Key Dimensions That Measure The Digital Maturity Levels Of Small And Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs)

Chante van Tonder; Bart Bossink; Chris Schachtebeck; Cecile Nieuwenhuizen

doi:10.4067/S0718-27242024000100110

Authors

Chante van Tonder Department of Business Management, University of Johannesburg, South Africa
Bart Bossink Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Chris Schachtebeck University of Johannesburg, South Africa
Cecile Nieuwenhuizen University of Johannesburg

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4067/S0718-27242024000100110

Keywords:

digital maturity, digital transformation, SMEs, business modelling

Abstract

Digital maturity models are not widely adopted or implemented in business practice, despite the interest in these models. It is unclear which dimensions and parameters are most crucial in measuring the level of digitalization within small and medium-sized enterprises. In this paper, we present a systematic literature review of studies on digital maturity models published from 2011 to 2021. The guiding research question of this study is: Which dimensions are included in digital maturity models to measure the level of digitalization in business models of SMEs? Existing research on the dimensions and parameters included in digital maturity models was reviewed. The review identified nine dimensions: (a) strategy, (b) leadership, (c) culture, (d) organization, (e) people/employees, (f) technology, (g) processes, (h) products, and (i) customers. Additionally, 16 parameters were identified that measure these dimensions. This paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of this review for future research and practice.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Akdil, KY., Ustundag, A. & Cevikcan, E. (2018). Maturity and readiness model for Industry 4.0 strategy. In Industry 4.0: Managing the digital transformation, 61-94 Springer, Cham.

Angreani, LS., Vijaya, A., & Wicaksono, H. (2020). Systematic Literature Review of Industry 4.0 Maturity Model for Manufacturing and Logistics Sectors. Procedia Manufacturing, 52, 337-343.

Aslanova IV, & Kulichkina AI, (2020, May). Digital Maturity: Definition and Model. In 2nd International Scientific and Practical Conference: Modern Management Trends and the Digital Economy: from Regional Development to Global Economic Growth, 443-449.

Berghaus S, & Back A. (2016). September. Stages in Digital Business Transformation: Results of an Empirical Maturity Study. In MCIS, p. 22.

Bharadwaj, A., El Sawy, O., Pavlou, P., & Venkatraman, N. (2013). Digital business strategy: toward a next generation of insights. MIS Quarterly 37 (2), 471-482.

Blatz F, Bulander R & Dietel M. (2018, June). Maturity model of digitization for SMEs. In 2018 IEEE International Conference on Engineering, Technology and Innovation (ICE/ITMC), 1-9.

Bley K, and Schön H. (2019, September). A role-based maturity model for digital relevance. In Conference on e-Business, e-Services and e-Society, 738-744.

Bowen J, & Shoemaker S. (1998). Loyalty: A strategic commitment, Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, 35(3), 12-25.

Brunner M, & Jodlbauer H. (2020). Mind the gap: Requirement engineering for learning factories with maturity model support. Procedia Manufacturing, 45, 510-515.

Bucki J, & Pesqueux Y. (2000). Flexible workshop: about the concept of flexibility. International Journal of Agile Management Systems.

Caiado RGG, Scavarda LF, Gavião LO, Ivson P, de Mattos Nascimento DL, & Garza-Reyes JA, (2021). A fuzzy rule-based Industry 4.0 maturity model for operations and supply chain management. International Journal of Production Economics, 231, 107883.

Codó E. (2008). Interviews and questionnaires. The Blackwell guide to research methods in bilingualism and multilingualism, 158-176.

Cognet B, Pernot JP, Rivest L, Danjou C, Wuest T, Kärkkäinen H, & Lafleur M. (2019, July). Towards a novel comparison framework of digital maturity assessment models. In IFIP International Conference on Product Lifecycle Management, 58-71. Springer, Cham.

Colli M, Madsen O, Berger U, Møller C, Wæhrens BV, & Bockholt M. (2018). Contextualizing the outcome of a maturity assessment for Industry 4.0. Ifac-papersonline, 51(11), 1347-1352.

Cook DJ, Mulrow CD, & Haynes RB, (1997). Systematic reviews: synthesis of best evidence for clinical decisions. Annals of internal medicine, 126(5), 376-380.

