Building a Digital Organization: Strategic, Cultural and Leadership Imperatives

Digital technologies are ubiquitous, but our understanding of what makes an organization digital, and ways in which a digital organization is different, is still in early stages. This paper seeks to develop a framework for understanding the nature and scope of digital organizations. It is proposed that digital organizations are different to the extent they leverage digital technologies to compete and build sustainable competitive advantage. This paper discusses different ways in which firms can be digital. Digital technologies enable a (digital) firm to address the dilemmas (such as value creation or value capture, cost minimization or differentiation, and strategy formulation or implementation) implicit in traditional strategy literature through new business models, innovation, and accessing new markets and needs. However, in doing so, they raise the performance bar for culture and leadership to meet. Organizational culture and leadership that are digitally aligned is likely to be more effective in leveraging digital technologies. Sections on strategy, digital culture and digital leadership discuss ways in which digital technologies presents new opportunities and poses new challenges for digital firms.