It is all about creating and capturing value, building networks, and scaling up quickly

It is a simple question: How do you innovate in the digital economy? The answers are perhaps less straightforward given the breakneck speed of digitalisation and the many disruptions caused by COVID-19 and “slowbalisation” – ‘country of origins’ requirements imposed by USA causing logistics complexity. Throw in the shift away from just-in-time supply chains to build in robustness and responsiveness, and things become even murkier.

The main challenge, says Arnoud De Meyer, Professor Emeritus at SMU’s Lee Kong Chian School of Business (LKCSB), is to be ‘first to scale’, citing the examples of Uber, AirBnB and other digital platform companies whose business models are “not that innovative but they became successful because they could offer scale and thus positive network effects”.

Continue ..