Insights that drive leadership

Software stocks have been in freefall, and a new word has entered the business lexicon: "SaaSpocalypse." The thesis is that AI is poised to undermine the business model that made enterprise software one of the most profitable industries on the planet, built on high margins, recurring revenues and customers locked in by painful switching costs. Drawing on roundtables with senior business leaders in San Francisco and New York, this Fortune piece identifies three structural forc

We are living through the biggest freemium product demo in history, and it cannot last. AI capability is advancing at breakneck speed, but the capital being committed vastly outweighs the value being realised, and aspirations are not cashflows. This Sifted piece argues that 2026 marks the end of AI's era of innocence, as Big AI is forced to monetise harder and the question of who pays, how much and for what can no longer be deferred. The piece examines how monetisation will l

Ecosystems—not standalone firms—are fast becoming the unit of competition. They are not the same as clusters: clusters are geographic concentrations of related actors; ecosystems are role- and rule-based collaborations organised around a user job and shared rails (identity, data, APIs, governance). Ecosystems may sit inside clusters, but they are not defined by geography and often cut across sectors and regions. AI and GenAI lower search and coordination costs, turning intent

Nearly nine out of ten S&P 500 companies that mentioned AI on earnings calls last year described it in glowing terms, yet most leaders fell back on vague promises of unrealised productivity gains when pressed for specifics. AI pilots are not guaranteed to deliver, employees remain fearful of the technology, and AI projects frequently fail to address how organisations actually work and create value. This HBR article argues that success in the age of generative AI hinges less o

Most forecasts about GenAI's impact rest on a simple premise: if AI can do a task, the person or firm doing that task is at risk. It is a clean logic, but a flawed one. Drawing on 18 months of research with over 300 senior executives and directors conducted with the UK's Institute of Directors and Evolution Ltd, including roundtables, surveys, interviews and NLP analysis of firms' market positioning, this Forbes piece argues that disruption does not start with tasks. It start

In this piece published in Management Today, our Lead Advisor Michael G. Jacobides, drawing on a workshop co-sponsored by Evolution Ltd at London Business School, finds that while GenAI is not about to replace professional services firms or knowledge work, it is set to profoundly redefine them. Rather than displacing all roles, GenAI reshapes what adds value—prompting firms to rethink how they price, staff, train, and deliver. To stay relevant, PSFs must move beyond task auto

This study examines executives’ perceptions of Generative AI’s impact on competitive advantage and their expectations of its disruptive...

Regulating artificial intelligence has become a first-order strategic battleground, yet most policy debates remain trapped in...

Two years after Generative AI’s moment of inflection, enthusiasm is undimmed, yet evidence of impact remains elusive. The truth is that...

We explore the mechanisms underpinning the realization of synergies within multi-business firms. Using unique data from a large GCC retail conglomerate, we distinguish between physical synergies and those drawing on digital features. We also find that corporate value creation stems not from scope per se, but from firms’ ability to mitigate the inherent costs of broader scope while enabling the realization of synergies. Employing configurational theorizing, we show how similar

Large companies currently dominate GenAI adoption, with 46% reporting mid-to-high levels of maturity compared to just 28% of mid-sized firms. But that advantage may be fading. This Fortune piece argues that as GenAI evolves, mid-sized companies are increasingly well placed to catch up and even pull ahead, because the very scale that gave large firms an edge is now working against them. Extensive management layers, entrenched processes and siloed operations cause large enterpr

Two years after Generative AI’s inflection moment, enthusiasm remains strong, yet evidence of impact is elusive. The truth is that GenAI...