The Role of a Brand Manager in Today’s Competitive Market

which ‘coordinates the many independent threads of digital transformation and helps [firms] navigate the complexity and ambiguity of identifying their own digital “sweet spots”’ (p.125). According to our data, firm strategies increasingly include digitalization aspects—a phenomenon that is especially observable in firms where the TMT revised and approved the firm strategies only recently. Many interviewees also report that digitalization now even 

represents ‘a major building block’ (AUTO-4) in their firm's corporate strategy. By openly stressing the relevance and role of the digital transformation for the firm and by continually mentioning the topic across various communication channels, top managers testify its strategic importance, as explained by the Chief Digital Officer (CDO) of a large chemicals 

firm: We have a very visionary CEO, who made the digitalization his subject, who often stands with me on stage, who, over the past two years, never missed mentioning the word “digitalization” in his internal presentations and speeches. (CHEM-2) In addition to making digitalization a strategic priority, our analysis reveals that top managers redefine roles and responsibilities within their firm to pave the way for the digital transformation. This redefinition 

Includes changes to the organizational

structure and the introduction of digitalization functions at the individual and team levels. Prior research suggests that rapid technological progress requires fast responses from firms so that more agile work modes and low levels of hierarchy will be favorable (Eggers & Park, 2018; Verhoef et al., 2019). Many interviewees corroborate this notion by reporting that firms' digital transformation is often accompanied by dramatic changes to the mode of working 

together. Commonly mentioned terms in this regard were ‘new work,’ flexible, and agile. Formally, this transition is perceivable in the organizational structure, as reflected in a general shift toward flatter hierarchies (Schwarzmüller et al., 2018). Furthermore, dedicated roles and entire teams with a specialized digitalization focus are introduced throughout the firm. At the TMT level, many respondents reported that the role of a CDO was created ‘to carry the topic 

into the firm’ (FMCG-1). This finding aligns with Singh and Hess (2017), who highlight the rising establishment of CDO roles in upper echelons and the CDOs' principal responsibility to make digitalization a strategic priority in the firm. Although many firms regard the CDO as a central player in firms' digitalization efforts, other interviewees explained that the introduction of a CDO is only an initial step and impulse toward a broader coverage of the topic; in the 

Aspects should be integrated across

the entire firm, making the CDO role eventually redundant. Next to dedicated individual functions at the top of the organization, significant adjustments are also perceivable at other organizational levels. For instance, dedicated teams or divisions are often created to foster firms' digitalization efforts. The nature of these entities in terms of size, responsibilities, and people involved differed significantly across our sample. Often top managers are also 

involved in those bodies:We have a specific committee, a dedicated digital board, within which all kinds of decisions with a digital relation are discussed every six weeks and funds are released. Three out of six group management board members are part of this digital board. (AVIA-1) In addition to these measures, our findings suggest that top managers set the firm's 

formal context for digitalization by providing resources that enable the realization of targeted actions. As one respondent claims, it is the role of the management team ‘to prioritize [digitalization] topics and correspondingly, to free capacities and resources to drive the digital transformation forward’ (LOGI-1). The provided means mentioned relate to financial, human, and IT resources. Many firms in our sample allocate particular budgets for digitalization 

Initiatives and install various funding 

mechanisms, which ensures that the necessary funds are readily available when needed (AUTO-1). To match the increased demand of employees knowledgeable about IT and digitalization topics, our sample firms make significant efforts to recruit such individuals. Because the market for digitally skilled personnel is rather small, though, some firms have created entities that specialize in the recruitment and development of this digital workforce. 

Complementing these efforts, firms also invest in training programs for existing employees, which ensures that employees acquire the essential skills needed in the future. In terms of IT resources, firms invest in a digital infrastructure, which supports the firms' digitalization efforts from a technical standpoint. In particular, firms supply state-of-the-art devices and hardware to employees and invest in software that facilitates the communication and collaboration 

among the workforce (e.g., Microsoft Teams, Office 365), knowledge storage and exchange (e.g., online platforms that bundle information and other resources), and learning (e.g., online training).Our data analysis further reveals that top managers actively participate in the digital transformation by leading change. Because the digital transformation implies significant changes to organizations, but human beings generally ‘value a sense of coherence, 

Conclusion

consistency, or continuity over time’ (Venus et al., 2019, p.667), employees may perceive it as a threat (Diamond, 1986; Kotter, 1995). Consequently, they tend to resist change processes, which adversely affects the success of intended organizational changes (Bovey & Hede, 2001). In this context, it is a key responsibility of top managers to promote acceptance among employees in order to ultimately win their commitment (Shamir, 1999;Venus et al., 2019 ; 

Our respondents reported that top managers lead through the digital transition period and win the support of their employees by ‘signaling personal commitment,’ ‘involving others,’ and building trust and commitment. In the case of signaling personal commitment, top managers show that digitalization is an essential topic for the firm and that they are convinced about the firm's chosen path. Leadership research suggests that leaders' communication of a change