This was my master's project aiming for "Business change analysis of SMEs’ digital transformation using case stories".

1. Analyzing business change of SMEs’
digital transformation
Arash Farahani
Gate 1 MEng project presentation
Technology Innovation Management
March 8 2021

2. Winter 2021
arashfarahani@cmail.carleton.ca Slide 2
Objective and deliverables
Objective
• Business change analysis of SMEs’ digital
transformation using case stories
Deliverables
• Set of recommendations for Digital Transformation
firms to improve their services offered to SMEs.
• SMEs’ perceptions about business change in parallel
with digital transformation and the impacts and needs
in digitalization dues to the ongoing pandemic.
• Business model improvement tips for the client
company.

3. Slide 3
Relevance to the client company
• Marketgram.ca is a Digital Transformation company
founded by TIM students
• Finding out what SMEs are struggling with the most
during pandemic is crucial to design needed
services for Marketgram’s clients
• This research can also help Marketgram to get
better insights about the market and find out the
suitable business models offered to its clients
arashfarahani@cmail.carleton.ca Winter 2021

4. Slide 4
Problem and gap
Client problem
• Marketgram wants to identify the major market needs and gaps
during pandemic to design most-needed services and improve its
customer experience
Known
• Digital Transformation is becoming a trending topic among SMEs
• Digital Transformation is a vast topic and includes lots of expertise in
different domains and levels
• Pandemic is accelerating Digital Transformation among SMEs
• SMEs are in the era of mass extinction
Not known
• Issues that SMEs are dealing with from their own perspective to
adapt Digital Transformation
arashfarahani@cmail.carleton.ca Winter 2021

5. Slide 5
Stream Key highlights of the stream Citations to key sources
Digital
Transformation
• Successful Digital Transformation in SMEs
• Digital Transformation during lockdown
• Digital Business Transformation and Strategy
• Relationship between organizational culture,
and digitalization in SMEs
Maisch et al. (2018)
Ismail et al. (2017)
Stief et al. (2020)
Digital Business
Model
• Digital Business Model in SMEs
• Digital Business Model Design Process
• Digital Business Process and SMEs
• Digital Transformation Paths in Business Model
of SMEs
Bican et al. (2020)
Priyono et al. (2020)
Sathananthan et al (2017)
Process Adoption
• Adoption in VUCA World
• Strategic Management in VUCA World for
SMEs
• Advanced Agile Approaches for SMEs
• Process Technology Adoption for SMEs
Saleh et al. (2017)
Baran et al. (2020)
Du et al. (2018)
Literature review
arashfarahani@cmail.carleton.ca Winter 2021

6. Slide 6
Research method
Step Activity undertaken to produce deliverables Outcome of the activity
1
Review literature on digital business models, digital transformation, and
digital technology and process adoption
Lessons learned from three key
literature streams.
2
Identifying and choosing 10 client’s customer companies to revisit and
review their digital transformation.
List of SMEs that will be included in
the case study
3
Reviewing Marketgram’s business design, services, and business model. Identifying overall structure of the
client and finding possible gaps
4
Review customer documentation and discuss informally with the chosen
case companies regarding their business change via digital
transformation.
Data set of perceptions of customer
SMEs regarding their initial and
current digital needs and perceptions
after digital transformation
5
Analysis of data by writing case stories to elaborate on customer
perceptions about business change through digital transformation, as well
as challenges due to the ongoing pandemic.
10 case stories that show perceived
changes in SMEs’ marketing,
business model, processes, and
innovation due to Digital
Transformation and new challenges
due to COVID-19
6
Review of findings from the cases, literature, and Marketgram to provide
the client with recommendations.
Recommendations for Marketgram on
how they can improve their digital
transformation offers, services, and
business model
arashfarahani@cmail.carleton.ca Winter 2021

7. Slide 7
Data acquisition
• Marketgram’s business design review:
• Service design review
• Customer experience review
• Competitors analysis
• 10 interviews from Marketgram clients:
• Asking them about their current needs, problems faced during their digital
transformation, and pandemic
• ~30 peer-reviewed articles related to:
• Digital transformation adoption
• Digital transformation in pandemic
• Businesses’ change during pandemic
• Digital business models
• Management strategies during VUCA
arashfarahani@cmail.carleton.ca Winter 2021

