Strategic action fields of digital transformation

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to capture the collective understanding of digital transformation (DT) across Swiss businesses and establish a reference framework based on the strategic action field (SAF) theory. Design/methodology/approach A number of Swiss associations provided their databases for an online survey. The large sample includes 2,590 participants from 1,854 organisations and delivered over 4,200 descriptions of DT, categorised into seven SAFs. A cross tabulation of SAF combinations by firm size identified 127 possible SAF combinations which constitute the common understanding of DT. Findings The data set allowed the identification of SAFs and the conceptualisation of DT based on a shared understanding. Drivers of digital transformation are: process engineering, new technologies and digital business development, supported by digital leadership and culture, the cloud and data, customer centricity and digital marketing. Research limitations/implications For practitioners, the study provides the SAFs that should be considered for DT strategies. For academic scholars, a unique data set has allowed the study of DT by analysing action field combinations, revealing a nuanced constellation of SAFs. Limitations are the focus on Swiss organisations and a convenience sample for collecting the analysed data. Originality/value For the first time, the shared understanding of DT in Swiss businesses – based on SAFs – has allowed a conceptualisation of DT in order to provide guidance to businesses managers and employees.

Change Management, Digital Maturity, and Green Development: Are Successful Firms Leveraging on Sustainability?

“…The complexity of change management within the public and private sector across different industries is strongly influenced by the economic, political, social, and cultural environment of the ecosystem in which firms operate [13]. A firm's capability to allocate resources to manage change in structure, strategy, and processes in a continuously evolving business scenario evolves through the actions of business actors, managers, and employees [3].…”

“…In SAF theory, a firm is a strategic action field that interacts in the ecosystem with its competitors, different market forces, and social movements [14,15]. Fruitful exploitation of resources, capabilities, and the path development to renew business processes can be achieved when change management is led by intrafirm communication and the sharing of common interests and benefits [3]. As prior research has evidenced, pitfalls along this transformation process cannot be avoided, thus, change management needs to be implemented to gain competitive advantage within the industry [3][4][5].…”

“…Having a commitment to green development is unlikely to create financial benefits, but in combination with managerial capabilities to drive organizational change and to implement new structural, strategic, or productive processes, financial benefits may be gained [14,16]. Thus, we predict that: Firms across different sectors have recognized that investments in infrastructures to foster the digital transformation of operations, production processes, and strategy are paramount to gaining competitive advantage and generating increased business performance [3,4,8]. The digital maturity of a firm means that the managers/owners of the company are familiar with existing digital tools and applications and are better at adopting and deploying such tools and applications compared to their competitors.…”

“…Firms of almost all industries have introduced a series of initiatives to exploit digital transformation to increase business performance, productivity, or sales [30]. We use the term digitalization to refer to the transition from traditional business activities to the conducting of business in a digital form [3]. Thus, digital maturity can be defined as the degree of completion of the digital transformation of a firm compared to its industry peers [31].…”

“…Recently, the global scenario has radically been transformed due to the ongoing pandemic of coronavirus disease and the economic fallout generated by the lockdown in different countries. It seems that the embracing of digitalization and the transformation of business organizations integrating digital technologies have become paramount for the survival of firms [3]. In this study, digital maturity refers to the competitive advantages gained by a firm in transforming its fundamental business processes into digital processes.…”