Abstract
Frame of the research. In recent years, the academic literature focused on understanding why small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) struggle in revising their business models and adopting digital tools for communication, marketing and operations. A common reason given is that they lack the resources and skills to adapt to change. SMEs in the agrifood industry are vulnerable to these problems, given their positioning in a low-tech, traditional industry.
Purpose of the paper. Our research focuses on online communication strategies as a gateway for SMEs’ digital transformation. Since contents on brand, quality, and provenance are crucial for agrifood consumers, SMEs adopt communication technologies, but whether digitisation affects other areas is not clear. Our primary research question, thus, is: how do marketing communication strategies influence digital transformation in SMEs in the agrifood industry?
Methodology. The study is based on a qualitative multi-case approach. Through an abductive approach, we explored the field and systematized the evidence to produce accounts of the potential influences between digital communication and digital transformation by collecting extensive sets of secondary data on SMEs and interviewing key informants in a group of selected SMEs. We analysed the empirical evidence based on a checklist of categories informed by extant literature, coded it, and obtained themes that shed light on the interactions between digital communication and digital transformation in agrifood SMEs.
Results. The findings point to relevant themes that could guide further theoretical development: we find evidence on the interaction between perceived usefulness and easiness of digital tools, on the learning processes made possible by external agencies, and on the downsides of the do-it-yourself approach.
Research limitations. The study focuses on the agrifood industry; comparisons with similar depth in other industries could favour the emergence of further themes
and help weigh their relative importance.
Practical implications. Our findings could contribute to improving the digital transformation process in SMEs; they systematise the different factors that managers
can combine to trigger organisational learning and the emergence of consensus.
Originality of the paper. The paper explores the role of communication in the digital transformation of Italian agrifood SMEs, an empirical context previously
Il paper è scaricabile gratuitamente da qui: https://ojs.sijm.it/index.php/sinergie/article/view/1743/1026
