You are a manager working within a small to medium enterprise (MKB) and are interested in digitalisation? At the same time you do not like reading? Perfect, we got you covered. Here you can find a video explaining our latest study. If you are tired of watching the video, we also got a short written summary. 

With small to medium enterprises (SMEs) representing 90% of the firms in the European Union, it is key to better understand how those firms can benefit from digital technologies. In our study, we explore the business value of SME digitalisation and consider whether the risk is worth the trouble. Furthermore, we consider two factors that may influence the relationship between SME digitalization and performance. First, radical orientation is an orientation towards radical change, and second organizational rigidity is the inability to change. In contrast to our expectation, we find that being overly radical-oriented harms the business value of SME digitalization. We find the same for rigid organizations. In sum, our findings indicate that SME managers can best implement SME digitalization through step-by-step learning and experimentation.

Author:

Nicolai Fabian - n.e.fabian@rug.nl