Page 64 - Kaleidoscope Academic Conference Proceedings 2020

2020 ITU Kaleidoscope Academic Conference

pseudonym), a mid-sized European financial services resources, or access to the resources, to support its ecosystem
provider, drives the transformation to be the “first digital to accommodate innovations in advanced technologies and
asset manager” in the industry in 2 years with its digital create new types of businesses, which completely reinvented
metamorphosis guidelines. A top-down building block for and transformed China’s retail sector. Alibaba’s platform
the digitization of existing offerings (its main lines of made it easy to outsource functions like selecting suppliers,
business) and a bottom-up building block for realizing new negotiating prices, enforcing contracts, managing payments,
and digital offerings (by actively pulling digital innovation and more. Another example is Foxconn, the electronic
from the organization and collaborating with PropTech start- manufacturer that supplies products for well-known brands
ups) were implemented together step-by-step [47]. such as Apple, moves from being an assembly line
manufacturer to a high-tech service company that invents its
4.2.4 Digital transformation own technology and provides data services for mobile
telecom providers across China.
Digital transformation is a fundamental exogenous change
undertaken to redefine the value proposition to the 5. CONCLUSION
organization's stakeholders. When there is external pressure
in terms of a changing competitive context that require a fast “Going digital” might remain the top management tick-box
and simultaneous change of all the basics, organizations will item, especially after being struck by a global pandemic.
reactively respond by using digital technologies to embark Organizations may be aware of the need for change and the
on a process of revolutionary change, which includes desire of embracing digital technologies, but they may not
organizational frame-breaking and the destruction of some always have sufficient knowledge on what are the “best
elements of the system via simultaneous initiatives on many practices” out there they can imitate, what are the possible
fronts, and often in a relatively short space of time. It usually pathways they can choose concerning different end results,
requires to develop new digital services or customer what are the critical success factors and capabilities they
relationship management solutions to radically change need to put knowledge into action in support of DT. The
internal communication or service processes by using digital proposed typology generates 4 patterns of how “going digital”
technologies to align silos in the direction of the customer, can be differentiated and clarifies and illustrates the
employee, and other stakeholders. It can produce dramatic underlying mechanism of change and its desired outcome.
changes in product and service offerings, competitiveness, By borrowing the biological terms “mutation” and
and performance through new business models and revenue “metamorphosis” to further elaborate the source of change in
streams. The organization sees the need to preempt fast the context of “going digital,” the typology allows us to
competitor response and realizes that rapid change is capture the essential differences of how organizations may
necessary to meet changing customer needs. Therefore, the initiate strategic change to embark on the journey. Depicting
critical success factor is to implement the planned a clearer and standardized understanding of how
transformation rapidly. The primary objective of this organizations, with different sizes in different industries, can
transformation efforts is the exploration of new opportunities: strategically position themselves in the typology to
finding and connecting new and enriching existing resources maximize the success rate also contributes to the conceptual
(i.e., products, people, platforms) and creating new schemes, standardization of digital-related change and transformation
especially when they lead to creating entirely new products in guiding empirical studies and organizational practices.
and opportunities to become a platform or a valuable This study set out to respond to the need for developing a
platform add-on. Compared to digital metamorphosis, the practical typology that emphasizes the pattern of how to “go
main difference is that digital metamorphosis is initiated digital” and provides a base for developing scenarios of
before the improved performance is needed, whereas the DT various pathways that organizations may take to embark on
is initiated after the improved performance is needed. Digital a change or transformation journey. Concerning the source
technologies provide bandwidth connectivity, which makes of change (endogenous and exogenous), an organization can
data, information, and knowledge more widespread and be involved in more than one type of change or
available. This type of transformation requires fast reaction transformation simultaneously. The most popular change
to market changes and continually pursues long-term impact path may be the digitalization followed by digital
and win-win situations with its stakeholders by building metamorphosis because many senior executives delay the
ecosystems and platforms. Understanding how to harness change until the performance has declined to such an extent
business model innovation, empower employees, resolve that it forces them into a reactive change, as predicted by
inertia, communicate new vision, and develop digital punctuated equilibrium change models. It may also be
transformation strategies in a complex system with many necessary to follow a transformational change moving to
forces at work to reach the connectedness of choices, rapidly incremental change, ensuring the changes are embedded
test and scale new business models, mitigate and take throughout the organization. Future research can further
advantage of changing day-to-day external threats and investigate the subcategories of this typology, elaborating
opportunities to ensure the survival of organizations in the the pathways and their possible sequence (how organizations
overall business landscape, and maximize their effectiveness can switch from one typology to another). The proposed
in creating sustainable collaborative advantage. For example, typology is limited to review 103 studies in the literature by
Alibaba looks like a portfolio of businesses. Its strategic a cross-cases analysis. Future research can further validate
imperative is to ensure that its platform provided all the this typology and empirically test it with preliminary data.

– 6 –