Close Cookie Notice

Welcome to the MIT CISR website!

This site uses cookies. Review our Privacy Statement.

MIT CISR CURRENT RESEARCH PROJECTS

Simplifying Decision Rights for Growth

Assessing Performance and Value; Decision Rights/Governance; Business Models

One of the four big “explosions” that company leaders have to deal with in a digital business transformation is changing decision rights—specifically, getting the right people to lead key decisions. If companies don’t change decision rights on a few key decisions, then they won’t see different results from their decisions. These few decisions typically include who decides what is done versus how the goal is accomplished, how much is going to be invested and how that spending is prioritized, and who deals with exceptions. Building on previous MIT CISR research, we will conduct interviews with senior executives in companies that have successfully transformed to understand how decision rights changed as part of the transformation. We will follow up by developing an in-depth company example and analyzing data from an MIT CISR survey.

We will focus on the following research questions:

  • What are the key decisions to focus on in a digital business transformation?
  • Which decision rights are business leaders most often accountable for and which are CIOs/IT most accountable for?
  • Which decision rights most influence growth?
  • Do decision rights vary by pathway?
  • Can we create a decision right matrix with metrics to track?

SEEKING: We are seeking participation in the research from CIOs and other C-level executives in companies that have successfully digitally transformed.

CONTACT: Peter Weill

RESEARCH TEAM

Peter Weill, Senior Research Scientist & Chairman Emeritus

Peter’s work centers on the role, value, and governance of digitization in enterprises and their ecosystems. Peter’s current responsibilities include the globalization of MIT CISR’s research and sponsorship base and engagement with senior executive teams.

Stephanie L. Woerner, Director & Principal Research Scientist

Stephanie’s work focuses on how enterprises use technology and data to create more effective business models and how they manage the associated organizational change. She has a passion for measuring hard-to-assess digital factors and linking them to firm performance.

Nick van der Meulen, Research Scientist

Nick’s work centers on how companies need to organize themselves differently in the face of continuous technological change. Nick is passionate about separating hype from reality using quantitative data, while also studying the complexity of business practice through in-depth case studies.

Related Publications

MIT CISR research is funded by the more than seventy-five firms that sponsor our work and participate in our consortium. 

MIT CISR Patrons
AlixPartners
Avanade
Axway, Inc.
Collibra
Pegasystems Inc.
PricewaterhouseCoopers
Standard Bank Group (South Africa)
The Ogilvy Group
MIT CISR Sponsors
Allstate Insurance Company
Amcor
AmerisourceBergen
ANZ Banking Group (Australia)
AustralianSuper
Banco Bradesco S.A. (Brazil)
Banco do Brasil S.A.
Bank of Queensland (Australia)
BlueScope Steel (Australia)
BNP Paribas (France)
Bristol-Myers Squibb
Bupa (Australia)
Cabot Corporation
CarMax
Caterpillar, Inc.
CEMEX (Mexico)
Charles River Laboratories, Inc.
CIBC (Canada)
Cochlear Limited (Australia)
Commonwealth Superannuation Corp. (Australia)
Cuscal Limited (Australia)
CVS Health
DBS Bank Ltd. (Singapore)
Doosan Corporation (Korea)
Fidelity Investments
Fomento Economico Mexicano, S.A.B., de C.V.
Fortum (Finland)
General Mills, Inc.
Gilbane Building Co.
Henkel AG & Co. (Germany)
Johnson & Johnson (J&J)
Kaiser Permanente
King & Wood Mallesons (Australia)
Koç Holding (Turkey)
Mercer
Nasdaq, Inc.
National Australia Bank Ltd.
Nomura Holdings, Inc. (Japan)
Nomura Research Institute, Ltd. Systems Consulting Division (Japan)
Pacific Life Insurance Company
Pioneer Natural Resources USA Inc.
Posten Norge AS (Norway)
Principal Financial Group
Procter & Gamble
QBE
Ramsay Health Care (Australia)
Raytheon Technologies
Reserve Bank of Australia
SC Global Tubular Solutions
Scentre Group Limited (Australia)
Schneider Electric Industries SAS (France)
State Street Corp.
Stockland (Australia)
Suncorp Group (Australia)
Tetra Pak (Sweden)
Trinity Health
Truist Financial Corporation
UniSuper Management Pty Ltd (Australia)
Uniting
USAA
Webster Bank, N.A.
Westpac Banking Corporation (Australia)
WestRock Company
Wolters Kluwer
Zoetis Services LLC
Find Us
Center for Information Systems Research
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Sloan School of Management
245 First Street, E94-15th Floor
Cambridge, MA 02142
617-253-2348