Digitale Transformation in Multinationalen Unternehmen

Digital transformation and global diversification of firms (Tihanyi, Mohr, Schumacher, Mendez-Fernandez) We explore how firms’ digital transformation is influenced by their international diversification. We argue that internationally diversified firms have greater opportunities, but also face greater pressures to engage in digital transformation. Drawing on the knowledge-based view, we expect digital transformation to have a positive effect on firm performance. We further argue that the effect of international diversification on a firm’s digital transformation varies with the industry that a firm operates in.
The role of Corporate Digital Officers (CDOs) (Tihanyi, Mohr, Schumacher). In this project, we examine the circumstances in which having a Chief Digital Officer (CDO) increase firm performance. Drawing on upper echelons theory we argue that the effect of having a CDO on firm performance will vary with the attention that the firm’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and its board of directors (BOD) give to digital transformation. We suggest that both CEO’s and the BOD’s attention to digital transformation influences the performance effect of having a CDO, because it (1) improves the CDO’s ability to drive and coordinate the digital transformation, and (2) it reduces the potential obstacles that the CDO confronts when digitally transforming the organization.