
5
orga
niza
tions
with
in th
e do
mai
n of
e-b
usin
ess t
rans
form
atio
n)
U.K
This
stud
y id
entifi
es e
ight
dist
inct
dy
nam
ic c
apab
ilitie
s ass
ocia
ted
with
e-b
usin
ess t
rans
form
atio
n.
Thes
e ca
pabi
litie
s fal
l int
o tw
o gr
oups
. One
gro
up is
ass
ocia
ted
with
the
need
for i
nnov
atio
n du
e to
the
char
acte
ristic
s of t
he
e-bu
sine
ss e
nviro
nmen
t, w
hile
the
seco
nd g
roup
rela
tes t
o th
e ne
ed to
in
corp
orat
e or
inte
grat
e e-
busi
ness
in
the
exist
ing
oper
atio
ns o
f the
bu
sine
ss
1 3
Digital transformation: a review, synthesis and opportunities…
Tabl
e 5
(con
tinue
d)
Aut
hors
(yea
r)O
utle
tM
etho
dolo
gy (s
ampl
e)Re
gion
Key
find
ings
Dijk
man
et a
l. (2
015)
Inte
rnat
iona
l Jou
rnal
of I
nfor
ma-
tion
Man
agem
ent
Mix
ed m
etho
ds (1
1 in
terv
iew
s w
ith Io
T in
form
ants
and
an
onlin
e su
rvey
with
103
IoT
prof
essi
onal
s)
Inte
rnat
iona
lIo
T ap
plic
atio
ns w
ill su
ppor
t the
co-
crea
tion
of p
rodu
cts a
nd se
rvic
es
with
cus
tom
ers a
nd st
reng
then
cu
stom
er re
latio
nshi
p. T
hus,
the
mos
t im
porta
nt b
uild
ing
bloc
ks
that
con
stitu
te a
n Io
T bu
sine
ss
mod
el a
re th
e va
lue
prop
ositi
on,
custo
mer
rela
tions
hips
and
key
pa
rtner
ship
sD
rem
el e
t al.
(201
7)M
IS Q
uarte
rly E
xecu
tive
Cas
e stu
dy (A
UD
I AG
)G
erm
any
The
auth
ors f
ocus
on
the
topi
c of
bi
g da
ta a
naly
tics a
s an
enab
ler
of a
tran
sfor
mat
ion
that
can
lead
to
com
petit
ive
adva
ntag
e. T
he
artic
le il
lustr
ates
how
Aud
i driv
es
digi
taliz
atio
n to
war
ds h
arne
ssin
g di
gita
l opp
ortu
nitie
s in
digi
tal
busi
ness
mod
els a
nd d
ata-
driv
en
serv
ices
in a
thre
e-st
age
jour
ney
of in
crea
sing
ly st
rate
gic
big
data
an
alyt
ics.
The
auth
ors c
oncl
ude
with
five
lear
ning
s with
act
iona
ble
guid
ance
for s
enio
r exe
cutiv
es o
n ho
w e
nter
pris
es c
an e
volv
e to
war
d di
gitiz
atio
n th
roug
h in
crea
sing
ly
effec
tive
use
of d
ata
and
anal
ytic
s
S. Nadkarni, R. Prügl
1 3
Tabl
e 5
(con
tinue
d)
Aut
hors
(yea
r)O
utle
tM
etho
dolo
gy (s
ampl
e)Re
gion
Key
find
ings
El S
awy
et a
l. (2
016)
MIS
Qua
rterly
Exe
cutiv
eC
ase
study
(LEG
O)
Den
mar
kTh
is p
aper
des
crib
es th
e de
cade
-lo
ng jo
urne
y of
LEG
O to
tra
nsfo
rm in
to a
dig
ital l
eade
r w
ith p
rodu
cts,
mar
ketin
g, a
nd
its IT
pla
tform
. Am
ong
othe
rs,
the
auth
ors a
rgue
that
dig
ital t
rans
-fo
rmat
ion
dem
ands
a n
ew k
ind
of
ente
rpris
e pl
atfo
rm in
tegr
atio
n, a
ne
w d
igita
l wor
kpla
ce, a
nd a
dif-
fere
nt k
ind
of p
eopl
e m
inds
etEl
Saw
y et
al.
(201
0)In
form
atio
n Sy
stem
s Res
earc
hC
once
ptua
lU
.STh
e co
ncep
t of d
igita
l eco
dyna
mic
s is
pre
sent
ed a
nd d
efine
d as
the
holis
tic c
onflu
ence
am
ong
envi
-ro
nmen
tal t
urbu
lenc
e, d
ynam
ic
capa
bilit
ies a
nd IT
syste
ms—
and
thei
r fus
ed d
ynam
ic in
tera
ctio
ns
unfo
ldin
g as
an
ecos
yste
mEv
ens (
2010
)Jo
urna
l of M
edia
Bus
ines
s Stu
dies
Con
cept
ual
Bel
gium
Dig
itiza
tion
blur
s bou
ndar
ies
betw
een
prev
ious
ly d
istin
ct a
cces
s ne
twor
ks a
nd te
chno
logi
es (i
n m
edia
, tel
ecom
mun
icat
ion
and
com
putin
g), a
nd a
ffect
s ind
ustry
ar
chite
ctur
es a
nd b
usin
ess m
odel
s w
ithin
the
med
ia e
cosy
stem
. W
ith th
e em
erge
nce
of m
ulti-
med
ia p
latfo
rms,
valu
e in
the
digi
tal b
road
casti
ng in
dustr
y is
be
ing
grad
ually
mor
e cr
eate
d th
roug
h th
e es
tabl
ishm
ent o
f val
ue
netw
orks
1 3
Digital transformation: a review, synthesis and opportunities…
Tabl
e 5
(con
tinue
d)
Aut
hors
(yea
r)O
utle
tM
etho
dolo
gy (s
ampl
e)Re
gion
Key
find
ings
Ger
th a
nd P
eppa
rd (2
016)
Bus
ines
s Hor
izon
sC
once
ptua
lU
.S. a
nd G
erm
any
The
pape
r pre
sent
s five
maj
or c
ause
s fo
r Chi
ef In
form
atio
n O
ffice
r (C
IO) d
erai
lmen
t: (1
) mis
un-
ders
tand
ing
the
trans
ition
, (2)
am
bigu
ity in
defi
ning
IT su
cces
s, (3
) am
bigu
ity in
role
exp
ecta
tions
, (4
) poo
r rel
atio
nshi
p m
anag
emen
t w
ith p
eers
, and
(5) p
ushi
ng c
hang
e at
the
wro
ng p
ace.
CEO
s mus
t re
cogn
ize
the
valu
e an
d co
ntrib
u-tio
n th
at a
CIO
can
brin
g an
d ac
tivel
y en
gage
with
the
CIO
and
w
ith a
ll di
gita
l mat
ters
to c
reat
e an
en
viro
nmen
t tha
t ena
bles
succ
ess-
ful d
igita
l tra
nsfo
rmat
ion
S. Nadkarni, R. Prügl
1 3
Tabl
e 5
(con
tinue
d)
Aut
hors
(yea
r)O
utle
tM
etho
dolo
gy (s
ampl
e)Re
gion
Key
find
ings
Gra
nado
s and
Gup
ta (2
013)
MIS
Qua
rterly
Con
cept
ual
U.S
The
artic
le a
ddre
sses
mar
ket t
rans
-pa
renc
y re
late
d to
the
disc
losu
re
of in
form
atio
n ou
tsid
e th
e bo
unda
-rie
s of t
he e
nter
pris
e. T
he a
utho
rs
cont
end
that
ther
e is
a g
reat
er n
eed
for a
tran
spar
ency
stra
tegy
in a
di
gita
l env
ironm
ent.
They
arti
cu-
late
the
info
rmat
iona
l ele
men
ts o
f an
effe
ctiv
e tra
nspa
renc
y str
ateg
y an
d so
me
of th
e str
ateg
ic o
ptio
ns
arou
nd it
(dis
clos
ing,
dist
ortin
g,
bias
ing,
and
con
ceal
ing)
. Fur
ther
, it
is a
rgue
d th
at d
igita
l tec
h-no
logi
es in
crea
sing
ly re
duce
the
info
rmat
ion
asym
met
ries b
etw
een
selle
rs a
nd b
uyer
sG
rove
r and
Koh
li (2
013)
MIS
Qua
rterly
Con
cept
ual
U.S
This
arti
cle
prop
ose
that
a fi
rm’s
di
gita
l bus
ines
s stra
tegy
mus
t ba
lanc
e its
syste
m—
softw
are,
pr
oces
s, an
d in
form
atio
n—vi
sibi
l-ity
with
the
abili
ty to
app
ropr
iate
va
lue
from
such
syste
ms.
Thro
ugh
a vi
sibi
lity-
valu
e fr
amew
ork
the
auth
ors i
llustr
ate
the
trade
offs
invo
lved
in m
akin
g th
ese
choi
ces.
Furth
er, t
he h
igh
pace
of d
igita
l tra
nsfo
rmat
ion
incr
ease
s the
ove
r-al
l spe
ed-to
-mar
ket
1 3
Digital transformation: a review, synthesis and opportunities…
Tabl
e 5
(con
tinue
d)
Aut
hors
(yea
r)O
utle
tM
etho
dolo
gy (s
ampl
e)Re
gion
Key
find
ings
Gün
ther
et a
l. (2
017)
Jour
nal o
f Stra
tegi
c In
form
atio
n Sy
stem
sSy
stem
atic
lite
ratu
re re
view
(67
pape
rs o
n bi
g da
ta v
alue
real
iza-
tion)
Net
herla
nds
This
in-d
epth
syste
mat
ic re
view
of
IS li
tera
ture
on
big
data
iden
ti-fie
s six
deb
ates
cen
tral t
o ho
w
orga
niza
tions
real
ize
valu
e fro
m
big
data
, at d
iffer
ent l
evel
s of
anal
ysis
. Bas
ed o
n th
is re
view
, tw
o so
cio-
tech
nica
l fea
ture
s of b
ig
data
that
influ
ence
val
ue re
aliz
a-tio
n ar
e id
entifi
ed: p
orta
bilit
y an
d in
terc
onne
ctiv
ity. T
he a
utho
rs
argu
e, in
pra
ctic
e, o
rgan
izat
ions
ne
ed to
con
tinuo
usly
real
ign
wor
k pr
actic
es, o
rgan
izat
iona
l mod
els,
and
stak
ehol
der i
nter
ests
in o
rder
to
reap
the
bene
fits f
rom
big
dat
a
S. Nadkarni, R. Prügl
1 3
Tabl
e 5
(con
tinue
d)
Aut
hors
(yea
r)O
utle
tM
etho
dolo
gy (s
ampl
e)Re
gion
Key
find
ings
Hag
berg
et a
l. (2
016)
Inte
rnat
iona
l Jou
rnal
of R
etai
l and
D
istrib
utio
n M
anag
emen
tC
once
ptua
lSw
eden
Dig
italiz
atio
n tra
nsfo
rms t
he fo
llow
-in
g fo
ur e
lem
ents
of t
he re
taile
r-co
nsum
er in
terfa
ce: (
1) re
taili
ng
exch
ange
s (in
a n
umbe
r of w
ays
and
in v
ario
us fa
cets
of e
xcha
nge,
in
clud
ing
com
mun
icat
ions
, tra
ns-
actio
ns, a
nd d
istrib
utio
n), (
2) th
e na
ture
of r
etai
l offe
rings
(blu
rred
di
stinc
tions
bet
wee
n pr
oduc
ts
and
serv
ices
, wha
t con
stitu
tes
the
actu
al o
fferin
g an
d ho
w it
is
pric
ed),
(3) r
etai
l set
tings
(whe
re
and
whe
n re
taili
ng ta
kes p
lace
), an
d (4
) the
act
ors w
ho p
artic
ipat
e in
reta
iling
(i.e
. ret
aile
rs a
nd c
on-
sum
ers,
amon
g ot
her p
artie
s)H
anse
n an
d Si
a (2
015)
MIS
Qua
rterly
Exe
cutiv
eC
ase
study
(Hum
mel
, a (D
anis
h/G
erm
an sp
orts
and
fash
ion
prod
-uc
ts c
ompa
ny)
Den
mar
k an
d G
erm
any
Four
maj
or le
sson
s lea
rned
can
be
der
ived
rega
rdin
g di
gita
l om
nich
anne
l stra
tegi
es fr
om
study
ing
the
digi
tal t
rans
form
atio
n jo
urne
y of
Hum
mel
: (1)
em
brac
e ch
anne
l par
tner
s in
the
omni
chan
-ne
l stra
tegy
, (2)
reco
gniz
e th
at a
su
cces
sful
om
nich
anne
l stra
tegy
re
quire
s dee
p ch
ange
, (3)
leve
rage
th
e str
ateg
ic ro
le o
f the
Chi
ef D
ig-
ital O
ffice
r (C
DO
), an
d (4
) evo
lve
the
role
of t
he C
IO in
ena
blin
g an
om
nich
anne
l stra
tegy
1 3
Digital transformation: a review, synthesis and opportunities…
Tabl
e 5
(con
tinue
d)
Aut
hors
(yea
r)O
utle
tM
etho
dolo
gy (s
ampl
e)Re
gion
Key
find
ings
Hes
s et a
l. (2
016)
MIS
Qua
rterly
Exe
cutiv
eC
ase
study
(3 G
erm
an m
edia
com
-pa
nies
: Pro
Sieb
enSa
t.1 M
edia
SE
; Mitt
elba
yeris
che
Verla
g A
G;
Rav
ensb
urge
r AG
)
Ger
man
yTh
e ar
ticle
pro
pose
s 11
strat
egic
qu
estio
ns fo
r man
ager
s con
front
ed
with
dig
ital t
rans
form
atio
n, a
ll gr
oupe
d al
ong
the
follo
win
g fo
ur
dim
ensi
ons o
f dig
ital t
rans
form
a-tio
n, a
s sug
geste
d by
the
auth
ors:
us
e of
tech
nolo
gies
, cha
nges
in
valu
e cr
eatio
n, st
ruct
ural
cha
nges
an
d fin
anci
al a
spec
tsH
u, H
uang
et a
l. (2
016)
Inte
rnat
iona
l Jou
rnal
of I
nfor
ma-
tion
Man
agem
ent
Cas
e stu
dy (R
ed C
olla
r Gro
up, a
C
hine
se su
it m
anuf
actu
rer)
Chi
naTh
is c
ase
study
pro
vide
s thr
ee m
ajor
le
sson
s lea
rned
rega
rdin
g co
rpo-
rate
ent
repr
eneu
rshi
p in
tim
es o
f di
gitiz
atio
n: (1
) cor
pora
te e
ntre
-pr
eneu
rshi
p is
evi
dent
in d
iffer
ent
stag
es d
urin
g an
org
aniz
atio
n’s
trans
form
atio
n in
to a
dig
ital e
co-
syste
m, (
2) th
e fu
ndam
enta
l goa
l of
org
aniz
atio
nal t
rans
form
atio
n lie
s in
the
cons
truct
ion
of a
dig
ital
ecos
yste
m, a
nd (3
) the
dev
elop
-m
ent o
f suc
h a
digi
tal e
cosy
stem
is
a pr
oces
s of c
o-ev
olut
ion,
in te
rms
of th
e co
mpl
ex in
terp
lay
betw
een
com
petit
ive
and
coop
erat
ive
busi
-ne
ss st
rate
gies
S. Nadkarni, R. Prügl
1 3
Tabl
e 5
(con
tinue
d)
Aut
hors
(yea
r)O
utle
tM
etho
dolo
gy (s
ampl
e)Re
gion
Key
find
ings
Ives
et a
l. (2
016)
MIS
Qua
rterly
Exe
cutiv
eC
once
ptua
lU
.SIo
T te
chno
logi
es e
nabl
e di
rect
real
-tim
e cu
stom
er re
latio
nshi
ps. A
lso,
in
cum
bent
s mus
t be
aggr
essi
ve in
pu
rsui
ng th
e ad
vant
ages
of d
igita
l da
ta st
ream
ing
via
the
Inte
rnet
of
Thi
ngs (
IoT)
, sin
ce th
ey h
ave
man
y ad
vant
ages
ove
r sta
rtups
, su
ch a
s the
abi
lity
to le
vera
ge
thei
r lar
ger s
cale
and
scop
e, g
ive
custo
mer
s gre
ater
ass
uran
ces o
f se
curit
y an
d re
liabi
lity,
and
take
ad
vant
age
of th
e tru
st an
d br
and
loya
lty th
ey h
ave
alre
ady
esta
b-lis
hed
with
cus
tom
ers
Kar
imi a
nd W
alte
r (20
15)
Jour
nal o
f Man
agem
ent I
nfor
ma-
tion
Syste
ms
Qua
ntita
tive
(136
resp
onse
s fro
m
seni
or e
xecu
tives
from
the
new
spap
er in
dustr
y th
roug
h a
web
surv
ey)
U.S
Empi
rical
resu
lts su
gges
t tha
t fir
st-or
der d
ynam
ic c
apab
ilitie
s th
at a
re c
reat
ed b
y ch
angi
ng,
exte
ndin
g, o
r ada
ptin
g a
firm
’s
exist
ing
reso
urce
s, pr
oces
ses,
and
valu
es a
re p
ositi
vely
ass
ocia
ted
with
bui
ldin
g di
gita
l pla
tform
ca
pabi
litie
s, an
d th
at th
ese
capa
-bi
litie
s im
pact
the
perfo
rman
ce o
f re
spon
se to
dig
ital d
isru
ptio
n
1 3
Digital transformation: a review, synthesis and opportunities…
Tabl
e 5
(con
tinue
d)
Aut
hors
(yea
r)O
utle
tM
etho
dolo
gy (s
ampl
e)Re
gion
Key
find
ings
Kee
n an
d W
illia
ms (
2013
)M
IS Q
uarte
rlyC
once
ptua
lU
.STh
e ar
ticle
arg
ues t
hat d
igita
l bu
sine
ss st
rate
gy w
ill b
e dr
iven
by
val
ue a
rchi
tect
ures
rath
er
than
bus
ines
s mod
els.
