In the digital age, the combination of technology and radical management practices drive competitive advantage

Abstract

Purpose The author asserts that Gary Hamel’s decade-old prediction of an oncoming avalanche of ‘radical management innovations’ has come true. They are already staring us in the face, not in a couple of tiny obscure foreign firms, but in the success of the most valuable firms in the world. Design/methodology/approach Whether traditional management thinkers want to recognize it or not, we are already living in a new economic age–with radically different management practices that are driving the growth of the economy. Findings The current new age has been triggered by combining extraordinary new technologies and new management principles. Practical/implications New technologies, without the change in management principles, are not enough to achieve transformative advantage. Originality/value Innovative firms with a total value of more than half the economy are being run with a radically different management mindset, principles and skills that ambitious managers need to adopt.