Why do enterprise transformations fail? HINT: IT’S not what you think

Abstract

Enterprise transformation has a serious impact on a firm’s survivability. Even though 70% of firms fail to transform (e.g., ToysRUs, Blockbuster, MySpace, Blackberry, etc.), not enough has been researched on factors that could improve transformation success. Our research explores four new factors—timing, leadership involvement, psychological ownership, and transparency—that influence transformation success. A survey was administered to a sample of 190 transformation experts that shared their transformation experiences at multiple firms. This is one of the few empirical studies that uncover key factors that significantly influenced transformation success at not just one firm but at multiple firms. In addition to contributing to theory, the findings provide practitioners data-driven knowledge that can be applied to their ongoing transformation efforts to increase their odds of beating the 70% failure rate.

Keywords:

• transformation
• timing
• leadership
• psychological ownership
• transparency