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Digital Transformation for Sustainability: A Necessary Technical and Mental Revolution

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New Trends in Business Information Systems and Technology

Part of the book series: Studies in Systems, Decision and Control ((SSDC,volume 294))

Abstract

Digital technology and innovations are transforming our economy and society as never before. However, business leaders and managers are at a point where they need to rethink the way business can leverage digital transformation in order to support engagement with sustainability challenges. As organizations operate in the context of society, many factors such as social structures, political decision-making, general economic trends, and technological development, influence their operations. To be successful, an organization must be aware of these changes and at the same time be able to engage with them. Based on this viewpoint, we outline an integrated framework linking different levels of “digitalness” with necessary changes in managerial practice to support organizational inquiry. More research is necessary to better understand how the practice of management needs to transform in order to leverage digital technologies for an on-going, learning-based engagement strategy. This requires awareness of one’s own thinking, suspension of one’s prior beliefs, and engagement in organizational learning and experimentation with stakeholders.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Management, School of Business, FHNW University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland, Peter Merian-Strasse 86, 4002, Basel, Switzerland

    Michael von Kutzschenbach

  2. Institute of Management, School of Business, FHNW University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland, Bahnhofstrasse 6, 5210, Windisch, Switzerland

    Claus-Heinrich Daub

Authors
  1. Michael von Kutzschenbach
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  2. Claus-Heinrich Daub
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Correspondence to Michael von Kutzschenbach .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Business, Institute for Information Systems, FHNW University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland, Basel, Switzerland

    Rolf Dornberger

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von Kutzschenbach, M., Daub, CH. (2021). Digital Transformation for Sustainability: A Necessary Technical and Mental Revolution. In: Dornberger, R. (eds) New Trends in Business Information Systems and Technology. Studies in Systems, Decision and Control, vol 294. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-48332-6_12

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