Most AI initiatives fail not because the models are weak, but because organizations aren’t built to sustain them. A large Latin American conglomerate developed a simple management system that aligns roles, responsibilities, and routines so AI projects move from isolated pilots to enterprise-wide impact. Its approach shows that scaling AI is less about technology and more about creating the organizational backbone that turns experiments into measurable business results, argue Professors Ayelet Israeli and Eva Ascarza of Harvard Business School.
To read their article published in Harvard Business Review, please, click on the link below:
https://hbr.org/2025/11/most-ai-initiatives-fail-this-5-part-framework-can-help
While companies have been “unbundling” their operations and outsourcing tasks for decades, advances in IT are now helping them take that strategy to a whole new level, argues Professor Moreno of Harvard Business School. These technologies make it possible to digitally integrate workflows across organizations, letting firms easily distribute complex chains of activities among multiple entities, including customers. They not only slash collaboration costs but give all players instant access to capabilities that only large firms could once afford.
Consider logistics, where thanks to cloud-based services like ShipBob, small brands can fulfill orders just as quickly as retail giants can. In traditional outsourcing, businesses just handed off tasks, but now they’re embedding third-party services into their own operations. This development has given rise to a multitude of hyperspecialized services that firms can tap. It has also inspired the emergence of “orchestrators” that coordinate all the tasks needed to create and deliver offerings. Hyperspecialists and orchestrators offer firms new opportunities to monetize assets, grow revenues, and create markets. But they’re also blurring industry boundaries, and some have started competing directly with their clients.
For a deeper insight, please, click on Professor Moreno's article in Harvard Business Review, also available online: https://hbr.org/2025/09/how-digital-integration-is-reconfiguring-value-chains
Whether it’s digital transformation or operational reinvention, scaling requires more than strategy, it demands leadership behaviors that mobilize cross-functional momentum, as Linda A. Hill, Wallace Brett Donham Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School argued.
Professor Hill introduced a powerful framework from her research: the three leadership roles required to innovate at scale.
Organizations that succeed in embedding innovation are those that develop leaders who can move fluidly across these roles, not just at the top, but at every level of the organization.
For a quick insight into Professor Hill's ABCs of Leading Innovation concept, please, read the Harvard Business Impact blog:
https://www.harvardbusiness.org/insight/scale-innovation-with-speed-the-abcs-of-leading-innovation/
We have published our latest research results in Energy Research & Social Science. Our paper is the first environmental innovation study which highlights the role of transdisciplinary research-based innovation interplays for the energy transition through the example of a biomethane-based process innovation and a hydrogen-based system innovation.
Results of our three-year-long transdisciplinary action research empirically demonstrate that transdisciplinary research and environmental innovation could be interconnected. In addition to prior findings, however, even the slight misalignment between the innovation drivers could constrain impact generation, as long-term complementors, e.g., biomethane and hydrogen, could become mid-term competitors for policy support.
ABSTRACT
Energy transition requires environmental innovations (EIs), which, theoretically, could be accelerated by transdisciplinary research (TR). Although the recent literature also suggests that both EI and TR can be constrained in impact generation, the integrative view of TR and EI in the energy industry is overlooked. This study focuses on the top-down (policy) and bottom-up (inter-organizational) innovation drivers which could turn TR into EI in the fast-changing Central European energy sector. Results of a three-year-long transdisciplinary action research empirically demonstrate that TR and EI could be interconnected. In addition to prior findings, however, even the slight misalignment between the innovation drivers could constrain impact generation, as long-term complementors, e.g., biomethane and hydrogen, could become mid-term competitors for policy support. This is the first EI study which highlights the role of TR-based innovation interplays for the energy transition through the example of a biomethane-based process innovation and a hydrogen-based system innovation.
Csedő, Z.; Zavarkó, M.; Sára, Z.; Pörzse, G.: Exploring the role of transdisciplinary research in accelerating sustainability transition: an empirical analysis of environmental innovation drivers in Central European energy sector, Energy Research & Social Science 127 Paper: 104222, (2025)
To read the full article, please, click on the link below:
Recent research explores the challenges faced by companies in profiting from artificial intelligence (AI). The case of Swedish multinational networking and telecommunications company Ericsson highlights that while AI holds great promise, realizing returns on investment in AI is difficult. This article identifies two main strategies: bottom-line improvements, which focus on internal efficiency gains, and top-line growth, which involves creating new businesses enabled by AI. The latter strategy is particularly challenging given the need for co-specialized complementary assets that amplify challenges related to data, capabilities, and value. This study of Ericsson’s experience emphasizes the importance of having clear strategic objectives and a deep understanding of complementarities in efforts to implement AI successfully.
To read the article, please, click on the link below:
https://doi.org/10.1177/000812562513491