Eggers JP, & Park KF, (2018). Incumbent adaptation to technological change: The past, present, and future of research on heterogeneous incumbent response. Academy of Management Annals, 12(1), 357-389.

Eirich, R, (2020). Organization design and its impact on the digital innovation process and the digital innovation outcome. Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden.

Ekuobase, G.O. and Olutayo, V.A. (2016). Study of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) maturity and value: The relationship. Egyptian Informatics Journal, 17(3), 239-249.

Fedouaki F, Okar C, & El Alami S. (2013). A maturity model for Business Intelligence System project in Small and Medium-sized Enterprises: an empirical investigation. International Journal of Computer Science Issues, 10(6), 61.

Felch V, Asdecker B. & Sucky E. (2019). Maturity models in the age of Industry 4.0-Do the available models correspond to the needs of business practice? In the Proceedings of the 52nd Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, 5156-5174.

Fichman RG, Dos Santos BL, & Zheng Z. (2014). Digital innovation as a fundamental and powerful concept in the information systems curriculum. MIS quarterly, 38(2), 329-A15.

Fischer M, Imgrund F, Janiesch C. & Winkelmann A. (2020). Strategy archetypes for digital transformation: Defining meta objectives using business process management. Information and Management, 57(5), 1-13.

Fitzgerald M, Kruschwitz N, Bonnet D. & Welch M. (2014). Embracing digital technology: A new strategic imperative. MIT sloan management review, 55(2), 1.

Friedrich R, Le Merle M, Grone F, & Koster A. (2011). Measuring industry digitization: Leaders and laggards in the digital economy. Booz and Co., London.

Gamache S, Abdul-Nour G, & Baril C. (2019). Development of a digital performance assessment model for Quebec manufacturing SMEs. Procedia Manufacturing, 38, 1085-1094.

Geissbauer R, Vedso J, & Schrauf S. (2016). Industry 4.0: Building the digital enterprise. Retrieved from PwC Website.

Goerzig D, Luckert M, Aichele A, & Bauernhansl T. (2018, November). Approaches for the development of digital products in small and medium-sized enterprises. In Congress of the German Academic Association for Production Technology, 574-583.

González-Varona, JM., Acebes, F., Poza, D. & López-Paredes, A. (2020, November). Fostering Digital Growth in SMEs: Organizational Competence for Digital Transformation. In Working Conference on Virtual Enterprises, 237-248.

Gupta S. (2018). Organizational Barriers to Digital Transformation. KTH Royal Institute of Technology, School of Industrial Engineering and Management, Stockholm, Sweden.

Härting RC, Reichstein C, Haarhoff R, Härtle N, & Stiefl J. (2019). Driver to Gain from Digitalization in Tourism-Insights from South African Experts. In Third International Congress on Information and Communication Technology, 293-306.

Hartl E, & Hess T. (2017). The Role of Cultural Values for Digital Transformation: Insights from a Delphi Study. In AMCIS 2017 Proceedings, 1-10.

Hartl E. (2019). A Characterization of Culture Change in the Context of Digital Transformation. In AMCIS.

Horvat D, Stahlecker T, Zenker A, Lerch C. & Mladineo M. (2018). A conceptual approach to analysing manufacturing companies’ profiles concerning Industry 4.0 in emerging economies. Procedia Manufacturing, 17, 419-426.

Jafarzadeh, H., Aurum, A., D’Ambra, J., Abedin, B. & Assemi, B. (2015). Search engine advertising adoption and utilization: An empirical investigation of inflectional factors. Journal of Organizational Computing and Electronic Commerce, 25(4), 402-427.

Kane G.C, Palmer D, Nguyen-Phillips A, Kiron D, & Buckley N. (2017). Achieving digital maturity. MIT sloan management review, 59(1), 1-30.

Karltorp, L. (2017). Digital transformation strategies in small businesses: A case study in the Swedish manufacturing industry. Bachelor Thesis submitted to the Jönköping University, International Management, pp. 1-60.

Kitchenham B, & Charters S. (2007). Guidelines for performing systematic literature reviews in software engineering. EBSE Technical Report: EBSE-2007-01. Keele University and University of Durham.

Klohs K, & Sandkuhl K. (2020, June). Digitalization of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises: An Analysis of the State of Research. In International Conference on Business Information Systems, 21-33.

