Platform models in small businesses: A challenge for mature companies

Objective: Understand the necessary conditions for small companies to adopt business models based on digital platforms. Methodology: The methods of Structural Equation Modeling by Partial Least Squares (PLS-SEM) and Necessary Condition Analysis (NCA) were applied in an online survey with 126 small...

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Main Authors: Rafael Dan Schur, Rodrigo Sabiá
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Associação Nacional de Estudos em Empreendedorismo e Gestão de Pequenas Empresas (ANEGEPE) 2025-02-01
Series:Regepe Entrepreneurship and Small Business Journal
Subjects:
Online Access:https://regepe.emnuvens.com.br/regepe/article/view/2636
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author Rafael Dan Schur
Rodrigo Sabiá
author_facet Rafael Dan Schur
Rodrigo Sabiá
author_sort Rafael Dan Schur
collection DOAJ
description Objective: Understand the necessary conditions for small companies to adopt business models based on digital platforms. Methodology: The methods of Structural Equation Modeling by Partial Least Squares (PLS-SEM) and Necessary Condition Analysis (NCA) were applied in an online survey with 126 small companies to evaluate relationships of sufficiency and necessity of selected constructs in the adoption of business models based on digital platforms. Results: The necessary condition for small businesses to adopt digital platform-based business models is that they are at an early stage of their lifecycle before and during the peak of COVID-19, which indicates that platforms represent a challenge for mature small businesses grounded in the issue of entrepreneurial inertia. Theoretical-methodological contributions: Expansion of the literature on the adoption of digital business by small companies, adding the emerging NCA methodology to the research in this field of study and supporting evidence of the existence of business inertia in mature companies. Relevance/originality: Application of the emerging NCA methodology in an original online survey for the study of digital transformation of small businesses, identifying necessary factors in the adoption of platform-based models. Social contributions: References in the literature indicate that the adoption of digital platforms is a relevant strategy to improve competitiveness and small companies need to adapt to this new business model in order to overcome the impacts of COVID-19, defeating the business inertia present in mature companies.
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institution Kabale University
issn 2965-1506
language English
publishDate 2025-02-01
publisher Associação Nacional de Estudos em Empreendedorismo e Gestão de Pequenas Empresas (ANEGEPE)
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series Regepe Entrepreneurship and Small Business Journal
spelling doaj-art-2f733b4c4d194d52873581f0fdc7cd852025-02-04T20:44:19ZengAssociação Nacional de Estudos em Empreendedorismo e Gestão de Pequenas Empresas (ANEGEPE)Regepe Entrepreneurship and Small Business Journal2965-15062025-02-011410.14211/regepe.esbj.e2636Platform models in small businesses: A challenge for mature companiesRafael Dan Schur0https://orcid.org/0009-0002-1665-524XRodrigo Sabiá1https://orcid.org/0009-0008-9287-2194Escola de Administração de Empresas de São PauloEscola de Economia de São Paulo Objective: Understand the necessary conditions for small companies to adopt business models based on digital platforms. Methodology: The methods of Structural Equation Modeling by Partial Least Squares (PLS-SEM) and Necessary Condition Analysis (NCA) were applied in an online survey with 126 small companies to evaluate relationships of sufficiency and necessity of selected constructs in the adoption of business models based on digital platforms. Results: The necessary condition for small businesses to adopt digital platform-based business models is that they are at an early stage of their lifecycle before and during the peak of COVID-19, which indicates that platforms represent a challenge for mature small businesses grounded in the issue of entrepreneurial inertia. Theoretical-methodological contributions: Expansion of the literature on the adoption of digital business by small companies, adding the emerging NCA methodology to the research in this field of study and supporting evidence of the existence of business inertia in mature companies. Relevance/originality: Application of the emerging NCA methodology in an original online survey for the study of digital transformation of small businesses, identifying necessary factors in the adoption of platform-based models. Social contributions: References in the literature indicate that the adoption of digital platforms is a relevant strategy to improve competitiveness and small companies need to adapt to this new business model in order to overcome the impacts of COVID-19, defeating the business inertia present in mature companies. https://regepe.emnuvens.com.br/regepe/article/view/2636Small businessesDigital platformsDigital transformationBusiness model
spellingShingle Rafael Dan Schur
Rodrigo Sabiá
Platform models in small businesses: A challenge for mature companies
Regepe Entrepreneurship and Small Business Journal
Small businesses
Digital platforms
Digital transformation
Business model
title Platform models in small businesses: A challenge for mature companies
title_full Platform models in small businesses: A challenge for mature companies
title_fullStr Platform models in small businesses: A challenge for mature companies
title_full_unstemmed Platform models in small businesses: A challenge for mature companies
title_short Platform models in small businesses: A challenge for mature companies
title_sort platform models in small businesses a challenge for mature companies
topic Small businesses
Digital platforms
Digital transformation
Business model
url https://regepe.emnuvens.com.br/regepe/article/view/2636
work_keys_str_mv AT rafaeldanschur platformmodelsinsmallbusinessesachallengeformaturecompanies
AT rodrigosabia platformmodelsinsmallbusinessesachallengeformaturecompanies