Use the article below

Provide an external perspective on the required digital transformation strategy and interventions the firm needs to adopt, and to cover the following topics:

1. The Digital vision and strategy for the company, but one that is credible given the current nature of the business. This digital vision and strategy needs to be rooted in the company overall strategy and extend that as appropriate.
2. Analyse the current level of digital maturity of the group.
3. Outline how, in her role as a chief digital officer, the CDO should lead and engage with the Divisions to achieve maximal positive results, and specific leadership characteristics she needs to advise the rest of the Exco to focus on.
4. Assess the performance of the strategic innovation activity and the level of investment in strategic innovation.
5. She has asked you, in particular, to include material to help win over the sceptical Divisional CEOs.

1. Firm Overview

Vuka Africa Holdings is a diversified industrial and commercial enterprise, headquartered in Johannesburg and listed on the JSE, with operations in South Africa only.

Vuka Africa Holdings comprises 4 main Divisions, all of which are wholly owned, namely:

• Vuka Manufacturing:Manufacturer of white-label apparel and basic foodstuffs for Vuka Retail (apparel only) but also other South African and African retailers. Located primarily in the Western Cape. Employs 1200 people, of which 1050 are unskilled or semi-skilled workers. Competitors would be the likes of Powerhouse Clothing Company, or Imbo, Albany, Clover and Pioneer foods.
• Vuka Distribution and Logistics:A warehousing and distribution service provider, with the operations in South Africa . The inability to deliver significant cross-border operations into SADC countries is seen as a strategic shortcoming for many customers. Headquartered in Boksburg. Deploys approximately 480 vehicles, of which 140 are large capacity, 55 are medium capacity and 215 are small capacity, plus 70 refrigerated vehicles. Employs 2150 people, of which 670 are drivers, 1230 are blue-collar warehouse staff and truck labourers, and 250 are the clerical and professional staff. Barloworld Logistics and Imperial logistics would be considered as competitors.
• Vuka Automotive:Franchisee of global car-hire business Bevis (a global market leader and technology leader in its field) and Motor Retail channel for Land Rover/Range Rover, Toyota, and Subaru, with 55 motor retail locations around South Africa. Main competitors include Bidvest Automotive and Barloworld.
• Vuka Retail: Vuka Retail was established in 2015 as an online-only fashion retailer targeting the South African market, with the strategic intent of leveraging the Manufacturing and Logistics and Distribution capabilities of the business. It's main competitors would be the likes of Spree, Superbalist and Zando.

2. Strategy & Operating Model

Vuka historically operated as a portfolio investment holding company. However, in 2017, shortly after the establishment of Vuka Retail, the Board decided to move towards a more "active shareholder" model. This led Vuka to capacitate the corporate centre to lead more active resource allocation, lead selected group-wide strategic projects, M&A, human capital management, and group communications, in addition to the prior corporate roles of investor relations and group financial management. This was primarily to drive synergies across group companies, especially with Retail.

As a slightly more integrated organisation, the strategy has three pillars:

• "Deliver the present":A ruthless focus on execution of current business plans to deliver the budget and other operational outcomes in the current financial year
• "Improve the business":A series of tactical interventions to improve operational efficiency, customer experience and revenue sustainability of current lines of business.
• "Create the future":Innovation and investment in so-called "horizon 2 and horizon 3" opportunities to build a pipeline of growth for the future as existing business units run out of growth potential or move into decline. Retail was born out of this rationale.

Each business unit is required to develop its own strategy in alignment with these themes. Thus far "Deliver the Present" is dominating activities and outcomes in Manufacturing, Distribution and Logistics and Automotive; "Improve the business" has several execution activities across the group but these have yet to show impact; and "Create the future" appears to be on track in Retail but has had very limited traction and is sporadic and not systematised across the rest of the group. Indeed, innovation is seen as a challenge where the Divisions tend to stick to tried and trusted processes, systems and products.

The firm has had a difficult time responding to the Covid-19 pandemic. Manufacturing and Automotive experienced a 5% and 11% decline in demand on top fo the historical trend, although thankfully demand has recovered to according to the 2022 forecast. Distribution and logistics has tried to pivot from traditional B2B logistics to a partly B2C model to capture some of the Covid-related e-commerce delivery market, but core systems have proved problematic in this regard. Retail has benefitted significantly from the move to e-commerce, as can be seen from significant revenue growth anf improving progfitability. However, a sharp reduction in NPS suggests they have struggled to scale their processes and capacity to meet the increased volumes.

Covid has also created significant pressure on the workforce, with some business units experiencing staff engagement issues, some staff burnout, and productivity challenges. Others, interestingly, have managed to translate remote and hybrid working into improved employee-NPS.

1. Financial Performance

The group's historical and current financial performance is provided in Appendix 1. The group's financial year ends 30^thSeptember in each year, so the results for 2021 relate to the period October 2020 to September 2021. The numbers provided for 2022 are the current forecast for the period of October 2021 to September 2022.

Headline financial data is provided in Figures 1 and 2 below. Financial Data is also available in the spreadsheet provided.

\fProt After Tax (EAR, million} 500 400 300 200 100 Profit Contribution by Division (2021) Man uf-acm ring Distribution and logistics Auto motive R50.00 R45.00 R40.00 R35.00 R30.00 R25.00 R20.00 R15.00 os/19/2017 0 7/012017 08/12 2017 Vuka Africa Holdings 09/23 /2 01 2 Closing Share Price, daily, 2017 to present 1 1/0s /2017 12/18 2017 02/03 2018 03/17 22018 OS/04/2018 06 /1s /2018 0 7/28 2 018 09/09 2018 10/22 /2018 12/03 2 018 01/19 2019 03/01 22019 04/1 /2019 0s/31 2019 0 7/13 22019 08/2 22019 10/07/2019 11/18 2 019 01/ 2 020 02/1 2020 03/31/2020 0s/18 /2 020 06 /30 2 020 08/12 22020 09/22 /2020 11/0 2020 12/18 /2 020 02/02 2021 03/16 /2021 05/04/2 021 06/1s 2 021 07/27 2021 09/10/2021 10/23 2 021 1 2/04 2. 021 01/22 12022 03/05/2022 04/17/2022VAH Group Average per Factor of Digital Maturity 80% 70% C 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% Results Vision & Culture Oganisation & Innovation & New Value Digital Ethics Customer Digital Product Workforce Core Processes IT Excellence Strategy Governance Investment Streams & Orientation & Innovation Enablement & Innovation & Business Engagememnt Performance Digitalization Models Overall - Max - MinVAH Digital Maturity Summary (aggregate scores per division and for Group overall) 70% Manufacturing Retail Digital Application and Impact 50% Corporate Centre Overall Logistics Automotive 30% 30%% 50% 70% Leadership and StrategyVuka Africa Holdings NPS Per Division 30 25 20 . .- Manufacturing 15 - Distribution & Logistics - Auto motive 10 - Retail NPS A A A O A O A -5 - 10 -15 - 20 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022