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The majority of business-to-business companies are working on their digital transformation in sales. Despite enormous transformation efforts, the expected productivity gains are often missing in most companies. Based on empirical research, this paper aims to develop a new market-oriented transformation model. Management implications as well as future research directions are derived for a more focused digital transformation process in sales.

Within the exploratory research study, 90 key informants were interviewed to provide better insights in the context of digital transformation in sales. The accuracy of the research results was safeguarded by triangulation.

As this research paper will show, the reasons for the missing productivity gains caused by a limited knowledge about the main success factors of digital transformation as well as a lack of understanding of digital transformation as an evolving process.

Based on the empirical research, a new market-oriented transformation model is developed and management implications as well as future research directions are derived for a more focused digital transformation process in sales.

With the increase of state capital, corporate total factor productivity (TFP) has a tendency to jump up at first and then slowly decrease. Generally, no significant “productivity paradox” can be observed in China’s manufacturing industry. With the increase of export density, corporate TFP also shows a trend of initial jump growth and subsequent slow decline. This paper aims to discuss these issues.

Using the 1996–2013 China Industrial Enterprise Database, this paper studies the monopolistic behavior of Chinese manufacturing enterprises through the measurement of TFP and corporate monopoly power.

Results show that China’s manufacturing monopoly enterprises are generally innovation-oriented rather than rent-seeking. However, there are certain differences between diversified types of monopoly enterprises: the ones with state capital are more inclined to innovate than those without, whereas the ones with export delivery value are more inclined to seek rent than those without.

Therefore, the government should implement differentiated policies for diversified types of monopoly enterprises, and do so in a targeted manner fully reflecting the containment of rent-seeking and the encouragement of innovation.

The purpose of this paper is to present an analytical review of the educational innovation field in the USA. It outlines classification of innovations, discusses the hurdles to innovation, and offers ways to increase the scale and rate of innovation-based transformations in the education system.

The paper is based on a literature survey and author research.

US education badly needs effective innovations of scale that can help produce the needed high-quality learning outcomes across the system. The primary focus of educational innovations should be on teaching and learning theory and practice, as well as on the learner, parents, community, society, and its culture. Technology applications need a solid theoretical foundation based on purposeful, systemic research, and a sound pedagogy. One of the critical areas of research and innovation can be cost and time efficiency of the learning.

Several practical recommendations stem out of this paper: how to create a base for large-scale innovations and their implementation; how to increase effectiveness of technology innovations in education, particularly online learning; how to raise time and cost efficiency of education.

Innovations in education are regarded, along with the education system, within the context of a societal supersystem demonstrating their interrelations and interdependencies at all levels. Raising the quality and scale of innovations in education will positively affect education itself and benefit the whole society.

Originality is in the systemic approach to education and educational innovations, in offering a comprehensive classification of innovations; in exposing the hurdles to innovations, in new arguments about effectiveness of technology applications, and in time efficiency of education.

To understand how organizations, public or private, must increase their productivity perception (PP), independently of the sector. This article aims to analyze PP in the digital transformation (DT) process to determine how it is affected by technostress (TS) and work engagement (WE), two concepts that seem to be forces opposing PP.

The authors use data from a questionnaire addressed to personnel in two organizations (public and private). The analysis applies partial least squares technique to the 505 valid responses obtained from these organizations. This analysis is based not on representativeness but on uniqueness.

The results suggest a positive, significant relationship between DT and PP. This article integrates DT and its effects on aspects of people's health, PP and WE. The model thus includes interactions of technology with human elements. In both business and administrative environments, PP is key to optimizing resources and survival of organizations.

DT processes are different and complex because every organization is different. The authors recommend expanding this study to other sectors in both spheres, public and private. Aligning the objectives of the institutions for aid with DT is also quite complicated.

This study contributes to improving participating organizations. It also provides government institutions with a clear foundation from which to encourage actions that promote the health and WE of their workforce without reducing productivity. In addition, this study adds novelty to the research line.

The authors have deepened this line of research by developing fuller knowledge of the relationships among novel and necessary variables in organizations. The authors provide complementary, different and inspiring value in addressing this line of research.

The purpose of this paper is to engage in a comprehensive review of the research on information technology (IT)-mediated international market-entry alliances.

This paper provides a theory-informed conceptual framework of IT-enabled cross-border interfirm relationships and performance outcomes. It integrates perspectives of resource-based view (RBV) and transaction cost economics (TCE) to argue that the establishment of interfirm IT capabilities enhances the marketing performance of the foreign partner in the host location by improving interfirm relationship governance. Furthermore, IT-related risks and contextual restrictions are identified as important moderators.

