Advisor

Andrea Lorenzini

This Advisor explores the European Commission SUMP, a consolidated methodology to help local and regional authorities improve accessibility of urban areas by providing high-quality, sustainable transport to, through, and within the urban area. Essentially, it contains actionable guidelines for comprehensive and sustainable urban mobility planning.

Executive Update

Hemamalini Kumaran

In this Amplify Update, we first examine the principles of ESG/DEI and how each benefits the organization. Next, we explore obstacles companies face when embracing these initiatives and provide a holistic approach to overcoming challenges and mitigating backlash. By overcoming these issues and effectively integrating ESG and DEI principles into corporate responsibility strategies, companies can create long-term value for stakeholders while advancing their broader mission of responsible corporate citizenship.

Advisor

Michael Papadopoulos, Nicholas Johnson, Michael Eiden, Philippe Monnot, Foivos Christoulakis, Greg Smith

With careful design and effective oversight, large language models (LLMs) can be an ally rather than a liability in securing organizations against modern technological threats. This Advisor looks at specific ways responsible LLM adoption can improve security.

Advisor

James Rychard

Building a high-performance team takes significant effort, and it doesn't occur until all members of the team are working together like a well-oiled machine. In this Advisor, we explore a key ingredient of high-performance teams: leaders who display social intelligence when leading and putting the team together.

Advisor

Curt Hall

In this Advisor, Cutter Expert Curt Hall examines how AI, computer vision, and robotics are being implemented to optimize the plastic recycling process.

Advisor

Francesco Marsella, Petter Kilefors, Maximilian Scherr, Ralf Baron, Satya Easwaran

In this Advisor, we explore a key trend uncovered by ADL’s 2024 CEO Insights study: AI use, particularly for efficiency and effectiveness, is on the rise; however, many leaders are still on a transformation path to fully understand its impact and integrate it across their organizations.

Advisor

Myles Suer

In this Advisor, Myles Suer offers nine pieces of advice gleaned from a forthcoming book on AI-savvy leadership. Effective leaders can use this advice to propel AI in their organizations and gain real business value.

Advisor

François Joseph Van Audenhove, Hans Arby

This Advisor presents the current status of mobility as a service (MaaS) and explores some interesting new mobility models.

Article

Pamela McCloskey, Byron Graham

Pamela McCloskey and Byron Graham explain “why” and “how” organizations in the banking industry are developing and using big data analytics capabilities (BDAC) to derive business value. Their article highlights the importance of a socio-technical approach to analytics: technical resources (e.g., data, technical infrastructure, software tools) and human capital with the skills to use these resources combined with the right social elements to nurture a data-driven culture that ensures the correct use of data for insight and decision-making. McCloskey and Graham present examples of how organizations have drawn on BDACs to successfully respond to recent shocks in the external environment, including the pandemic and regulatory changes in the financial services industry. The authors’ proposed framework for assessing and developing the resource base for BDAC helps organizations understand their level of analytics maturity to maximize operational efficiencies and performance. The framework outlines how (1) process integration (creating a “single source of truth”), (2) process assimilation (restructuring to embed data skills,) and (3) diffusion (creating a data-driven culture) can enable organizations to develop BDACs to increase business value and gain strategic benefit.

Article

Oteng Ntsweng, Wallace Chipidza, Keith Carter

Oteng Ntsweng, Wallace Chipidza, and Keith Barrett Carter pose a thought-provoking question: how can organizations harmonize humanistic and financial values using generative AI (GenAI) analytics? The article includes an examination of three real-world cases (PwC, Morgan Stanley, and Ørsted), exploring how GenAI is changing the analytics value chain, how data experts are preparing for the future, and what is being done to re-skill employees to enable effective collaboration between GenAI and employees. Building on insights from these cases, the authors provide frank conversations on ethical digital transformation and AI for social good. Their recommendations include alignment between GenAI tools and need, adopting an employee-inclusive GenAI adoption approach, and promoting leadership teams that are knowledgeable in AI and analytics. The authors conclude that the incorporation of GenAI in business analytics offers the potential for significant advancements in business value, but there is a need to foster collaboration between GenAI and data experts to enhance value without losing humanistic outcomes.

Article

Maria Diaz Campo, Arman Ghafoori, Manjul Gupta

Maria P. Diaz Campo, Arman Ghafoori, and Manjul Gupta explain the growing trend of AI hallucinations (when GenAI generates unreasonable or inaccurate output) and how it can have detrimental consequences for organizations and individuals. The authors suggest that the degree to which such hallucinations are tolerated depends heavily on context and argue that individuals have lower tolerance levels for AI hallucination when the stakes are high (and vice versa when the stakes are low). They point out the importance of considering the contextual nuances surrounding the use of GenAI to help developers, decision makers, and academics establish best practices and manage potential sources of error. They also highlight the significance of understanding culture at the national level, as it can be instrumental in assessing societies’ tolerance levels to AI hallucinations. The authors’ suggested model provides unique insight into levels of analysis (i.e., personality, organizational culture, national culture) and how they pertain to AI hallucination. They make a compelling case that understanding context is critical for making informed decisions about strategically adopting and implementing GenAI (and emerging technologies in general). The article concludes with several key takeaways that can help balance potential value opportunities and risk tolerance.

