ABSTRACT

Digital technologies are increasingly affecting industries worldwide in many ways. Although the adoption of digital technologies by firms has been studied extensively from a technical point of view, previous research lacks insight into the managerial aspects of digital transformation, which, given the transformation’s interdisciplinarity, might have substantial implications for information systems research. In particular, it is unclear how small and medium-sized family-controlled firms (known as family-owned Mittelstand firms) with resource constraints handle digital transformation. This paper addresses this gap by drawing on rich data from 127 semi-structured interviews in a multiple case study of 15 family-owned Mittelstand firms from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. All of these firms are active in the manufacturing industry but vary in terms of their digital transformation progress. Based on within-case and cross-case pattern analysis, we propose that the digital transformation of Mittelstand firms is a process consisting of three stages, namely, process digitalisation, product and service digitalisation, and business model digitalisation, and we reveal triggers for each stage and the dynamic capabilities needed throughout this process. Moreover, we identify three combinations of enablers and barriers that support or hinder the development of dynamic capabilities and thus accelerate or impede the advancement of the digital transformation process.

摘要

数字技术正以多种方式越来越多地影响全球各行各业。尽管从技术角度对企业采用数字技术进行了广泛研究，但先前的研究缺乏对数字化转型管理方面的洞察，鉴于转型的跨学科性，这可能对信息系统研究产生重大影响。特别是，目前尚不清楚资源受限的中小型家族企业（称为家族企业）如何处理数字化转型。本文通过对来自德国、奥地利和瑞士的 15 家家族拥有的 Mittelstand 公司的多案例研究中的 127 次半结构化访谈中的丰富数据加以解决，从而弥补了这一差距。所有这些公司都活跃于制造业，但在数字化转型进程方面各不相同。基于案例内和跨案例模式分析，我们认为中小型企业的数字化转型是一个由流程数字化、产品和服务数字化、商业模式数字化三个阶段组成的过程，我们揭示了每个阶段的触发因素。阶段和整个过程所需的动态能力。此外，我们确定了支持或阻碍动态能力发展的推动因素和障碍的三种组合，从而加速或阻碍数字化转型过程的推进。我们认为中小型企业的数字化转型是一个由流程数字化、产品和服务数字化、商业模式数字化三个阶段组成的过程，我们揭示了每个阶段的触发因素和整个过程所需的动态能力。此外，我们确定了支持或阻碍动态能力发展的推动因素和障碍的三种组合，从而加速或阻碍数字化转型过程的推进。我们认为中小型企业的数字化转型是一个由流程数字化、产品和服务数字化、商业模式数字化三个阶段组成的过程，我们揭示了每个阶段的触发因素和整个过程所需的动态能力。此外，我们确定了支持或阻碍动态能力发展的推动因素和障碍的三种组合，从而加速或阻碍数字化转型过程的推进。