Digital Disruption Without Organizational Upheaval

MIT CISR

Nick van der Meulen reads MIT CISR's February 2022 research briefing, which he co-authored with John Mooney and Cynthia Beath. See the text version and related content at https://cisr.mit.edu/publication/2022_0201_Multicapping_VanderMeulenMooneyBeath. Abstract: Creating a distinct digital unit or organization can help a company to recruit talent with specialized digital skills. Free from corporate legacy and with the decision rights to operate as a startup, such digital entities can disrupt the status quo and develop digital offerings. But to successfully scale these offerings, the digital entity and the parent company need to be strategically, operationally, and technologically aligned. This briefing describes how Toyota Motor North America uses a management practice called multi-capping to digitally disrupt itself while maintaining organizational alignment.