Digital Maturity Models (DMMs) are widely used tools to assess and guide organizational digital transformation (DT). However, their practical contribution to the transformation process often fails due to insufficient stakeholder involvement, inadequate adaptability, or unsuitable assessment tools. This study explores these shortcomings through a socio-technical lens, analyzing why DMMs fail to deliver value in transformation processes. Drawing on an exploratory interview study with experts from the industry, eight key dimensions of failure, such e.g. as misalignment with organizational strategies, cultural resistance, and inadequate iterative usage practices, were identified. These initial results reveal that beyond the design of DMMs, systemic organizational and procedural barriers significantly hinder DMM utility. Building on that, ultimately, a comprehensive framework of utility barriers and derived requirements for building and integrating DMMs should be developed.

Digital maturity models (DMMs) already have a long history of providing organizations with structured approaches for assessing and guiding their digital transformation initiatives. While descriptive and prescriptive DMMs have seen extensive development, comparatively few models focus on benchmarking digital maturity internally as well as externally across multiple organizations. Moreover, existing literature frequently highlights persistent shortcomings, including limited theoretical grounding, methodological inconsistencies, and inadequate empirical validation. This study addresses these gaps by synthesizing insights from a systematic literature review of 58 publications into a cohesive set of design principles for comparative DMMs. We differentiate between “usage design principles,” which adapt established descriptive and prescriptive DMM components to comparative contexts, and newly formulated principles developed specifically to accommodate implicit data sources and support ongoi ng benchmarking. The resulting framework provides researchers and practitioners with a foundation for designing, evaluating, and selecting comparative DMMs that are more conceptually robust, methodologically sound, and empirically viable. Ultimately, this work aims to enhance the overall maturity and applicability of comparative DMMs in advancing organizational digital transformation.

Environmental, Social and Governance-(ESG-)Ratings gewinnen als ergänzende Informationsquelle zur Nachhaltigkeitsberichterstattung zunehmend an Bedeutung – insbesondere für Investoren, aber auch für weitere Stakeholder. Anders als klassische Bonitätsratings beruhen ESG-Ratings jedoch auf uneinheitlichen und teils intransparenten Bewertungslogiken, was ihre Interpretation erschwert und ihre Vergleichbarkeit einschränkt. Vor diesem Hintergrund stellt sich für nternehmen die Frage, ob und wie ESG-Ratings sinnvoll in die Nachhaltigkeitsberichterstattung integriert werden können, ohne dabei die eigene Glaubwürdigkeit zu gefährden oder eine verzerrte Darstellung der Nachhaltigkeitsleistung zu riskieren. Der nachfolgende Beitrag richtet sich an Berichtersteller, die ESG-Ratings adressatengerecht und strategisch fundiert einsetzen möchten, sowie an Stakeholder, die ESG-Ratings besser verstehen wollen. Er analysiert gängige erichtspraktiken, identifiziert typische Schwächen und gibt konkrete Handlungsempfehlungen zur konsistenten, vergleichbaren und zielgerichteten Nutzung von ESG-Ratings in der Unternehmenskommunikation.

One major goal of eGovernment is the provision of an efficient and cost-effective infrastructure enabling access to online resources for all citizens. While at the beginning this goal was basically related to Internet, today there is growing demand for providing access anywhere and anytime also where wired networks are not available. Major drivers of this development are emerging technologies as WLAN and the growing mobility of inhabitants as well as increasing usage and penetration of mobile phones. Another driver are emerging opportunities for new services for citizens based on mobile technology summarized under the term mGovernment. In order to enable mobile applications on a larger scale an efficient infrastructure is necessary. In this paper the approach of Turku, Southwest Finland, in creating a wireless infrastructure will be described based on a case study.