Christian Elbe

The organization of a company is a central element in promoting digitalization from an overall firm perspective. Industrial companies typically apply one of the following five organizational forms to found digitalization: decentralized, functional, lead team, center of excellence and lead factory. A recent study shows that the last two are particularly qualified for digitalization activities. A three-stage evaluation process can support the choice of a suitable organizational structure.

Digitalization and the application of digital technologies such as artificial intelligence, collaborative robotics, augmented reality or big data are progressing steadily. In particular, companies with plants in countries such as Austria, Germany or Switzerland are expecting new productivity gains and a positive impact on the competitiveness of their high-wage locations. How-ever, which technologies are relevant? What collaborations are important and what are the overall benefits of digitization? In order to understand the challenges and decisions of manufacturing companies with plants in high-wage locations better, the Institute of Technology Management at the University of St.Gallen conducted the benchmarking “Digital Technologies”. It focused on the topics of organization, strategy, application, stakeholders, in-vestments and performance of digitalization activities. Additionally to the original survey report with 139 participants, we have conducted deeper research on five Successful Practice companies from the sample. The site visit reports shall give more insights in how these companies answered the raised questions.