Since the 1990s, business-IT alignment has been considered the appropriate organizational frame for business and IT strategies. Thereafter, with the rising importance of innovative digital technologies for performance and competitiveness, the concept of digital business strategies (DBS) emerged. The fusion of business and IT strategies is presumed to account for the inevitable transformations that digital technologies triggered. This paradigmatic shift poses new challenges to practitioners and researchers, as current assumptions regarding strategizing processes need to be questioned. This study sets out to provide a structured clarification of the current digital business strategies knowledge base. It provides a threefold contribution by: 1) structuring the research efforts on digital business strategies, 2) uncovering knowledge gaps and 3) developing an agenda for future research.

Today’s cities face numerous challenges due to climate change and urbanization. The concept of a smart city aims to help cities to address these challenges by adapting modern information and communication technology. Smart mobility and transportation form one important aspect of smart cities. Inefficient mobility in cities can lead to problems such as traffic congestion, which results in frustration for residents and a decrease in the quality of life. Against the backdrop of global warming, cities also strive to reduce CO₂ emissions, an attempt which requires sustainable and novel mobility concepts. Blockchain is a current technology, said to have huge potential, that is being investigated for application in many facets of smart cities. In the context of smart mobility, blockchain can be used for transactions relating to ridesharing and electric charging, handling of interactions of platoon members, or serving as a foundation for communication between vehicles. Although initial research about this topic exists, it is distributed among different use-cases and applications. This article conducts a systematic literature review to analyze blockchain’s role in mobility and transportation in smart cities, and its potential to increase efficiency in these areas. With this review, we aim to consolidate and summarize the current knowledge about this topic. As a first result, we present the findings from our literature review, which can be divided into five categories of use-cases. We also present a platform for further research about this emerging topic by identifying promising future research avenues. For this purpose, we derive a future research agenda based on our findings.

Urbanization is a global trend that continues to grow, leading to an increasing number of people to live in cities. This rapid expansion creates challenges such as traffic congestion, environmental pollution, and the need to ensure high living standards for all residents. To address these challenges, many cities adopt digital technologies to become smarter, more efficient, and more sustainable. Among these technologies, artificial intelligence (AI) has gained significant attention in recent years due to its transformative potential. In the context of smart cities, AI offers innovative solutions across various domains, including mobility, waste management, and energy optimization. Due to its multidisciplinary nature and rapid advancements, research on AI in smart cities has grown significantly. A comprehensive approach is needed to understand its role in urban transformation and identify key research gaps. This paper aims to synthesize existing knowledge on AI in smart cities, providing valuable insights for both researchers and practitioners. We define the scope of AI-related research by analyzing scientific literature and offer three main contributions. First, we provide a holistic overview of the field by conducting a bibliometric analysis to map the status and structure of existing knowledge. Second, we identify major research themes through co-citation clustering. Third, we outline a future research agenda by analyzing the most recent and influential journal articles. Our findings have both theoretical and practical implications for a wide range of disciplines, including computer science, energy, transportation, and security. Furthermore, our results can facilitate collaboration by identifying leading researchers and institutions, highlight critical research gaps, and foster discussions on the benefits and challenges of AI-driven smart city solutions.

Die Geschäftswelt erlebt derzeit unter dem Stichwort Digitalisierung einen deutlichen Wandel. IT-Innovationen üben einen signifikanten Einfluss auf die Geschäftsmodelle vieler Unternehmen aus. Die resultierende Digitale Transformation hat dabei disruptive Konsequenzen für die Unternehmen und ihre Branchen, so dass eine Weiterführung des analogen Geschäfts oftmals keine Option darstellt. Entsprechend sind die unternehmensinternen IT-Organisationen in zunehmenden Maße gefordert, das Gesamtunternehmen aktiv mitzugestalten. Die klassische IT-Organisation ist aus historischen Gründen für die Digitale Transformation jedoch meist nicht optimal positioniert. Um den veränderten Anforderungen der Digitalisierung gerecht zu werden, sind neue Fähigkeiten und ein Umdenken im IT-Management erforderlich. Dieser Artikel geht der Frage nach, welche Implikationen die Digitalisierung für die IT-Organisation hat und wie die erforderlichen Veränderungen aktiv angegangen werden können. Digitalization impacts the corporate world considerably. IT innovations significantly influence the business models of many companies. The resulting digital transformation has disruptive consequences for the companies and their industries which is why the continuation of the analogue business is often not an option. Thus, corporate IT organizations are increasingly requested to be actively involved in the further development of the company. For historical reasons, the conventional IT organization is often not well positioned for the digital transformation. To account for the changing requirements of the digital word, new capabilities and a rethinking IT management are required. This article explores the question of what the implications of digitalization on the IT organization are and how the necessary changes can be actively tackled.