Digital Transformation and Business Resilience in Crisis Contexts
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
This paper aims to review the role of digital transformation in strengthening business resilience in crisis contexts. The study focuses on the relationship between digital transformation strategy and the multidimensional nature of business resilience. This study uses a conceptual literature review approach. The review synthesizes prior studies on digital transformation, business resilience, organizational resilience, and strategic management. The analysis focuses on how digital technologies are translated into organizational capabilities. The review shows that digital transformation supports business resilience through recovery, adaptation, and anticipation. Digital transformation supports recovery by helping firms maintain operational continuity during disruption. It supports adaptation by enabling firms to redesign business processes and value creation. It also supports anticipation by strengthening information processing and strategic response capabilities. Digital transformation should not be understood merely as technology adoption. It should be viewed as a strategic capability that enables firms to maintain continuity, renew business models, and prepare for future uncertainty. This paper contributes to strategic management literature by integrating digital transformation strategy with the multidimensional concept of business resilience.
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
References
Alatovic, T., Chhaya, M., Juneja, S., Smaje, K., & Sukharevsky, A. (2020, April). Driving digital change during a crisis: The chief digital officer and COVID-19. McKinsey.
ARMENIA, S., CANINI, D., CASALINO, N. (2008). A system dynamics approach to the paper dematerialization process in the Italian public administration. Interdisciplinary Aspects of Information Systems Studies, 399-408.
Awad, J. A. R., & Martín-Rojas, R. (2024). Digital transformation influence on organisational resilience through organisational learning and innovation. Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, 13, 69.
Boin, A., & van Eeten, M. J. G. (2013). The resilient organization. Public Management Review, 15(3), 429–445.
Casalino, N., Żuchowski, I., Labrinos, N., Munoz Nieto, Á. L., & Martín, J. A. (2019). Digital strategies and organizational performances of SMEs in the age of Coronavirus: balancing digital transformation with an effective business resilience. Queen Mary School of Law Legal Studies Research Paper Forthcoming.
Deimler, M. R. and M. (2011). Adaptability: The New Competitive Advantage. https://hbr.org/2011/07/adaptability-the-new-competitive-advantage) Adaptability: The New Competitive Advantage: Martin Reeves and Mike Deimler
Duchek, S. (2020). Organizational resilience: A capability-based conceptualization. Business Research, 13(1), 215–246.
Elgazzar, Y., El-Shahawy, R., & Senousy, Y. (2021). The Role of Digital Transformation in Enhancing Business Resilience with Pandemic of COVID-19. In Digital Transformation Technology (pp. 323-333). Springer, Singapore.
Fitzgerald, M., Kruschwitz, N., Bonnet, D., Welch, M. (2013). Embracing digital technology: a new strategic imperative. MIT Sloan Manag. Rev. https://sloanreview.mit.edu/projects/ embracing-digital-technology/.
Fitzpatrick, M., Gill, I., Ari Libarikian, Smaje, K., & Zemmel, R. (2020, April). The digital-led recovery from COVID-19: Five questions for CEOs. McKinsey & Company.
Fleron, B., Pries-Heje, J., & Baskerville, R. (2021, January). Digital Organizational Resilience: A History of Denmark as a Most Digitalized Country. In Proceedings of the 54th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (p. 2400).
Gilson, L. L., & Goldberg, C. B. (2015). Editors’ comment: So, what is a conceptual paper? Group & Organization Management, 40(2), 127–130.
Gómez-Trujillo, A. M., & Gonzalez-Perez, M. A. (2023). Digital transformation as a pathway to organizational resilience. Management Research Review, 46(9), 1165–1184.
Gur, F. A., & Greckhamer, T. (2019). Know thy enemy: A review and agenda for research on competitor identification. Journal of Management, 45(5), 2072-2100.
Hanelt, A., Bohnsack, R., Marz, D., & Antunes Marante, C. (2021). A systematic review of the literature on digital transformation: Insights and implications for strategy and organizational change. Journal of Management Studies, 58(5), 1159–1197.
Henriette, E., Feki, M., & Boughzala, I. (2015). The shape of digital transformation: a systematic literature review. In: Conference: 9th mediterranean conference on information systems.
Hess, T., Benlian, A., Matt, C., Wiesböck, F. (2016). Options for formulating a digital transformation strategy. MIS Q Exec, 15(2),123–139.
Hinings, B., Gegenhuber, T., Greenwood, R. (2018). Digital Innovation and Transformation: An Institutional Perspective. Inf. Organ., 28, 52–61. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infoandorg.2018.02.004.
