Welcome to the MIT CISR Research Briefing series. We publish monthly research briefings to share findings from our research.

MIT CISR provides academic research insights for business technology leaders. Our global research team studies high performing, complex companies, investigating topics related to digital transformation. More than seventy-five firms sponsor our work and participate in our consortium. 

To learn more and access more free research, visit our website at https://cisr.mit.edu.

MIT CISR Research Briefing Series—Audio Edition

Ina Sebastian reads MIT CISR's March 2021 research briefing, which she co-authored with Peter Weill and Stephanie Woerner. See the text version and related content at https://cisr.mit.edu/publication/2021_0301_ValueinDigitalBusiness_SebastianWeillWoerner.

Abstract: Companies can create new types of value in the digital era. In our research, we identified three types of value from digital business: value from operations, value from customers, and value from ecosystems. All three types of value were significant predictors of company performance, although their relative impacts varied. In this briefing, we describe the three types of value and show how they are captured in company performance. We then illustrate how two companies, Kaiser Permanente and Maersk, designed digital initiatives to create value from ecosystems—a new type of value for many large, traditional companies.

Three Types of Value Drive Performance in Digital Business

Barb Wixom reads MIT CISR's April 2021 research briefing, which she co-authored with Leslie Owens and Cynthia Beath. See the text version and related content at https://cisr.mit.edu/publication/2021_0401_DataHeartsMinds_WixomOwensBeath.

Abstract: Companies today are starting to walk the talk when it comes to treating data like a strategic firm asset—they are hiring chief data officers, and rolling out data literacy programs. This briefing describes what else is required for employees to believe that data can create value in new ways, that it can do so over and over and over again, and that everyone in the company can play a role. MIT CISR research indicates that leaders should build capabilities, optimize data monetization initiatives, and motivate pervasive data use, all of which can and should be measured.

Data Is Everybody’s Business

Barb Wixom reads MIT CISR's May 2021 research briefing, which she co-authored with Gabriele Piccoli. See the text version and related content at https://cisr.mit.edu/publication/2021_0501_DataLiquidity_WixomPiccoli.

This briefing introduces the concept of data liquidity, defined as the ease of data asset reuse and recombination. While data is inherently reusable and recombinable, an organization must activate these characteristics by creating strategic data assets and building out its data monetization capabilities. As the company’s strategic data assets become more highly liquid and their number grows, data is made increasingly available for conversion to value, and the company’s data monetization accelerates. Fidelity is an excellent example of a company that is actively creating highly liquid strategic data assets for use enterprise wide.

Build Data Liquidity to Accelerate Data Monetization

Martin Mocker reads MIT CISR's June 2024 research briefing, which he co-authored with Ina Sebastian. See the text version and related content at https://cisr.mit.edu/publication/2024_0601_SalesforcePlatformBusiness_MockerSebastian.

Abstract: Platform business models have become highly popular; they are used by half of the world’s ten largest companies by market capitalization. The challenge for established companies is that running a platform business is different from running a product business. A platform business requires building an ecosystem of various constituents with differing interests: customers, the company’s internal product teams, and partners. Based on an in-depth case study of Salesforce Platform, this briefing illustrates one approach to balancing the interests of these constituents.

Building a Platform Business Requires Balance—Lessons from Salesforce

Stephanie Woerner reads MIT CISR's January 2021 research briefing, which she co-authored with Peter Weill and Andrea Patricia Diaz Baquero. See the text version and related content at https://cisr.mit.edu/publication/2021_0101_HelloDomains_WeillWoernerDiaz.

Abstract: For decades, companies have thought of themselves as operating in industries such as banking, retail, and energy. In contrast, most customers seek to fulfill specific needs—business customers might aim to manage their energy consumption, and consumers might navigate getting an education. We call these different customer problems and opportunities domains. Digital technologies, and new business models such as ecosystems, provide an opportunity to rethink how to solve your customers’ needs in each of their important domains. In this briefing, we share our first efforts at identifying the key domains, scope the size of the opportunity, and provide examples.

Hello Domains, Goodbye Industries

Stephanie Woerner reads MIT CISR's February 2021 research briefing, which she co-authored with Peter Weill. See the text version and related content at https://cisr.mit.edu/publication/2021_0201_PathwaysUpdate_WoernerWeill.

Abstract: In 2017 we first observed how almost every big old company was on a digital transformation journey, many without a playbook. We described the goal of business transformation—to become Future Ready—and four pathways we identified in our research that companies can follow to outperform their industry. In understanding how companies successfully get to Future Ready, we pinpointed four significant, disruptive changes common to all of the pathways, which we call “explosions.” In this briefing we update the research and highlight what we have learned over the last four years.

Update on the Four Pathways to Future Ready

A research center at the MIT Sloan School of Management, MIT CISR helps executives meet the challenge of leading dynamic, global, and information-intensive organizations.