Small business digital transformation in the context of the pandemic

ABSTRACT

The pandemic is a major crisis for small businesses. Digital transformation (DT) offers a lifeline for some small businesses. In this paper, we outline a rapidly conceived and implemented research project to digitalise small business. We apply action design research using the DT lens to intervene and impact 42 different small businesses over an intense six-month period. Three detailed case studies illustrate the problem, drivers, mechanisms, and challenges of DT. The results illustrate how small businesses can engage, sell, and deliver using technology, and the factors that influence the transformation process. We also discuss limitations and identify research opportunities in relation to the DT, platform, and small business literature. The paper demonstrates how IS can have an immediate impact on the livelihoods of the businesses in our community during the pandemic.

SPECIAL ISSUE EDITORS:

• Pär Ågerfalk, Kieran Conboy and Michael Myers

KEYWORDS:

• Small business
• digital transformation
• platforms
• design science

Acknowledgments

Thanks to the 107 small businesses and non-profits to-date for engaging with us and allowing us the opportunity to help. Thanks also to the more than 70 students, faculty, staff, board members, and alums who have worked on transformation projects. Thanks also to Lauren (Lewis) Klapper who helped us get started. Thanks to the Temple University Small Business Development Center, which referred 11 of the projects included in this paper, of which nine were funded by its Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES) grant, provided by US Small Business Administration. Finally, we are deeply grateful to the members of Temple’s Institute for Business and Information Technology (IBIT), which supports and funds the overall digital transformation program. For more information, see https://ibit.temple.edu/DT.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Applying risk assessments from Moody’s and Boston Consulting Group, the authors segmented industries into three groups: immediate risk, near-term risk, and long-term risk.

2. Thanks to Maura Shenker for the citations and explanation about the impact on small business.

3. First, each author independently categorised each case; second, we reviewed each other results, and third discussed and resolved differences.

4. Source: https://aboutus.godaddy.net/about-us/overview/default.aspx.

5. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WordPress.

6. Source: https://www.shopify.com/about.

7. Source: https://www.wix.com/about/us.

8. Source: https://www.business.com/reviews/clover-station/.

9. https://www.wix.com/ecommerce/dropshipping.