Empirical Evidence on how Smart Connected Products’ Capability Maturity Impacts Players’ Portfolio Strategy: A Case Study on Siemens

Prominent authors predict smart connected products on all industries will usher a new era in digital transformation, with several degrees of digital transformation capability maturity. The goal of the article is to test this predictive theory via a pioneering case example. The methodology is an intrinsic explanatory case study with Siemens case subject. The explanatory case study seeks causal relationships between the smart connected products capability maturity index and Siemens’ portfolio strategy. The empirical data pertains to a wide body of Siemens’ public statements. The causal relationships are sought via intermediary variables, the dimensions of portfolio strategy. The finding is that the capability maturity index adds two dimensions, the core technology dimension and the customer account dimension, to Siemens’ traditional matrix portfolio made up of vertical industries and geographical locations. Siemens analyzes and aggregates sales on each of these dimensions. The core technology dimension comprises research and pre-development activities related to the technologies in the smart connected products’ capability maturity index named explicitly. Sales organizations may be key account managers as well as the internal digital transformation management consultant Advanta. At Advanta, the digital maturity index is sine qua non to the digital transformation consulting process that decides the marketed solutions’ architecture.