In earlier research, we found that to realize more value faster from digital innovations, established organizations are redesigning themselves around three learning imperatives:
- Innovation teams must take a test-and-learn approach to build a successful digital innovation—i.e., one that is valuable to both end-users and the organization.
- Top-level management must learn frequently from initiatives to build an innovation portfolio that meets more strategic objectives despite scarce resources.
- Functional experts must learn to build shared resources that help similar initiatives scale.
In 2023, we will conduct a survey to identify practices that distinguish top-performing companies as they test and learn at both the digital innovation initiative and portfolio levels and when developing shared resources. In addition, we will conduct a case study.
We will focus on the following research questions:
- How do companies learn whether an initiative will generate a digital offering that is desirable, feasible, and profitable?
- How do companies regularly reallocate scarce resources—especially people—to the initiatives that contribute most to their strategic objectives?
- How do companies learn about and address any common challenges across sets of similar digital innovation initiatives?
This project is a continuation of MIT CISR’s 2022 research project on Learning to Create More Strategic Value Faster with Digital Innovations.
SEEKING: We are seeking participation in the research from executives who have helped strengthen their organization’s capacity to learn more and more often from digital innovation initiatives, regarding the value those initiatives generate in relation to the organization’s strategic objectives.
CONTACT: Nils Fonstad