In d
igita
l bu
sine
ss, t
he b
uyer
det
erm
ines
va
lue
and
valu
e is
a fu
nctio
n of
th
e ch
oice
spac
e ra
ther
than
the
prod
uct o
r ser
vice
. As s
uch,
val
ue
is a
lway
s shi
fting
and
a m
ovin
g ta
rget
Koh
li an
d Jo
hnso
n (2
011)
MIS
Qua
rterly
Exe
cutiv
eC
ase
study
(Enc
ana
Oil
and
Gas
In
c.: m
ultip
le in
terv
iew
s with
ke
y IS
and
bus
ines
s lea
ders
in
the
perio
d fro
m 2
009-
2010
)
U.S
Two
maj
or in
sigh
ts a
re p
rovi
ded
in th
e ar
ticle
. Firs
t, in
dustr
ies
with
non
-phy
sica
l pro
duct
s may
di
gitiz
e th
eir p
rodu
ctio
n an
d su
p-pl
y ch
ain
proc
esse
s to
gain
gre
ater
vi
sibi
lity
Seco
nd, f
rom
a w
ork
envi
ronm
ent
pers
pect
ive
digi
tizat
ion
may
lead
to
a g
row
ing
skill
s gap
bet
wee
n pr
e-di
gitiz
atio
n em
ploy
ees a
nd
rece
ntly
hire
d di
gita
lly sa
vvy
empl
oyee
s
S. Nadkarni, R. Prügl
1 3
Tabl
e 5
(con
tinue
d)
Aut
hors
(yea
r)O
utle
tM
etho
dolo
gy (s
ampl
e)Re
gion
Key
find
ings
Koh
li an
d M
elvi
lle (2
019)
Info
rmat
ion
Syste
ms J
ourn
alSy
stem
atic
lite
ratu
re re
view
(161
ar
ticle
s on
digi
tal i
nnov
atio
n)U
.STh
e au
thor
s und
erto
ok a
syste
mat
ic
revi
ew o
f the
dig
ital i
nnov
atio
n lit
erat
ure
acco
rdin
g to
a th
eore
tical
fr
amew
ork
com
pris
ing
7 di
men
-si
ons:
initi
atio
n; d
evel
opm
ent;
impl
emen
tatio
n; e
xplo
itatio
n;
the
role
of t
he e
xter
nal c
ompe
ti-tiv
e en
viro
nmen
t; ro
le o
f int
erna
l or
gani
zatio
nal e
nviro
nmen
t; an
d pr
oduc
t, se
rvic
e, a
nd p
roce
ss o
ut-
com
es. F
rom
a m
acro
per
spec
tive,
th
ey id
entif
y un
even
cov
erag
e of
re
sear
ch st
ream
s, bo
th d
iver
sity
an
d di
ffusi
vene
ss, a
nd k
now
ledg
e an
d le
arni
ng a
s an
unde
rlyin
g co
ncep
tual
pill
ar. S
ever
al a
reas
of
futu
re re
sear
ch a
re p
ropo
sed
Lanz
olla
and
And
erso
n (2
008)
Bus
ines
s Stra
tegy
Rev
iew
Con
cept
ual
U.K
The
pape
r res
earc
hed
curr
ent
trans
form
atio
ns in
med
ia, t
elec
om-
mun
icat
ions
and
tech
nolo
gy c
om-
pani
es a
nd id
entifi
es th
ree
spec
ific
trend
s—di
gita
l int
erac
tions
, dig
ital
distr
ibut
ion
and
ubiq
uito
us d
igita
l re
ach
1 3
Digital transformation: a review, synthesis and opportunities…
Tabl
e 5
(con
tinue
d)
Aut
hors
(yea
r)O
utle
tM
etho
dolo
gy (s
ampl
e)Re
gion
Key
find
ings
Leon
g et
al.
(201
7)In
tern
atio
nal J
ourn
al o
f Inf
orm
a-tio
n M
anag
emen
tC
ase
study
(16
in-d
epth
sem
i-str
uctu
red
inte
rvie
ws w
ith
exec
utiv
es a
nd e
mpl
oyee
s fro
m
FinT
ech
star
t-up
007f
enqi
)
Chi
naD
igita
l tra
nsfo
rmat
ion
is d
isru
ptin
g ev
en h
ighl
y re
gula
ted
mar
kets
su
ch a
s ban
king
and
fina
nce.
The
de
velo
pmen
t of a
n ec
osys
tem
-ba
sed
busi
ness
mod
el th
at c
onsi
sts
of n
ot o
nly
lend
ing
serv
ices
, but
al
so th
e sp
endi
ng a
nd e
arn-
ing
chan
nels
, may
ope
n up
new
re
venu
e str
eam
s whi
le lo
wer
ing
oper
atio
nal r
isks
Li e
t al.
(201
7)In
form
atio
n Sy
stem
s Jou
rnal
Qua
litat
ive
(7 C
hine
se S
MEs
on
the
Alib
aba
digi
tal p
latfo
rm)
Chi
naB
ased
on
qual
itativ
e re
sear
ch o
n se
ven
Chi
nese
SM
Es, a
pro
cess
m
odel
is d
eriv
ed th
at a
ims t
o de
scrib
e an
d ex
plai
n ho
w S
ME
entre
pren
eurs
, with
supp
ort
from
a d
igita
l pla
tform
serv
ice
prov
ider
, driv
e di
gita
l tra
nsfo
rma-
tion
thro
ugh
man
ager
ial c
ogni
tion
rene
wal
, man
ager
ial s
ocia
l cap
ital
deve
lopm
ent,
busi
ness
team
bui
ld-
ing,
and
org
aniz
atio
nal c
apab
ility
bu
ildin
gLi
u et
al.
(201
1)M
anag
emen
t Dec
isio
nC
ase
study
(17
inte
rvie
ws w
ith
repr
esen
tativ
e fro
m C
BC
Ban
k)Ta
iwan
The
study
dem
onstr
ates
that
man
ag-
ing
digi
tal t
rans
form
atio
n ca
n be
ch
alle
ngin
g, a
nd th
at aw
aren
ess
of, a
nd p
repa
redn
ess f
or, a
naly
sis
of b
oth
the
reso
urce
s/ca
pabi
lity
and
exte
rnal
dem
ands
thro
ugh
the
reso
urce
fit p
ersp
ectiv
e ar
e ne
cess
ary
S. Nadkarni, R. Prügl
1 3
Tabl
e 5
(con
tinue
d)
Aut
hors
(yea
r)O
utle
tM
etho
dolo
gy (s
ampl
e)Re
gion
Key
find
ings
Llop
is e
t al.
(200
4)H
uman
Sys
tem
s Man
agem
ent
Cas
e stu
dy (T
elef
onic
a G
roup
)Sp
ain
Thre
e le
sson
s lea
rned
can
be
deriv
ed fr
om T
elef
onic
a’s o
rgan
i-za
tiona
l tra
nsfo
rmat
ion
tow
ards
a
digi
tal c
ultu
re: (
1) le
ader
ship
has
a
key
role
thro
ugho
ut th
e en
tire
proc
ess,
(2) i
t is d
ifficu
lt to
ada
pt
the
curr
ent b
udge
t sch
eme
to
the
finan
cing
of i
nter
net-r
elat
ed
initi
ativ
es, a
nd (3
) effo
rts m
ust b
e co
ncen
trate
d on
cus
tom
ers a
nd
thei
r tra
inin
g to
use
tech
nolo
gyLo
ebbe
cke
and
Pico
t (20
15)
Jour
nal o
f Stra
tegi
c In
form
atio
n Sy
stem
sC
once
ptua
lG
erm
any
The
auth
ors e
xpec
t dig
itiza
tion
and
big
data
ana
lytic
s to
hit k
now
l-ed
ge-b
ased
bus
ines
s mod
els a
nd
cogn
itive
wor
kers
as h
ard
as n
on-
know
ledg
e bu
sine
ss m
odel
s and
m
anua
l wor
kers
. Als
o, d
igiti
zatio
n br
eaks
dow
n tra
ditio
nal h
iera
rchi
-ca
l wor
k str
uctu
res a
nd tr
ansf
orm
s th
em in
to fl
exib
le n
etw
orke
d str
uctu
res a
cros
s loc
atio
ns
1 3
Digital transformation: a review, synthesis and opportunities…
Tabl
e 5
(con
tinue
d)
Aut
hors
(yea
r)O
utle
tM
etho
dolo
gy (s
ampl
e)Re
gion
Key
find
ings
Lyyt
inen
et a
l. (2
016)
Info
rmat
ion
Syste
ms J
ourn
alC
once
ptua
lU
.STh
is a
rticl
e co
nsid
ers h
ow th
e ‘n
ew
mat
eria
lity’
affo
rded
by
digi
tal
tech
nolo
gies
affe
cts o
rgan
iza-
tiona
l and
inte
r-org
aniz
atio
nal
know
ledg
e-re
late
d ca
pabi
litie
s to
inno
vate
with
pro
duct
s. It
prop
oses
a fr
amew
ork
of d
igita
l pr
oduc
t inn
ovat
ion
netw
orks
and
ex
plor
es so
me
char
acte
ristic
s of
digi
tal i
nfor
mat
ion
infr
astru
ctur
es
that
can
supp
ort h
ighl
y di
gitiz
ed
form
s of i
nnov
atio
n ne
twor
ks.
Furth
er, t
he a
utho
rs a
rgue
that
th
e m
ovem
ent t
owar
ds a
narc
hic
form
s of i
nnov
atio
n ne
twor
ks is
an
inev
itabl
e jo
urne
y fo
r org
aniz
a-tio
ns th
at w
ant t
o em
brac
e th
e ge
nera
tive
capa
city
of d
igita
lly
indu
ced
prod
uct i
nnov
atio
n
S. Nadkarni, R. Prügl
1 3
Tabl
e 5
(con
tinue
d)
Aut
hors
(yea
r)O
utle
tM
etho
dolo
gy (s
ampl
e)Re
gion
Key
find
ings
Maj
chrz
ak e
t al.
(201
6)M
IS Q
uarte
rlyC
once
ptua
lU
.SIn
thei
r int
rodu
ctor
y co
mm
enta
ry to
a
MIS
Q S
peci
al Is
sue,
the
auth
ors
disc
uss f
our m
ajor
impl
icat
ions
for
rese
arch
ers i
nter
este
d in
soci
etal
an
d bu
sine
ss c
hang
e in
the
cont
ext
of in
form
atio
n an
d co
mm
unic
atio
n te
chno
logi
es (I
CTs
): re
sear
cher
s (1
) sho
uld
expa
nd th
eir d
efini
tions
of
theo
ry to
incl
ude
theo
ries o
f the
pr
oble
m a
nd th
eorie
s of t
he so
lu-
tion,
(2) e
xplic
itly
defin
e th
e IC
T ar
tifac
t, in
clud
e aff
orda
nces
and
co
nstra
ints
, and
exp
licitl
y ex
amin
e th
e un
inte
nded
con
sequ
ence
s of
the
ICT
artif
act,
(3) c
onsi
der
emer
gent
dig
ital d
esig
ning
as a
re
plac
emen
t for
org
aniz
atio
ns,
(4) c
oupl
e re
sear
ch fi
ndin
gs w
ith
publ
ic p
olic
y an
d re
gula
tion
rec-
omm
enda
tions
whe
re re
leva
ntM
arku
s and
Loe
bbec
ke (2
013)
MIS
Qua
rterly
Con
cept
ual
U.S
. and
Ger
man
yM
arku
s and
Loe
bbec
ke d
evel
op
the
notio
n of
the
larg
er u
nit o
f an
alys
is a
s a b
usin
ess c
omm
unity
to
acc
omm
odat
e th
e po
ssib
ility
of
over
lapp
ing
ecos
yste
ms w
ith m
ul-
tiple
orc
hestr
ator
s. Th
is b
rings
into
pl
ay th
e no
tion
of a
com
mun
ity
plat
form
that
is ta
ilore
d fo
r use
by
all m
embe
rs o
f a c
omm
unity
1 3
Digital transformation: a review, synthesis and opportunities…
Tabl
e 5
(con
tinue
d)
Aut
hors
(yea
r)O
utle
tM
etho
dolo
gy (s
ampl
e)Re
gion
Key
find
ings
Mat
t et a
l. B
enlia
n (2
015)
Bus
ines
s and
Info
rmat
ion
Syste
ms
Engi
neer
ing
Con
cept
ual
Ger
man
yD
igita
l tra
nsfo
rmat
ion
strat
egie
s ha
ve a
cro
ss-f
unct
iona
l cha
rac-
ter a
nd n
eed
to b
e al
igne
d w
ith
othe
r fun
ctio
nal a
nd o
pera
tiona
l str
ateg
ies.
Giv
en th
e ra
ther
rece
nt
appe
aran
ce o
f DT
strat
egie
s, fu
r-th
er e
vide
nce
is n
eede
d as
to h
ow
this
alig
nmen
t can
be
cond
ucte
d in
pra
ctic
e. F
urth
er, t
he a
rticl
e pr
opos
es th
at d
igita
l tec
hnol
ogie
s im
ply
sign
ifica
nt c
hang
es in
val
ue
crea
tion
Maz
zei a
nd N
oble
(201
7)B
usin
ess H
oriz
ons
Con
cept
ual
U.S
The
auth
ors d
evel
op a
fram
ewor
k w
hich
pro
pose
s thr
ee ti
ers o
f val
ue
crea
tion
due
to b
ig d
ata
phen
om-
enon
: (1)
dat
a as
a to
ol to
impr
ove
prob
lem
solv
ing
and
deci
sion
m
akin
g, (2
) dat
a as
an
indu
stry,
w
ith sp
in-o
ffs a
nd n
ew v
entu
res
spec
ializ
ed o
n bi
g da
ta, a
nd (3
) da
ta a
s a st
rate
gy fo
r com
pani
es b
y bu
ildin
g da
ta re
sour
ces t
o de
velo
p in
nova
tive
busi
ness
mod
els
S. Nadkarni, R. Prügl
1 3
Tabl
e 5
(con
tinue
d)
Aut
hors
(yea
r)O
utle
tM
etho
dolo
gy (s
ampl
e)Re
gion
Key
find
ings
Mith
as e
t al.
