Digital Business Strategy: An Investigation of Generic Types, Performance Implications, and Path Dependence


Book Description

In an ever more digitized world, it necessary to embed digital technology in business strategy, leading to an overarching phenomenon called the digital business strategy. Accordingly, this thesis sets out to advance the understanding, the digital business strategy concept in general as well as its influence on a company’s performance. At the same time, incumbents are often constrained by path dependencies and inertia as executives tend to make use of prior experiences and favor strategic choices they are familiar with over unfamiliar As a consequence, companies may stick to a specific path which restrains transformational change. Accordingly, the study elucidates the ongoing digital transformation as it manifests itself in the evolution of incumbents’ digital business strategies. In addition, this thesis seeks to derive important implications for business practice, as it helps practitioners to develop a better understanding of digital business strategies, especially considering that digitalization challenges the conventional wisdom of competition. This is particularly important, as with increasing digitalization, tightly integrated digital business strategies will be among the biggest determinants of a company’s future success. In einer immer stärker digitalisierten Welt ist es wichtig digitale Technologien in die Geschäftsstrategie eines Unternehmens einzubetten, was zu einem übergreifenden Phänomen führt, das als digitale Geschäftsstrategie bezeichnet wird. Dementsprechend zielt diese Arbeit darauf ab, das Verständnis des Konzepts der digitalen Geschäftsstrategie im Allgemeinen sowie dessen Einfluss auf die Performance eines Unternehmens zu verbessern. Gleichzeitig sind etablierte Unternehmen oft durch Pfadabhängigkeiten und Trägheit eingeschränkt, da Führungskräfte dazu neigen, auf frühere Erfahrungen zurückzugreifen und strategische Entscheidungen, mit denen sie vertraut sind, gegenüber unbekannten Optionen zu bevorzugen In der Folge verharren Unternehmen auf einem bestimmten strategischen Pfad, was transformatorischen Wandel hemmt. Dementsprechend beleuchtet die Studie die laufende digitale Transformation und wie diese sich in der Entwicklung der digitalen Geschäftsstrategien etablierter Unternehmen manifestiert. Darüber hinaus versucht diese Arbeit, wichtige Implikationen für die Unternehmenspraxis abzuleiten, da sie Praktikern hilft, ein besseres Verständnis für digitale Geschäftsstrategien zu entwickeln, insbesondere in Anbetracht der Tatsache, dass die Digitalisierung die konventionelle Weisheit des Wettbewerbs herausfordert. Dies ist besonders wichtig, da mit zunehmender Digitalisierung eng integrierte digitale Geschäftsstrategien zu den größten Determinanten für den zukünftigen Erfolg eines Unternehmens gehören werden.




Technology and Strategy


Book Description

In today's complex, dynamic competitive landscape, management of technology can mean the difference between success and failure. Managers and researchers alike need effective ways to conceptualize and develop technology strategies. Richard Goodman and Michael Lawless provide tools needed to integrate firms' technology capabilities with their competitive direction. Technology and Strategy presents models that help put technology and its market impacts into perspective. It addresses the broad questions of how technology and markets evolve, how technology can re-order the "rules" of competition, and how it can shift the balance of individual firms' competitive advantage. It also blends topics currently capturing attention in business circles--such as Total Quality Management and the resource-based view of the firm--into a clear view of technology management programs. Technology and Strategy also describes methods to develop specific strategies to cope with challenges facing executives--like evaluating promising, but untried, new technologies. Using actual case studies from the electronics and bio-tech industries, Goodman and Lawless demonstrate the use of new techniques to formulate strategy, including Technology Mapping and the Innovation Audit. Both were created to help executives choose the approach to technology best suited to their firms' particular capabilities. Offering clear, practical guidance through a complex, fast-changing world of competition, this new analysis of technology and strategy is a valuable guide for general managers, R&D and manufacturing managers, strategic planners, and academics.




Technology and Competitive Strategy


Book Description

Competitive Strategy is a key driver of industrial growth and economic development. There has, however, been no book that expounds holistically the key role of technology in shaping and influencing competitive strategy. This book is an insightful analysis of the several ways in which technology drives competitive strategy. The book’s unique contributions lie in the classification of firms based on the concept of technology pyramid and articulation of characteristic strategies of innovators, differentiators and followers. The book develops a distinctive five forces model of technology and proposes three generic technology competitive strategies. It also focuses on the linkages between strategy, technology and regulation. Multiple themes are weaved together by the myriad threads of technology in a seamless and simple manner. It is loaded with innumerable real life examples which validate the constructs. The book would inspire technologists and strategists as well as academicians and administrators to deploy technology not only for competitive advantage at firm level but also for national comparative advantage and broader socio-economic equity.




Contemporary Strategy Analysis


Book Description

The updated new edition of the classic strategic analysis textbook, addresses the emerging challenges that businesses face in an increasingly complex and dynamic environment A market-leading title across the world in upper-level undergraduate and MBA courses, Contemporary Strategy Analysis combines a rigorous approach to business strategy analysis with highly relevant examples of current practice and a rich collection of case studies. With a lively narrative style, expert strategist and lecturer Robert M. Grant introduces students to some of the latest thinking in the strategy field while addressing the strategic issues that business enterprises face today. Designed to be accessible for students from different backgrounds with varying levels of experience, the twelfth edition of Contemporary Strategy Analysis builds upon its tradition of clarity of exposition, emphasis on practicality, and concentration on the fundamentals of value creation and appropriation. A wide range of contemporary topics are presented alongside fully integrated business models, real-world examples of business model innovation, and practical tools for formulating and implementing business strategies. Contemporary Strategy Analysis, Twelfth Edition, remains the ideal textbook for core strategy courses in Business Studies, Management, and MBA programs, as well as for executive courses on competitive strategy, corporate strategy, and management consulting skills. It is also a valuable resource for managers, business owners, founders, and other professionals who are responsible for the strategic direction of a modern enterprise.




