Introducing our prestigious speaker
Goutam Challagalla is Professor of Strategy and Marketing. He focuses on how digital advances and sustainability concerns are impacting companies’ business strategies and approaches to marketing. Having helped companies to rethink their business models and build new capabilities in the face of the digital revolution, he is now helping to integrate sustainability-related challenges and opportunities into their strategy.
His teaching, consulting and research highlight the different challenges facing companies as a result of digital and sustainability transformations. While digital advances require the development of new business models in order to become more effective or efficient, taking on sustainability goals means that organizations have to rethink their whole raison d’être and their relationship with all stakeholders.
He is therefore well placed to help companies prepare for further acceleration in digital and sustainability transformations in the post-pandemic world, particularly by designing strategies that are resilient for today and tomorrow. His research shows how digital breakthroughs can derail businesses, as well as the steps they can take to protect themselves and leverage digital technologies for gain. It also provides insights into how firms can exploit purpose and digital advances to drive sustainability priorities, brand strategies for sustainability, customer centricity, and how to design and lead modern sales organizations in the wake of COVID-19.
His work on sustainability strategy with Frédéric Dalsace has demonstrated that there is only a narrow path to success on sustainability, and most firms and brands are not able to find this because they make crucial mistakes as they pursue their agendas. A recently published Harvard Business Review article by the pair sets out a practical framework for creating sustainability strategies built on customer engagement as well as improvements in products and operations.