(201
3)M
IS Q
uarte
rlyQ
uant
itativ
e (4
00 fi
rms a
nd 1
225
firm
-yea
r obs
erva
tions
from
19
99 to
200
6)
U.S
Find
ings
impl
y th
at d
igita
l bus
ines
s str
ateg
y is
not
sole
ly a
mat
ter
of o
ptim
izin
g fir
m o
pera
tions
in
tern
ally
or o
f res
pond
ing
to o
ne
or tw
o fo
cal c
ompe
titor
s, bu
t als
o ar
ises
strik
ingl
y fro
m aw
aren
ess
and
resp
onsi
vene
ss to
the
digi
tal
busi
ness
com
petit
ive
envi
ronm
ent
Mor
eau
(201
3)In
tern
atio
nal J
ourn
al o
f Arts
M
anag
emen
tC
once
ptua
lFr
ance
The
case
stud
y sh
ows t
hat d
igiti
za-
tion
mat
ches
the
char
acte
ristic
s of
disr
uptiv
e in
nova
tion
as d
escr
ibed
in
the
liter
atur
e. It
exp
lain
s why
es
tabl
ishe
d fir
ms i
nitia
lly p
aid
little
hee
d to
an
inno
vatio
n le
adin
g to
a p
rodu
ct (d
igita
l mus
ic fi
les)
th
at is
che
aper
and
low
er-q
ualit
y th
an th
eir e
xisti
ng p
rodu
ct (C
Ds)
an
d ill
-sui
ted
to th
eir m
ains
tream
co
nsum
ers
Ng
and
Wak
ensh
aw (2
017)
Inte
rnat
iona
l Jou
rnal
of R
esea
rch
in M
arke
ting
Con
cept
ual
U.K
Dat
a sto
rage
cap
abili
ties a
nd c
om-
putin
g sp
eed
have
ena
bled
dat
a co
llect
ion
at a
n un
prec
eden
ted
scal
e. M
oreo
ver,
digi
tizat
ion
and
IoT
appl
icat
ions
are
cha
ngin
g th
e ro
le a
nd si
gnifi
canc
e of
dat
a its
elf
(dat
a as
a se
rvic
e). T
hus,
in th
e di
gita
l era
, per
sona
l dat
a is
the
mos
t pow
erfu
l yet
con
tent
ious
as
pect
of I
oT
1 3
Digital transformation: a review, synthesis and opportunities…
Tabl
e 5
(con
tinue
d)
Aut
hors
(yea
r)O
utle
tM
etho
dolo
gy (s
ampl
e)Re
gion
Key
find
ings
Paga
ni (2
013)
MIS
Qua
rterly
Qua
litat
ive
blac
k-bo
x m
odel
ling
(45
indu
stry
expe
rts fr
om 1
5 le
adin
g co
mpa
nies
in E
urop
e an
d th
e U
nite
d St
ates
from
200
0 to
200
8)
Inte
rnat
iona
lTh
is st
udy
show
s tha
t in
orde
r to
surv
ive
in a
n in
crea
sing
ly u
ncer
-ta
in a
nd c
ompl
ex e
nviro
nmen
t, th
e fir
m h
as to
tran
sfor
m it
s org
ani-
zatio
nal i
ntel
ligen
ce in
to a
new
re
latio
nal i
ntel
ligen
ce, e
nact
ing
an
open
com
mun
icat
ion
proc
ess w
ith
its st
akeh
olde
rsR
ayna
and
Stri
ukov
a (2
016)
Tech
nolo
gica
l For
ecas
ting
and
Soci
al C
hang
eC
once
ptua
lFr
ance
and
U.K
3D p
rintin
g te
chno
logi
es h
ave
the
pote
ntia
l to
chan
ge th
e w
ay b
usi-
ness
mod
el in
nova
tion
is c
arrie
d ou
t, by
ena
blin
g ad
aptiv
e bu
sine
ss
mod
els a
nd b
y br
ingi
ng th
e ‘r
apid
pr
otot
ypin
g’ p
arad
igm
to b
usin
ess
mod
el in
nova
tion
itsel
f. Fu
rther
, th
e au
thor
s arg
ue th
at d
igiti
za-
tion
lead
s to
‘dem
ater
ializ
atio
n’
by tu
rnin
g ta
ngib
le o
bjec
ts in
to
inta
ngib
le o
nes
S. Nadkarni, R. Prügl
1 3
Tabl
e 5
(con
tinue
d)
Aut
hors
(yea
r)O
utle
tM
etho
dolo
gy (s
ampl
e)Re
gion
Key
find
ings
Resc
a et
al.
(201
3)Jo
urna
l of T
heor
etic
al a
nd A
pplie
d El
ectro
nic
Com
mer
ce R
esea
rch
Cas
e stu
dy (M
idbl
ue p
roje
ct)
Italy
A th
eore
tical
fram
ewor
k is
pro
pose
d th
at c
ombi
nes t
hree
per
spec
tives
. Fi
rst,
the
impo
rtanc
e of
dig
ital
arch
itect
ures
in th
e m
odal
ities
th
roug
h w
hich
firm
s org
aniz
e fo
r in
nova
tion
is st
ress
ed. S
econ
d,
orga
niza
tion
as a
pla
tform
out
lines
a
scen
ario
for g
ener
atin
g m
ultip
le
orga
niza
tiona
l for
ms b
ased
on
reco
mbi
natio
n of
exi
stent
re
sour
ces,
rout
ines
and
tran
sac-
tions
. Thi
rd, d
igita
l pla
tform
s ar
e se
en a
s det
erm
inan
t too
ls fo
r a
dem
ater
ializ
atio
n pr
oces
s tha
t co
nsen
ts to
reco
mbi
ne th
e fa
ctor
s of
pro
duct
ion
for a
chie
ving
a
com
petit
ive
adva
ntag
eR
igby
et a
l. (2
016)
Har
vard
Bus
ines
s Rev
iew
Con
cept
ual
U.S
Agi
le m
etho
ds su
ch a
s scr
um,
kanb
an, a
nd le
an d
evel
opm
ent
are
spre
adin
g be
yond
IT to
oth
er
func
tions
. In
thei
r con
cept
ual
pape
r, th
e au
thor
s arg
ue th
at th
e co
ncep
t of a
gilit
y m
ay b
e a
usef
ul
appr
oach
to c
reat
e a
new
gen
era-
tion
of sk
illed
gen
eral
man
ager
s fo
r the
dig
ital e
ra
1 3
Digital transformation: a review, synthesis and opportunities…
Tabl
e 5
(con
tinue
d)
Aut
hors
(yea
r)O
utle
tM
etho
dolo
gy (s
ampl
e)Re
gion
Key
find
ings
Rin
dova
and
Kot
ha (2
001)
Aca
dem
y of
Man
agem
ent J
ourn
alC
ase
study
(Yah
oo! a
nd E
xcite
)U
.STh
is st
udy
repr
esen
ts a
n ea
rly a
ppli-
catio
n of
dyn
amic
cap
abili
ties
in th
e co
ntex
t of e
-bus
ines
s. Th
e fin
ding
s sug
gest
that
dig
itiza
tion
dem
ands
con
tinuo
us c
ompa
ny-
wid
e tra
nsfo
rmat
ions
(lab
elle
d as
‘con
tinuo
us m
orph
ing’
). C
ontin
uous
mor
phin
g is
an
impo
r-ta
nt m
echa
nism
for r
enew
ing
com
petit
ive
adva
ntag
e in
tran
sien
t en
viro
nmen
tsSa
mba
mur
thy
et a
l. (2
003)
MIS
Qua
rterly
Con
cept
ual
U.S
This
pap
er in
trodu
ces a
theo
retic
al
pers
pect
ive
whi
ch h
ighl
ight
s thr
ee
impo
rtant
dyn
amic
cap
abili
ties
(dig
ital o
ptio
ns, a
gilit
y, a
nd e
ntre
-pr
eneu
rial a
lertn
ess)
and
thre
e str
ateg
ic p
roce
sses
(cap
abili
ty-
build
ing,
ent
repr
eneu
rial a
ctio
n,
and
coev
olut
iona
ry a
dapt
atio
n)
with
in th
e no
mol
ogic
al n
etw
ork
of
influ
ence
s tha
t med
iate
bet
wee
n IT
in
vestm
ents
and
cap
abili
ties a
nd
firm
per
form
ance
S. Nadkarni, R. Prügl
1 3
Tabl
e 5
(con
tinue
d)
Aut
hors
(yea
r)O
utle
tM
etho
dolo
gy (s
ampl
e)Re
gion
Key
find
ings
Sand
ström
(201
6)Te
chno
logi
cal F
orec
astin
g an
d So
cial
Cha
nge
Cas
e stu
dy (2
5 in
terv
iew
s with
key
in
divi
dual
s who
hav
e be
en in
ch
arge
of s
hifti
ng th
e he
arin
g ai
d in
dustr
y to
war
ds 3
D p
rintin
g)
Inte
rnat
iona
lTr
ansi
tion
to 3
D p
rintin
g is
par
tially
as
soci
ated
with
com
pete
nce
destr
uctio
n, m
eani
ng th
at fi
rms
need
to d
evel
op n
ew sk
ill se
ts.
Whi
le it
is im
porta
nt to
do
so a
t an
ear
ly p
oint
, firs
t mov
ers f
aced
ex
tens
ive
tech
nolo
gica
l unc
er-
tain
ty. W
aitin
g un
til th
e do
min
ant
desi
gn a
nd re
duce
d un
certa
inty
th
eref
ore
seem
s to
be a
n im
porta
nt
succ
ess f
acto
rSc
huch
man
n an
d Se
ufer
t (20
15)
Inte
rnat
iona
l Jou
rnal
of A
dvan
ced
Cor
pora
te L
earn
ing
Cas
e stu
dy (1
1 ba
nkin
g or
gani
za-
tions
)G
erm
any
The
pape
r ide
ntifi
es o
rgan
izat
iona
l le
arni
ng a
s an
enab
ler f
or d
igita
l tra
nsfo
rmat
ion.
Con
clud
ingl
y,
succ
essf
ul d
igita
l tra
nsfo
rmat
ion
begi
ns w
ith u
nder
stan
ding
dig
ital
cons
umer
beh
avio
r, pr
efer
ence
s an
d ch
oice
s. It
then
lead
s to
maj
or
cons
umer
-cen
tric
chan
ges w
ithin
th
e or
gani
zatio
n th
at a
ddre
ss th
ese
need
s
1 3
Digital transformation: a review, synthesis and opportunities…
Tabl
e 5
(con
tinue
d)
Aut
hors
(yea
r)O
utle
tM
etho
dolo
gy (s
ampl
e)Re
gion
Key
find
ings
Seba
stian
et a
l. (2
017)
MIS
Qua
rterly
Exe
cutiv
eC
ase
study
(25
med
ium
and
larg
e co
mpa
nies
)U
.STh
is a
rticl
e de
scrib
es fi
ndin
gs fr
om
a stu
dy o
f 25
com
pani
es th
at w
ere
emba
rkin
g on
dig
ital t
rans
form
a-tio
n jo
urne
ys. T
he a
utho
rs id
entif
y tw
o di
gita
l stra
tegi
es—
custo
mer
en
gage
men
t and
dig
itize
d so
lu-
tions
—th
at p
rovi
de d
irect
ion
for a
di
gita
l tra
nsfo
rmat
ion.
Tw
o te
ch-
nolo
gy-e
nabl
ed a
sset
s are
ess
entia
l fo
r exe
cutin
g th
ose
strat
egie
s: a
n op
erat
iona
l bac
kbon
e an
d a
digi
tal
serv
ice
plat
form
Setia
et a
l. (2
013)
MIS
Qua
rterly
Qua
ntita
tive
(70
bran
ches
of a
la
rge
Indi
an b
ank)
Indi
aTh
e au
thor
s sho
w h
ow in
form
a-tio
n qu
ality
act
s as a
key
dig
ital
reso
urce
and
a c
ritic
al a
ntec
ed-
ent t
o cu
stom
er-s
ide
dyna
mic
ca
pabi
litie
s tha
t ena
ble
a ra
pid
sens
e-an
d-re
spon
d to
cus
tom
er
need
s. Th
is st
udy
prov
ides
insi
ghts
fo
r how
loca
l bus
ines
s pro
cess
es
and
digi
tal d
esig
n ca
n in
fluen
ce
an e
nter
pris
e’s c
usto
mer
-sid
e re
spon
se c
apab
ilitie
s and
dig
ital
busi
ness
stra
tegy
S. Nadkarni, R. Prügl
1 3
Tabl
e 5
(con
tinue
d)
Aut
hors
(yea
r)O
utle
tM
etho
dolo
gy (s
ampl
e)Re
gion
Key
find
ings
Seuf
ert a
nd M
eier
(201
6)In
tern
atio
nal J
ourn
al o
f Adv
ance
d C
orpo
rate
Lea
rnin
gC
once
ptua
lSw
itzer
land
Dig
ital t
rans
form
atio
n re
quire
s not
on
ly g
ener
al sk
ills a
nd a
ttitu
des.
Thes
e sk
ills a
nd a
ttitu
des h
ave
to b
e ap
plie
d an
d us
ed in
the
spec
ific
func
tions
and
pro
fes-
sion
al d
omai
ns th
at c
onsti
tute
the
orga
niza
tion.
Dig
ital t
rans
form
a-tio
n em
erge
s whe
n us
age
enab
les
inno
vatio
n an
d cr
eativ
ity th
at th
en
lead
s to
sign
ifica
nt c
hang
e—at
the
indi
vidu
al o
r org
aniz
atio
nal l
evel
Sia
et a
l. (2
016)
MIS
Qua
rterly
Exe
cutiv
eC
ase
study
(12
inte
rvie
ws w
ith
exec
utiv
es fr
om a
larg
e A
sian
ba
nk)
Sing
apor
eD
igita
l bus
ines
s stra
tegy
dem
ands
str
ong
lead
ersh
ip, t
he c
ontin
uous
na
viga
tion
of th
e dy
nam
ic a
nd
emer
ging
dig
ital l
ands
cape
, and
an
agile
and
scal
able
“co
re”.
In a
ddi-
tion,
cha
nges
in le
ader
ship
pro
-gr
ams t
owar
ds th
e di
gita
l con
text
ca
n be
obs
erve
d (e
.g. p
artic
ipat
ion
in h
acka
thon
s, e-
foru
ms)
Sing
h an
d H
ess (
2017
)M
IS Q
uarte
rly E
xecu
tive
Cas
e stu
dy (1
0 in
terv
iew
s with
ex
ecut
ives
and
Chi
ef D
igita
l O
ffice
rs fr
om 6
com
pani
es)
Ger
man
yTh
e ca
se sh
ows t
hat d
igiti
zatio
n le
ads t
o th
e es
tabl
ishm
ent o
f new
ro
les i
n th
e C
-sui
te su
ch a
s tha
t of
the
Chi
ef D
igita
l Offi
cer (
CD
O).
