Fostering digital transformation in SMEs: Towards a cohesive digital disruption analysis methodology

Abstract

Digital technologies are capable to induce digital disruption and thus have far-reaching effects on the business environments of incumbent organizations. In order to remain prosperous, it is crucial to foresee the trajectories of technological change, to assess related threats and opportunities and to strategize accordingly. Appropriate methods must be utilized to build the knowledge foundation for deriving effective digital transformation strategies. This is particularly relevant for small and medium-sized enterprises. They often have insufficient knowledge about existing tools or lack capacities to develop analysis methodologies. This paper aims at proposing a digital disruption analysis methodology that is particularly addressing the constraints of small and medium-sized enterprises. Hence this paper is guided by the research question of how to design such a methodology for digital disruption analysis and which requirements should be formulated in this context. First, the research is carried out by interpreting application- and context-related requirements based on literature. Then, existing analysis tools related to technology foresight and business environment analysis are identified in a literature review and qualitatively assessed based on these requirements. This assessment reveals that no method alone is sufficiently meeting all requirements. Thus, by carefully selecting, adapting and adding suitable methods and arranging them in an appropriate sequence, a new methodology of digital disruption analysis is introduced and illustrated in a canvas model. Finally, the resulting methodology is evaluated based on the given requirements. It is concluded that the methodology can be suitable to support small and medium-sized enterprises to explore the implications of digital disruption. However, to improve the validity of our findings, future empirical research should verify the overall appropriateness of the requirements and the findings. As a next step, suitable methods for the information generation phase of digital disruption analysis should be developed as well as methods to formulate a business transformation strategy.