IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/oup/scippl/v51y2025i6p1212-1226..html
   My bibliography  Save this article

SME digital transformation and the COVID-19 pandemic: a case study of a hard-hit metropolitan area

Author

Listed:
  • Adelheid Holl
  • Ruth Rama

Abstract

Cities and regions are facing diverse challenges, and the transformation to a digital economy is a core issue. The coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had widespread impacts on business, and it has heightened the need for digitalization. We analyse if and to what degree the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the digital transformation of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the metropolitan region of Madrid. Our research strategy is based on a quantitative analysis of survey data at the company level. Our results show that a large share of SMEs invested in digital technologies as a response to the pandemic, but there are also important differences between basic and more advanced digital technologies and between manufacturing and service sector firms. SMEs’ previous knowledge and technological resources and capabilities, as well as their collaboration networks with providers are found to trigger adoption of digital technology. Implications for postpandemic policies are highlighted.

Suggested Citation

  • Adelheid Holl & Ruth Rama, 2025. "SME digital transformation and the COVID-19 pandemic: a case study of a hard-hit metropolitan area," Science and Public Policy, Oxford University Press, vol. 51(6), pages 1212-1226.
  • Handle: RePEc:oup:scippl:v:51:y:2025:i:6:p:1212-1226.
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/scipol/scae023
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:oup:scippl:v:51:y:2025:i:6:p:1212-1226.. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Oxford University Press (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://academic.oup.com/spp .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.