Smarter organizations: insights from a smart city hybrid framework

Smart cities (SC) are communities that use digital technology infrastructure to improve the lives of the individuals and groups, while increasing the productivity and competitiveness of their organizations. This paper suggests that innovative organizations should be designed under the same principles that make smart cities better places to live and work in. In order to do so, Smart Organizations should be redesigned in three levels: firstly, they should rethink their systems and structures to support more flexible processes and facilitate collaboration from a distance, while taking measures to improve the work environment and reduce the ecological impact of their activities. This infrastructure level borrows on the SC concepts of Smart Mobility / Smart Environment. Secondly, they should adapt their knowledge management systems to encourage the emergence of more collaborative and innovative communities in their ecosystems while facilitating more participative, transparent and open decision-making processes among all stakeholders. This intermediate level borrows on the SC concepts of Smart Economy and Smart Governance. Finally, they should attract and develop talented, creative, skilled and diverse knowledge workers who contribute to a corporate culture of innovation through learning, sharing and growth while at the same time creating meaningful values, social cohesion and well-being at work. This top level, much lower in technology intensity, builds upon the two lower levels and borrows on the SC concepts of Smart People and Smart Living. This article conducts a multi-case study of 18 innovative companies that have adopted several elements of the hybrid smart city model to (re)design their organizations. The cases illustrate 18 performance sub-categories that could help innovative organizations think about the way they can combine their lower level “hard” components with their upper level “soft” ones in order to better adapt to smart city environments.