Framework for the Development of Digital Strategies for Industrial Companies: Principles, Methods and Tools

Strategic management and strategy as a tool for managing business development have become responses to the increasing instability of the external environment. With the advent and development of digital technologies, there has been another quantitative and qualitative leap in the growth of uncertainty in the operating conditions of industrial enterprises. In order to remain competitive, they have embarked on a digital transformation process, the success of which also largely depends on having a clear strategy for implementing the transformation. The requirements for such a strategy, and the methods and tools used to develop it, are in some respects very different from those used in traditional strategic management. This determines the research relevance in the field of determining the nature of the digital strategy of the industrial enterprise, methods and tools for its development. It is shown that a digital strategy is a strategy for business development in a digital environment and that the key problem in its development is the need to significantly increase flexibility while maintaining a certain stability. Analysis of trends in the area of adaptation and development of methods for strategy development in the digital environment was carried out. Four broad sets of methods for increasing strategic flexibility have been identified: based on scenario development, experimentation, the use of organisational and management mechanisms, and on the use of ecosystem capabilities. Taking into account the stages of digital transformation process of the industrial enterprise and the basic practices of adaptive management, a landscape of methods and tools for the formation of a digital strategy of a company has been built up, allowing to broaden the understanding and to make a reasonable choice of an instrumental and methodological base. The concept of a minimum viable strategy is highlighted as a promising direction for developing a flexible digital strategy for an enterprise. A tool for its development is proposed in the form of a one-page presentation (canvas) that logically combines the key components of a digital strategy, ensuring its flexibility and sustainability.