Navigating toward the promised land of digitalization and sustainability convergence

Abstract

In recent years, companies have updated their strategic goals, adding the goal of digitalization to the already commonly accepted goal of sustainability. The convergence between these two strategic goals, digitalization, and sustainability (DS) convergence, is the complete and conjoint attention to both strategic goals. This paper analyzes this phenomenon in depth by studying the implementation of sustainable and digital measures in companies. In doing so, we categorize firms' strategies from less to more DS convergence, analyzing the factors that promote the full attention to both strategic goals, emphasizing those that enhance the mentioned DS convergence. The findings from the analysis of a sample of >16,000 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) worldwide reveal that companies that devote more effort to business growth, innovation, exports and that perceive the environment as favorable are more likely to achieve full DS convergence.