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DIGITALLY ORIENTED SMEs STAND OUT IN THE MASS
OF COMPANIES
ECONOMIST SAMULI RIKAMA / MINISTRY OF EMPLOYMENT AND THE ECONOMY
Companies that make extensive use of digital tools differ from traditional SMEs in many respects. Digital- ly oriented companies are typically young companies that are pioneers in their elds. The de nition of digitally oriented companies covers companies that use several different digital tools such as social media, cloud ser- vices, big data, online purchases and sales, and digital distribution channels.
Digital tools make it easier for these companies to enter into both national and international markets than it is for other SMEs. About 13 per cent of digitally oriented compa- nies operate in international markets and more than one half in national markets. The situation is essentially differ- ent from other SMEs, of which about 60 per cent reported that they mainly operate in local or regional markets.
It is more common for digitally oriented companies to use public internationalisation services than it is for oth- er companies. They also intended to use these services in the following year twice as commonly as other SME on average. Altogether 12 per cent of all SMEs reported that they export directly whereas one fourth of digitally oriented companies export directly.
The pro le of digitally oriented companies:
* Companies with a strong digital orientation accounted for almost 8 per cent of the material in the SME ba- rometer, which roughly corresponds to 18,000–19,000 companies in Finland.
* Digitally oriented companies were typically younger than other SMEs. Almost 60 per cent of digitally ori- ented companies had been established in the 2000s.
* A quarter of digitally oriented companies were strongly growth-oriented, whereas 7 per cent of all SMEs report- ed that they were strongly growth-oriented.
* It was twice as common for digitally oriented companies to have launched new products or services to the mar- ket and also to have adopted new technology than it was for other companies.
In 35 per cent of digitally oriented companies, the eco- nomic trend had improved during the previous year and 37 per cent of companies expected further improvement in the trend in the following year. In digitally oriented com- panies, the expected economic trend for the following year was positive twice as commonly as in the other SMEs.
DIGITALLY ORIENTED SMEs STRONGLY GROWTH-ORIENTED
A quarter of digitally oriented companies were strongly growth-oriented, whereas 7 per cent of all SMEs report- ed that they were strongly growth-oriented. The number of companies that were seeking growth wherever it was possible was clearly higher among digitally oriented companies than in SMEs in general.
It is obvious that a growth-oriented approach and adopting and using digital tools are linked. Digital tools also provide unprecedented possibilities for internation- alisation and conquering international markets. Com- panies seem to have realised that.
DIGITALISATION AND RENEWAL
Digitalisation is also inevitably linked with the renewal of the company eld. Companies were asked how their business operation had been expanded or reformed, whether new technology had been adopted and what impact these had had on the training of personnel and on business models.
It was twice as common for digitally oriented companies to have launched new products or services to the mar- kets and to have adopted new technology as for other SMEs. Intensive utilisations of digital tools was also re ected in the way they do their business operations. Almost one half of digitally oriented companies had adopted new business models, whereas only slightly over 20 per cent of SMEs had done the same.
Successful and active innovation creates growth for companies in the long term and furthers international- isation. About one third of digitally oriented companies
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