From Manufacturing Floors to Executive Boardrooms: Artificial Intelligence Is Reshaping the Very DNA of How Organizations Operate and Compete A
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Artificial intelligence (AI) has transitioned from a functional innovation to a foundational organizational capability, fundamentally reshaping how firms operate, govern, and compete. This paper advances examination of AI as a structural force that reconfigures organizational “DNA”—defined here as the interdependent systems of processes, decision rights, knowledge flows, and strategic intent that constitute an organization’s core identity. Drawing on interdisciplinary literature spanning strategic management, organizational theory, and information systems, this study synthesizes empirical evidence from cross-industry adoption data to examine how AI transforms operational execution on manufacturing floors and strategic cognition within executive boardrooms. The findings suggest that AI enables a shift from hierarchical, intuition-driven organizations toward adaptive, algorithmically augmented enterprises characterized by continuous learning and data-centric decisionmaking. However, this transformation also introduces profound challenges related to governance, ethics, workforce displacement, and strategic dependence on opaque systems. The paper contributes to theory by conceptualizing AI not as a tool, but as an organizational meta-capability, and offers implications for scholars, executives, and policymakers navigating the AI-enabled competitive landscape.
Author: Preeti Bhardwaj
Language: English
Field: Decision Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W7203486076