Article

Conn Smyth, Denis Dennehy, Samuel Fosso Wamba, Murray Scott, Sean Coffey

Conn Smyth, Samuel Fosso Wamba, Murray Scott, Sean Coffey, and Denis Dennehy take a look at the important topic of resilient agri-food supply chains, an issue that affects us all. They report on the challenges facing the industry and explain how agri-food supply chain organizations are leveraging AI-based systems to plan for, respond to, and recover from supply chain disruptions efficiently and cost-effectively. The results show that AI-enabled information processing can build resilience in agri-food supply chains while reducing food waste and improving supply chain performance. The article is part of a wider doctoral research project and is informed by 147 survey responses from practitioners in the global agri-food industry. The authors propose a framework that maps six benefits of AI-based systems to three benefits of the agri-food supply chain and end with a call to action for a concerted effort between industry and academia to design, develop, and deploy AI solutions to make the world a better place.

Article

Denis Dennehy

In this issue of Amplify, we explore several ways organizations leverage business analytics to create business value. As we delve into this dynamic business environment, it becomes evident that leaders who understand their business and data and can strategically align their analytical capabilities are best positioned to derive business value.

Advisor

Tiffany Maldonado

Stakeholders are demanding more than just financial results from organizations. They’re increasing the pressure on CEOs to encourage strong ethical behaviors in their organizations, address social problems, and take a stance on current events. The worldwide increase of social injustice, both inside and outside organizations, demands that CEOs establish cultures and processes that are inclusive of all people.

Advisor

Curt Hall

As we explore in this Advisor, electric tractors offer both environmental and economic benefits and can play a significant role in sustainable agriculture efforts. In addition to pollution-reducing EV technology, these quiet, no-exhaust tractors use AI, robotics, and the IoT to enable autonomous operations and support precision agriculture.

Advisor

Ignacio Garcia Alves, Philippe De Backer, Juan Gonzalez

Effective adoption of next-generation banking technology is the road to greater customer engagement; faster product development; better operational management; and improved compliance, efficiency, and growth. It will also enrich the customer experience through stellar, hyper-personalized service.

Advisor

Francesco Marsella, Petter Kilefors, Maximilian Scherr, Ralf Baron, Satya Easwaran

In this Advisor, we explore two trends uncovered by ADL’s 2024 “CEO Insights” study: CEOs plan to continue existing growth strategies and are increasing their growth investments.

Article

Cynthia Clark

The contemporary context of corporate responsibility involves a deep and wide set of concepts and tasks. Fundamentally, it involves working with multiple stakeholders and a range of disciplines. Managers then face decisions around how to take ownership of a number of company impacts throughout the value chain, including design, production, marketing, sales, and communications. And because corporate responsibility is tethered to calls for greater accountability, managers must also consider how their corporate governance framework serves to encourage, restrict, and ultimately shape the company’s relationship with society. In this issue of Amplify, we explore the conflicting pressures governments, shareholders, customers, and workforces are exerting on firms and their leaders in emerging corporate responsibility strategies involving ESG issues.

Article

Oana Branzei, Dusya Vera, Kimberley Young Milani

Oana Branzei, Dusya Vera, and Kimberley Young Milani take a deep dive into leadership in the eye of the “ESG storm.” The authors look at how today’s frames change tomorrow’s leaders and leadership, a critical aspect of the future of corporate responsibility. The stakes on leading responsibly have never been higher, they write, with leading business outlets warning companies about getting ESG “just right” while calling on leaders to “act purposefully.” How leaders solve this paradigm will change the future of corporate responsibility, say the authors. They then describe a framework that can help leaders see the future as the poly-activation of character dimensions and argue that as leaders activate a broader expanse of dimensions, including temperance, integrity, drive, and deep collaboration, their judgment becomes stronger, and additional futures open up. And as more character dimensions are exercised, the future’s leaders become more inclusive, collaborative, and sustainable — with or without the letters E, S, and G.

Article

Ryan Flaim, Maureen Wolff

Ryan Flaim and Maureen Wolff offer detailed advice on how to combat anti-ESG sentiment. Acknowledging that ESG has become a political tinderbox, the authors say companies can still reap the benefits of their ESG initiatives. They suggest a three-pronged solution that starts with closely aligning ESG goals with corporate strategies, as Trane Technologies and Adidas have done. Second, tell a cohesive, integrated ESG story, including how your company refers to these efforts (use “ESG” or maybe go with “impact” or “sustainability”), using KPIs and case studies and ensuring your metrics are validated. The latter is not only the best antidote to greenwashing accusations, it’s also been shown to lead companies to make more carbon-emission reductions than companies that don’t externally verify their data. Third, Flaim and Wolff advise taking a proactive, creative approach to stakeholder engagement. One-on-one meetings with analysts and stewardship teams, ESG investor briefings (perhaps less controversially called “Sustainability Days”), and developing employee ambassadors could all be in the mix. Recent backlash doesn’t necessarily mean an ESG strategy isn’t relevant, assert the authors. Rather, by focusing on strategy, transparency, accountability, and performance, ESG can be a meaningful competitive advantage and an enabler of responsible business.