Digital transformation and European small and medium enterprises (SMEs): A comparative study using digital economy and society index data

2023 | International Journal of Information Management | Citations: 1

Authors: Skare, Marinko; de las Mercedes de Obesso, María; Ribeiro-Navarrete, Samuel

Abstract: Digital transformation is profoundly transforming SMEs’ business activities, bri ... Expand

Abstract: Digital transformation is profoundly transforming SMEs’ business activities, bringing about comparative ad­ vantages and associated risks. Previous studies on digital transformation and SMEs focus on technology adoption, innovation, new value creation, and dynamic capabilities. However, it is unclear how digital technology affects SMEs’ specific business activities. We study SMEs’ customer access, increasing competition, external funding or access to finance, rising input costs, skilled labor shortages, exogenous shocks, global crises, and regulatory is­ sues. This study aims to fill the literature gap by exploring the impact of digital technology, using digital economy and society index (DESI) as proxies for the SME issues. We use DESI and SME data from a survey on European enterprises’ access to finance. We find that digital transformation strengthens SMEs’ ability and flexibility to address main business issues. Furthermore, findings reveal that digitally transformed SMEs have fewer concerns about access to new and traditional customers, competition changes, access to finance, increasing input costs, external shocks, and regulatory changes. However, digital transformation also brings risks, such as the shortage of skilled labor and experienced managers and loss of inherent competitiveness. The novelty of our work lies in supplying quantitative knowledge on the link between digital transformation and European SMEs’ critical business concerns. These findings substantially increase our understanding of the impact of digital change on European SMEs’ business activities. Collapse

Topics: digital transformation database system pandemic business model supply chain management

Methods: cross sectional research survey Wald test data modeling design science

Total factor productivity growth in information technology services industries: A multi-theoretical perspective

2014 | Decision Support Systems | Citations: 0

Authors: Chou, Yen-Chun; Shao, Benjamin B. M.

Abstract: Information technology (IT) services refer to the delivery and support of IT ope ... Expand

Abstract: Information technology (IT) services refer to the delivery and support of IT operations and activities in order to satisfy business requirements and to manage IT infrastructure for organizations. Considered part of knowledge-intensive business services, IT services provide an output used by other sectors and play an increasingly important role in the services-based economy. Based on the theories of production, innovation and competition, we study total factor productivity growth of IT services industries in 25 Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries over the period of 1995 to 2007 using Malmquist productivity index (MPI) as the performance metric and data envelopment analysis (DEA) as the measurement methodology. We then further decompose MPI into three components that provide a full analysis: technical change (for innovation), efficiency change (for catch-up), and scale change (for demand fluctuation). These IT services industries are found to show notable productivity growth when compared with other services industries, the services sector as a whole, and the economy at large. Through a multi-theoretical lens, our breakdown analysis reveals that the IT services industry is an innovator adept at making technological progress that becomes the key driver behind observed productivity growth; efficiency change exerts a relatively small negative impact; and scale change being mainly decided by client demands impairs productivity. Implications for IT services at both country and industry levels are drawn from our findings to provide suggestions for policymaking and strategy formulation. Collapse

Topics: productivity innovation management electronic commerce internet technology database system

Methods: trade-off analysis method data envelopment analysis longitudinal research descriptive statistic

Theories: economic production theory

Language Matters: Status Loss and Achieved Status Distinctions in Global Organizations

2013 | Organization Science | Citations: 31

Authors: Neeley, Tsedal B.

Abstract: How workers experience and express status loss in organizations has received lit ... Expand

Abstract: How workers experience and express status loss in organizations has received little scholarly attention. I conducted a qualitative study of a French high-tech company that had instituted English as a lingua franca, or common language, as a context for examining this question. Results indicate that nonnative English-speaking employees experienced status loss regardless of their English fluency level. Yet variability in their self-assessed fluency—an achieved status marker—was associated with differences in language performance anxiety and job insecurity in a nonlinear fashion: those who believed they had medium-level fluency were the most anxious compared with their low- and high-fluency coworkers. In almost all cases where fluency ratings differed, self-assessed rather than objective fluency determined how speakers explained their feelings and actions. Although nonnative speakers shared a common attitude of resentment and distrust toward their native English-speaking coworkers, their behavioral responses—assertion, inhibition, or learning—to encounters with native speakers differed based on their self-perceived fluencies. No status differences materialized among nonnative speakers as a function of diverse linguistic and national backgrounds. I discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings for status, achieved characteristics, and language in organizations. Collapse

Topics: research and development IT job insecurity pseudonymity marketing management human resource management

Methods: qualitative interview qualitative coding theoretical contribution theory development longitudinal research

Performance evaluation of production of IT capital goods across OECD countries: A stochastic frontier approach to Malmquist index

2012 | Decision Support Systems | Citations: 6

Authors: Chou, Yen-Chun; Shao, Benjamin B. M.; Lin, Winston T.

