Resumo

Several studies attempted to identify the true influence of digitalization on bringing about a revolutionary transformation in the production process and relationships. These earlier studies, however, left some research gaps in understanding the effect of digitalization on firm performance, disregarding endogenous variables of firm performance, such as quality, process efficiency, customer satisfaction, and responsiveness, particularly in MSMEs. In principle, this paper answers recent requests for additional study on the performance of MSMEs and digitization.

To fill this research gap, this article seeks to answer the following research questions: What is the impact of digitalization technologies on the performance of micro, small and medium-sized companies in Minas Gerais between 2021 and 2022? Which digitalization technologies are predictors of superior performance? The purpose of this article is to comprehend the impacts of digitalization on the overall performance of MSMEs and to investigate whether digitalization techniques are predictors of superior performance.

Digitalization is a technical force that strengthens globalization and significantly increases company performance (financial and non-financial) (Lee et al., 2022) by introducing new concepts and methodologies into the manufacturing process (Chege et al., 2020). The digital business strategy immediately improves market and corporate performance (Verhoef & Bijimolt, 2019) and offers a competitive environment in which MSMEs may quickly and easily increase their abilities and performance through digital technology (Kraus et al., 2019).

Quantitative sample, with 266 micro, small, and medium-sized companies in Minas Gerais, Brazil. The researchers validated statistical significance by performing normality and Spearman`s correlation tests between each category and the performance factors. Following that, multiple linear regression analysis with the t-test was carried out. The goal was to determine if the variables of interest explained the variances in performance in order to derive the equation for the model. In this regard, the hypothesis H1 was verified: "Digital technologies has a positive impact on MSMEs performance".

Digital technologies are positively correlated with performance. Some technologies that had a significant impact on finance performance hadn’t had a significant impact on non-finance performance, such as own site and own e-commerce. All regression models have social networks as the main predictor factor, followed by robotization and internet of things for finance performance, and internet of things and intranet for non-finance variables.

Despite the positive correlation between the digital technologies and performance, only the own site, own e-commerce, digital bank, internet of things, social networks, intranet, remote work and robotization are performance predictors. The variables big data, e-commerce third parts and cybersecurity are not performance predictors, nether finance or non-finance. In this way firms can afford capabilities enabled by these digital technologies according to the main strategy. This demonstrates that digitalization is a critical factor that can boost MSMEs' performance (financial and non-financial).

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