Developing the Digital Playbook: How Much to Invest Where and What Are the Returns?

Digital is currently all the rage! But we know from experience that after excitement comes questions of impact on the bottom line. In this research project, our goal is to investigate how much companies are spending on digital and what they are getting in return. We will divide digital investment into a series of asset classes, like growth versus cut costs, each with a different expected risk and return profile. We will then look for relationships between those investments and different kinds of firm performance. We will also look for the key management practices that turn those investments into bottom-line impacts. The goal is to create a first chapter of the digital playbook.

Research questions include:
(*) How much are companies investing in digital today?
(*) What are the different kinds of investments in digital, e.g., different asset classes?
(*) What is the measurable impact on firm performance of different digital asset class investments?
(*) What are the key management practices that amplify digital investments to get more returns?
(*) How do we translate these findings into the first chapter of the digital playbook, answering questions like how much should we invest in digital, where do we start, and what are the returns we can expect?