Publications
Publications
  • February 2020
  • Case
  • HBS Case Collection

Klöckner & Co: Steeling for a Digital World

By: Scott Duke Kominers and Carin-Isabel Knoop
  • Format:Print
  • | Language:English
  • | Pages:20
ShareBar

Abstract

Hoping to get ahead of potential digital disruption at Klöckner & Co.—one of the world’s largest steel and metal distributors—CEO Gisbert Rühl set up both kloeckner.i (KCI), an internal transformation arm, and XOM Materials (XOM), an independent industry platform. KCI and XOM sought to digitize the $350 billion materials supply and service chain, and promote greater price transparency and efficiency. However, the materials market traditionally resisted digitalization, making the process longer, harder, and more expensive than expected. As 2020 opened, Rühl and his teams wondered how they could dramatically increase uptake.

Keywords

Corporate Entrepreneurship; Market Design; Digital Platforms; Markets; Industry Structures; Supply and Industry; Technology Adoption; Transformation; Digital Transformation; Steel Industry; Information Technology Industry; Europe; Germany

Citation

Kominers, Scott Duke, and Carin-Isabel Knoop. "Klöckner & Co: Steeling for a Digital World." Harvard Business School Case 820-035, February 2020.

About The Author

Scott Duke Kominers

Entrepreneurial Management
More Publications

More from the Authors