Digital transformation : is Covid-19 a catalyst for micro and small enterprises first steps toward innovation?

The recent Covid-19 pandemic has deeply affected the financial health of companies all over the globe. Small and micro enterprises are more vulnerable due to their limited financial resources and lack of specialized knowledge. This article explores the impact of the pandemic on the early stage of small companies' Digital Transformation (DT), and its effect on the barriers to DT. The authors adopted an inductive qualitative approach and engaged in purposeful sampling to investigate micro and small enterprises operating in Piedmont, Italy, that were at the earliest stage of their DT journey.

The final sample included 11 unique cases, involving a total of 49 interviews. The results show that the Covid-19 pandemic did not act as a catalyst to the DT of small and micro enterprises, instead sharpening the barriers to DT. The paper provides owners, managers, investors, politicians, and territorial institutions with a better understanding of the tools and initiatives that must be implemented to foster small and micro enterprises' DT. The research, due to the selected sample, is limited to small companies' personnel and to their owners' experiences. [Publisher's text]