Digital transformation and innovativeness of enterprises

Purpose – The main objective of the article is an attempt to assess whether and how the digital transformation will affect the innovativeness of companies Research method – In the article, two basic research questions were formulated: 1. Does digital transformation affect the company’s innovation and if so, how? and 2. Can digital transformation change the structure and way of running a business in such a way that innovation can be more closely related to the entrepreneurial attitude of employees? The search for answers to these research questions was based on the analysis of published research results, collected information on the processes of digitization and examples of companies implementing digital technologies and developing digital business models. The analysis of the impact of digital transformation on the innovativeness of enterprises was carried out taking into account two perspectives: macro – digital institutional transformation of the economy and micro – digital transformation of the enterprise. Results – The thesis that the digital transformation of the company does not guarantee the growth of the company’s innovativeness, but its absence will be a strong barrier to the innovation will be formulated and evaluated in the article. The second thesis assumes that thanks to digital transformation enterprises can be more innovative and their employees more entrepreneurial. Conducted analyses allow for a positive verification of the theses formulated in the article and drawing the following conclusion: if companies want to consider innovations, they should undergo a technological transformation that will allow them to take full advantage of the opportunities that digital technologies offer in business. Originality / value – The article showed that digital technologies and, in particular, digital technology platforms offer the company’s employees the possibility of returning to the original Schumpeterian idea of the entrepreneur as an innovator. In the new digital model of the company based on a digital platform, each employee becomes an entrepreneur and at the same time has the opportunity to create innovation in close cooperation with the end user, and thus be an entrepreneur and an innovator.Article received support from the Ministry of Science and Higher Education grants to maintain research potential of the Collegium of Business Administration, Warsaw School of Economics.slobej@sgh.waw.plCollegium of Business Administration, Warsaw School of EconomicsAgarwal A., 2018, From product to platform: The secret to building A $10 billion SaaS business, https://www.forbes.com/sites/valleyvoices/2018/08/14/secrets-to-10-billionsaas/#1ce9e5e77df6 [date of entry: 12.12.2018].Berman S.J., 2012, Digital transformation: opportunities to create new business models, “Strategy & Leadership”, vol. 40, pp. 16-24, DOI: 10.1108/10878571211209314.Christensen C.M., 1997, The innovator’s dilemma: when new technologies cause great firms to fail, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, Massachusetts.de Reuver M., Basole R.C., Sorensen C., 2018, The digital platform: a research agenda, “Journal of Information Technology”, vol. 33(2), pp. 124-135, DOI: 10.1057/s41265-016-0033-3.Kletzkine J., 2018, Digital transformation doesn’t mean innovation, https://www.forbes.com/sites/startupnationcentral/2018/05/31/digital-transformation-doesnt-mean-innovation/#ad710487c0f5 [date of entry: 28.02.2019].Michelman P., 2017, Leading to become obsolete, “MIT Sloan Management Review”, vol. 59(1).Parker G.G., van Alstyne M.W., Choudary S.P., 2016, Platform Revolution: How Networked Markets are Transforming the Economy and How to Make Them Work for You, Norton & Co., New York.Schneider H., 2017, Creative Destruction and the Sharing Economy: Uber as Disruptive Innovation, Edward Elgar Publishing, pp. 63-91.Schumpeter J.A., 1912, The Theory of Economic Development, tenth printing 2004, Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick, New Jersey.Schumpeter J.A., 1934, The theory of economic development. An Inquiry into Profits, Capital, Credit, Interest, and the Business Cycle, Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick and London.Schumpeter J.A., 1947, Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy, 2nd ed., Harper & Brothers, New York.Westerman G., Bonnet D., McAfee A., 2014, Leading digital. Turning technology into business transformation, Harvard Business Review Press, Boston, Massachusetts.2(100)364