2023

Saunila, Minna; Ukko, Juhani; Nasiri, Mina; Rantala, Tero; Sore, Sariseelia

Digital technologies play an important role in ensuring the competitiveness of technology brands. However, such technologies can pose great challenges to companies, particularly when the adoption of connected products, services, and operations requires businesses to implement new strategies. Moreover, the mechanisms through which digital business strategies contribute to company performance are empirically under-researched. To address this research gap, this chapter studies the relations between digital business strategy, technology scanning, and performance in the small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) context. The data were collected using a survey administered to SMEs in Finland. The results show that a digital business strategy alone negatively affects company performance. However, technology scanning acts as a mediator in the relation between digital business strategy and company performance. The chapter improves our understanding of digital transformation by showing that a digital business strategy can positively impact company performance via technology scanning.