Designing the digital organization

Abstract Increasingly, organizations are assessing their opportunities, developing and delivering products and services, and interacting with customers and other stakeholders digitally. Mobile computing, social media, and big data are the drivers of the future workplace, and these and other digitally based technologies are having large economic and social impacts, including increased competition and collaboration, the disruption of many industries, and pressure being put on organizations to develop new capabilities and transform their cultures. In this article, we provide a conceptual framework for the design of effective digital organizations. Our framework is predicated on the current state of digitization across diverse sectors of the global economy. In the digital world, all activities and transactions leave digital marks, and all actors, things, and places can be reached and affected digitally. As a result, we can design for self-organization rather than using hierarchical mechanisms for control and coordination. Such designs require the strategic and cultural alignment of digital technologies within the organization and externally with stakeholders. We propose that “actor-oriented” principles are at the heart of designing digital organizations and that, if properly applied, can result in a workplace where organization members are highly engaged and productive

Platforms, ecosystems, and the internationalization of highly digitized organizations

Highly digitized organizations can potentially grow faster internationally, relatively to more traditional organizations. They can do so by providing a platform, and by fostering an ecosystem of complementary third party developers, some of which are foreign. This paper proposes a theoretical link between International Business theory and the literature related to the platform-ecosystem organizational form. It emphasizes implications for psychic distance, liability of foreignness, and speed and pattern of internationalization

Strategizing and Revenue Creation in Dynamic Paradigms: A Model to Support Revenue Analysis for Mobile Incumbent Telcos

The growth of the Mobile telecommunications business in Italy has largely offset the decrease in revenues coming from fixed telephony. More specifically, we are witnessing a significant growth in data services, mainly driven by connectivity. The competitive landscape is also evolving, thanks to the growing convergence between the markets of Telecommunications, Media and Consumer Electronics. In consideration of the above scenario, this study aims to develop a strategic model in to analyze revenue streams generated by Telcos in the Italian Mobile services segment. This model describes the variation of the main factors influencing income and creates three possible future scenarios (optimistic, pessimistic and expected), affecting these variables in the next 5 years. The goal of the model is to support Telco executives in the identification of any critical areas that may create large gaps in revenue in the coming years and in the formulation of the right strategies

The science of organizational design: fit between structure and coordination

Abstract Organization design is a major factor determining an organization’s performance and how the people work together in these organizations. In the paper, we argue that designing organizations should be scientific-based and forward-looking. This raises challenges in designing organizations in contexts and situations that are new and have not been seen before. Experimentation of what is and what might be is the basis for exploring and examining what makes a good science for organizational design. Experimentation permits us to examine what might be for organization designs, which are not well understood or may not exist yet. Collaborative communities, new ventures, agile organizations, and temporary organizations are examples; experimentation permits us explore and examine what is and what might be and to examine the organizational design problem and perform experiments to understand the relationship between structure and coordination mechanisms of information, communications, decisions, trust, and incentives—the basis for the multi-contingency theory of organizational design. An organizational design must specify the fit between the structure of division of tasks in the organization with its coordination, or how to make these tasks work in concert. These tasks can be interdependent and uncertain. To design good organizations, we need empirical evidence about what is and exploration about what might be; we need a good theoretical basis for being able to generalize our knowledge. To illustrate our point, we examine two experiments on the classic M-form hypothesis—a computer simulation that examines coordination, organization structure, and interdependency and a laboratory experiment that examines the effect of incentives on opportunism and performance. Together, we find that the M-form is a robust organizational design, but with contingent conditions. Finally, we discuss how observation and experimentation together is the foundation for the development of scientific-based theory of organizational design

Collaborative organizational forms: on communities, crowds, and new hybrids

Abstract In this article, I examine collaborative organizational forms in terms of their institutional properties and the mechanisms by which they solve the universal problems of organizing. Based on three ideal forms—markets, hierarchies, and communities—I propose a framework for analyzing and mapping organizational forms. The framework expands our understanding of the ideal forms and derives a set of analytically distinct hybrids at the intersection of the ideal types. The framework also specifies the main conditions that drive organizations to change form and move toward another hybrid or ideal form. The theoretical review of collaborative organizational forms is illustrated and informed by three empirical cases of new forms within the domains of drug discovery, software development, as well as professional services. Further, I discuss plural forms and the role of hierarchy in collaborative forms. Finally, I outline implications for research and practice in terms of comparative analysis of organizational forms, the role of crowds, as well as the interplay between new technologies and new organizational forms

Seeing through the network: Competitive advantage in the digital economy

Abstract Firms operate in an environment that is increasingly permeated with digital technology. The incorporation of digital technology into products, services, and operations has significant implications on how firms can attain and sustain competitive advantage. Traditional strategic models of competitive advantage – such as the industry structure view, the resource-based view or the dynamic capabilities approach – are built on assumptions which lack validity in today’s digital environments. Digitization radically changes the very nature of products, the process of value creation and, above all, firms’ competitive environment. This study contributes to a better understanding of how firms may achieve sustained competitive advantage in this digital economy: It outlines a network-centric view which explains the competitive environment of firms being confronted with digital technology and its affordances. Based on the network-centric view, the firms may achieve competitive advantage by actively shaping the digital environment (i.e. applying a logic of effectuation) and by value co-creating of the interconnected firms in the digital environment. The framework may help firms to design and create strategies in order to attain and sustain competitive advantage in a digital economy