Authors:
Stefano D’Angelo
;
Antonio Ghezzi
;
Angelo Cavallo
;
Andrea Rangone
and
Giulia Murani
Affiliation:
Department of Management, Economics and Industrial Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Milano, Italy
Keyword(s):
Digital Skills, Corporate Entrepreneurship, Digital Transformation, Intrapreneurship, Lean Startup, Digital Champions, Business Model, Business Model Innovation.
Abstract:
Digital transformation is perhaps the most pervasive managerial challenge for incumbent firms of the last and coming decades. Digital possibilities need to come together with skilled employees and executives to reveal the transformative power of digital technologies. Despite the contemporary significance, extant literature lacks guidance for digital competence enhancement - i.e., assess digital competencies and carry out effective initiatives to bridge the identified and measured digital competence gaps. Moreover, existing literature on digital skills focuses mainly on the educational context while leaving less explored the corporate context. And more, there is still little evidence on how digital skills can affect entrepreneurship in incumbent organizations. Thus, this study explores how incumbents assess and develop digital skills within their organizations through an in-depth, longitudinal case study of a utility company. We shed light on how incumbents can integrate digital skill
s in their organizations to embrace digital transformation and initiate corporate entrepreneurship initiatives that leverage the usage of digital technologies. Based on the findings of this study, we contribute to digital skills, digital transformation, and corporate entrepreneurship literature and we offer practical implications for incumbents.
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