The Digital Transformer's Dilemma - by Karolin Frankenberger & Hannah Mayer & Andreas Reiter & Markus Schmidt (Paperback)

About the Book

"The Digital Transformer's Dilemma speaks to companies that need to transform their traditional business model. The book explores how to strike a balance between maintaining profitability in the core business while at the same time establishing the new digital business. This holistic look at the two S-curves (instead of just zeroing in on 2nd S-curve champions and ignoring the core business) is a departure from most of what readers are likely to have come across in the past. We focus on the interaction and establishing a bridge between the core business S-curve and the new business S-curve, because the 1st S-curve will remain important for the time being. The core part of the book explains how to set up the right infrastructure for digital transformation: flexible organization, technology as an enabler, process set-up, etc. It also explains the crucial soft skills required"--

Book Synopsis

Bring your company into the digital era without compromising your core business

In The Digital Transformer's Dilemma: How to Energize Your Core Business While Building Disruptive Products and Services, the authors show companies how to go digital while also advancing their core business. The book emphasizes how to strike a difficult balance between establishing a new (digital) business and re-vitalizing - and digitizing - the legacy business.

The core of the book is focused on the actual implementation of the digital transformation across both businesses, providing concrete tips, tricks, tools and action plans across six key dimensions:

• Crafting a flexible organization
• Using technology as a driver
• Designing the necessary processes
• Building transformational leaders
• "Right-skilling" the workforce of the future
• Galvanizing cultural change

The Digital Transformer's Dilemma is a very visual book, filled with dozens of engaging illustrations that bring the contained concepts to life on the page.

Based on 100+ interviews with senior executives at leading companies (such as Nestlé, Novartis, Volkswagen, BNP Paribas, BASF and Michelin) and smaller hidden champions, numerous illuminating case studies, and the authors' own experience from working in international management consulting and years of academic experience, the book highlights the fundamental principles required for executives and businesspeople to transform legacy organizations into digitally empowered companies.

From the Back Cover

PRAISE FOR THE DIGITAL TRANSFORMER'S DILEMMA

"The path to digital transformation is cluttered with the 'wrecks' of those who pursued it without considering the impact on their existing core business. The authors studied the 'wrecks' and importantly, those who got it 'right'. Read this book and it will give you courage and a proven path."
--RICK GOINGS, Chairman Emeritus, Tupperware Brands Corporation

"This book provides critical insight into the core dilemma of corporate transformation."
--ZHANG RUIMIN, Chairman of the Board of Directors and CEO, Haier Group

"The Digital Transformer's Dilemma ties together research with practice, melding inspiring stories and structured, hands-on practical advice. It's like an instruction manual for running a digital transformation, only much more fun to read."
--KLAUS SCHWAB, Founder and Executive Chairman, World Economic Forum

"Want to learn how to digitally transform a business? Then this is a great place to start. Very hands-on and practical."
--BERTRAND BODSON, Chief Digital Officer, Novartis

"An unparalleled collection of real-world cases and insights about digital transformation."
--MARCO IANSITI, Harvard Business School Professor and Author of Competing in the Age of AI

"For anyone that has an interest in, passion for, or affiliation with digital transformation--from the CEO to the individual contributor."
--ERIC CHANIOT, Chief Digital Officer, Michelin

"A must-read if you are navigating the minefield of digital transformation traps across S-curves...and need actionable advice."
--BEHNAM TABRIZI, Stanford University expert in transformation and author of six bestsellers

About the Author

KAROLIN FRANKENBERGER is a Full Professor and Director at the Institute of Management and Strategy at the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland, where she is also the Academic Director of the Executive MBA. Karolin is an internationally renowned keynote speaker and supports company leaders in their strategy and innovation challenges. Her last book The Business Model Navigator was an international best-seller and was translated into 12 languages.

HANNAH MAYER is a PhD Fellow at the Laboratory for Innovation Science at Harvard, where she does research on AI-powered business models, digital transformation and digital platforms. Prior to her academic career, Hannah was a consultant at an international management consultancy, focusing on digital transformation projects, and spent two years at Google as a Digital Strategist.

ANDREAS REITER is PhD student at the University of St. Gallen, specializing in digital transformation and platform ecosystems. Prior to his doctoral studies, Andreas was a consultant a leading management consulting firm, where he focused on digital transformation projects and the set-up of digital business models.

MARKUS SCHMIDT is the CEO and founder of QSID Digital Advisory, a consulting boutique dedicated to supporting companies in their strategy, leadership and digital transformation challenges. This role was preceded by long-time experience leading globalization and digital transformation at Valeo and Bosch. He serves as an independent board member in different companies and as a lecturer at multiple universities.