The merging of business and information technology (IT) strategies, effectively becoming a Digital Business Strategy (DBS), is changing the way that organisations have to leverage resources to create differential value. Due to the DBS being such a novice idea, there is no clear understanding of what the DBS is, what its characteristics and boundaries are, how it impacts alignment between business and IT, and how it impacts organisational performance. Without this understanding, organisations leveraging a DBS run the risk of launching technological initiatives or making organisational changes that are disjointed from their strategic direction. These misaligned efforts may result in unrealised strategy and unsatisfactory organisational performance. The purpose of this study was to define the boundaries and characteristics of the DBS, provide a definition of a DBS and to establish if the DBS has a positive effect on organisational performance. To examine the DBS, it was observed in its natural habitat, through a single case study approach, focusing on an organisation that has been leveraging a DBS as part of their digital journey. The organisation is a South African based financial services provider and is a subsidiary of a larger financial services provider. In this study, the DBS was observed from an intellectual, operational, social and cultural alignment perspective, using a combination of the Strategic Alignment Model (SAM) and the Complex Adaptive System (CAS) frameworks. This study subscribed to a mixed-method approach which included both qualitative and quantitative research techniques. Staff providing input into this study included senior, middle, junior and non-management employees. The study was conducted over a period of thirteen months. The findings from both the qualitative and quantitative data suggest that to leverage a DBS the organisation must be concerned with more than just leveraging digital resources. For instance, organisations must focus on customer and staff empowerment, use customer and industry-related information to create opportunistic and competitive decision-making opportunities, and create a change-ready culture where bold experimentation and failing forward is embraced. Researchers and practitioners alike can use the findings of this case study as lessons on how to leverage organisational resources in the context of the DBS.

In the era of globalisation, organisations around the world have increasingly become stages of global diversity where multi-cultural workforces interact in teams on a daily basis. International organisations, in particular, are a characteristic display of cross-cultural interaction. The study of organisational culture in a multi-cultural organisational environment is receiving growing attention due to a pressing need to understand and manage the consequences of cross-cultural interaction and achieve better organisational outcomes. However, so far, studies in the area have focused on multinational for-profit organisations and neglected other industry and governance, missing opportunities for broader and richer understanding in the field. The present study covered a case of an internationally federated complex non-profit organisation and captured new insights, thereby contributing to theory and enriching the empirical evidence in the field of study. The results shed light on the importance of industry and governance, and provoked critical questions for further research. The unique features of non-profit and federated governance culture depicted the opportunities for cross-learning with other industries. The study highlighted the distinct formation of conventional cultural dimensions contributing to cultural cohesion and cushioning the federation against excessive fragmentation. The dimensions of institutional collectivism, in-group collectivism, power distance and uncertainty avoidance depicted interesting behaviours in the study context. These dimensions dominated behaviour and have rendered other dimensions subservient. Cultural behaviours, such as cultural-anchoring and power grouping, transpired as unique findings to the industry and governance, where consensus and fragmentation have played integrative and accommodative roles. Dominant dimensions determined direction and intensity in subservient dimensions irrespective of values espoused by leadership in the subservient dimensions. The line between organisational politics and the ingroup collectivism dimension was blurred, calling for further research in the field of organisational behaviour. Further research in the field could focus on shaping organisational cultural dimensions fit for diverse industry and governance contexts, identifying areas of cross-fertilisation of learning, investigating the significance of dominant versus subservient dimensions in the process of organisational cultural change, and broadening the knowledge base in the field by studying diverse organisational typologies. / Graduate School of Business Leadership (SBL) / D. B. L.