Recently, a heated argument divided the leadership at a large sporting goods retailer. The retailer had launched a digital transformation initiative, but no one could decide whether to centralize or localize their digital talent and activities. Some argued that digital activities should be put in just one central hub, pointing to examples like Booking.com, the $15B global leader in travel accommodations, which collocates over 1,700 developers in one location to optimize the tens of thousands of A/B tests that keep them in the lead. But others argued digital needs to be local, given the nature of retail, arguing that each country needed its own digital team to adapt to the local needs. They justified their arguments with examples from Amazon, which has prospered in the U.S., but struggled in countries, like the Netherlands, where they don’t have warehouses. Yet others suggested a middle ground of organizing digital operations around regions.