Digital transformation in family-owned Mittelstand firms: A dynamic capabilities perspective
基于对15家德奥瑞家族式中小企业的127次访谈，提出数字化转型三阶段模型，揭示各阶段触发因素及所需动态能力，并识别促进或阻碍能力发展的因素组合。
Digital technologies are increasingly affecting industries worldwide in many ways. Although the adoption of digital technologies by firms has been studied extensively from a technical point of view, previous research lacks insight into the managerial aspects of digital transformation, which, given the transformation’s interdisciplinarity, might have substantial implications for information systems research. In particular, it is unclear how small and medium-sized family-controlled firms (known as family-owned Mittelstand firms) with resource constraints handle digital transformation. This paper addresses this gap by drawing on rich data from 127 semi-structured interviews in a multiple case study of 15 family-owned Mittelstand firms from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. All of these firms are active in the manufacturing industry but vary in terms of their digital transformation progress. Based on within-case and cross-case pattern analysis, we propose that the digital transformation of Mittelstand firms is a process consisting of three stages, namely, process digitalisation, product and service digitalisation, and business model digitalisation, and we reveal triggers for each stage and the dynamic capabilities needed throughout this process. Moreover, we identify three combinations of enablers and barriers that support or hinder the development of dynamic capabilities and thus accelerate or impede the advancement of the digital transformation process.