Paper Number
ICIS2025-1525
Paper Type
Complete
Abstract
This research focuses on the deep structure of digital organizations, those that ascribe strategic primacy to digital resources. While prior work explores the revolutionary periods of deep structure change (i.e., digital transformation process), little is known about the fundamental choices that characterize a digital organization's deep structure and the activity patterns and mechanisms that sustain the creation and orchestration of digital resources. To address this gap, we conducted a two-year inductive case study of ManuCorp, a decades-old heavy equipment manufacturer that configured as a digital organization. We offer a conceptual starting point for theorizing digital organization management, outlining three interrelated activity patterns that sustain ManuCorp's deep structure: Federating Digital Business Governance, Maintaining an Adaptive Modular Architecture, and Coordinating Dynamic Decomposition. These mutually reinforcing activity patterns operate across institutional, infrastructural, and operational levels.
Recommended Citation
Rodriguez, Joaquin; Piccoli, Gabriele; and Wixom, Barbara, "Managing the Digital Organization: The Mechanisms of Digital Resource Creation and Orchestration" (2025). ICIS 2025 Proceedings. 7.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/icis2025/digitstrategy/digitstrategy/7
Managing the Digital Organization: The Mechanisms of Digital Resource Creation and Orchestration
This research focuses on the deep structure of digital organizations, those that ascribe strategic primacy to digital resources. While prior work explores the revolutionary periods of deep structure change (i.e., digital transformation process), little is known about the fundamental choices that characterize a digital organization's deep structure and the activity patterns and mechanisms that sustain the creation and orchestration of digital resources. To address this gap, we conducted a two-year inductive case study of ManuCorp, a decades-old heavy equipment manufacturer that configured as a digital organization. We offer a conceptual starting point for theorizing digital organization management, outlining three interrelated activity patterns that sustain ManuCorp's deep structure: Federating Digital Business Governance, Maintaining an Adaptive Modular Architecture, and Coordinating Dynamic Decomposition. These mutually reinforcing activity patterns operate across institutional, infrastructural, and operational levels.
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Comments
18-Strategy