8. Slide 8
Data analysis
• Manual content analysis of interview results
• Manual content analysis of Marketgram’s business
data
• Manual analysis of ~30 articles for extracting streams
and high level topics
arashfarahani@cmail.carleton.ca Winter 2021

9. Slide 9
Preliminary Results
List of selected Marketgram clients:
• Ricochet – A coaching firm
• Sarmasam – An electronic gadgets commerce
• PandSettlement – A charity organization
• SharifGallery – An art gallery
• Rojin English – English learning institution
• Cube Group – An architectural and construction firm
• Nahal – An ehealth platform
• Cobizco – A food merchandising firm
• Eshraghie – A medical publication firm
• Tajhizmart – An industrial tools commerce
arashfarahani@cmail.carleton.ca Winter 2021

10. Slide 10
Preliminary Results
Following domains are major needs mentioned by the SMEs during early
data acquisitions:
1. Organizational structure:
1. Improving team management
2. Improving team working culture
3. Implementing remote working environment
2. Product and services
1. Product/Service adopting to new target market behaviour patterns
2. Improving customer experience affected by pandemic
3. Data collection and Data-Driven Decision making
3. Sales and Marketing
1. Online presence and Digital Marketing
2. Enhance competitive positioning
3. Digital customer relations
arashfarahani@cmail.carleton.ca Winter 2021

11. Slide 11
Preliminary Results
Recommendations for Marketgram
Based on Marketgram’s business analysis here are the preliminary tips:
• Improve customer experience by:
• Designing precise customer briefing sessions
• Gathering more online data to improve Data-Driven Decision
making
• Improve offers by:
• Productize services based on market demands (Both long-term and
short-term solutions)
• Narrow down Marketgram’s activity domain to leadership and
management consultation
• Improve business model by:
• Pricing model improvement based on the value generated by
Marketgram services
arashfarahani@cmail.carleton.ca Winter 2021

12. Slide 12
References
Baran, B. E., & Woznyj, H. M. 2020. ScienceDirect Managing VUCA : The human dynamics of agility. Organizational Dynamics,
(2019): 100787.
Bican, P. M., & Brem, A. 2020. Digital Business Model, Digital Transformation, Digital Entrepreneurship: Is there a sustainable
“digital”? Sustainability (Switzerland), 12(13): 1–15.
Du, J., & Chen, Z. 2018. International Journal of Innovation Studies Applying Organizational Ambidexterity in strategic management
under a “ VUCA ” environment : Evidence from high tech companies in China. International Journal of Innovation Studies,
2(1): 42–52.
Ismail, M. H., Khater, M., & Zaki, M. 2017. Digital Business Transformation and Strategy: What Do We Know So Far? Manufacturer
Article, (November 2017): 36.
Maisch, B., Burchardt, C., & Maisch, B. 2018. ScienceDirect ScienceDirect ScienceDirect Advanced agile approaches to improve
engineering activities Advanced agile approaches to improve engineering activities Costing models for capacity optimization in
Industry 4 . 0 : Trade-off between used capacity . Procedia Manufacturing, 25: 202–212.
Priyono, A., Moin, A., & Putri, V. N. A. O. 2020. Identifying digital transformation paths in the business model of smes during the
covid-19 pandemic. Journal of Open Innovation: Technology, Market, and Complexity, 6(4): 1–22.
Saleh, A., & Watson, R. 2017. Business excellence in a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous environment (BEVUCA). TQM
Journal, 29(5): 705–724.
Sathananthan, S., Hoetker, P., Gamrad, D., Katterbach, D., & Myrzik, J. 2017. Realizing digital transformation through a digital
business model design process. Joint 13th CTTE and 10th CMI Conference on Internet of Things - Business Models, Users,
and Networks, 2018-Janua: 1–8.
Stief, P., Dantan, J., Etienne, A., & Siadat, A. 2020. ScienceDirect ScienceDirect A new of existing products for an assembly oriented
product family identification analyze the functional and physical architecture Measures for a successful digital transformation
of SMEs Measures for a successful digital trans. Procedia CIRP, 93: 286–291.
arashfarahani@cmail.carleton.ca Winter 2021