Purpose

This paper identifies the forces that drive digital adoption among SMEs from low and high-tech industries in Malaysia.

Design/methodology/approach

This research uses multiple case analyses based on data gathered by in-depth interviews with key representatives of 20 firms from low and high-tech industries in Malaysia.

Findings

The findings suggest that digital adoption among SMEs derives by four fundamental forces, which are sales, marketing, process improvement and product development.

Research limitations/implications

This study employed qualitative research, but lack of geographic diversity limits the generalisability of the case findings. This study provides several suggestions to policymakers and technology suppliers on how to encourage adoption of digitalisation among SMEs.

Originality/value

This study proposes a model that presents the critical forces that drive digital adoption for export-oriented firms, thus enriching the knowledge in SME digitalisation literature.

中文翻译：

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数字采用的驱动力：马来西亚低端和高科技产业之间的多案例分析

目的

本文确定了推动马来西亚中低端和高科技行业的中小企业采用数字化的力量。

设计/方法/方法

这项研究基于对来自马来西亚低，高科技行业的20家公司的关键代表进行深入访谈而收集到的数据，使用了多个案例分析。

发现

调查结果表明，中小企业采用数字技术的原因来自四个基本因素，即销售，市场营销，流程改进和产品开发。

研究局限/意义

本研究采用定性研究，但缺乏地域多样性限制了案例调查结果的普遍性。这项研究为政策制定者和技术供应商就如何鼓励中小企业采用数字化提供了一些建议。

创意/价值

这项研究提出了一个模型，该模型提出了推动面向出口的公司采用数字技术的关键力量，从而丰富了中小企业数字化文献中的知识。