Technology Infrastructure and Competitive Position


Book Description

Global interest in technology-based growth politics is growing as technology becomes an increasingly important factor in economic competitiveness. In spite of increased efforts in many nations to develop more effective industry strategies, most of these endeavors have been ad hoc exercises rather than derived from a consistent framework. Technology Infrastructure and Competitive Position provides that missing framework. It begins by providing an overview of technology-based competition and the relevant issues. A conceptual model is developed that emphasizes the roles and impacts of the supporting infrastructure. Finally, the book addresses the interaction of corporate and governmental roles for providing technology infrastructure, some funding issues and mechanisms for cooperative planning and implementation.




Strategic Management (color)


Book Description

Strategic Management (2020) is a 325-page open educational resource designed as an introduction to the key topics and themes of strategic management. The open textbook is intended for a senior capstone course in an undergraduate business program and suitable for a wide range of undergraduate business students including those majoring in marketing, management, business administration, accounting, finance, real estate, business information technology, and hospitality and tourism. The text presents examples of familiar companies and personalities to illustrate the different strategies used by today's firms and how they go about implementing those strategies. It includes case studies, end of section key takeaways, exercises, and links to external videos, and an end-of-book glossary. The text is ideal for courses which focus on how organizations operate at the strategic level to be successful. Students will learn how to conduct case analyses, measure organizational performance, and conduct external and internal analyses.







Strategy


Book Description

Lecturers - save time by clicking here to request an e-inspection copy of this textbook - no waiting for the post to arrive! Written by a team of leading academics, this groundbreaking new text is an invaluable guide to the core elements of strategy courses, that will challenge conventional thinking about the field. Key features: - Provides a coherent and engaging overview of the established 'classics' of strategy, while taking an innovative approach to contemporary issues such as power and politics, ethics, branding, globalisation, collaboration, and the global financial crisis. - A unique critical perspective that encourages you to reflect on the strategy process and strategic decision-making. - Packed with learning features, including a wealth of international case studies and accompanying discussion questions. - A website offering a full Instructors' Manual, video cases, podcasts and full-text journal articles. Visit the Companion Website at www.sagepub.co.uk/cleggstrategy Read the authors’ research paper ‘Re-Framing Strategy: Power, Politics and Accounting’ in which they make the case for a critically informed approach to studying strategy in the special issue of Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal (Vol 23, Issue 5) Praise for Strategy: Theory and Practice "Finally, something different in a strategy text! This new volume provides a broad view of strategy covering the conventional as well as less mainstream alternatives like the growing strategy-as-practice perspective. It also does a great job of providing balanced critiques of the existing orthodoxy and provides explicit connections to some of the more accessible academic articles providing more depth to the arguments presented. All in all, it is an excellent break from the unfortunate tendency to make strategy a narrow economic enterprise in a world that is far more complex and social than that. Strategy: Theory and Practice is a welcome addition to the available texts on strategy" - Nelson Phillips, Professor of Strategy and Organizational Behaviour Co-Editor, Journal of Management Inquiry "A super and overdue book. It embraces the central importance of organization theory and, especially, the play of power and politics both inside and outside the organization. This erudite, almost polemical book promises to redraw how we approach the study of strategy - and not before time!" - Royston Greenwood, Associate Dean, School of Business, University of Alberta "It explains where strategy originates from and how contemporary ideas and practices facilitate or constrain decision-making and action. In particular, this book illuminates the role of power and politics in strategy - an issue that has been overlooked in most textbooks in this area. Enjoyable and inspiring reading for students, researchers and practitioners" - Eero Vaara, Professor of Management and Organization Dean of Research Hanken School of Economics, Helsinki "The authors have managed to produce a unique and admirable combination of critical external engagement with 'strategy', understood as a complex object of organizational and political construction, and a useable insiders text book rich in illustrative cases. As such it is essential reading for academics, students and practitioners - all of whom will discover how theory and practice are more intertwined than they ever imagined" - Michael Power, Professor of Accounting, London School of Economics and Political Science




Strategic Information Management


Book Description

Today there are few organizations that can afford to ignore information technology and few individuals who would prefer to be without it. As managerial tasks become more complex, so the nature of the required information systems changes from structured, routine support to ad hoc, unstructured, complex enquiries at the highest levels of management. As with the first three editions, this fourth edition of Strategic Information Management: Challenges and Strategies in Managing Information Systems presents the many complex and inter-related issues associated with the management of information systems. This book provides a rich source of material reflecting recent thinking on the key issues facing executives in information systems strategic management. It draws from a wide range of contemporary articles written by leading experts from North America, Asia, and Europe. Designed as a course text for MBA, Master's level students, and senior undergraduate students taking courses in information management, it also provides a wealth of information and references for researchers. New to this edition are updated readings addressing current issues and the latest thinking in information management.