Digital strategy aligning in SMEs: A dynamic capabilities perspective

Ana Isabel Canhoto; Sarah Quinton; Rebecca Pera; Sebastián Molinillo; Lyndon Simkin

doi:10.1016/j.jsis.2021.101682

Digital strategy aligning in SMEs: A dynamic capabilities perspective

Ana Isabel Canhoto, Sarah Quinton, Rebecca Pera, Sebastián Molinillo, Lyndon Simkin

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

148 Citations (Scopus)

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Abstract

Digital strategy alignment is a dominant concern for today's managers and information systems researchers. Yet research in this area remains fragmented, particularly on the digital strategy alignment of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which is concerning owing to their value to European economies. Employing dynamic capabilities as an analytical lens, we investigate how 43 British, Irish, Italian, and Spanish SMEs, across five industry sectors, enact digital aligning. We identify a model of digital alignment comprising five phases, which we term “passive acceptance,” “connection,” “immersion,” “fusion,” and “transformation,” as well as the specific combinations of sensing, seizing, and reorganizing capabilities associated with each phase. Our model provides a holistic, practice-based perspective and highlights the role of micro-behaviors and leadership in SMEs implementing digital strategy.

Original language	English
Article number	101682
Number of pages	17
Journal	Journal of Strategic Information Systems
Volume	30
Issue number	3
Early online date	31 Jul 2021
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsis.2021.101682
Publication status	Published - Sept 2021

Bibliographical note

NOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in The Journal of Strategic Information Systems. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in The Journal of Strategic Information Systems, VOL 30, ISS 3, (2021) DOI: 10.1016/j.jsis.2021.101682 © 2021, Elsevier. Licensed under the Creative Commons AttributionNonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Copyright © and Moral Rights are retained by the author(s) and/ or other copyright owners. A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This item cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the copyright holder(s). The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. This document is the author’s post-print version, incorporating any revisions agreed during the peer-review process. Some differences between the published version and this version may remain and you are advised to consult the published version if you wish to cite from it.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Elsevier B.V.

Funder

This research received funding from Oxford Brookes University, UK, internal small grants award number 0012-15/48.

Funding

This research received funding from Oxford Brookes University, UK, internal small grants award number 0012-15/48.

Keywords

Digital strategy aligning
Dynamic capabilities
Europe
Five-phase model
SMEs

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Management Information Systems
Information Systems
Information Systems and Management

Access to Document

10.1016/j.jsis.2021.101682

Canhoto_et_al_Digital_Strategy_AligningAccepted author manuscript, 674 KBLicence: CC BY-NC-ND

Cite this

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title = "Digital strategy aligning in SMEs: A dynamic capabilities perspective",

abstract = "Digital strategy alignment is a dominant concern for today's managers and information systems researchers. Yet research in this area remains fragmented, particularly on the digital strategy alignment of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which is concerning owing to their value to European economies. Employing dynamic capabilities as an analytical lens, we investigate how 43 British, Irish, Italian, and Spanish SMEs, across five industry sectors, enact digital aligning. We identify a model of digital alignment comprising five phases, which we term “passive acceptance,” “connection,” “immersion,” “fusion,” and “transformation,” as well as the specific combinations of sensing, seizing, and reorganizing capabilities associated with each phase. Our model provides a holistic, practice-based perspective and highlights the role of micro-behaviors and leadership in SMEs implementing digital strategy.",

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AU - Quinton, Sarah

AU - Pera, Rebecca

AU - Molinillo, Sebastián

AU - Simkin, Lyndon

N1 - NOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in The Journal of Strategic Information Systems. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in The Journal of Strategic Information Systems, VOL 30, ISS 3, (2021) DOI: 10.1016/j.jsis.2021.101682 © 2021, Elsevier. Licensed under the Creative Commons AttributionNonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Copyright © and Moral Rights are retained by the author(s) and/ or other copyright owners. A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This item cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the copyright holder(s). The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. This document is the author’s post-print version, incorporating any revisions agreed during the peer-review process. Some differences between the published version and this version may remain and you are advised to consult the published version if you wish to cite from it. Publisher Copyright: © 2021 Elsevier B.V.

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Digital strategy aligning in SMEs: A dynamic capabilities perspective

Abstract

Bibliographical note

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Funding

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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