Artificial Intelligence adoption and convergence/divergence patterns in the financial service industry

by Gianvito LANZOLLA, Faculty Dean, Professor of Strategy, Founding Director Digital Leadership Research Center, CASS Business School (UK)

Discussant: Arnaud DE BERGH – Senior Data Scientist – AXA Data

We analyse the relationship between AI adoption and the evolution of firms narratives in the “Business” and “Risk Factors” sections of the SEC’s 10-K reports filed by US banks and insurance companies from 2006 to 2018 (banks = 770; insurance = 159). The analyses allow us to identify three distinctive emerging regularities. First, AI adoption tends to make the narratives of banks and insurances’ narratives in the “Business” and “Risk factors” section become more similar among each other. Second, the more specialised the knowledge of a bank or of an insurance, the higher teh impact of AI adoption on “convergence”. Third, regulation positively moderates the relationship between AI adoption and “convergence”. Our findings allow us to contribute to theories of the boundaries of the firm, business model and risk management vis-a-vis teh increasing diffuison and adoption of AI technologies. Managerial and policy implications are also identified and discussed.

BIO Prof. LANZOLLA

Gianvito Lanzolla is Professor of Strategy at Cass Business School, City, University of London, which he joined in April 2006. From January 2016, he has been serving as Dean of the Faculty of Management, the largest Faculty at Cass (80 academics). Gianvito is the Founding Director of the Cass’s Digital Leadership Research Centre (DLRC). Before joining Cass, Gianvito was a Research Fellow on the Faculty of the London Business School (2004 – 2006). Over the years, he has had several visiting appointments at leading business schools including the London Business School, Hyderabad’s Indian School of Business and Berlin’s ESMT. From January 2016, Gianvito is a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts (RSA).

Gianvito studies the impact of technological and institutional change on competitive dynamics, firm strategy, organization and organizing. His articles have appeared in leading outlets including: Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Production and Operations Management, Long Range Planning, Journal of Management, Business Strategy Review, Business History and Harvard Business Review.

Gianvito teaches “Strategic Leadership”, “Diversification and Growth”, and “Leading Digital Transformation” to Executive and Full-Time MBA students, both in Cass’s London and Dubai campuses. In 2013, he launched the Digital Innovation in Action MBA programme, the most successful MBA elective in the School. He has yearly been awarded several teaching excellence prizes including the 2015 City University’s Award for Teaching and Learning Excellence, the 2012 City University’s Student Voice Award and the 2009 and 2007 Cass Business School’s Award for Teaching and Learning Excellence.

Gianvito has directed and delivered several executive development programmes and has contributed as an advisor to many boards and executive leadership teams around the world. Recent corporate engagements include: Apple, Gazprom/NIS, Syngenta, Schott, Beazley, BBC, IBM, the UAE’s Prime Minister Office, Abu Dhabi Ports Authority, Microsoft, Mizuho, Zurich, KION, Axel Springer, Vailant and Vodafone. He has also delivered more than 100 keynotes speeches to corporate and policy audiences.

Gianvito holds an MSc in Mechanical Engineering (Dean’s list) and a PhD in Strategic Management. Before joining academia, he was the founder and managing director of “e-change Srl”, an e-business transformation provider which in 2002 he sold to a leading software company.