The importance of artificial intelligence (AI) has become a major trend in both management practice and academic research. Companies expect to reap benefits from the use of AI, such as process optimization and the elimination of repetitive tasks. Despite this growing trend toward AI, many executives are unsure about the criteria that must be met for such a transformation and how the technological potential of AI can be anchored in the strategic domain and translated into economic success. The aim of this research is to investigate the conditions under which an AI strategy can contribute to achieving competitive advantages and to develop criteria for success and failure in the implementation of business process transformations, which enable the derivation of options for action for strategic alignment with AI.
The central aim is to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the necessity of implementing an AI strategy in a business context and to examine whether a strategy for AI transformation (AI strategy) improves an organization’s economic performance. This results in the following project objectives: (1) to examine and describe in more detail the conditions under which an AI corporate strategy can contribute to achieving strategic competitive advantages, and (2) to develop criteria for success and failure in the implementation of business process transformations using AI. (3) Finally, the desired results are to be published (anonymized) to an appropriate extent in order to provide small and medium-sized enterprises in particular with recommendations for action for a strategic focus on AI, thereby enabling them to strengthen their competitiveness and innovative power.