Relationship between adoption of digital technologies and competitive position: a study with micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Panama
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.70453/2344.9195.v11.n3.44704Keywords:
Digitalization, MSMEs, business competitiveness, adoption of digital technologies, digital skillsAbstract
The dynamic and global competitive environment induces companies that want to remain in the market to seek new ways to maintain a digital presence that favors the generation of new business, provide agile responses and consequently increase revenues. Studies indicate that digitalization helps to strengthen the competitiveness of the company because it strengthens the business model and the management of processes (internal and external) that lead to efficiency and customer satisfaction. This paper presents results of a study with 514 companies (micro 66.3%, small 25.7% and medium 8%) with the objective of validating the assumption that "the higher the degree of adoption of digital technologies, the better competitive position is expected". To respond to this hypothesis, a linear regression model was proposed between the competitive position of the MSME (Y) and the importance of the technologies adopted by the companies. The analyses necessary to validate the hypothesis of the model were carried out in the SPSS statistical package. The results showed that the variable Information technologies (X1) presented significance, which did not occur with the Operational technologies (X2), this can be associated with the high percentage of microenterprises that responded, because they possibly have a low level of specialization and do not have the financial/technological conditions to accelerate the pace of digitization that allows them to meet market demands, improve performance and consequently their competitiveness. Public policies focused on raising awareness and strengthening their digital skills are needed to enable them to face the current competitive context in a sustainable manner.
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