Digitalization of SMEs – pilot study on status, reasoning, and perception in a developing economy

Abstract

As digitalization in Europe is becoming more and more a priority, research has identified that there is a constantly existing gap between the European Union and the United States when it comes to the digitalization of enterprises. The situation is particularly obvious when it comes to the digitalization of small and medium enterprises. Published reports have noted that lack of access to financing is not seen as a debilitating factor, while developing economies in Europe, which the paper focuses on, do not report lack of infrastructure. As such, the paper produces, through a combined qualitative and quantitative pilot study, additional potential reasons for the lack of digitalization of SMEs in Europe which should be researched in the future: reactive mindset of waiting for growth in order to justify digitalization investments, lack of options for SMEs that do not necessarily desire to grow to large enterprises, and the lack of understanding of innovation and digitalization benefits for enterprises that do not have a culture for innovation.