Abstract: As integrated supply chains, ubiquitous computing, and mobile applications have ... Expand

Abstract: As integrated supply chains, ubiquitous computing, and mobile applications have become the backbone for conducting business nowadays, the economic significance of information technology (IT) is self-evident. In this paper, we study IT value from an unconventional perspective: the production of IT capital goods. Using the true fixed-effects model of translog stochastic production frontier, we evaluate the performance of IT industries for 19 Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries over the period of 2000 to 2009. We examine the productivity growth of these IT industries based on the Malmquist index and further analyze these productivity patterns through technological change and efficiency change. Overall, these IT industries are found to enjoy greater productivity growth than other industries when compared with previous findings. Our results show that technological progress is the main driver of productivity growth for the IT industry, efficiency change has a negligible effect, and each country's IT industry exhibits a distinctive performance profile. Policy implications are drawn from our results and related issues are identified for future research. We also highlight the advance of research methodology used in the study that can account for measurement errors, random fluctuations, and unobserved heterogeneity commonly encountered in empirical information systems research. Collapse

Topics: productivity computer hardware technological change database system communication service infrastructure

Methods: longitudinal research descriptive statistic inventory method economic model cross sectional research

Theories: theory of economic growth

Information technology investment announcements and market value in transition economies: Evidence from Warsaw Stock Exchange

2012 | Journal of Strategic Information Systems | Citations: 0

Authors: Dobija, Dorota; Klimczak, Karol Marek; Roztocki, Narcyz; Weistroffer, Heinz Roland

Abstract: This study examines stock market reactions to announcements of information techn ... Expand

Abstract: This study examines stock market reactions to announcements of information technology investments in Poland, an emerging market and transition economy. Based on 66 announcements by companies traded at the Warsaw Stock Exchange in the period 2002–2009, our study confirms some previously published results from studies conducted primarily in highly developed markets, but also shows that specific characteristics of announcements play a more important role than has been commonly assumed. Our results indicate that investors in Poland react more positively if systems are acquired from global rather than local vendors. Announcements about completed projects are more positively received than announcements about planned or in-progress projects. Furthermore, announcements in Polish, targeted at existing shareholders, are more likely to be received positively than similar announcements released in English, targeting global investors. Collapse

Topics: IT investment IT project IS economics decision making strategic management

Methods: event study longitudinal research regression analysis method descriptive statistic LexisNexis

Linking Investments in Telecoms and Economic Growth: An Empirical Analysis of Total Factor Productivity and its Determinants in the Context of Transition Economies

2011 | Americas Conference on Information Systems | Citations: 0

Authors: Samoilenko, Sergey; Bryson, Kweku-Muata

Abstract: The limited resources of Transition Economies (TE) accentuate the need for formu ... Expand

Abstract: The limited resources of Transition Economies (TE) accentuate the need for formulation of the effective and efficient policies for investments in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). However, the empirical evidence required for sound decision making is scarce, thus prompting a call for additional studies in the area of the macroeconomic impact of investments in ICT. Using time series data for the period from 1993 to 2002, we investigate the impact of investments in Telecoms on Total Factor Productivity (TFP) in the context of 18 TEs of Central Europe. The results of the data analysis suggest that while all TEs exhibited overall growth in productivity, the annual growth of the majority was inconsistent and not determined by the increase in the levels of investments and full-time Telecom labor. The results also indicate that introduced for the purposes of the investigation composite proxy variable Change in Productivity may reliably serve as a predictor of TFP for eight out of eighteen TEs, thus indicating actionable paths for TEs to obtain a spillover effect from investments in ICT. Collapse

Topics: productivity communication service infrastructure analytical information system database system technological change

Methods: longitudinal research time series analysis data envelopment analysis trade-off analysis method ordinary least square

Theories: theory of economic growth