Korachi Z, & Bounabat B. (2019). Integrated methodological framework for digital transformation strategy building (IMFDS). International Journal of Advanced Computer Science and Application, 10(12), 242-250.

Kotarba M. (2017). Measuring digitalization: Key metrics. Foundations of Management, 9(1), 123-138.

Lazarević S, & Lukić J. (2018). Team learning processes and activities in organization: A case study. Economic Themes, 56(3), 301-319.

Lee MY, & Edmondson AC. (2017). Self-managing organizations: Exploring the limits of less-hierarchical organizing. Research in organizational behavior, 37, 35-58.

Leischnig A, Wölfl S, Ivens B, & Hein D. (2017). From digital business strategy to market performance: insights into key concepts and processes, In ICIS 2017 Proceedings.

Libert B, Beck M. & Wind J. (2016). The network imperative: How to survive and grow in the age of digital business models. Harvard Business Review Press.

Lichtblau, K., Stich, V., Bertenrath, R., Blum, M., Bleider, M., Millack, A., Schmitt, K., Schmitz, E., & Schröter, M. (2015). Industrie 4.0 readiness IMPULS-stiftung. VDMA, Almanya.

Lorenzo O, Kawalek P, and Wharton L. (2018). Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Technology: A Guide to Core Models and Tools, Routledge, New York, USA.

Mallett R, Hagen-Zanker J, Slater R, & Duvendack M. (2012). The benefits and challenges of using systematic reviews in international development research, Journal of Development Effectiveness, 4(3), 445-455.

McLaughlin SA. (2017). Dynamic capabilities: taking an emerging technology perspective. International Journal of Manufacturing Technology and Management, 31(1-3), 62- 81.

Majstorović VD, Mitrović RM, & Mišković ŽZ. (2020). Assessing Industry 4.0 Readiness in Manufacturing Companies from Serbia. In Proceedings of 5th International Conference on the Industry 4.0 Model for Advanced Manufacturing, 69-79.

Matt C, Hess T, & Benlian A. (2015). Digital transformation strategies. Business and information systems engineering, 57(5), 339-343.

McMahon, P. E. (2012). Taking an agile organization to higher CMMI maturity. Agile Journal, 19-23.

Mettler T, Rohner P, & Winter R. (2010). Towards a Classification of Maturity Models in Information Systems. Management of the Interconnected World, 333-340.

Mittal S, Romero D, & Wuest T. (2018). Towards a Smart Manufacturing Maturity Model for SMEs (SM3E)”, in: Moon, I.; Lee, G.M.; Park, J.; Kiritsis, D.; Cieminski, G.v. (Ed.), Advances in Production Management Systems: Smart manufacturing for Industry 4.0, IFIP advances in information and communication technology, volume 536, Springer, Cham, 155-163.

Mueller B, & Renken U. (2017). Helping Employees to be Digital Transformers - the Olympus. connect Case. In ICIS 2017 Proceedings, 1-19.

Nick G, Szaller Á, Bergmann J, & Várgedő T. (2019). Industry 4.0 readiness in Hungary: model, and the first results in connection to data application. IFAC-PapersOnLine, 52(13), 289-294.

North K, Hermann A, Ramos I, Aramburu N, & Gudoniene D. (2020, October). The VOIL Digital Transformation Competence Framework. Evaluation and Design of Higher Education Curricula. In International Conference on Information and Software Technologies, Springer, Cham, 283-296.

Osterwalder A, & Pigneur Y. (2010). Business model generation - a handbook for visionaries, game changers, and challengers. John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

Özen A, Gürel FN, Mhlanga D, Savić D, Tosheva E, Mehmedović E, Godinjak F, Horić S, Hadjitchoneva J, Lobejko S, & Jordan F. (2020). The Impacts of Digital Transformation. Efe Akademi̇, ISBN: 978-605-06499-1-8.

Poeppelbuss J, Niehaves B, Simons A, & Becker J. (2011). Maturity models in information systems research: literature search and analysis. Communications of the Association for Information Systems, 29(1), 27.

Proença D, & Borbinha J. (2016). Maturity models for information systems-a state of the art. Procedia Computer Science, 100, 1042-1049.

Rafael LD, Jaione GE, Cristina L, & Ibon SL. (2020). An Industry 4.0 maturity model for machine tool companies. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 159, 120203.

