Research project: How digitally fluent is your business?
Digital Transformation is a key determinant for companies to increase their innovative power and to survive and thrive in the long-term. The relevance of digital technologies in business has become particularly striking during the COVID-19 pandemic. But how well do companies manage to adapt to the digital transition?
© Jana Dünnhaupt
Measuring digital fluency
While large firms can realize digital concepts more easily and visibly, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) often lack the resources to adapt quickly. Therefore, Prof. Schmidt and PhD student Toni Müller focus on SMEs and develop a measurement scale that allows companies to assess their degree of digital fluency.
Data collection started in the midst of the lockdown in Magdeburg. “It was tough to convince business owners to participate when they actually had other sorrows in mind. To ensure that we still reach every business type, we also carried the questionnaire to the enterprises in person”, says Prof. Schmidt.
Restaurants, hairdressers, event management or advertising agencies – the team questioned more than 60 SMEs in Magdeburg, most of which are local microenterprises that do not count more than 20 employees. A follow-up study will be conducted throughout Germany as well as internationally. Knowing what characteristics motivate businesses to adapt will help to define groups and support the underlying internal company processes.
The internationalization of digital firms
In the second part of the research project, PhD student Constantin Brenner analyzes the decisive factors for internationalization and performance of digital businesses. Companies with digitally transformed business models can save resources and expand faster than non-digital companies.
A prominent example is Airbnb: the community-based online-platform managed to internationalize to over 220 countries in only a decade. Today, more than 70,000 different accommodations worldwide are made available in just a few clicks. Businesses such as Airbnb challenge conventional step-by-step internationalization theories, which are considered less risky but very time-consuming. Are the strategies used by digital firms as successful as the well-established one-by-one expansion? By comparing turnovers and firm growth, Prof. Schmidt and Constantin Brenner will shed light on the effectiveness and profitability of different internationalization approaches.
Do you want to know more about our research project on digital transformation? Have a look into the university’s research magazine GUERICKE ‘20 and explore our research fields.