The
CD
O n
eeds
a so
lid b
lend
of
dig
ital/I
T co
mpe
tenc
es a
nd
man
agem
ent s
kills
. How
ever
, the
au
thor
s arg
ue th
at th
is p
ositi
on
may
be
a te
mpo
rary
phe
nom
enon
1 3
Digital transformation: a review, synthesis and opportunities…
Tabl
e 5
(con
tinue
d)
Aut
hors
(yea
r)O
utle
tM
etho
dolo
gy (s
ampl
e)Re
gion
Key
find
ings
Svah
n et
al.
(201
7)M
IS Q
uarte
rlyC
ase
study
(Vol
vo C
ars)
Swed
enTh
is c
ase
study
illu
strat
es d
igita
l in
nova
tion
at V
olvo
Car
s. It
spec
if-ic
ally
show
s the
par
adox
es V
olvo
ex
perie
nced
whi
le tr
ansi
tioni
ng to
th
e op
en c
onne
cted
car
initi
a-tiv
e, w
hich
ext
erna
lizes
softw
are
deve
lopm
ent o
f app
licat
ions
fo
r the
veh
icle
. In
gene
ral,
the
case
show
s tha
t inc
umbe
nts m
ay
face
four
com
petin
g co
ncer
ns a
s th
ey e
mbr
ace
digi
tal i
nnov
atio
n:
inno
vatio
n ca
pabi
lity,
inno
vatio
n fo
cus,
inno
vatio
n co
llabo
ratio
n,
inno
vatio
n go
vern
ance
Tum
bas e
t al.
(201
7)M
IS Q
uarte
rly E
xecu
tive
Qua
litat
ive
(35
inte
rvie
ws w
ith
Chi
ef D
igita
l Offi
cers
from
var
i-ou
s sec
tors
)
Liec
hten
stein
Resu
lts fr
om th
is q
ualit
ativ
e ar
ticle
su
gges
t thr
ee g
ener
al ty
pes o
f C
DO
s (di
gita
l acc
eler
ator
, dig
ital
mar
kete
r and
dig
ital h
arm
oniz
er)
whi
ch re
sult
from
diff
eren
t rea
sons
fo
r est
ablis
hing
the
role
. Fur
ther
, th
e au
thor
s ide
ntify
spec
ific
dom
ains
whe
re su
cces
sful
CD
Os
build
dig
ital c
apab
ilitie
s and
eac
h of
thes
e do
mai
ns is
a fo
cal d
omai
n fo
r one
of t
he id
entifi
ed C
DO
ty
pes:
dig
ital i
nnov
atio
n, d
ata
ana-
lytic
s, an
d cu
stom
er e
ngag
emen
t
S. Nadkarni, R. Prügl
1 3
Tabl
e 5
(con
tinue
d)
Aut
hors
(yea
r)O
utle
tM
etho
dolo
gy (s
ampl
e)Re
gion
Key
find
ings
Vey
et a
l. (2
017)
Inte
rnat
iona
l Jou
rnal
of A
dvan
ced
Cor
pora
te L
earn
ing
Con
cept
ual
Switz
erla
ndFa
cilit
atin
g a
lear
ning
frie
ndly
cu
lture
by
usin
g di
ffere
nt p
illar
s is
a w
ay to
gen
erat
e in
nova
tion
and
to se
cure
the
exist
ence
of
orga
niza
tions
in ti
mes
of d
igita
l tra
nsfo
rmat
ion.
For
this
pur
pose
, ne
w ro
les a
nd a
ctio
n ar
eas f
or
Lear
ning
and
Dev
elop
men
t (L&
D)
prof
essi
onal
s em
erge
, suc
h as
ch
ange
age
nts a
nd c
onsu
ltant
s, or
in
nova
tion
labs
Wei
ll an
d W
oern
er (2
015)
MIT
Slo
an M
anag
emen
t Rev
iew
Con
cept
ual
U.S
The
auth
or id
entifi
es a
shift
from
co
ntro
lling
or p
artic
ipat
ing
in a
lin
ear v
alue
cha
in to
ope
ratin
g in
an
eco
syste
m. E
cosy
stem
s offe
r gr
eate
r cus
tom
er c
hoic
e, e
nhan
ced
custo
mer
val
ue a
nd b
ette
r cus
-to
mer
exp
erie
nce.
Incu
mbe
nts
shou
ld e
ngag
e in
ope
n ec
osys
-te
ms b
ased
on
rela
tions
hips
with
co
mpl
emen
tary
or e
ven
com
pet-
ing
serv
ices
to o
wn
the
custo
mer
re
latio
nshi
p
1 3
Digital transformation: a review, synthesis and opportunities…
Tabl
e 5
(con
tinue
d)
Aut
hors
(yea
r)O
utle
tM
etho
dolo
gy (s
ampl
e)Re
gion
Key
find
ings
Whi
te (2
012)
Bus
ines
s Inf
orm
atio
n Re
view
Con
cept
ual
U.K
Dig
ital t
rans
form
atio
n re
quire
s the
in
trodu
ctio
n of
dig
ital w
orkp
lace
s. A
dig
ital w
orkp
lace
mus
t be
adap
-tiv
e, c
ompl
iant
, im
agin
ativ
e, p
re-
dict
ive,
and
loca
tion-
inde
pend
ent.
The
adop
tion
of d
igita
l wor
kpla
ces
need
s to
be in
itiat
ed b
y se
nior
m
anag
emen
tYe
ow e
t al.
(201
8)Jo
urna
l of S
trate
gic
Info
rmat
ion
Syste
ms
Cas
e stu
dy (L
ongi
tudi
nal c
ase
study
of s
ports
wea
r com
pany
H
umm
els)
Den
mar
kEm
piric
al e
vide
nce
is p
rovi
ded
that
as
an
orga
niza
tion
shift
s tow
ards
a
digi
tal s
trate
gy, m
isal
ignm
ents
be
twee
n th
e em
erge
nt st
rate
gy a
nd
reso
urce
s giv
e ris
e to
tens
ion.
Thi
s ca
se st
udy
resu
lted
in th
e de
velo
p-m
ent o
f an
alig
ning
pro
cess
mod
el
that
is c
ompr
ised
of t
hree
pha
ses
(exp
lora
tory
, bui
ldin
g, a
nd e
xten
d-in
g) a
nd g
ener
aliz
able
org
aniz
a-tio
nal a
ligni
ng a
ctio
ns th
at fo
rm
the
orga
niza
tion’
s sen
sing
, sei
zing
, an
d tra
nsfo
rmin
g ca
paci
ties
S. Nadkarni, R. Prügl
1 3
Tabl
e 6
Dat
abas
e—te
chno
logi
cal d
isru
ptio
n an
d co
rpor
ate
entre
pren
eurs
hip
sam
ple
(28
and
32 st
udie
s res
pect
ivel
y, in
alp
habe
tical
ord
er)
Aut
hors
(Yea
r)O
utle
tM
etho
dolo
gy (s
ampl
e)Re
gion
Key
find
ings
Tech
nolo
gica
l dis
rupt
ion
(28
stud
ies)
And
erso
n an
d Tu
shm
an (1
990)
Adm
inist
rativ
e Sc
ienc
e Q
uarte
rlyQ
uant
itativ
e (L
ongi
tudi
nal d
ata
acro
ss th
ree
U.S
. ind
ustri
es:
cem
ent,
airp
lane
s, m
ini-c
ompu
ter)
U.S
This
pap
er e
mpi
rical
ly e
xplo
res w
hen
and
how
dom
inan
t des
igns
em
erge
fro
m te
chno
logi
cal d
isco
ntin
uitie
s an
d w
hich
firm
s pio
neer
dom
inan
t de
sign
s. Th
e au
thor
s arg
ue th
at a
br
eakt
hrou
gh in
nova
tion
inau
gu-
rate
s an
era
of fe
rmen
t in
whi
ch
com
petit
ion
amon
g va
riatio
ns o
f the
or
igin
al b
reak
-thro
ugh
culm
inat
es
in th
e se
lect
ion
of a
sing
le d
omin
ant
confi
gura
tion
of th
e ne
w te
chno
logy
Ber
gek
et a
l. (2
013)
Rese
arch
Pol
icy
Cas
e stu
dy (T
wo
sets
of c
ompa
ra-
tive
indu
stry
case
s with
var
ious
co
mpa
nies
and
exp
erts
)
Inte
rnat
iona
lC
reat
ive
accu
mul
atio
n re
quire
s fir
ms t
o ha
ndle
a tr
iple
cha
lleng
e of
sim
ulta
neou
sly (1
) fine
-tuni
ng
and
evol
ving
exi
sting
tech
nolo
gies
at
a ra
pid
pace
, (2)
acq
uirin
g an
d de
velo
ping
new
tech
nolo
gies
and
re
sour
ces a
nd (3
) int
egra
ting
nove
l an
d ex
istin
g kn
owle
dge
into
supe
-rio
r pro
duct
s and
solu
tions
1 3
Digital transformation: a review, synthesis and opportunities…
Tabl
e 6
(con
tinue
d)
Aut
hors
(Yea
r)O
utle
tM
etho
dolo
gy (s
ampl
e)Re
gion
Key
find
ings
Ber
man
et a
l. (2
016)
Stra
tegy
and
Lea
ders
hip
Con
cept
ual
Inte
rnat
iona
lTo
succ
essf
ully
gui
de in
nova
tions
, co
mpa
nies
shou
ld in
vesti
gate
op
portu
nitie
s to
expl
oit n
ew a
nd
emer
ging
tech
nolo
gies
or b
usin
ess
mod
els,
or a
pply
exi
sting
tech
nolo
-gi
es in
new
way
s, an
d lo
ok a
t oth
er
indu
strie
s for
idea
s. To
do
so, t
he
auth
ors s
ugge
st us
ing
pred
ictiv
e an
d co
gniti
ve a
naly
tics t
o in
vesti
gate
ne
w tr
ends
, ide
ntify
new
cus
tom
er
segm
ents
and
mak
e sm
arte
r bus
i-ne
ss d
ecis
ions
Bow
er a
nd C
hrist
ense
n (1
995)
Har
vard
Bus
ines
s Rev
iew
Con
cept
ual
U.S
The
pape
r arg
ues t
hat i
n or
der t
o su
cces
sful
ly c
omm
erci
aliz
e an
d de
velo
p di
srup
tive
tech
nolo
gies
in
cum
bent
s nee
d to
cre
ate
orga
niza
-tio
ns th
at a
re c
ompl
etel
y in
depe
nd-
ent f
rom
the
mai
nstre
am b
usin
ess.
Onc
e a
spin
off
has b
ecom
e co
m-
mer
cial
ly v
iabl
e in
a n
ew m
arke
t, it
shou
ld n
ot b
e in
tegr
ated
into
the
mai
nstre
am o
rgan
izat
ion
S. Nadkarni, R. Prügl
1 3
Tabl
e 6
(con
tinue
d)
Aut
hors
(Yea
r)O
utle
tM
etho
dolo
gy (s
ampl
e)Re
gion
Key
find
ings
Dan
neel
s (20
04)
Jour
nal o
f Pro
duct
Inno
vatio
n M
anag
emen
tC
once
ptua
lU
.STh
e au
thor
cha
lleng
es th
e fin
ding
s pr
opos
ed b
y C
hrist
ense
n (1
997)
, w
ho a
rgue
s tha
t inc
umbe
nts t
end
to fa
lter w
hen
face
d w
ith d
isru
p-tiv
e te
chno
logi
es. W
ith re
fere
nce
to o
ther
stud
ies,
the
auth
or a
rgue
s th
at in
cum
bent
s wer
e m
ore
likel
y to
surv
ive
in th
e lo
ng te
rm. F
utur
e re
sear
ch n
eeds
to a
ddre
ss w
hat t
he
char
acte
ristic
s are
of i
ncum
bent
s th
at d
o no
t fai
lD
aSilv
a et
al.
(201
3)Te
chno
logy
Ana
lysi
s and
Stra
tegi
c M
anag
emen
tC
ase
study
(Sal
esfo
rce,
Am
azon
Inc.
an
d Si
ebel
Sys
tem
s)U
.SFi
ndin
gs su
gges
t dis
rupt
ive
tech
nol-
ogy
per s
e is
not
the
reas
on fo
r the
co
llaps
e of
larg
e co
rpor
atio
ns, b
ut
rath
er th
e fa
ilure
to a
dapt
or c
reat
e ne
w b
usin
ess m
odel
s to
inco
rpor
ate
nove
l tec
hnol
ogy
Dow
nes a
nd N
unes
(201
3)H
arva
rd B
usin
ess R
evie
wC
once
ptua
lU
.STo
surv
ive
“big
-ban
g” d
isru
ptio
ns
such
as n
ew d
igita
l pla
tform
s, in
cum
bent
s nee
d to
dev
elop
new
to
ols t
o de
tect
radi
cal c
hang
e in
the
offing
, new
stra
tegi
es to
slow
dow
n di
srup
ters
, new
way
s to
leve
rage
ex
istin
g as
sets
in o
ther
mar
kets
, an
d a
mor
e di
vers
ified
app
roac
h to
in
vestm
ent
1 3
Digital transformation: a review, synthesis and opportunities…
Tabl
e 6
(con
tinue
d)
Aut
hors
(Yea
r)O
utle
tM
etho
dolo
gy (s
ampl
e)Re
gion
Key
find
ings
Gan
s (20
16)
MIT
Slo
an M
anag
emen
t Rev
iew
Con
cept
ual
Can
ada
Incu
mbe
nts m
ay d
evel
op th
ree
strat
e-gi
es in
resp
onse
to te
chno
logi
cal
disr
uptio
n w
ithin
thei
r ind
ustry
: (1
) atta
ck b
y in
vesti
ng in
the
new
di
srup
tive
tech
nolo
gy, (
2) c
oope
rate
w
ith o
r acq
uire
the
mar
ket e
ntra
nt,
and
(3) h
avin
g cr
itica
l ass
ets t
hat
entra
nts l
ack
and
thus
may
buy
tim
e fo
r the
incu
mbe
nt fi
rmG
awer
and
Cus
uman
o (2
014)
Jour
nal o
f Pro
duct
Inno
vatio
n M
anag
emen
tC
once
ptua
lU
.K. a
nd U
.SIn
dustr
y pl
atfo
rms f
acili
tate
the
gen-
erat
ion
of a
pot
entia
lly v
ery
larg
e nu
mbe
r of c
ompl
emen
tary
inno
va-
tions
by
tapp
ing
into
the
inno
vativ
e ca
pabi
litie
s of m
any
exte
rnal
act
ors,
and
func
tion
as a
tech
nolo
gica
l fo
unda
tion
at th
e he
art o
f inn
ovat
ive
busi
ness
eco
syste
ms.
In th
is se
nse,
th
ey g
uide
tech
nolo
gica
l inn
ovat
ion
traje
ctor
ies a
nd st
imul
ate
inno
vatio
n on
com
plem
ents
S. Nadkarni, R. Prügl
1 3
Tabl
e 6
(con
tinue
d)
Aut
hors
(Yea
r)O
utle
tM
etho
dolo
gy (s
ampl
e)Re
gion
Key
find
ings
Ger
stner
et a
l. (2
013)
Adm
inist
rativ
e Sc
ienc
e Q
uarte
rlyQ
uant
itativ
e (7
2 C
EOs f
rom
33
U.S
. ph
arm
aceu
tical
com
pani
es)
U.S
Bas
ed o
n a
sam
ple
of 7
2 C
EOs f
rom
U
.S. p
harm
aceu
tical
s, th
is st
udy
prov
ides
evi
denc
e th
at n
arci
ssist
ic
CEO
s of e
stab
lishe
d fir
ms w
ill b
e re
lativ
ely
aggr
essi
ve in
thei
r ado
p-tio
n of
tech
nolo
gica
l dis
cont
inui
ties.
