4.1. Descriptive Analysis
The questionnaire was disseminated to 35 Portuguese family businesses active in automotive retail through the researchers’ network of contacts, which yielded 30 responses. Regarding the size of the companies included in the sample, 97% have a turnover of less than €50M. In essence, the companies that make up the sample fit the definition of SME. 20% of the companies in the sample have been in service for more than 50 years; 60% are in the range <25 years <=50 years; and only 20% have experience of less than 25 years. The average score attributed to the presence of CSF in the dynamics of these companies, on a scale from 1 (Strongly Disagree) to 6 (Strongly Agree), is presented in
Table 1.
From
Table 1, it is possible to conclude that, for the sample considered, the highest-scoring CSF in organizational dynamics is Organizational Culture (related to items like ‘I accept change’ and ‘Teamwork’), followed by Change Management (the Change Management capacity as a guarantee of constant adaptation to changes in the technological environment), while the lowest scoring CSF involves Human Capital (commitment/involvement of Human Capital in the digital transformation of the business). The commitment/involvement of human capital in the DT process is fundamental, especially in the most advanced stages of DT, because it will represent a change in terms of the entire organization, its operating logic, and the way of thinking about the business and, ultimately, it depends on the people.
As for the answers regarding the use of digital technologies in business processes, the first group of eight technologies is essentially focused on business processes and without sufficient potential to reinvent the business model. The second group, the third-generation technologies associated with DT, can potentially reinvent the business model. The questionnaire revealed the results indicated in
Table 2 using a scale from 1 (Never uses) to 6 (Uses very often):
In this table, it is evident that, for this set of family businesses and the digital technologies considered, the most used technologies are CRM (5.5) and Social Networks, followed by Digital Marketing (5.3) and Marketplace (5.1), while the least used digital technology is Artificial Intelligence (2.0), followed by Processes Robotic Automation (very sensitive to the effect of scale) and Virtual Reality (2.1). Considering the three most used technologies, the next section will address the interconnection between CFS and the use of each technology. From a global perspective, the adoption of third-generation technologies is lagging behind the adoption of second-generation technologies, which is expected but also shows where the most exciting sources of competitive differentiation may lie.
4.2. fsQCA
One of the characteristics of fsQCA is assuming asymmetry, i.e., the configurations leading to the presence of an outcome may be asymmetric from the configurations leading to the absence of the same outcome. For this reason, we will present the results for the presence and the absence of the three outcomes under analysis (CRM, Social Networks, and Digital Marketing). Starting with the presence of CRM, we obtained five configurations presented in
Table 3.
Analyzing
Table 3, alternative configurations are leading to the presence of CRM, i.e., family businesses in the automotive retail sector may have different levels on the CSF and still adopt CRM. Focusing on C1, we notice family businesses with an absence of Organizational Culture, Change Management, Knowledge, and Human Capital but with the presence of IT Systems. C2 is a similar configuration, but the presence or absence of Organizational Culture is indifferent, while a DT Strategy is present. C3 is identical to C1 and C2 in the absence of Human Capital and the presence of IT Systems. However, Organizational Culture, Change Management, and Knowledge are also present. The presence of Organizational Culture, Change Management, and Knowledge is also evident in C4, allied with the presence of IT Systems and DT Strategy. Finally, C5 also leads to the presence of CRM, based on the presence of Organizational Culture and Change Management, while all other conditions are absent. C5 is the only configuration leading to CRM presence, whereas the IT Systems condition is absent. These results support the idea of equifinality, which is a relevant concept in the context of fsQCA, i.e., multiple paths to reach the same outcome, in this case, meaning that different family businesses in this sector can achieve high levels of CRM adoption despite differing in their adoption of the CSF under analysis.
The results for the absence of CRM are presented in
Table 4.
The analysis reveals a single configuration for the absence of CRM in the family businesses under analysis. In this configuration, the presence of Knowledge, Human Capital, IT Systems, and DT Strategy combined with the absence of Organizational Culture and Change Management yield a lower CRM score than the five configurations presented in
Table 3. There is, as expected, asymmetry, although C1 in
Table 4 is symmetric to C5 in
Table 3, which is a relevant finding.
Moving the focus to Digital Marketing, we start with the presence of this outcome. The analysis identified four configurations, which are presented in
Table 5.
Configuration C1 is an example of multifinality. Family businesses where Change Management, Knowledge, and Human Capital are absent and where IT Systems and DT Strategy are present can simultaneously find the presence of CRM (C1 in
Table 3) and Digital Marketing. A similar finding occurs for C2 in
Table 5 and C3 in
Table 3, and, finally, for C3 in
Table 5 and C4 in
Table 3. These similar configurations also imply that there are two configurations in
Table 3 specific to CRM and do not apply to Digital Marketing. This final finding is informative for family businesses aiming to achieve the presence of CRM and Digital Marketing simultaneously.
C4 is a paradoxal configuration. It is the same configuration we have seen for the absence of CRM. This information implies that family businesses with this specific configuration cannot simultaneously achieve the presence of CRM and Digital Marketing, which can become problematic. Still focusing on Digital Marketing, the analysis for the absence of this outcome does not reveal a consistent solution.
According to P2, adopting second-generation DT technologies will enable the adoption of third-generation DT technologies. Based on this proposition, we analyzed the presence of Social Networks considering second-generation technologies as conditions. The results for the presence of Social Networks are presented in
Table 6.
The results reveal four configurations leading to the presence of Social Networks, all based on the presence of Digital Marketing. C1 associates the presence of Digital Marketing with Marketplace but in the absence of ERP. C3 also reveals the presence of Marketplace but adds the presence of CRM and the absence of a Client Portal. Differently, C2 combines the presence of Digital Marketing with the absence of Client Portal, CRM, and Marketplace. Finally, C4 refers to the presence of Digital Marketing combined with the presence of ERP and Client Portal but the absence of Marketplace. These four configurations support the idea, central in the context of fsQCA, that there are multiple trajectories leading to the same outcome (equifinality) and that the second-generation technologies adoption is helpful to understand the presence of third-generation technologies, here represented by Social Networks, providing support to P2. It is clear, however, that family businesses do not have to have all technologies present to reach the Social Networks outcome.
As previously referred, another relevant characteristic of fsQCA is asymmetry, explored in
Table 7, which focuses on the absence of Social Networks.
The two configurations obtained reveal that both Digital Marketing and Marketing are absent when Social Networks are absent. C1 includes the absence of Client Portal and CRM, which are present in C2, which adds to the absence of ERP. It is interesting to note that adopting Client Portal and CRM is insufficient for the presence of Social Networks.