PhD research at the Digital Empowerment Lab
An overview of my doctoral work at National Cheng Kung University: the topics, the kinds of questions and methods, and the other roles I take on in the lab. The work is ongoing.
Since February 2024 I have been a PhD researcher at the Digital Empowerment Lab, National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) in Tainan, Taiwan, in the Department of Business Administration. This page gives a general overview of what that work involves. It is ongoing, and I will add results here as they are published.
The topics
My research sits where technology meets business strategy. The main threads are:
- Digital servitization: how firms shift from selling products to offering services and solutions enabled by digital technologies.
- Digital transformation: how technology changes business models, organisations and the way value is created.
- Digital innovation: new products, services and processes made possible by digital tools.
- Firm competitiveness: whether, and how, all of the above changes a firm's position.
The lab's name describes the spirit well. The interest is not technology for its own sake, but how digital tools can empower businesses, and what conditions make that happen.
The kinds of questions
Rather than one narrow question, the work moves around a family of related ones:
- How does technology affect business processes and operational efficiency?
- What separates firms that get value from digital investment from those that only get cost?
- How can firm performance and investment attractiveness be assessed fairly across firms that differ in size, industry and stage of development?
I have written separate posts on digital servitization, digital transformation and competitiveness and DEA for readers who want more background.
Methods
The work is empirical and relies on data analytics. One of the main methods is Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), which compares the relative efficiency of units such as firms using several inputs and outputs at once. DEA suits questions about performance because performance rarely comes down to a single number.
Working with others
Research in the lab is not a solo activity. I collaborate with interdisciplinary teams on digital transformation strategies, because the topic crosses strategy, operations, information systems and finance. The aim, as with most doctoral work, is to publish in academic journals and present at international conferences.
Beyond my own research
The PhD is also about contributing to the lab as a community. Alongside my own studies I:
- mentor graduate students as they develop their research,
- assist with lab management,
- help with project coordination.
These roles have taught me as much as my own projects. Explaining a method to someone else is one of the best tests of whether you really understand it.
Status
This is a work in progress. I am not listing findings here because they are not yet published, and I would rather share them properly than early. When papers and conference presentations are out, they will appear in the publications and conferences sections of this site.
Photos: nicolagiordano on Pixabay, used under the Pixabay Content License. These are not my photographs.
Related
3 min readProjects
Views: 3Bridging industry and academia
Years in digital marketing and business development shape the questions I ask as a researcher. Here is how, and the kinds of collaboration I am open to.