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ISBM Pulse: AI, digitalization, and information technology

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big data

McKinsey: The COVID-19 Recovery Will Be Digital

McKinsey has published a report on the recovery following the COVID-19 crisis. According to the consultancy company, digital technologies will be on the forefront. The report discusses digitalization trends emerging from the COVID=19 crisis, and offers guidelines for preparing for recovery – taking into account digital transformation – for the first 90 days.

cover Technology Fallacy

Book: The Technology Fallacy

This book focuses on the organizational changes needed to harness the power of technology – with special attention to the people factor. Per the authors, the best way to respond to digital disruption is by changing the company culture to be more agile, risk tolerant, and experimental. Digital transformation involves leadership, talent development, culture, organization, and strategy.

covid-19

Impact of COVID-19 on B2B Spending and Customer Interactions

The economic effects of the current COVID-19 pandemic are affecting B2B companies worldwide. In an effort to take the temperature in B2B, McKinsey is surveying B2B decision makers on changes in customers’ expectations, spending, and behaviors. The global surveys are part of an ongoing effort. At the time of writing, the results of the April edition are published.

C’mon Is There Really Such a Thing as Artificial Intelligence or Machine Learning (Gerry Katz and Kristyn Corrigan)

Recently, research has shown that computers can extract customer needs and insights from freely available customer-generated online content and even intentionally sought content drawn from surveys, interview transcripts, and customer feedback systems. And it can usually do it faster, cheaper, and better than human beings. This webinar demonstrates how it works, both theoretically and in practice, and will include an actual case example to show how it was used to uncover several never-before-considered, game-changing insights.

Book: Unlocking the Customer Value Chain: How Decoupling Drives Consumer Disruption

In his book ‘Unlocking the Customer Value Chain, Harvard Business School professor Thales Texeira describes how the disruption of an industry is driven by customer behavior rather than technologies. Innovative new business models allow startups to ‘decouple the value chain’ – picking one aspect of an incumbent’s business model and doing it better.  

Book: The Efficiency Paradox: What Big Data Can’t Do

One of the key promises of the internet and big data is increased efficiency: we can improve processes and routines faster than ever before. However, there is a downside. Too much efficiency can kill creativity, which hurts organization innovation and problem solving. In his book ‘The Efficiency Paradox’, Edward Tenner discusses the limits of big data while making the case for serendipity and intuition.

photo on phone of online marketing graph

The Impact of the Internet on B2B Sales Force Size and Structure

Since its commercialization in the mid-1990s, the Internet has become one of the most revolutionary forces in history to hit business in general and B2B (including ‘industrial’ and ‘services’) markets in particular. Despite the importance and gravity of the Internet in the context of the B2B sales force, systematic study of the Internet’s impact on B2B sales force size and structure is sparse. Our objectives in this chapter are twofold: (1) to review and document how the Internet is used in B2B buying and selling today; and (2) to conceptualize the Internet’s evolving impact on sales force size and structure with propositions for further investigation.