Conceptualisations of IT capabilities, IT-enhanced interfirm governance, and IT-led marketing performance improvement are suggested. Drawing on RBV and TCE, IT resources, related human resources, and IT integration between partner firms in combination enhances the ability of firms to manage the relationship more effectively through shared control, interfirm coordination, cross-firm formalisation, and hybrid centralisation. These benefits then bring about better upstream and downstream marketing performance in the host location. Additionally, IT capabilities help to mitigate possible contextual limitations and risks.

The paper offers a number of theory- and literature-informed research propositions which can be empirically tested in future studies.

Top managers of firms currently in or planning to enter international alliances for market entry should carefully consider effective development of interfirm IT capabilities in terms of readiness of hardware and software, human resources, and organisational resources.

The paper provides an integrated framework and propositions which contribute to limited understanding and appreciation of IT value in international market-entry alliances.

This multi-method paper investigates the impact factors of process responsiveness, operationalized as process duration, in the bread-and-butter business of German banks, i.e. the private mortgage loan application evaluation process. The tested predictors refer to process design, process execution, business process management (BPM)'s relevance and information technology (IT) support.

In a sequential research design, a total of 296 useable responses of 1,228 contacted German banks are collected using a questionnaire built from both industry insights gained through 43 expert interviews and theoretical knowledge. Ordinary least squares (OLS) regression is used to determine the relevant impact factors and moderation effects, and a theoretical framework is proposed.

Proper process documentation moderated by bank size is most influential for process speed, and smaller banks benefit more from it. Automation appears to have a prolonging effect on the process. Although surprising, this finding may be explained through correlation analysis of the data and studies on the Solow’ paradox in the literature.

The models only partially explain process responsiveness. A moderate adjusted R² and several interaction effects indicate the complexity of the presented research question. Still, several hypotheses can be confirmed, leading back to the roots of process improvement and the long-lasting question of the binary impact nature of automation.

Valuable insights for both researchers in service operations and bank practitioners are outlined, shedding light onto responsiveness as still empirically under-researched operational capability. Thereby, the authors also contribute to the superior question of strategic fit.

The integration of industry 4.0 has become a priority for many organizations. However, not all organizations are suitable and capable of implementing industry 4.0 because it requires a dynamic and flexible implementation strategy. The implementation of industry 4.0 often involves overcoming several tensions between internal and external stakeholders. This paper aims to explore the paradoxical tensions that arise for health-care organizations when integrating industry 4.0. Moreover, it discusses how a paradox lens can support the conceptualization and proposes techniques for handling tensions during the integration of industry 4.0.

This qualitative and in-depth study draws upon 32 semi-structured interviews. The empirical case concerns how two health-care organizations handle paradoxical tensions during the integration of industry 4.0.

The exploration resulted in six recurring technology tensions: technology invention (modularized design vs. flexible design), technology collaboration (automation vs. human augmentation), technology-driven patient experience (control vs. autonomy), technology uncertainty (short-term experimentation vs. long-term planning), technology invention and diffusion through collaborative efforts among stakeholders (selective vs. intensive collaboration) and technological innovation (market maintenance vs. disruption).

A paradox theory-informed conceptual model is proposed for how to handle tensions during the integration of industry 4.0. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first paper to introduce paradox theory for quality management, including lean and Six Sigma.

Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) often operate in environments marked by high levels of turbulence. Such firms adopt digital technologies and platforms that provide access to external real-time information and establish digital connectivity between firms to remain competitive. This study aims to focus on SMEs’ downstream and upstream platform-based digital connectivity (PDC).

This study examines the effects of PDC on SMEs’ operational performance under conditions of environmental turbulence. The data was gathered from 192 SMEs operating in the manufacturing arena.

The results show that the adoption of PDC does not directly affect an SME’s operational performance. However, in highly turbulent environments, PDC can improve operational performance. The results indicate that the performance effects of PDC vary according to the level and type of environmental turbulence.

This research offers insights into the relationship between PDC among SMEs and operational performance and encourages future research examining other possible conditional effects that could explain the contradictory results found in previous research.

This study contributes to the knowledge of supply-chain digitalization among SMEs and its performance effects in varying environmental conditions. Further, this study contributes to the prior research by focusing on the interorganizational aspects of digitalization in SMEs.

This paper aims to study the extent of use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the modern organization; to comprehend the changing nature of future jobs in the context of application of AI; and to study the impact of AI on the economy of the country with special reference to the job market. Given the critical scenario of labor intensive Indian economy, the paper intends to show how AI shall affect rather coexist with human intelligence or labor.

