Strategic recovery for digitally underdeveloped sharing economy components: Coworking spaces’ digitalization in time of pandemic
[eng] COVID-19 crisis marked a milestone for all organizations to reconsider digitalization priorities. Coworking spaces, as digitally underdeveloped components of the sharing economy, carried out a series of digital strategies to innovate their sharing model during the pandemic period. This study e...
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| Tipo de recurso: | tesis doctoral |
| Estado: | Versión publicada |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2024 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Universidad de Barcelona |
| Repositorio: | Dipòsit Digital de la UB |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:diposit.ub.edu:2445/205993 |
| Acceso en línea: | https://hdl.handle.net/2445/205993 http://hdl.handle.net/10803/689822 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | Petita i mitjana empresa Planificació estratègica Economia col·laborativa Small business Strategic planning Sharing economy |
| Sumario: | [eng] COVID-19 crisis marked a milestone for all organizations to reconsider digitalization priorities. Coworking spaces, as digitally underdeveloped components of the sharing economy, carried out a series of digital strategies to innovate their sharing model during the pandemic period. This study explores how coworking spaces, as under-digitalized components of sharing economy, have coped with and adapted to the challenges of COVID-19 pandemic over the years. Drawing on the Dynamic Capabilities (DC) view, we provide insights on methods that digital capabilities and digitalization can help small companies to survive turbulence and we offer practical advice to managers in this industry. Key points of the thesis are as follows: • Coworking spaces (CWS) are part of the sharing economy, but with relatively less digitalized resources. • COVID-19 pandemic period marked a milestone for CWS to adopt digital technologies. • Main driver for change was managerial positive attitude to prioritize digitalization for coping pandemic adversities. • Not all digital strategies lasted. The proximity sharing ideal for CWS remained intact after the pandemic even against the increasing remote working practices. Digital technologies related to stakeholder communication were seized critically, based on the utility and efficiency in the aftermath of lockdowns and curfews. • Following the outbreak of COVID-19, the research stream connecting the subjects of digitalization and dynamic capabilities have gained significant trend, due to the matching case of turbulent environment on the theory of DC and increasing use of digital technologies in that context. • The majority of prior academic research has applied both themes of DC and DT in a hectic order, basically with careless use of directions when relating two concepts to each other. The analysis highlights a multidirectional relationship which puts dynamic capabilities or digital technology adoption as an antecedent, enabler or a substitute to the other, based on the requirements of the specific research. This may cause misconceptions and erroneous formulations for future studies in literature. • We define two major directions in the causality between dynamic capabilities and digital phenomena: First, the direction from digital phenomena towards dynamic capabilities by which digital phenomena serve as an environmental requirement or challenge that necessitates the adoption of dynamic capabilities to achieve organizational goals. Second, the direction from dynamic capabilities to digital capabilities: which highlights the role of dynamic capabilities in facilitating the adoption and effective use of digital technologies. • In a crisis context, digitalization acts as a determinant for leveraging dynamic capabilities to survive turbulence. Companies can activate coping mechanisms of “digital sensing, seizing and reconfiguring” to sense crisis adversities and track strategic options for recovery, to ensure digital process management and alignment of these processes and finally to reconfigure them into the whole organization by digital transformation of the business and expansion of the digital ecosystem, respectively. • Growth opportunities are available for small businesses, even if they have slow progress in digital transformation or dynamic capability leverage. Managers must have an open view of improving their resources and capabilities under any condition. • Perceived digitalization plays a crucial role in motivating small businesses to embrace digital transformation, particularly in crisis. Strengthening connections and collaboration can help businesses with modest digital infrastructure to initiate the digitalization process and leverage dynamic capabilities for preserving operational continuity and maintain competitiveness. |
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