Governance of Digitalization

Digitalization creates unique opportunities and poses transformational challenges for many companies across industries. In that context, the governance of digitalization has become the key success factor in mastering digital innovation and transformation. It requires boards of directors as well as top management teams to fully understand digital trends, identify their implications, derive adequate digital strategies, execute them swiftly, and monitor their diligent implementation.

This book presents 12 perspectives on the governance of digitalization, bringing together viewpoints from different disciplines, including business, law, and information technology, with contributions from practitioners and academics. It provides practical insights and thought-provoking inspirations for board members and managers alike.



Prof. Dr. Michael Hilb is Founder and CEO of DBP Group, a business group that develops growth platforms in Asia and Europe. He serves on various supervisory boards, including Klingelnberg and the Board Foundation, is Titular Professor at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, and lectures on issues of strategy, entrepreneurship and corporate governance at universities in Asia and Europe. Michael graduated from the University of St. Gallen with an MSc and a PhD in Management, was a Visiting Fellow at Harvard University and INSEAD and completed executive education programs at IMD, HBS and MIT.



Introduction 5

Part A: Providing Strategic Direction for Digitalization

(Keep it Strategic) 9

A.1 Toward an Integrated Framework for Governance

of Digitalization (Michael Hilb, University of Fribourg

and DBP) 11

A.2 The Fourth Industrial Revolution as a Strategic

Narrative for Board-Level Discussions on Digitalization

(William Lee Howell, World Economic Forum) 22

A.3 Managing Digital Transformation at the Board Level

(Beat Bühlmann, Evernote) 28

Part B: Controlling for Outcomes of Digitalization

(Keep it Controlled) 35

B.1 Digitized Companies and the Law

(Florian Moeslein, University of Marburg) 37

B.2 Digitalization Decisions at the Board Level

(Roland Müller, University of St. Gallen,

University of Berne, and ME Advocat) 43

B.3 Mastering Cyber-resilience (Laura Georg,

Norwegian University of Science and Technology) 51

Part C: Promoting the Culture for Digital Transformation

(Keep it Integrated) 59

C.1 Digital Forms of Applying Traditional Leadership Styles:

How Social Software Brings Transformational Leadership

to Life (Andreas Hesse and Marjo-Riitta Diehl,

EBS University) 60

C.2 Employee Empowerment in the Digital Age

(Hermann Arnold, Haufe-umantis) 71

C.3 Digital Board Audits (Martin Hilb,

International Center for Corporate Governance) 77

Part D: Adapting the Digital Business Approach to the Context

(Keep it Situational) 89

D.1 Governance of Open Government Data Ecosystems

(Liselot Danneels, Stijn Viaene and Joachim Van den Bergh,

Vlerick Business School) 91

D.2 Paradoxes in Crowdsourcing: Balancing the Pressure

to Adopt Amidst the Hurdles of Implementation

(Gail Maunula and Titiana Ertiö, University of Turku;

Kirsimarja Blomqvist, Lappeenranta University

of Technology) 99

D.3 The Co-evolution of Digital Ecosystems: Who Wins

the Battle for Global Dominance in the Digital Space?

(Michael Hilb, University of Fribourg and DBP) 108