The research on implementation of AI in different industries and its effect on job market are at a nascent stage. There is a dearth of literature. Hence, this study followed a qualitative approach to have a better understanding of the research questions as Bhattacherjee (2012) confirms that employing an interpretive paradigm (qualitative analysis as the analysis of data, e.g. data from interview transcripts) is the more productive way to study social order and that it is achieved through “subjective interpretation of participants involved, such as by interviewing different participants and reconciling differences among their responses using their own subjective perspectives”. Sample selection: The selection technique utilized is purposive sampling. The respondents in this research are the general managers and HRs from different companies. A total of 14 senior professionals from various sectors were approached for the interview out of which seven people gave their consent to take interview. Seven senior HR professionals, mainly general managers and HRs from various sectors viz. oil and gas sector, manufacturing, healthcare, construction, media, power and energy and retail were interviewed to understand how they are using AI in their respective fields. Inclusion Criteria: (1) Generally, the people covered under the research are from the decision-making level of their companies so they are in a position to give strategic perspective as well as day to day implication of implementation of AI. (2) Respondents have adequate knowledge of the respective industry to which they belong. (3) Respondents have reasonable industry of dealing with Human Resource Management and national economy as a whole assessment tool and its administration procedures. A narrative approach was adopted to have a better understanding of the research questions and comprehend their views regarding implementation of AI in their respective companies. A semi structured open ended interview was administered to steer the discussion around the research questions. The respondents were interviewed over the phone and each respondent shared their stories. Analysis of data: The narrations were then transcribed by online transcriber website otter.ai.com. The common keywords as prescribed by the website are as: AI, strategy, learning and implementation. The extracts of the discussions are noted in the next segment of the paper. As and when required this research also used secondary data from the journals, literature available in the websites to understand the implementation of AI globally.

A country where the government itself admits 90% of its workforce belongs to informal sector and conspicuously exits a multi-faceted stark digital divide (Huberman, 2001; DiMaggio et al., 2001; Guillen, 2006; Servon, 2002) wherein gap of digital divide is significant between the rural and urban India (Dasgupta et al., 2002; Nath, 2001; Singh, 2007; Mahajan, 2003; Dutta, 2003) talking of educating, applying and implementing AI seems to be “ a distant dream” but an “ambiguous ambition ”

Prior to implementation of AI that India has to ensure, the basic hygiene factors of informal sector labor force like social security, 2008, low wages and lack of legal protection, unpaid overtime and occupational health problems, poor bargaining power, working without leave under coercion, child care issues and health ailments(for which mere legislation or statutarization is just a formality executed than taking real action) to take the majority of Indian workforce to attain the motivational factor to acquire the knowledge and skill of AI and to implement it.

The AI and its adoption are still at their embryonic stage in Indian companies. With the adoption of such sophisticated technology, in one side, the organizations are dreaming of efficiency, higher productivity and better organizational performance whereas on the other side requirement of changing skill sets and decreasing manpower, creating fear among the mass, which results in hard resistance against the implementation process of AI. On the other hand, lack of expertise and high cost of adoption is also hindering AI to implement in the organizations. The adoption and implementation stage of AI vary from organization to organizations, as well as functions to functions. While the marketing departments of several organizations are using advanced level of AI, there, the HR departments are using AI at the very initial stage. But it is evident from the above discussions that adoption of AI in business functions is inevitable and only it is a matter of time. With the COVID-19 pandemic this has become the utmost necessity for many organizations, particularly who works across the globe. HR partners of the businesses are also adopting AI at a fast pace to do away with the mundane works and deliver efficient services to the stakeholders. It is understood from the discourse that the prerequisite for a successful implementation of AI across the industries throughout the country, needs a concerted effort from industries, academia and government.

The answer lies in Keynesian economics. The central tenet of which is government intervention rather investment to stabilize and progress the economy by way of spreading Internet connectivity, basic literacy and computer literacy, then only truly AI can be effective in a greater scale.

A study on application of artificial intelligence in the pandemic era from a wider perspective, this work is an empirical investigation into the benefits and limitations of artificial intelligence for human potential and labour -intensive pandemic ridden Indian economy.

This paper aims to investigate green buildings and individual productivity, specifically within the context of indoor environmental quality (IEQ) within green certified office buildings. The purpose of the research was to determine how self-assessed productivity levels were influenced by the indoor environment of the office building.

Qualitative data analysis was conducted via semi-structured interviews in two financial services companies (FSCs), both based in green certified office buildings in South Africa. Thematic analysis was conducted to extract common themes from the data. Furthermore, the data were compared to previous research to identify new potential pathways or provide support for existing pathways.

The main findings were that physical components, such as temperature, lighting, ventilation and noise, contribute depending on the respondent to individual productivity, engagement, organisational commitment and psychological wellbeing. Safety, underpinned by location and amenities, was a new component not previously considered that subtly contributed to individual productivity.

The research provides valuable insight into the contributing factors that impact individual productivity within a green certified office building, as previous researchers have yet to reach a consensus on the relationship between individual productivity and IEQ in green certified office buildings.