How
ever
, the
effe
ct o
f a C
EO’s
nar
-ci
ssis
m o
n or
gani
zatio
nal o
utco
mes
w
ill b
e m
oder
ated
by
audi
ence
en
gage
men
t—th
e de
gree
to w
hich
ob
serv
ers v
iew
a p
heno
men
on a
s no
tew
orth
y an
d pr
ovoc
ativ
e. W
hen
audi
ence
eng
agem
ent i
s hig
h,
narc
issi
stic
CEO
s will
ant
icip
ate
wid
espr
ead
adm
iratio
n fo
r the
ir bo
ld a
ctio
ns a
nd th
us w
ill in
vest
espe
cial
ly a
ggre
ssiv
ely
in a
dis
con-
tinuo
us te
chno
logy
Gilb
ert a
nd B
ower
(200
2)H
arva
rd B
usin
ess R
evie
wC
once
ptua
lU
.SW
hen
incu
mbe
nts a
re b
eing
thre
at-
ened
by
a di
srup
tive
inno
vatio
n,
the
auth
ors s
ugge
st to
(1) s
epar
ate
busi
ness
ope
ratio
ns fo
r bet
ter
perfo
rman
ce, (
2) in
vest
in st
ages
, (3
) cul
tivat
e ou
tsid
e pe
rspe
ctiv
e,
(4) a
ppoi
nt a
n ac
tive
inte
grat
or,
(5) m
odul
ariz
e in
tegr
atio
n, a
nd (6
) co
nsid
er a
cqui
sitio
ns
1 3
Digital transformation: a review, synthesis and opportunities…
Tabl
e 6
(con
tinue
d)
Aut
hors
(Yea
r)O
utle
tM
etho
dolo
gy (s
ampl
e)Re
gion
Key
find
ings
Gün
zel a
nd H
olm
(201
3)In
tern
atio
nal J
ourn
al o
f Inn
ovat
ion
Man
agem
ent
Cas
e stu
dy (1
2 in
-dep
th in
terv
iew
s w
ith k
ey in
form
ants
from
thre
e D
anis
h ne
wsp
aper
s)
Den
mar
kTh
ere
is a
nee
d to
dist
ingu
ish
betw
een
front
-end
and
bac
k-en
d bu
sine
ss
mod
el in
nova
tion
proc
esse
s, an
d to
re
cogn
ize
the
impo
rtanc
e of
org
ani-
zatio
nal l
earn
ing
whe
n in
cum
bent
s ar
e fa
ced
with
dis
rupt
ive
tech
nolo
-gi
esH
abta
y an
d H
olm
én (2
014)
Inte
rnat
iona
l Jou
rnal
of E
ntre
pre-
neur
ship
and
Inno
vatio
n M
anag
e-m
ent
Mix
ed m
etho
ds (8
8 str
ateg
ic b
usi-
ness
uni
ts)
Sout
h A
fric
aIn
cum
bent
s on
aver
age
can
succ
eed
with
dis
rupt
ive
mar
ket-i
nnov
atio
n by
bei
ng m
arke
t orie
ntat
ed (M
O),
leve
ragi
ng p
rior c
ore
com
pete
nces
an
d in
tegr
atin
g th
e di
srup
tive
inno
-va
tion
unde
r the
sam
e bu
sine
ss u
nit
that
is re
spon
sibl
e fo
r tra
ditio
nal
busi
ness
esH
ill a
nd R
otha
erm
el (2
003)
Aca
dem
y of
Man
agem
ent R
evie
wC
once
ptua
lU
.STh
e au
thor
s ide
ntify
a n
umbe
r of f
ac-
tors
that
hel
p to
exp
lain
incu
mbe
nt
perfo
rman
ce in
mar
kets
shak
en b
y a
radi
cal t
echn
olog
ical
inno
va-
tion.
The
se in
clud
e am
ong
othe
rs
inve
stmen
t in
basi
c re
sear
ch to
rais
e aw
aren
ess o
f em
erge
nt te
chno
logi
es,
the
legi
timiz
atio
n an
d in
stitu
tion-
aliz
atio
n of
aut
onom
ous a
ctio
n,
and
the
crea
tion
of a
stan
d-al
one
divi
sion
to c
omm
erci
aliz
e a
radi
cal
tech
nolo
gy
S. Nadkarni, R. Prügl
1 3
Tabl
e 6
(con
tinue
d)
Aut
hors
(Yea
r)O
utle
tM
etho
dolo
gy (s
ampl
e)Re
gion
Key
find
ings
Hol
m e
t al.
(201
3)In
tern
atio
nal J
ourn
al o
f Tec
hnol
ogy
Man
agem
ent
Cas
e stu
dy (T
wo
Dan
ish
med
ia
com
pani
es: J
P/Po
litik
ens H
us a
nd
Ber
lings
ke M
edia
)
Den
mar
kFi
ndin
gs su
gges
t tha
t a m
ore
nuan
ced
view
and
bal
ance
d un
ders
tand
ing
of th
e te
rm ‘o
penn
ess’
with
rega
rds
to b
usin
ess m
odel
s is n
eede
d. Y
et,
this
stud
y co
nfirm
s tha
t the
bus
ines
s m
odel
is a
use
ful c
once
ptua
l and
an
alyt
ical
dev
ice
that
can
be
used
w
hen
study
ing
the
inte
rrel
atio
ns
betw
een
tech
nolo
gica
l dis
cont
inui
-tie
s and
bus
ines
s mod
el a
djus
tmen
tJo
hnso
n et
al.
(200
8)H
arva
rd B
usin
ess R
evie
wC
once
ptua
lU
.STh
is st
udy
prop
oses
five
stra
tegi
c ci
rcum
stan
ces t
hat o
ften
requ
ire
busi
ness
mod
el in
nova
tion
(BM
I):
(1) t
he o
ppor
tuni
ty to
add
ress
th
roug
h di
srup
tive
inno
vatio
n th
e ne
eds o
f lar
ge g
roup
s, (2
) the
op
portu
nity
to c
apita
lize
on a
bra
nd-
new
tech
nolo
gy b
y w
rapp
ing
a ne
w
busi
ness
mod
el a
roun
d it
(App
le
and
MP3
pla
yers
) or t
he o
ppor
tuni
ty
to le
vera
ge a
teste
d te
chno
logy
by
brin
ging
it to
a w
hole
new
mar
ket,
(3) t
he o
ppor
tuni
ty to
brin
g a
job-
to-b
e-do
ne fo
cus w
here
one
doe
s no
t yet
exi
st, (4
) the
nee
d to
fend
off
low
-end
dis
rupt
ers,
and
(5) t
he
need
to re
spon
d to
a sh
iftin
g ba
sis
of c
ompe
titio
n
1 3
Digital transformation: a review, synthesis and opportunities…
Tabl
e 6
(con
tinue
d)
Aut
hors
(Yea
r)O
utle
tM
etho
dolo
gy (s
ampl
e)Re
gion
Key
find
ings
Koe
n et
al.
(201
0)Re
sear
ch-T
echn
olog
y M
anag
emen
tC
ase
study
(7 c
ase
studi
es: 4
suc-
cess
ful a
nd 3
uns
ucce
ssfu
l bus
i-ne
ss m
odel
inno
vatio
n pr
ojec
ts
at A
DM
, Con
ocoP
hilli
ps, a
nd
New
ell-R
ubbe
rmai
d)
U.S
The
case
stud
ies i
dent
ify fi
ve k
ey
dile
mm
as th
at c
ompa
nies
face
in
purs
uing
bus
ines
s mod
el in
nova
-tio
n: (1
) par
adox
ical
lead
ersh
ip,
(2) o
rgan
izat
iona
l com
plex
ity, (
3)
inno
vatio
n m
anag
emen
t app
roac
h,
(4) fi
nanc
ial u
ncer
tain
ty, a
nd (5
) pr
ior k
now
ledg
e an
d ex
perie
nces
of
team
mem
bers
Lavi
e (2
006)
Aca
dem
y of
Man
agem
ent R
evie
wC
once
ptua
lU
.STh
e pa
per p
rese
nts a
mod
el o
f cap
a-bi
lity
reco
nfigu
ratio
n, in
tegr
atin
g th
e Sc
hum
pete
rian
pers
pect
ive
on
tech
nolo
gica
l dis
cont
inui
ties w
ith
the
dyna
mic
cap
abili
ties l
itera
ture
to
expl
ain
the
resp
onse
s of i
ncum
bent
s to
tech
nolo
gica
l cha
nge.
The
aut
hor
iden
tifies
subs
titut
ion,
evo
lutio
n,
and
trans
form
atio
n as
thre
e m
echa
-ni
sms o
f cap
abili
ty re
confi
gura
tion
Luca
s and
Goh
(200
9)Jo
urna
l of S
trate
gic
Info
rmat
ion
Syste
ms
Cas
e stu
dy (K
odak
)U
.SK
odak
’s m
iddl
e m
anag
ers,
cultu
re
and
rigid
, bur
eauc
ratic
stru
ctur
e hi
nder
ed a
fast
resp
onse
to n
ew
tech
nolo
gy w
hich
lead
to a
80%
de
clin
e in
its w
orkf
orce
, los
s of
mar
ket s
hare
, a tu
mbl
ing
stock
pr
ice,
and
sign
ifica
nt in
tern
al
turm
oil
S. Nadkarni, R. Prügl
1 3
Tabl
e 6
(con
tinue
d)
Aut
hors
(Yea
r)O
utle
tM
etho
dolo
gy (s
ampl
e)Re
gion
Key
find
ings
Oba
l (20
13)
Indu
stria
l Mar
ketin
g M
anag
emen
tQ
uant
itativ
e (1
34 IT
man
ager
s)U
.SEv
iden
ce is
giv
en, t
hat p
re-e
xisti
ng,
inte
rorg
aniz
atio
nal t
rust
deve
lope
d by
cus
tom
ers w
ith in
cum
bent
s has
a
posi
tive
influ
ence
on
the
adop
tion
and
diffu
sion
of d
isru
ptiv
e te
chno
l-og
y by
est
ablis
hed
firm
svo
n Pe
chm
ann
et a
l. (2
015)
Indu
stria
l and
Cor
pora
te C
hang
eQ
ualit
ativ
e (R
enau
lt’s Z
E In
itiat
ive,
a
prog
ram
to d
evel
op a
nd m
arke
t EV
tech
nolo
gy—
obse
rvat
ion
over
a
7-ye
ar p
erio
d)
Fran
ceTh
e ar
ticle
pro
pose
s thr
ee m
anag
e-m
ent l
ever
s for
syste
mic
and
dis
rup-
tive
inno
vatio
n sc
ale-
up: a
uton
o-m
ous s
pann
ing
units
, a p
ortfo
lio o
f vi
able
loca
l sys
tem
s, an
d co
ncur
rent
pl
atfo
rm m
anag
emen
tRo
y an
d Sa
rkar
(201
6)St
rate
gic
Man
agem
ent J
ourn
alQ
uant
itativ
e (D
atab
ase
of 1
41 E
uro-
pean
, Jap
anes
e, a
nd U
.S. r
obot
m
anuf
actu
rers
from
197
8 to
198
7)
Inte
rnat
iona
lTh
e stu
dy e
xplo
res t
he re
latio
nshi
p be
twee
n a
firm
’s o
rgan
izat
ion
and
its a
bilit
y to
face
a ra
dica
l tec
hno-
logi
cal c
hang
e. It
is su
gges
ted
that
, du
ring
such
a c
hang
e, th
e pr
esen
ce
of b
oth
in-h
ouse
ups
tream
kno
wl-
edge
and
dow
nstre
am m
arke
t lin
k-ag
es, w
ithin
a fi
rm’s
bou
ndar
y, h
as
its a
dvan
tage
s. Ev
iden
ce is
giv
en
that
tech
nolo
gica
lly p
re-a
dapt
ed
incu
mbe
nts w
ith in
-hou
se u
sers
ar
e m
ore
likel
y to
be
able
to m
ake
a tra
nsiti
on to
the
new
tech
nolo
gi-
cal p
arad
igm
eve
n if
it is
radi
cal i
n na
ture
1 3
Digital transformation: a review, synthesis and opportunities…
Tabl
e 6
(con
tinue
d)
Aut
hors
(Yea
r)O
utle
tM
etho
dolo
gy (s
ampl
e)Re
gion
Key
find
ings
Saba
tier e
t al.
(201
2)Te
chno
logi
cal F
orec
astin
g an
d So
cial
Cha
nge
Cas
e stu
dy (2
2 in
terv
iew
s with
ex
perts
from
the
drug
indu
stry
from
200
8 to
200
9)
Inte
rnat
iona
lIn
mat
ure
indu
strie
s exp
erie
ncin
g str
ong
disc
ontin
uitie
s and
hig
h te
chno
logi
cal u
ncer
tain
ty, e
ntra
nts’
bu
sine
ss m
odel
s ini
tially
tend
to
fit in
to th
e in
dustr
y’s e
stab
lishe
d do
min
ant l
ogic
and
its v
alue
cha
ins
rem
ain
unch
ange
d. B
ut a
s new
te
chno
logi
es e
volv
e, a
nd u
ncer
tain
ty
decr
ease
s, di
srup
tive
busi
ness
m
odel
s em
erge
, cha
lleng
ing
dom
i-na
nt in
dustr
y lo
gics
and
resh
apin
g es
tabl
ishe
d va
lue
chai
nsSh
augh
ness
y (2
016)
Stra
tegy
and
Lea
ders
hip
Con
cept
ual
U.S
In th
e di
gita
l era
, man
y fir
ms h
ave
focu
sed
on te
chno
logy
as t
he so
urce
of
dis
rupt
ive
inno
vatio
n. H
owev
er,
with
the
arriv
al o
f the
pla
tform
age
th
e so
urce
of d
isru
ptiv
e in
nova
tion
is n
ow th
e or
gani
zatio
nal f
orm
. The
pl
atfo
rm is
a n
ew w
ay to
org
aniz
e w
ealth
-cre
atin
g ac
tivity
S. Nadkarni, R. Prügl
1 3
Tabl
e 6
(con
tinue
d)
Aut
hors
(Yea
r)O
utle
tM
etho
dolo
gy (s
ampl
e)Re
gion
Key
find
ings
Tong
ur a
nd E
ngw
all (
2014
)Te
chno
vatio
nC
ase
study
(18
in-d
epth
inte
rvie
ws
with
key
par
ticip
ants
invo
lved
in
the
“Slid
e-In
Ele
ctric
Roa
d Sy
stem
” pr
ojec
t)
Swed
enTo
surv
ive
durin
g te
chno
logy
shift
s, fir
ms n
eed
to m
aste
r the
com
plex
ity
of “
doub
le a
mbi
dext
erity
,” i.e
., no
t ju
st th
e am
bide
xter
ity to
sim
ulta
ne-
ously
foste
r inc
rem
enta
l and
radi
cal
inno
vatio
n, b
ut a
lso
the
ambi
dext
er-
ity to
sim
ulta
neou
sly a
dvan
ce b
oth
tech
nolo
gica
l and
bus
ines
s mod
el
inno
vatio
n. S
peci
fical
ly, w
hen
deve
lopi
ng n
ew te
chno
logy
con
sid-
ered
dis
cont
inuo
us, b
usin
ess m
odel
as
pect
s nee
d to
be
brou
ght i
nto
the
anal
ysis
ear
ly o
nTu
shm
an a
nd A
nder
son
(198
6)A
dmin
istra
tive
Scie
nce
Qua
rterly
Qua
ntita
tive
(Lon
gitu
dina
l dat
a ac
ross
3 U
.S. i
ndus
tries
: cem
ent,
airp
lane
s, m
ini-c
ompu
ter)
U.S
The
study
em
piric
ally
dem
onstr
ates
th
at te
chno
logy
evo
lves
thro
ugh
perio
ds o
f inc
rem
enta
l cha
nge
punc
tuat
ed b
y te
chno
logi
cal
brea
kthr
ough
s tha
t eith
er e
nhan
ce
or d
estro
y th
e co
mpe
tenc
e of
firm
s in
an
indu
stry.
