Managing the twin transition: Organizational design and People Management

In the current era of rapid technological advancements and growing environmental concerns, organizations face the challenge of navigating the twin transition. This paper investigates the interplay between the digital transformation and the ecological transition and their implications for organizational design, human resource management, and sustainability practices. The current literature lacks an inclusive analysis of real cases exploring the relationship between the twin transition and sustainable business organization models. The goal of this paper is to bridge the gap by examining new sustainable business models and identifying successful and unsuccessful cases that excel or underperform in the different areas considered. This study, after explaining the basic concepts such as the twin transition and its components, seeks to find, through a sustainability report analysis, recurring characteristics that differ sustainable companies from companies with traditional business models and that have not initiated the sustainable conversion process. The singularity of this paper lies in its comprehensive examination of the twin transition, covering both the digital and ecological aspects, and their synergistic effects on organizational dynamics. It brings together insights from literature and real case study of companies that have also undertaken the process of ecological efficiency through digital transformation, providing a holistic view of the twin transition's impact on organizations. Overall, this paper contributes to the understanding of how organizations can navigate the twin transition effectively, fostering sustainability while leveraging digital technologies. The findings will be beneficial to industry practitioners seeking to adopt more sustainable practices, while also contributing to the academic discourse on twin transition and human resource management.