Digital Innovation Paths During Turbulent Times : An Explorative Study on Italian SMEs

The fast-changing scenario emerged with the COVID-19 pandemic pushed firms to operate in an uncharted territory. Firms had to adapt quickly to survive in an unpredictable market. Based on a quantitative survey, the study aims at assessing how small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) responded to the challenges emerged from the pandemic through diversification and servitization, identifying the possible innovation paths linked to these two main strategic directions. In doing so, a cluster analysis was run to identify similar groups of firms that have shown similar innovation responses to the crisis. Then a comparison analysis was run to highlight differences and similarities to describe the paths of response to the COVID-19 outbreak, taking into consideration the key role of digital technologies (both ICT and Industry 4.0) as well as of customers. The results show the presence of four main clusters from the less innovative, with very low levels of both diversification and servitization, to the most innovative with high levels of diversification and servitization. The comparison among the various groups highlighted the relevance of innovation to face the crisis and also the relevance of digital technologies, first, and customer, then, in dealing with innovation strategies. The findings allowed to define some theoretical and practical implications