Ramos LFP, Loures EDFR, & Deschamps F. (2020). An Analysis of Maturity Models and Current State Assessment of Organizations for Industry 4.0 Implementation. Procedia Manufacturing, 51, 1098-1105.

Sandkuhl K, Shilov N, & Smirnov A. (2019). Facilitating digital transformation by multi-aspect ontologies: approach and application steps. IFAC-PapersOnLine, 52(13), 1609-1614.

Saura JR, Palos-Sánchez P, & Cerdá Suárez LM. (2017). Understanding the digital marketing environment with KPIs and web analytics. Future Internet, 9(4), 76.

Schallmo D, & Williams C. (2017). Digital Transformation of Business Models - Best Practice, Enablers and Roadmap. International Journal of Innovation Management, 21(8): 1740014.

Schmitt P, Schmitt J, & Engelmann B. (2019). Evaluation of proceedings for SMEs to conduct I4. 0 projects. Procedia Cirp, 86, 257-263.

Schumacher A, Erol S, & Sihn W. (2016). A maturity model for assessing Industry 4.0 readiness and maturity of manufacturing enterprises. Procedia CIRP, 52, 161-166.

Schumacher A, Nemeth T, & Sihn W. (2019). Roadmapping towards industrial digitalization based on an Industry 4.0 maturity model for manufacturing enterprises. Procedia Cirp, 79, 409-414.

Schumacher A, & Sihn W. (2020). Development of a Monitoring System for Implementation of Industrial Digitalization and Automation using 143 Key Performance Indicators. Procedia CIRP, 93, 1310-1315.

Setia P, Setia P, Venkatesh V, & Joglekar S. (2013). Leveraging digital technologies: How information quality leads to localized capabilities and customer service performance. MIS quarterly, 37(2), 565-590.

Sheen DP, & Yang Y. (2018, June). Assessment of readiness for smart manufacturing and innovation in Korea. In 2018 IEEE Technology and Engineering Management Conference (TEMSCON), 1-5.

Szedlak C, Leyendecker B, Reinemann H, & Pötters P. (2019, July). Methodology for Assessing Digitalization Readiness and Maturity of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises. In International Joint conference on Industrial Engineering and Operations Management, 101-111.

Teece DJ. (2007). Explicating dynamic capabilities: the nature and microfoundations of (sustainable) enterprise performance. Strategic management journal, 28(13), 1319-1350.

Teichert R. (2019). Digital transformation maturity: A systematic review of literature. Acta Universitatis Agriculturae Et Silviculturae Mendelianae Brunensis, 67(6), 1673-1687.

Tranfield D, Denyer D, & Smart P. (2003). Towards a methodology for developing evidence‐informed management knowledge by means of systematic review. British journal of management, 14(3), 207-222.

Trotta D, & Garengo P. (2019, March). Assessing Industry 4.0 maturity: An essential scale for SMEs. In 2019 8th International Conference on Industrial Technology and Management (ICITM), 69-74.

Valdez-de-Leon O. (2016). A digital maturity model for telecommunications service providers. Technology innovation management review, 6(8), 19-32.

Verhoef PC, Broekhuizen T, Bart Y, Bhattacharya A, Dong JQ, Fabian N, & Haenlein M. (2019). Digital transformation: A multidisciplinary reflection and research agenda. Journal of Business Research, 122, 889-901.

Westerman G, Calméjane C, Bonnet D, Ferraris P, & McAfee A. (2011). Digital Transformation: A roadmap for billion-dollar organizations. MIT Center for digital business and capgemini consulting, 1, 1-68.

Westerman G, Bonnet D, & McAfee A. (2012). The Digital Capabilities Your Company Needs. MIT Center for digital business and capgemini consulting, 1-3.

Williams C, Schallmo D, Lang K, & Boardman L. (2019). Digital Maturity Models for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises: A Systematic Literature Review. In The International Society for Professional Innovation Management (ISPIM) proceedings, 1-15.

Xia Q, Jiang C, Yang C, Zheng X, Pan X, Shuai Y, & Yuan S. (2019). A method towards smart manufacturing capabilities and performance measurement. Procedia Manufacturing, 39, 851-858.

Yıldırım N, & Demirbağ KŞ. (2019). From Chaos to Calm: Industry 4.0 Practices of Turkish White Goods Companies. In Proceedings of the International Symposium for Production Research, 278-287.