It is
furth
er sh
own
that
whi
le c
ompe
tenc
e-de
stroy
ing
disc
ontin
uitie
s are
initi
ated
by
new
firm
s and
are
ass
ocia
ted
with
in
crea
sed
envi
ronm
enta
l tur
bule
nce,
co
mpe
tenc
e-en
hanc
ing
disc
ontin
ui-
ties a
re in
itiat
ed b
y ex
istin
g fir
ms
and
are
asso
ciat
ed w
ith d
ecre
ased
en
viro
nmen
tal t
urbu
lenc
e
1 3
Digital transformation: a review, synthesis and opportunities…
Tabl
e 6
(con
tinue
d)
Aut
hors
(Yea
r)O
utle
tM
etho
dolo
gy (s
ampl
e)Re
gion
Key
find
ings
Vecc
hiat
o (2
017)
Tech
nolo
gica
l For
ecas
ting
and
Soci
al C
hang
eC
ase
study
(Mot
orol
a an
d N
okia
: in
terv
iew
s with
inte
rnal
and
ext
er-
nal i
nfor
man
ts)
U.S
. and
Fin
land
Resu
lts sh
ow th
at a
prim
ary
reas
on
why
incu
mbe
nts f
ail t
o id
entif
y ne
w
mar
kets
in th
e fa
ce o
f dis
rupt
ive
tech
nolo
gies
and
ther
efor
e lo
se
thei
r lea
ders
hip
is th
e in
abili
ty to
re
cogn
ize
eith
er th
e ris
ing
‘soc
ial’
mar
ket,
whe
re c
usto
mer
s use
pr
oduc
ts fo
r ful
fillin
g th
eir n
eed
for
frie
ndsh
ip, o
r the
‘este
em’ m
arke
t, w
here
cus
tom
ers u
se p
rodu
cts f
or
fulfi
lling
thei
r nee
d fo
r ach
ieve
men
tY
u an
d H
ang
(201
0)In
tern
atio
nal J
ourn
al o
f Man
age-
men
t Rev
iew
sLi
tera
ture
revi
ewSi
ngap
ore
In th
is p
aper
, a re
flect
ive
revi
ew o
f th
e ex
tant
lite
ratu
re o
n di
srup
tive
inno
vatio
n th
eory
is p
rese
nted
. Se
ven
pote
ntia
l fut
ure
rese
arch
di
rect
ions
are
iden
tified
with
in th
is
rese
arch
dom
ain.
In a
dditi
on, p
oten
-tia
l int
egra
tions
with
oth
er re
sear
ch
field
s suc
h as
ope
n in
nova
tion
and
othe
rs, f
urth
er re
sear
ch o
n st
art-u
p fir
ms a
nd re
sear
ch m
etho
dolo
gy a
re
disc
usse
d
S. Nadkarni, R. Prügl
1 3
Tabl
e 6
(con
tinue
d)
Aut
hors
(Yea
r)O
utle
tM
etho
dolo
gy (s
ampl
e)Re
gion
Key
find
ings
Cor
pora
te E
ntre
pren
eurs
hip
(32
Stud
ies)
Ahu
ja a
nd M
orris
Lam
pert
(200
1)St
rate
gic
Man
agem
ent J
ourn
alQ
uant
itativ
e (1
07 fi
rms b
ased
on
pate
ntin
g ac
tiviti
es b
etw
een
1980
an
d 95
)
Inte
rnat
iona
lTh
ree
orga
niza
tiona
l pat
holo
gies
in
hibi
t bre
akth
roug
h in
vent
ions
in
larg
e co
rpor
atio
ns: (
1) th
e fa
mili
ar-
ity tr
ap—
favo
ring
the
fam
iliar
, (2)
th
e m
atur
ity tr
ap—
favo
ring
the
mat
ure,
and
(3) t
he p
ropi
nqui
ty
trap—
favo
ring
sear
ch fo
r sol
utio
ns
near
to e
xisti
ng so
lutio
nsB
irkin
shaw
(199
7)St
rate
gic
Man
agem
ent J
ourn
alM
ixed
met
hods
(39
sepa
rate
initi
a-tiv
es in
6 su
bsid
iarie
s of m
ultin
a-tio
nal c
orpo
ratio
ns)
Can
ada
Entre
pren
eurs
hip
at th
e su
bsid
iary
le
vel h
as th
e po
tent
ial t
o en
hanc
e lo
cal r
espo
nsiv
enes
s, w
orld
wid
e le
arni
ng a
nd g
loba
l int
egra
tion
Bur
gelm
an (1
983)
Man
agem
ent S
cien
ceC
once
ptua
lU
.SB
urge
lman
iden
tifies
CE
with
the
auto
nom
ous s
trate
gic
beha
vior
loop
m
odel
. Mid
dle
leve
l man
ager
s pla
y a
cruc
ial r
ole
in th
is th
roug
h th
eir
supp
ort f
or a
uton
omou
s stra
tegi
c in
itiat
ives
ear
ly o
n, b
y co
mbi
n-in
g th
ese
with
var
ious
cap
abili
ties
disp
erse
d in
the
firm
’s o
pera
ting
syste
m, a
nd b
y co
ncep
tual
izin
g str
ateg
ies f
or n
ew a
reas
of b
usin
ess.
Top
man
agem
ent’s
crit
ical
con
tribu
-tio
n co
nsist
s in
strat
egic
reco
gniti
on
and
supp
ort r
athe
r tha
n pl
anni
ng
1 3
Digital transformation: a review, synthesis and opportunities…
Tabl
e 6
(con
tinue
d)
Aut
hors
(Yea
r)O
utle
tM
etho
dolo
gy (s
ampl
e)Re
gion
Key
find
ings
Che
n an
d N
adka
rni (
2017
)A
dmin
istra
tive
Scie
nce
Qua
rterly
Qua
ntita
tive
(129
SM
Es)
Chi
naRe
sults
con
firm
that
CEO
s’ te
mpo
ral
lead
ersh
ip—
how
they
man
age
the
tem
pora
l asp
ects
of t
op m
anag
e-m
ent t
eam
s’ a
ctiv
ities
—m
edia
tes
the
rela
tions
hip
betw
een
thei
r te
mpo
ral d
ispo
sitio
ns a
nd c
orpo
rate
en
trepr
eneu
rshi
p—fir
ms’
inno
va-
tion,
cor
pora
te v
entu
ring,
and
str
ateg
ic re
new
al a
ctiv
ities
. Als
o,
CEO
s’ ti
me
urge
ncy
is p
ositi
vely
re
late
d to
thei
r tem
pora
l lea
ders
hip,
w
hich
in tu
rn is
pos
itive
ly re
late
d to
co
rpor
ate
entre
pren
eurs
hip
Cor
bett
et a
l. (2
013)
Jour
nal o
f Pro
duct
Inno
vatio
n M
anag
emen
tLi
tera
ture
revi
ew (8
pub
licat
ions
fro
m th
e C
E do
mai
n)U
.SFi
ndin
gs fr
om th
e re
view
ed li
tera
ture
in
dica
te th
at (1
) TM
T di
vers
ity a
nd
TMT
netw
ork
size
are
pos
itive
ly
asso
ciat
ed w
ith a
firm
’s p
ursu
it of
CE,
whi
le (2
) TM
T si
ze h
as a
ne
gativ
e eff
ect o
n C
E, p
artic
ular
ly
unde
r hig
her l
evel
s of p
erce
ived
te
chno
logi
cal u
ncer
tain
tyC
ovin
and
Mile
s (19
99)
Entre
pren
eurs
hip
Theo
ry a
nd
Prac
tice
Con
cept
ual
U.S
A ty
polo
gy is
pre
sent
ed o
f the
form
s in
whi
ch c
orpo
rate
ent
repr
eneu
rshi
p is
ofte
n m
anife
sted:
sust
aine
d re
gen-
erat
ion,
org
aniz
atio
nal r
ejuv
ena-
tion,
stra
tegi
c re
new
al, a
nd d
omai
n re
defin
ition
S. Nadkarni, R. Prügl
1 3
Tabl
e 6
(con
tinue
d)
Aut
hors
(Yea
r)O
utle
tM
etho
dolo
gy (s
ampl
e)Re
gion
Key
find
ings
Des
s et a
l. (2
003)
Jour
nal o
f Man
agem
ent
Con
cept
ual
U.S
This
arti
cle
iden
tifies
four
maj
or
issu
es sc
hola
rs c
an p
ursu
e to
furth
er
the
unde
rsta
ndin
g ab
out C
E: (1
) th
e va
rious
form
s of C
E (fo
llow
ing
the
typo
logy
of C
ovin
and
Mile
s 19
99),
(2) t
heir
impl
icat
ions
for
orga
niza
tiona
l lea
rnin
g, (3
) the
role
of
lead
ersh
ip a
nd so
cial
exc
hang
e in
the
CE
proc
ess,
and
(4) t
he
inte
rnat
iona
lizat
ion
of C
E. T
he
auth
ors a
dopt
org
aniz
atio
nal l
earn
-in
g th
eory
as a
mea
ns o
f int
egra
ting
thei
r dis
cuss
ion
and
high
light
ing
the
pote
ntia
l con
tribu
tions
of C
ED
ushn
itsky
and
Len
ox (2
005)
Rese
arch
Pol
icy
Qua
ntita
tive
(Pan
el o
f 228
9 U
.S.
publ
ic fi
rms d
urin
g th
e pe
riod
1969
–199
9)
U.S
Cor
pora
te v
entu
re c
apita
l (C
VC
) pr
ogra
ms m
ay b
e in
strum
enta
l in
har
vesti
ng in
nova
tions
from
en
trepr
eneu
rial v
entu
res a
nd th
us
an im
porta
nt p
art o
f a fi
rm’s
ove
rall
inno
vatio
n str
ateg
yEn
gel (
2011
)Re
sear
ch-T
echn
olog
y M
anag
emen
tC
once
ptua
lU
.STh
e au
thor
s arg
ue th
at th
e m
ost
disr
uptiv
e in
nova
tions
are
thos
e th
at
go b
eyon
d te
chni
cal d
isco
very
to
embr
ace
busi
ness
mod
el in
nova
-tio
ns th
at d
isru
pt su
pply
cha
ins,
disi
nter
med
iate
incu
mbe
nts,
and
crea
te n
ew m
arke
ts
1 3
Digital transformation: a review, synthesis and opportunities…
Tabl
e 6
(con
tinue
d)
Aut
hors
(Yea
r)O
utle
tM
etho
dolo
gy (s
ampl
e)Re
gion
Key
find
ings
Floy
d an
d W
oold
ridge
(199
9)En
trepr
eneu
rshi
p Th
eory
and
Pr
actic
eC
once
ptua
lU
.STh
e stu
dy in
tegr
ates
con
cept
s fro
m
know
ledg
e th
eory
and
soci
al n
et-
wor
k th
eory
into
the
CE
deba
te a
nd
high
light
s the
impo
rtanc
e of
a m
id-
leve
l man
agem
ent p
ersp
ectiv
e in
th
e C
E pr
oces
s. It
furth
er o
ffers
an
inte
grat
ive
mod
el th
at e
xpla
ins h
ow
orga
niza
tions
ove
rcom
e in
ertia
in
the
capa
bilit
y de
velo
pmen
t pro
cess
Gut
h an
d G
insb
erg
(199
0)St
rate
gic
Man
agem
ent J
ourn
alC
once
ptua
lU
.STh
e to
pic
of C
E en
com
pass
es tw
o ty
pes o
f phe
nom
ena
and
the
proc
esse
s sur
roun
ding
them
: (1)
th
e bi
rth o
f new
bus
ines
ses w
ithin
ex
istin
g or
gani
zatio
ns, i
.e. i
nter
nal
inno
vatio
n or
ven
turin
g; a
nd (2
) th
e tra
nsfo
rmat
ion
of o
rgan
izat
ions
th
roug
h re
new
al o
f the
key
idea
s on
whi
ch th
ey a
re b
uilt,
i.e.
stra
tegi
c re
new
alH
orns
by e
t al.
(200
2)Jo
urna
l of B
usin
ess V
entu
ring
Qua
ntita
tive
expl
orat
ory
fact
or
anal
ysis
(Int
ervi
ews w
ith 7
61 m
id-
dle
man
ager
s in
17 o
rgan
izat
ions
)
U.S
This
stud
y id
entifi
es fi
ve in
tern
al
orga
niza
tiona
l fac
tors
that
influ
ence
m
iddl
e m
anag
ers t
o fo
ster e
ntre
pre-
neur
ial a
ctiv
ity w
ithin
est
ablis
hed
com
pani
es: (
1) m
anag
emen
t sup
-po
rt, (2
) wor
k di
scre
tion/
auto
nom
y,
(3) r
ewar
ds/re
info
rcem
ent,
(4) t
ime
avai
labi
lity,
and
(5) o
rgan
izat
iona
l bo
unda
ries
S. Nadkarni, R. Prügl
1 3
Tabl
e 6
(con
tinue
d)
Aut
hors
(Yea
r)O
utle
tM
etho
dolo
gy (s
ampl
e)Re
gion
Key
find
ings
Hor
nsby
et a
l. (2
009)
Jour
nal o
f Bus
ines
s Ven
turin
gQ
uant
itativ
e (4
58 m
anag
ers f
rom
di
ffere
nt le
vels
and
com
pani
es)
U.S
The
pos.
rela
tions
hip
betw
een
man
a-ge
rial s
uppo
rt an
d en
trepr
eneu
rial
actio
n is
mor
e po
sitiv
e fo
r sen
ior
and
mid
dle
leve
l man
ager
s tha
n it
is fo
r low
er- (
first)
leve
l man
ager
s. A
lso,
the
pos.
rela
tions
hip
betw
een
wor
k di
scre
tion
and
entre
pren
euria
l ac
tion
is m
ore
posi
tive
for s
enio
r an
d m
iddl
e le
vel m
anag
ers t
han
it is
for fi
rst-l
evel
man
ager
s. Th
ese
findi
ngs s
ugge
st th
at m
anag
eria
l le
vel p
rovi
des a
stru
ctur
al a
bilit
y to
“m
ake
mor
e of
” or
gani
zatio
nal
fact
ors t
hat s
uppo
rt C
EIr
elan
d et
al.
(200
9)En
trepr
eneu
rshi
p Th
eory
and
Pr
actic
eC
once
ptua
lU
.STh
e pa
per o
utlin
es a
mod
el o
f th
e an
tece
dent
s, el
emen
ts, a
nd
outc
omes
of C
E as
an
iden
tifiab
le
strat
egy.
To
poss
ess s
uch
a str
ateg
y,
firm
s mus
t sig
nific
antly
dis
play
the
thre
e fo
unda
tiona
l ele
men
ts o
f an
entre
pren
euria
l stra
tegi
c vi
sion
, a
pro-
entre
pren
eurs
hip
orga
niza
tiona
l ar
chite
ctur
e, a
nd e
ntre
pren
euria
l pr
oces
ses a
nd b
ehav
ior a
s exh
ibite
d th
roug
hout
the
orga
niza
tion.