Hitt, M. A.; R. D. Ireland & R. E. Hoskisson (2020). Strategic Management: Competitiveness & Globalization. 13th Edition. Cengage Learning.
Horne, J. F., & Orr, J. E. (1998). Assessing behaviors that create resilient organizations. Employment Relations Today, 24(4), 29–39.
IBM Homepage. Customers Need More Meaningful Digital Engagement in Times of Crisis. https://www.ibm.com/blogs/services/2020/04/01/customers-need-more-meaningful- digital-engagement-in-times-of-crisis/.
Kane, G.C., Palmer, D., Phillips, A.N., Kiron, D., Buckley, N. (2015). Strategy, not technology, drives digital transformation. MIT Sloan Manag. Rev. Deloitte Univ. Press. https:// sloanreview.mit.edu/projects/strategy-drives-digital-transformation/
Kumar Basu, K. (2015). The leader's role in managing change: five cases of technology-enabled business transformation. Global Bus. Organ. Excell., 34(3), 28–42. https://doi.org/10. 1002/joe.21602
LaBerge Laura, O'Toole Clayton, Schneider Jeremy, & Smaje Kate. (2020). COVID-19 digital transformation & technology | McKinsey. https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/how-covid-19-has-pushed-companies-over-the-technology-tipping-point-and-transformed-business-forever
Lengnick-Hall, C. A., Beck, T. E., & Lengnick-Hall, M. L. (2011). Developing a capacity for organizational resilience through strategic human resource management. Human Resource Management Review, 21(3), 243–255.
Liu, D.Y., Chen, S.W., Chou, T.C. (2011). Resource fit in digital transformation: lessons learned from the CBC Bank global e-banking project. Management Decision, 49(10), 1728–1742. https://doi.org/10.1108/00251741111183852
Linnenluecke, M. K. (2017). Resilience in business and management research: A review of influential publications and a research agenda. International Journal of Management Reviews, 19(1), 4–30
Linnenluecke, M. K., Griffiths, A., & Winn, M. I. (2012). Extreme weather events and the critical importance of anticipatory adaptation and organizational resilience in responding to impacts. Business Strategy and the Environment, 21(1), 17–32.
Matt, C., Hess, T., Benlian, A. (2015). Digital transformation strategies. Bus. Inf. Syst. Eng. 57(5), 339–343. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12599-015-0401-5
Morakanyane, R., Grace, A., & O'Reilly, P. (2017). Conceptualizing digital transformation in business organizations: a systematic review of literature. In: 30th Bled eConference: digital transformation—from connecting things to transforming our lives, BLED 2017, 427–444.
Ortiz-de-Mandojana, N., & Bansal, P. (2016). The long-term benefits of organizational resilience through sustainable business practices. Strategic Management Journal, 37(8), 1615–1631.
Sagala, G. H., & Őri, D. (2025). Exploring digital transformation strategy to achieve SMEs resilience and antifragility: A systematic literature review. Journal of Small Business & Entrepreneurship, 37(3), 495–524.
Schuchmann, D., Seufert, S. (2015). Corporate learning in times of digital transformation: a conceptual framework and service portfolio for the learning function in banking organisations. Int. J. Adv. Corp. Learn. (iJAC), 8(1), 31–39.
Somers, S. (2009). Measuring resilience potential: An adaptive strategy for organizational crisis planning. Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, 17(1), 12–23.
Tekic, Z., & Koroteev, D. (2019). From disruptively digital to proudly analog: A holistic typology of digital transformation strategies. Business Horizons, 62(6), 683-693.
Vial, G. (2019). Understanding Digital Transformation: A Review and a Research Agenda. Journal Strategy Information System, 28, 118–144. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsis.2019.01.003.
Vogus, T. J., & Sutcliffe, K. M. (2007). Organizational resilience: Towards a theory and research agenda. 2007 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man and Cybernetics, 3418–3422.
von Leipzig, T., Gamp, M., Manz, D., Schöttle, K., Ohlhausen, P., Oosthuizen, G., Palm, D., von Leipzig, K. (2017) Initialising customer-orientated digital transformation in enterprises. Procedia Manuf., 8, 517–524. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.promfg.2017.02.066
White, H.C. (2008). Identity and Control: How Social Formations Emerge, 2nd edn. Princeton University Press, Princeton.
Xiao, L., & North, D. (2017). The graduation performance of technology business incubators in China's three tier cities: the role of incubator funding, technical support, and entrepreneurial mentoring. The Journal of Technology Transfer, 42(3), 615-634.