4. Constructed AI profiles based on 5. Measured Achievers’ financial • Customer experience reflects with their supplier networks and foundational and differentiation premium how companies strengthen their inventory levels; our measures include capabilities To assess AI Achievers’ financial sales pipeline by developing supplier diversification, supplier risk, The AI foundational capabilities and AI performance, we used data from strong customer relationships; our and inventory management. differentiation capabilities indexes were S&P Capital IQ to build the following measures include consumer trust, then used to construct a matrix. We regression model: Revenue growth = customer churn, product quality 7. Measured the speed of AI β +βX + β AI Achiever + e i used the top quartile as a threshold on 0 1 i 2 i and safety, and an overall customer- transformation vs. the speed of both axes to cluster all the companies (i = company, AI Achiever as the dummy centric mindset. digital transformation from the survey into four groups: variable, and X including controls • Sustainability reflects how To understand how fast companies i • AI Achievers—the top quartile on for industry, firm size, and company companies strengthen their undergo AI transformation compared both foundational and differentiation location). commitment to environmental to digital transformation, we used median maturity index: 64/100 stewardship; our measures include the frequency of mentions of both • AI Builders—the top quartile 6. Measured Achievers’ stakeholder greenhouse gas emissions, terms on companies’ earnings calls on foundational but not on performance ecological management, resource as a proxy. To do this, we performed differentiation median maturity To assess Achievers’ stakeholder use, water and waste efficiency, and a natural language processing index: 44/100 performance in the areas of customer various environmental solutions. analysis of investor calls of the world’s • AI Innovators—the top quartile experience, sustainability, workforce, • Financial reflects how companies 2,000 largest companies (by market on differentiation but not on and supply chain, we built scores from deliver profitable growth and capitalization), sourced from the S&P foundational median maturity index: 0-100 in these respective areas using operate efficiently. earnings transcripts database. (Note: 50/100 data from FactSet, Arabesque, Oxford • Workforce/employee experience Our analysis included 744 companies • AI Experimenters—all remaining Economics, and S&P Capital IQ, which reflects how companies unlock with a consistent history of earnings companies median maturity index: measure companies' performance their workforces’ full potential; our calls during 2010-21.) Finally, we 29/100 against their industrial peers. The measures include compensation, built predictive S-Curve models that difference between Achievers and employment quality, employee estimated the time, henceforth, that it other companies is highly statistically turnover, occupational health would take for 90% of such companies significant (p < 0.01) for customer and safety, and training and to mention the aforementioned terms experience and sustainability. development. on their earnings calls. The following offers more detail on • Supply chain reflects how each area. companies manage risks associated The art of AI maturity—Advancing from practice to performance 36