Abstract
As the size of Japanese companies decreases, their progress in digital transformation tends to lag. In this study, we sought to identify the success factors for non-IT small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which are expected to face significant challenges in achieving organizational transformation through IT. We conducted case studies of eight companies and found the following: (1) transformation leaders in non-IT SMEs often possess “heterogeneous prior knowledge” gained from their previous careers; (2) these leaders, when in positions of influence, typically exhibit a strong sense of urgency regarding the company's future; (3) even if the leaders are not IT experts, they may start with a vague understanding of IT utilization but can gradually refine their vision through learning and experimentation; and (4) transformation leaders frequently achieve significant results by employing an iterative approach, leveraging small successes to build momentum. Additionally, we observed that “heterogeneous prior knowledge” plays a critical role in enabling these four processes.
