Articles

Distrust between consumers and providers is at record levels, in industries as diverse as medicine, law and consumer goods, according to the Edelman Trust Barometer. And digitization doesn’t automatically bolster trust, especially since digital technologies don’t...

Today, 10 percent of the world has diabetes, and about a third of diabetics deal with diabetic retinopathy. It’s a slow-moving degenerative disease, and the fastest growing cause of blindness. But new technologies offer hope for increasing diagnostic accuracy and...

A series of highly accomplished athletes, professionals and artists speak their dreams at the beginning of the Taco Bell commercial. I dream of reaching my highest peak, says a mountain climber. I dream of expressing my inner most passion, says a ballerina. I dream of...

Ulta Beauty, seller of makeup and other beauty products, is in the artificial intelligence business. When CEO Mary Dillon joined Ulta in 2013, she saw a company that was already growing well. It had solid product assortment, services and real estate –– it was simply...

Four million members since 2014. A new checking account and debit card offering that sold out the first 100,000 cards in just four days. Financial technology company Acorns has experienced breakneck growth since its launch roughly five years ago, scaling up rapidly...

Digital strategists, me included, frequently tout the advantages of being a first mover. The general idea is that an early mover (not strictly the first mover) is able to leverage its lead to distance itself from the competition. An oft-cited example is search engine...

In the past, I’ve argued that you must get digital in a hurry because of first mover advantage. You build a lead over your competitors, leverage first mover advantage to expand your lead, and with a little luck, you can win. But times have changed. In the last decade,...

All of us know that Amazon is the online everything store. You can buy pretty much everything you want and have it delivered right to your door. But while Amazon and the word “online shopping” are virtually synonymous in the eyes of millions, that could soon change...

In today’s world, business success depends on understanding and acting on how external forces – globalization, economic conditions, demographics, sustainability, and digital technologies – impact a company’s competitive position and its strategy. While all of these...

“Digital has come of age,” said Dr. Vijay Gurbaxani in his opening keynote at the Center for Digital Transformation’s third annual Road to Reinvention at The Paul Merage School of Business at UC Irvine on March 23. He was talking about Wall Street’s higher valuations...

Is content still king, or does the crown rest atop the distributor’s head? That was a question put to the panel on entertainment at the third annual “Road to Reinvention” conference, hosted by the Center for Digital Transformation at The Paul Merage School of Business...

“We have to be brave,” said Michael E. McNamara, Target’s chief information and digital officer at the Center for Digital Transformation’s third annual “Road to Reinvention” conference at the UCI Paul Merage School of Business on March 23. McNamara was talking about...

Digital technologies and business models co-evolve. Most recently, sharing economy companies like Uber, Lyft, Airbnb, and Instacart have leveraged powerful digital platforms, both public and proprietary, to offer services in innovative ways. While digital technologies...

On the road to reinventing themselves for the digital age, companies have been incorporating sensors, cameras, social media, data analytics, mobility, and cloud computing to transform their businesses. “You ain’t seen nothin’ yet” was a theme of the final panel at the...