Search

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are regarded as the backbone of most economies worldwide. They are key role players in job creation, economic growth and poverty alleviation. SMEs face many challenges such as resource constraints; a lack of skills, innovation, digital skills and finances; and continuous changes in the business environment. One such change is the Fourth Industrial Revolution, also referred to as Industry 4.0. SMEs lag in the adoption of digital technologies and are still using conventional methods as part of their business models, which poses a threat to their survival and competitiveness. Industry 4.0 comprises many constructs, including digitalisation and digital transformation. While digitalisation and digital transformation require a business to make changes to its business model, and business model innovation (BMI) offers such an opportunity, no study has combined the BMI process with digital transformation to determine if SMEs are digitally transforming their business models. The overall aim of the study was to determine the degree to which South African and Dutch SMEs are digitally transforming their business models. To achieve the overall objective, the study aimed to (1) review existing literature in the field of digitalisation, digital transformation, and business model innovation, (2) review the current state of the use of digitalisation and business model innovation in South African and Dutch SMEs, (3) develop a conceptual model to assess if South African and Dutch SMEs are achieving business model innovation through digital transformation and determine how this affects their overall business performance and (4) assess whether South African and Dutch SMEs are achieving business model innovation through digital transformation and determine the impact this has on their overall business performance. This study followed a five-stage approach. The first stage consisted of a preliminary literature review to explore current research and