Stefan Thomke: The power of experimentation in the digital era
ISSN: 1087-8572
Article publication date: 18 May 2020
Issue publication date: 24 July 2020
Abstract
Purpose
In this interview with Harvard innovation expert Stefan H.Thomke about his latest book, Experimentation Works: The Surprising Power of Business Experiments, he pays tribute to the scientific method and “the engine that has powered” it over the centuries, the “humble experiment.”
Design/methodology/approach
Professor Thomke anticipates a burgeoning role for business experimentation, one that it is already playing across the value chain, particularly in leading online companies.
Findings
Digital experimentation tools have the potential to revolutionize a company’s R&D, but they can also transform entire industries by shifting experimentation–and thus product innovation–to users and customers.
Practical implications
The ability to access large customer samples, to automatically collect huge amounts of data about user interactions on websites and apps, and to run concurrent experiments gives companies an unprecedented opportunity to evaluate many ideas quickly, with great precision, and at a negligible cost per additional experiment.
Originality/value
Product development is being transformed by rapid experimentation: all aspects of software–including user interfaces, security applications and back-end changes–can now be subjected to A/B tests.
Citation
Leavy, B. (2020), "Stefan Thomke: The power of experimentation in the digital era", Strategy & Leadership, Vol. 48 No. 4, pp. 3-10. https://doi.org/10.1108/SL-03-2020-0047
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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