The
ou
tcom
es o
f CE
strat
egy
incl
ude
the
deve
lopm
ent o
f com
petit
ive
capa
bil-
ities
and
stra
tegi
c re
posi
tioni
ng
1 3
Digital transformation: a review, synthesis and opportunities…
Tabl
e 6
(con
tinue
d)
Aut
hors
(Yea
r)O
utle
tM
etho
dolo
gy (s
ampl
e)Re
gion
Key
find
ings
Kar
imi a
nd W
alte
r (20
16)
Long
Ran
ge P
lann
ing
Qua
ntita
tive
(148
resp
onse
s fro
m
the
new
spap
er in
dustr
y th
roug
h a
web
surv
ey)
U.S
Whi
le a
uton
omy,
risk
-taki
ng, a
nd
proa
ctiv
enes
s hav
e po
sitiv
e as
soci
a-tio
ns w
ith th
e ex
tent
of a
dopt
ion
of d
isru
ptiv
e bu
sine
ss m
odel
in
nova
tion,
inno
vativ
enes
s doe
s not
. Fu
rther
, dis
rupt
ive
busi
ness
mod
el
inno
vatio
n ad
optio
n ha
s a n
on-li
near
as
soci
atio
n w
ith b
usin
ess m
odel
pe
rform
ance
Koh
ler (
2016
)B
usin
ess H
oriz
ons
Qua
litat
ive
(40
inte
rvie
ws w
ith
man
ager
s of c
orpo
rate
acc
eler
ator
s an
d st
artu
p te
ams)
U.S
To le
vera
ge st
artu
ps’ i
nnov
atio
n an
d to
mak
e co
rpor
ate
acce
lera
tors
an
effec
tive
part
of a
firm
’s o
vera
ll in
nova
tion
strat
egy,
man
ager
s nee
d to
syste
mat
ical
ly a
nd th
ough
tfully
co
nsid
er th
e de
sign
dim
ensi
ons o
f pr
opos
ition
, pro
cess
, peo
ple,
and
pl
ace
S. Nadkarni, R. Prügl
1 3
Tabl
e 6
(con
tinue
d)
Aut
hors
(Yea
r)O
utle
tM
etho
dolo
gy (s
ampl
e)Re
gion
Key
find
ings
Kur
atko
et a
l. (2
014)
Bus
ines
s Hor
izon
sC
once
ptua
lU
.STh
ere
are
four
key
impl
emen
tatio
n is
sues
that
mos
t cor
pora
tions
are
no
t rec
ogni
zing
or r
espo
ndin
g to
eff
ectiv
ely
whe
n try
ing
to p
rom
ote
corp
orat
e en
trepr
eneu
rshi
p: (1
) un
ders
tand
ing
wha
t typ
e of
inno
va-
tion
is b
eing
soug
ht, (
2) c
oord
inat
-in
g m
anag
eria
l rol
es, (
3) e
ffect
ivel
y us
ing
oper
atin
g co
ntro
ls, a
nd (4
) pr
oper
ly tr
aini
ng a
nd p
repa
ring
indi
vidu
als.
Toge
ther
, the
se fo
ur
issu
es, i
f und
ersto
od a
nd a
ppro
-pr
iate
ly a
ddre
ssed
, hel
p cr
eate
an
effec
tive
inno
vativ
e ec
osys
tem
w
ithin
the
orga
niza
tion
Lant
and
Mez
ias (
1990
)St
rate
gic
Man
agem
ent J
ourn
alC
ompu
ter s
imul
atio
n m
odel
U.S
The
pape
r pro
pose
s tha
t the
con
cept
of
CE
can
be b
ette
r und
ersto
od b
y vi
ewin
g it
thro
ugh
the
lens
of a
n or
gani
zatio
nal l
earn
ing
pers
pect
ive.
Th
is le
arni
ng fr
amew
ork
is u
sed
in
conc
eptu
aliz
ing
both
the
cont
ent
and
leve
l of e
ntre
pren
eurs
hip.
Thr
ee
type
s of e
ntre
pren
euria
l stra
tegi
es
are
repr
esen
ted
by th
ree
diffe
rent
pa
ttern
s of s
earc
h be
havi
or: fi
xed,
im
itativ
e, a
nd a
dapt
ive.
Firm
s with
ad
aptiv
e str
ateg
ies d
o le
ss w
ell o
ver
the
long
run
than
firm
s with
imita
-tiv
e str
ateg
ies,
unde
r con
ditio
ns o
f hi
gh e
nviro
nmen
tal a
mbi
guity
1 3
Digital transformation: a review, synthesis and opportunities…
Tabl
e 6
(con
tinue
d)
Aut
hors
(Yea
r)O
utle
tM
etho
dolo
gy (s
ampl
e)Re
gion
Key
find
ings
Ling
et a
l. (2
008)
Aca
dem
y of
Man
agem
ent J
ourn
alQ
uant
itativ
e (C
EOs a
nd m
embe
rs o
f th
eir T
MTs
in 1
52 S
MEs
)U
.STh
e stu
dy p
rovi
des e
mpi
rical
ev
iden
ce th
at tr
ansf
orm
atio
nal
CEO
s infl
uenc
e TM
Ts’ b
ehav
iora
l in
tegr
atio
n, ri
sk p
rope
nsity
, dec
en-
traliz
atio
n of
resp
onsi
bilit
ies,
and
long
-term
com
pens
atio
n an
d th
at
thes
e TM
T ch
arac
teris
tics i
mpa
ct
corp
orat
e en
trepr
eneu
rshi
pM
ario
n et
al.
(201
2)IE
EE T
rans
actio
ns o
n En
gine
erin
g M
anag
emen
tM
ixed
met
hods
(Pen
nsyl
vani
a an
d M
assa
chus
etts
Sm
all B
usin
ess
Dev
elop
men
t Cen
ters
& In
c.
Mag
azin
e)
U.S
This
stud
y em
piric
ally
reve
als t
hat
succ
essf
ul st
art-u
ps u
se c
erta
in
best
prac
tices
in u
niqu
e w
ays.
They
in
nova
te w
ith “
hype
r-agi
lity”
and
im
plem
ent (
1) sm
all o
mni
func
-tio
nal t
eam
s with
no
func
tiona
l bo
unda
ries,
(2) g
oal-d
riven
rapi
d de
velo
pmen
t of t
echn
olog
y ra
ther
th
an p
roce
ss g
uide
d m
etho
ds, a
nd
(3) i
nstin
ctiv
e ex
plor
atio
n of
mar
ket
pote
ntia
l rat
her t
han
quan
titat
ive
anal
ysis
S. Nadkarni, R. Prügl
1 3
Tabl
e 6
(con
tinue
d)
Aut
hors
(Yea
r)O
utle
tM
etho
dolo
gy (s
ampl
e)Re
gion
Key
find
ings
Mey
er e
t al.
(199
0)St
rate
gic
Man
agem
ent J
ourn
alC
once
ptua
lU
.SB
ased
on
a hi
storic
al a
naly
sis o
f the
ho
spita
l ind
ustry
, thi
s pap
er c
lass
i-fie
s mod
els o
f org
aniz
atio
nal c
hang
e ac
cord
ing
to th
e pr
imar
y m
ode
of
chan
ge (c
ontin
uous
or d
isco
ntin
u-ou
s) a
nd th
e pr
imar
y le
vel a
t whi
ch
chan
ge o
ccur
s (or
gani
zatio
n or
in
dustr
y) to
yie
ld fo
ur b
asic
type
s of
cha
nge:
ada
ptat
ion,
met
amor
-ph
osis
, evo
lutio
n, a
nd re
volu
tion.
Th
ese
type
s infl
uenc
e or
gani
za-
tions
’ ada
ptiv
e re
spon
ses,
shap
e in
dustr
ies’
com
petit
ive
struc
ture
s, an
d co
nstra
in re
sear
cher
s’ m
etho
ds
of in
quiry
Nas
on e
t al.
(201
5)Sm
all B
usin
ess E
cono
mic
sLi
tera
ture
revi
ew (1
57 a
rticl
es o
n C
E)U
.STh
e lit
erat
ure
revi
ew id
entifi
es
how
size
con
fers
CE
com
petit
ive
adva
ntag
es v
ia sl
ack
reso
urce
s and
re
sour
ce st
ruct
urin
g pr
oces
ses,
but d
isad
vant
ages
via
bur
eauc
ratic
str
uctu
res a
nd re
sour
ce b
undl
ing.
A
war
e of
thes
e w
eakn
esse
s, th
e au
thor
s sug
gest
that
smal
l firm
s are
m
ore
likel
y to
util
ize
CE
for g
row
th
to o
verc
ome
liabi
litie
s of s
mal
lnes
s, w
hile
larg
e fir
ms a
re m
ore
likel
y to
ut
ilize
CE
for l
earn
ing
to o
verc
ome
liabi
litie
s of i
nerti
a
1 3
Digital transformation: a review, synthesis and opportunities…
Tabl
e 6
(con
tinue
d)
Aut
hors
(Yea
r)O
utle
tM
etho
dolo
gy (s
ampl
e)Re
gion
Key
find
ings
Pelto
la (2
012)
Bus
ines
s Hor
izon
sC
ase
study
(Int
ervi
ew w
ith th
e m
an-
agin
g di
rect
or o
f a F
inni
sh B
2B
mar
ketin
g se
rvic
es fi
rm)
Finl
and
Rega
rdin
g th
e im
plem
enta
tion
of a
C
E str
ateg
y, th
e fo
llow
ing
less
ons
can
be d
raw
n fro
m th
e ca
se st
udy:
(1
) firm
s mus
t ana
lyze
thei
r hist
ory
and
thei
r cur
rent
way
of d
oing
bus
i-ne
ss, (
2) e
mpl
oyee
s mus
t und
er-
stan
d w
hat t
he fi
rms s
tand
s for
, now
an
d in
the
futu
re, (
3) e
mpl
oyee
role
s sh
ould
be
reor
gani
zed
and
rede
-fin
ed to
mee
t lon
g-te
rm b
usin
ess
dem
ands
, and
(4) i
n or
der t
o ex
pand
th
e en
tire
mar
ket,
coop
erat
ions
w
ith c
ompe
titor
s mig
ht b
e w
orth
co
nsid
erin
gSh
imiz
u (2
012)
Org
aniz
atio
n Sc
ienc
eC
once
ptua
lJa
pan
Alth
ough
an
incr
easi
ng d
egre
e of
au
tono
my
amon
g m
iddl
e an
d op
erat
iona
l man
ager
s has
pos
itive
eff
ects
on
CE,
too
muc
h au
tono
my
is h
arm
ful t
o th
e su
cces
s of C
E by
un
expe
cted
ly e
ncou
ragi
ng o
ppor
-tu
nisti
c be
havi
ors a
nd d
ecre
asin
g pe
rcei
ved
fairn
ess (
incr
easi
ng
perc
eive
d un
fairn
ess)
S. Nadkarni, R. Prügl
1 3
Tabl
e 6
(con
tinue
d)
Aut
hors
(Yea
r)O
utle
tM
etho
dolo
gy (s
ampl
e)Re
gion
Key
find
ings
Thor
nber
ry (2
001)
Euro
pean
Man
agem
ent J
ourn
alC
once
ptua
lU
.STh
e au
thor
pro
pose
s var
ious
obs
tacl
es
to a
succ
essf
ul im
plem
enta
tion
of c
orpo
rate
ent
repr
eneu
rshi
p in
es
tabl
ishe
d co
mpa
nies
, inc
ludi
ng
supe
rfici
al to
p le
ader
ship
com
mit-
men
t, un
certa
inty
abo
ut th
e fir
m’s
C
E ob
ject
ives
, and
low
ent
repr
e-ne
uria
l lev
els o
f mid
dle
man
ager
sTu
rner
and
Pen
ning
ton
(201
5)Sm
all B
usin
ess E
cono
mic
sQ
uant
itativ
e (S
urve
y da
ta c
olle
cted
fro
m 2
00 fr
anch
isee
s of o
ne la
rge
U.S
. org
aniz
atio
n)
U.S
Resu
lts d
emon
strat
e ho
w k
now
ledg
e sh
arin
g an
d or
gani
zatio
nal l
earn
ing
are
asso
ciat
ed w
ith th
e m
otiv
a-tio
n, o
ppor
tuni
ty, a
nd a
bilit
y to
act
w
ithin
the
corp
orat
e en
trepr
eneu
rial
cont
ext
Turr
ó et
al.
(201
4)Te
chno
logi
cal F
orec
astin
g an
d So
cial
Cha
nge
Qua
ntita
tive
(718
.758
obs
erva
tions
fro
m th
e G
loba
l Ent
repr
eneu
rshi
p M
onito
r (G
EM) d
atab
ase
from
20
04–2
008)
Inte
rnat
iona
l (6
2 di
ffere
nt
coun
tries
)
Find
ings
hig
hlig
ht th
e im
pact
of t
he
envi
ronm
enta
l fac
tors
on
orga
ni-
zatio
nal i
nnov
atio
n, sp
ecifi
cally
on
CE.
Var
iabl
es su
ch a
s liv
ing
in a
n en
trepr
eneu
rial c
ultu
re a
nd m
edia
ex
posu
re (i
nfor
mal
fact
ors)
, and
the
num
ber o
f pro
cedu
res n
eces
sary
to
cre
ate
a ne
w b
usin
ess o
r acc
ess
to fi
nanc
e (fo
rmal
fact
ors)
, app
ear
to b
e si
gnifi
cant
for C
E. M
oreo
ver,
info
rmal
fact
ors b
ehav
e as
mod
era-
tors
bet
wee
n fo
rmal
fact
ors a
nd C
E
1 3
Digital transformation: a review, synthesis and opportunities…
Tabl
e 6
(con
tinue
d)
Aut
hors
(Yea
r)O
utle
tM
etho
dolo
gy (s
ampl
e)Re
gion
Key
find
ings
Urb
ano
and
Turr
ó (2
013)
Inte
rnat
iona
l Ent
repr
eneu
rshi
p an
d M
anag
emen
t Jou
rnal
Qua
ntita
tive
(339
.071
obs
erva
tions
fro
m th
e G
loba
l Ent
repr
eneu
rshi
p M
onito
r (G
EM) d
atab
ase
from
the
year
s 200
4–20
08)
Inte
rnat
iona
l (9
diff
eren
t Eu
rope
an
coun
tries
)
The
resu
lts sh
ow th
at in
tern
al fa
c-to
rs (r
esou
rces
and
cap
abili
ties
fact
ors)
pla
y a
mor
e im
porta
nt
role
than
ext
erna
l fac
tors
(for
mal
an
d in
form
al in
stitu
tions
). In
oth
er
wor
ds, e
duca
tion
leve
l, kn
owin
g ot
her e
ntre
pren
eurs
and
bei
ng a
ble
to id
entif
y bu
sine
ss o
ppor
tuni
ties
posi
tivel
y aff
ect C
E. O
n th
e ot
her
hand
, env
ironm
enta
l fac
tors
, suc
h as
a fe
ar o
f fai
lure
, the
effe
ct o
f th
e m
edia
and
the
num
ber o
f day
s re
quire
d to
star
t a b
usin
ess,
are
not
sign
ifica
nt fa
ctor
sZa
hra
(199
6)A
cade
my
of M
anag
emen
t Jou
rnal
Qua
ntita
tive
(127
For
tune
500
co
mpa
nies
)U
.STh
e stu
dy’s
arg
umen
t is t
hat e
xecu
tive
stock
ow
ners
hip
and
long
-term
in
stitu
tiona
l ow
ners
hip
are
posi
tivel
y re
late
d to
CE,
and
that
th
e as
soci
atio
n of
ow
ners
hip
and
gove
rnan
ce w
ith C
E is
mod
er-
ated
by
the
leve
l of t
echn
olog
ical
op
portu
nitie
s tha
t exi
st in
the
firm
’s
maj
or in
dustr
y
S. Nadkarni, R. Prügl
1 3
Tabl
e 6
(con
tinue
d)
Aut
hors
(Yea
r)O
utle
tM
etho
dolo
gy (s
ampl
e)Re
gion
Key
find
ings
Zahr
a (2
015)
Smal
l Bus
ines
s Eco
nom
ics
Con
cept
ual
U.S
Bot
h fo
rmal
and
info
rmal
CE
activ
i-tie
s are
alw
ays n
eede
d to
indu
ce
inno
vatio
n, ri
sk ta
king
, and
pro
ac-
tiven
ess i
nto
com
pani
es’ o
pera
tions
. A
lso,
hub
s are
cru
cial
with
in th
e stu
dy a
nd p
ract
ice
of C
E—bo
th
form
al a
nd in
form
al. T
hey
conn
ect
indi
vidu
als a
cros
s lev
els a
nd a
cros
s or
gani
zatio
nal b
ound
arie
s, an
d th
ey
capi
taliz
e on
the
skill
s and
tale
nts
of th
e m
embe
rs o
f int
erna
l and
ex
tern
al n
etw
ork
Zahr
a an
d C
ovin
(199
5)Jo
urna
l of B
usin
ess V
entu
ring
Qua
ntita
tive
(Lon
gitu
dina
l ana
lysi
s (7
-yea
r-per
iod)
of 2
4 m
ediu
m-
size
d m
anuf
actu
ring
firm
s, 39
ch
emic
al c
ompa
nies
, and
45
Fortu
ne 5
00 in
dustr
ial fi
rms)
U.S
The
resu
lts fr
om th
is e
mpi
rical
stud
y su
gges
t tha
t CE
has a
pos
itive
im
pact
on
finan
cial
mea
sure
s of
com
pany
per
form
ance
. Spe
cific
ally
, th
e re
sults
indi
cate
that
CE
appe
ars
to b
e a
parti
cula
rly e
ffect
ive
strat
e-gi
c pr
actic
e am
ong
firm
s ope
ratin
g in
hos
tile
busi
ness
setti
ngs
1 3
Digital transformation: a review, synthesis and opportunities…
Tabl
e 6
(con
tinue
d)
Aut
hors
(Yea
r)O
utle
tM
etho
dolo
gy (s
ampl
e)Re
gion
Key
find
ings
Zahr
a et
al.
