ifkad articles

How Digital Innovation Became Structural: An Explanatory Case Study in the Luxury Industry

Alessandro Annarelli, Fabio Nonino, Giulia Palombi

Recently, the positive role of digitalization capabilities in supporting organizational resilience has been stated, but there is still little empirical research focusing on how this relationship happens in practice. This study aims to explore how digitalization capabilities can support organizational resilience through a qualitative approach. A single explanatory case study has been conducted two years after the COVID-19 pandemic in a big international company operating in the jewellery & fashion industry to identify the key practices adopted and the main digitalization capabilities developed during the emergency period. Interesting solutions, which helped the company in facing the emergency and seizing new opportunities through digitalization, emerged from the results and include, but are not limited to: the usage of AI and automation in operations management and the introduction of a Digital Innovation Department, which significantly redesigned the organizational structure and the strategic direction.

IN: Proceedings IFKAD 2023 – Managing Knowledge for Sustainability
PP: 1130-1141