(199
9)En
trepr
eneu
rshi
p Th
eory
and
Pr
actic
eC
once
ptua
lU
.STh
is p
aper
arg
ues t
hat f
orm
al a
nd
info
rmal
CE
activ
ities
can
enr
ich
a co
mpa
ny’s
per
form
ance
by
crea
t-in
g ne
w k
now
ledg
e th
at b
ecom
es
a fo
unda
tion
for b
uild
ing
new
co
mpe
tenc
ies o
r rev
italiz
ing
exist
-in
g on
es. T
he k
now
ledg
e-cr
eatio
n pr
oces
s with
in C
E ac
tiviti
es a
nd
the
subs
eque
nt st
rate
gic
use
of th
is
know
ledg
e ar
e tig
htly
link
ed to
th
e fir
m’s
lear
ning
and
unl
earn
ing
proc
esse
s
S. Nadkarni, R. Prügl
1 3
Tabl
e 7
Con
cept
mat
rix: c
ateg
oriz
atio
n of
tech
nolo
gica
l dis
rupt
ion
and
corp
orat
e en
trepr
eneu
rshi
p sa
mpl
e (2
8 an
d 32
stud
ies r
espe
ctiv
ely)
Arti
cles
Met
hodo
logy
Jour
nal
Tech
nolo
gy-c
entri
cA
ctor
-cen
tric
Pace
of
Cha
nge
and
Tim
e to
M
arke
t
Tech
nolo
gy
Cap
abili
ty
and
Inte
gra-
tion
Con
sum
er
and
othe
r St
akeh
olde
r In
terfa
ce
Dist
rib-
uted
Val
ue
Cre
atio
n an
d C
aptu
re
Mar
ket
Envi
ronm
ent
and
Rule
s of
Com
petit
ion
Tran
sfor
ma-
tive
Lead
er-
ship
Man
ager
ial
and
Org
ani-
zatio
nal
Cap
abili
ties
Com
-pa
ny
Cul
ture
Wor
k En
viro
n-m
ent
Tech
nolo
gica
l Dis
rupt
ion
(28
Stud
ies)
1. A
nder
son
and
Tush
-m
an (1
990)
Qua
ntita
tive
ASQ
xx
x
2. B
erge
k et
al.
(201
3)
Cas
e stu
dyR
Px
x
3. B
erm
an
et a
l. (2
016)
Con
cept
ual
S&L
xx
xx
x
4. B
ower
and
C
hris
-te
nsen
(1
995)
Con
cept
ual
HB
Rx
xx
5. D
anne
els
(200
4)C
once
ptua
lJP
IMx
6. D
aSilv
a et
al.
(201
3)
Cas
e stu
dyTA
SMx
xx
7. D
owne
s an
d N
unes
(2
013)
Con
cept
ual
HB
Rx
xx
8. G
ans
(201
6)C
once
ptua
lM
IT S
MR
xx
1 3
Digital transformation: a review, synthesis and opportunities…
Tabl
e 7
(con
tinue
d)
Arti
cles
Met
hodo
logy
Jour
nal
Tech
nolo
gy-c
entri
cA
ctor
-cen
tric
Pace
of
Cha
nge
and
Tim
e to
M
arke
t
Tech
nolo
gy
Cap
abili
ty
and
Inte
gra-
tion
Con
sum
er
and
othe
r St
akeh
olde
r In
terfa
ce
Dist
rib-
uted
Val
ue
Cre
atio
n an
d C
aptu
re
Mar
ket
Envi
ronm
ent
and
Rule
s of
Com
petit
ion
Tran
sfor
ma-
tive
Lead
er-
ship
Man
ager
ial
and
Org
ani-
zatio
nal
Cap
abili
ties
Com
-pa
ny
Cul
ture
Wor
k En
viro
n-m
ent
9. G
awer
and
C
usum
ano
(201
4)
Con
cept
ual
JPIM
x
10. G
erstn
er
et a
l. (2
013)
Qua
ntita
tive
ASQ
x
11. G
ilber
t an
d B
ower
(2
002)
Con
cept
ual
HB
Rx
x
12. G
ünze
l an
d H
olm
(2
013)
Cas
e stu
dyIJ
IMx
xx
13. H
abta
y an
d H
ol-
mén
(201
4)
Mix
ed m
eth-
ods
IJEI
Mx
x
14. H
ill a
nd
Roth
aerm
el
(200
3)
Con
cept
ual
AM
Rx
x
15. H
olm
et
al.
(201
3)
Cas
e stu
dyIJ
TMx
xx
x
16. J
ohns
on
et a
l. (2
008)
Con
cept
ual
HB
Rx
S. Nadkarni, R. Prügl
1 3
Tabl
e 7
(con
tinue
d)
Arti
cles
Met
hodo
logy
Jour
nal
Tech
nolo
gy-c
entri
cA
ctor
-cen
tric
Pace
of
Cha
nge
and
Tim
e to
M
arke
t
Tech
nolo
gy
Cap
abili
ty
and
Inte
gra-
tion
Con
sum
er
and
othe
r St
akeh
olde
r In
terfa
ce
Dist
rib-
uted
Val
ue
Cre
atio
n an
d C
aptu
re
Mar
ket
Envi
ronm
ent
and
Rule
s of
Com
petit
ion
Tran
sfor
ma-
tive
Lead
er-
ship
Man
ager
ial
and
Org
ani-
zatio
nal
Cap
abili
ties
Com
-pa
ny
Cul
ture
Wor
k En
viro
n-m
ent
17. K
oen
et a
l. (2
010)
Cas
e stu
dyRT
Mx
x
18. L
avie
(2
006)
Con
cept
ual
AM
Rx
19. L
ucas
an
d G
oh
(200
9)
Cas
e stu
dyJS
ISx
x
20. O
bal
(201
3)Q
uant
itativ
eIM
Mx
21. v
on P
ech-
man
n et
al.
(201
5)
Qua
litat
ive
ICC
x
22. R
oy a
nd
Sark
ar
(201
6)
Qua
ntita
tive
SMJ
x
23. S
aba-
tier e
t al.
(201
2)
Cas
e stu
dyTF
SCx
xx
24. S
haug
h-ne
ssy
(201
6)
Con
cept
ual
S&L
xx
x
1 3
Digital transformation: a review, synthesis and opportunities…
Tabl
e 7
(con
tinue
d)
Arti
cles
Met
hodo
logy
Jour
nal
Tech
nolo
gy-c
entri
cA
ctor
-cen
tric
Pace
of
Cha
nge
and
Tim
e to
M
arke
t
Tech
nolo
gy
Cap
abili
ty
and
Inte
gra-
tion
Con
sum
er
and
othe
r St
akeh
olde
r In
terfa
ce
Dist
rib-
uted
Val
ue
Cre
atio
n an
d C
aptu
re
Mar
ket
Envi
ronm
ent
and
Rule
s of
Com
petit
ion
Tran
sfor
ma-
tive
Lead
er-
ship
Man
ager
ial
and
Org
ani-
zatio
nal
Cap
abili
ties
Com
-pa
ny
Cul
ture
Wor
k En
viro
n-m
ent
25. T
ongu
r an
d En
g-w
all (
2014
)
Cas
e stu
dyTe
chno
vx
x
26. T
ush-
man
and
A
nder
son
(198
6)
Qua
ntita
tive
ASQ
xx
x
27. V
ecch
iato
(2
017)
Cas
e stu
dyTF
SCx
x
28. Y
u an
d H
ang
(201
0)
Revi
ewIJ
MR
xx
xx
Cor
pora
te e
ntre
pren
eurs
hip
(32
Stud
ies)
1. A
huja
and
M
orris
La
mpe
rt (2
001)
Qua
ntita
tive
SMJ
x
2. B
irkin
-sh
aw
(199
7)
Mix
ed m
eth-
ods
SMJ
3. B
urge
lman
(1
983)
Con
cept
ual
MS
xx
S. Nadkarni, R. Prügl
1 3
Tabl
e 7
(con
tinue
d)
Arti
cles
Met
hodo
logy
Jour
nal
Tech
nolo
gy-c
entri
cA
ctor
-cen
tric
Pace
of
Cha
nge
and
Tim
e to
M
arke
t
Tech
nolo
gy
Cap
abili
ty
and
Inte
gra-
tion
Con
sum
er
and
othe
r St
akeh
olde
r In
terfa
ce
Dist
rib-
uted
Val
ue
Cre
atio
n an
d C
aptu
re
Mar
ket
Envi
ronm
ent
and
Rule
s of
Com
petit
ion
Tran
sfor
ma-
tive
Lead
er-
ship
Man
ager
ial
and
Org
ani-
zatio
nal
Cap
abili
ties
Com
-pa
ny
Cul
ture
Wor
k En
viro
n-m
ent
4. C
hen
and
Nad
karn
i (2
017)
Qua
ntita
tive
ASQ
x
5. C
orbe
tt et
al.
(201
3)
Revi
ewJP
IMx
6. C
ovin
an
d M
iles
(199
9)
Con
cept
ual
ET&
Px
7. D
ess e
t al.
(200
3)C
once
ptua
lJO
Mx
x
8. D
ushn
it-sk
y an
d Le
nox
(200
5)
Qua
ntita
tive
RP
x
9. E
ngel
(2
011)
Con
cept
ual
RTM
xx
xx
10. F
loyd
an
d W
ool-
drid
ge
(199
9)
Con
cept
ual
ET&
Px
xx
11. G
uth
and
Gin
sber
g (1
990)
Con
cept
ual
SMJ
xx
1 3
Digital transformation: a review, synthesis and opportunities…
Tabl
e 7
(con
tinue
d)
Arti
cles
Met
hodo
logy
Jour
nal
Tech
nolo
gy-c
entri
cA
ctor
-cen
tric
Pace
of
Cha
nge
and
Tim
e to
M
arke
t
Tech
nolo
gy
Cap
abili
ty
and
Inte
gra-
tion
Con
sum
er
and
othe
r St
akeh
olde
r In
terfa
ce
Dist
rib-
uted
Val
ue
Cre
atio
n an
d C
aptu
re
Mar
ket
Envi
ronm
ent
and
Rule
s of
Com
petit
ion
Tran
sfor
ma-
tive
Lead
er-
ship
Man
ager
ial
and
Org
ani-
zatio
nal
Cap
abili
ties
Com
-pa
ny
Cul
ture
Wor
k En
viro
n-m
ent
12. H
orns
by
et a
l. (2
002)
Qua
ntita
tive
JBV
xx
x
13. H
orns
by
et a
l. (2
009)
Qua
ntita
tive
JBV
x
14. I
rela
nd,
Cov
in a
nd
Kur
atko
(2
009)
Con
cept
ual
ET&
Px
x
15. K
arim
i an
d W
alte
r (2
016)
Qua
ntita
tive
LRP
x
16. K
ohle
r (2
016)
Qua
litat
ive
BH
x
17. K
urat
ko
et a
l. (2
014)
Con
cept
ual
BH
xx
18. L
ant a
nd
Mez
ias
(199
0)
Com
p.
Sim
ul.
SMJ
x
19. L
ing
et a
l. (2
008)
Qua
ntita
tive
AM
Jx
S. Nadkarni, R. Prügl
1 3
Tabl
e 7
(con
tinue
d)
Arti
cles
Met
hodo
logy
Jour
nal
Tech
nolo
gy-c
entri
cA
ctor
-cen
tric
Pace
of
Cha
nge
and
Tim
e to
M
arke
t
Tech
nolo
gy
Cap
abili
ty
and
Inte
gra-
tion
Con
sum
er
and
othe
r St
akeh
olde
r In
terfa
ce
Dist
rib-
uted
Val
ue
Cre
atio
n an
d C
aptu
re
Mar
ket
Envi
ronm
ent
and
Rule
s of
Com
petit
ion
Tran
sfor
ma-
tive
Lead
er-
ship
Man
ager
ial
and
Org
ani-
zatio
nal
Cap
abili
ties
Com
-pa
ny
Cul
ture
Wor
k En
viro
n-m
ent
20. M
ario
n et
al.
(201
2)
Mix
ed m
eth-
ods
TEM
xx
x
21. M
eyer
et
al.
(199
0)
Con
cept
ual
SMJ
x
22. N
ason
et
al.
(201
5)
Revi
ewSB
Ex
x
23. P
elto
la
(201
2)C
ase
study
BH
xx
24. S
him
izu
(201
2)C
once
ptua
lO
Sx
25. T
horn
-be
rry
(200
1)
Con
cept
ual
EMJ
x
26. T
urne
r an
d Pe
n-ni
ngto
n (2
015)
Qua
ntita
tive
SBE
x
27. T
urró
et
al.
(201
4)
Qua
ntita
tive
TFSC
xx
1 3
Digital transformation: a review, synthesis and opportunities…
Tabl
e 7
(con
tinue
d)
Arti
cles
Met
hodo
logy
Jour
nal
Tech
nolo
gy-c
entri
cA
ctor
-cen
tric
Pace
of
Cha
nge
and
Tim
e to
M
arke
t
Tech
nolo
gy
Cap
abili
ty
and
Inte
gra-
tion
Con
sum
er
and
othe
r St
akeh
olde
r In
terfa
ce
Dist
rib-
uted
Val
ue
Cre
atio
n an
d C
aptu
re
Mar
ket
Envi
ronm
ent
and
Rule
s of
Com
petit
ion
Tran
sfor
ma-
tive
Lead
er-
ship
Man
ager
ial
and
Org
ani-
zatio
nal
Cap
abili
ties
Com
-pa
ny
Cul
ture
Wor
k En
viro
n-m
ent
28. U
rban
o an
d Tu
rró
(201
3)
Qua
ntita
tive
IEM
Jx
x
29. Z
ahra
(1
996)
Qua
ntita
tive
AM
Jx
30. Z
ahra
(2
015)
Con
cept
ual
SBE
xx
31. Z
ahra
an
d C
ovin
(1
995)
Qua
ntita
tive
JBV
xx
32. Z
ahra
et
al.
(199
9)
Con
cept
ual
ET&
Px
xx
S. Nadkarni, R. Prügl
1 3
Fig. 5 Data structure for the technology-centric dimension of technological disruption
1 3
Digital transformation: a review, synthesis and opportunities…
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