With the deep integration of new-generation information technology and industries such as big data, mobile Internet, cloud computing, 5G, artificial intelligence, blockchain, etc., the digitalized industrial economy plays an important supporting role in China's national economy. As the main component of China's market, SMEs play an irreplaceable role in stabilizing employment, promoting development, and safeguarding people's livelihood, etc. The digital transformation of SMEs plays an important role in promoting the transformation of the economy and society. In view of their own characteristics, SMEs are faced with the predicament of being unable to transform due to the shortage of resources such as capital, talents and technology. This paper analyzes the characteristics of small and medium-sized enterprises, cracking the obstacles to digital transformation, and puts forward a road of digital transformation suitable for small and medium-sized enterprises.
In recent years, a new generation of information technology, represented by the big intelligence, mobile cloud area, etc., has been rapid development and iterative innovation, a new generation of information technology and the depth of integration of industry, but also triggered changes in the industry within the innovation, leading the digital transformation of China's economy. The Party Central Committee and the State Council have attached great importance to the integration of new-generation information technology and industry, and the Fifth Plenary Session of the Nineteenth Central Committee has re-emphasized the digitization of industry and digital industrialization, and made a series of deployments at the level of national strategy.
China's digital economy has also developed rapidly, with the scale of the digital economy reaching 38.5 trillion yuan in 2019 , accounting for 36% of the total GDP, of which the scale of industrial digitization reached 28.8 trillion yuan, accounting for 80.2% of the scale of the digital economy [3]. The digital industrial economy occupies an important supporting position in the development of the national economy, and has become a new driving force for the development of the national economy.The outbreak of the new crown epidemic in 2020 has boosted the deep development of China's digital industrial economy and accelerated the process of digital transformation of Chinese enterprises. According to Accenture's survey report, 80% of the surveyed enterprises deployed telecommuting tools during the epidemic, 63% of the surveyed enterprises strengthened the layout of online channels, and 11% of the enterprises 2020 digitalization investment has been transformed into business performance [3].
The rapid development of the digital economy and the successful cases of transformation of leading enterprises have created conditions for the digital transformation and upgrading of SMEs and shared valuable experiences. Digital transformation has become a necessary path for SMEs to enhance their core competitiveness and promote innovation and development.
First, the basic characteristics of small and medium-sized enterprises
According to the "Notice on the Issuance of Provisions on the Standard for the Delineation of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises" (MIIT Lianshou [2011] No. 300) jointly issued by the State Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), the Bureau of Statistics (BOSTAT), the Development and Reform Commission (DRC), and the Ministry of Finance (MOF) in June 2011, SMEs are SMEs are divided into three types: medium-sized, small-sized and micro, and the specific standards are formulated according to the indicators of employees, business revenue and total assets of the enterprises, taking into account the characteristics of the industries. Different industries have different standards for measuring SMEs, and it is impossible to compare the size of SMEs horizontally, but what can be determined is that SMEs are in a relatively weak position in their own industries. China has more than 130 million market entities of various types, with SMEs accounting for about 90% of the total, covering all fields of the national economy, and playing an irreplaceable role in promoting national economic growth, stabilizing employment and technological innovation. In order to stimulate the vitality and development momentum of SMEs, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council have successively promulgated a series of laws and policies, such as the Law on the Promotion of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises and the Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Healthy Development of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, with a view to facilitating the overall healthy development of SMEs. In particular, after the outbreak of the new coronary pneumonia epidemic in 2020, in order to help SMEs tide over the difficult times, many departments of the State Council have successively introduced various policies, such as tax and fee reduction concessions, increased financial support, optimization of the government's public **** services, etc., to reduce the operating costs of SMEs, enhance their operational capabilities and help SMEs alleviate their difficulties and solve their problems. Generally speaking, SMEs have four basic characteristics.
(a) small scale of operation, poor risk resistance
SMEs have a small scale of assets, own capital, low market share, poor financing ability, low cash flow, product technology content is low, mainly rely on low-cost, low price, low margins to win the market, market sensitivity is strong. This low-input, low-return, low-cash-flow business model limits the development of SMEs to specialization, refinement, specialization, scientific and technological innovation and other "specialized, special and new" high-quality and high-quality development, and it is difficult to enhance the core competitiveness of SMEs. Once the external market environment deteriorates or product prices fluctuate, SMEs are prone to cash flow disruptions and the risk of capital chain breakage, which seriously threatens the continued operation of the enterprise.
(2) Weak management, insufficient financing
(3) Flexible management, insufficient innovation
SMEs are small in scale, with little capital invested in production and operation, and with relatively low technological content in their products, which are relatively adaptable and sensitive to market changes. More sensitive. At the same time, small and medium-sized enterprises have fewer personnel, relatively simple organizational structure, simplified decision-making procedures, high decision-making efficiency, managers of the business decision-making landing implementation fast. Once the market demand changes, the enterprise can quickly make adjustments accordingly, with fast transformation and flexible operation mode. Most of the SMEs are at the end of the production chain, with small volume, weak profitability and low cash flow; while technology development requires a large amount of capital investment, high personnel costs, long time cycle and high R & D risk. SMEs are only able to maintain normal operation in the face of technological innovation, which is not enough.
(4) There are many market players with strong development potential
With the establishment and improvement of the market economy, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with multiple ownerships have been developing rapidly, and their business scope involves one, two, three industries, covering all areas of the national economy, and are the main carriers of mass entrepreneurship and innovation. According to the data of the fourth national economic census, the taxes paid by SMEs accounted for more than 50% of the national taxes, the value of products and services created accounted for more than 60% of the national GDP, technological innovation accounted for more than 70% of the national ratio, provided more than 80% of the urban jobs, and the number of SMEs accounted for more than 90% of all kinds of market players in the country [2]. SMEs have become an important part of China's national economy and social development, playing an irreplaceable role in stabilizing the economy, promoting development, strengthening innovation, and preserving employment, and promoting the steady and high-quality development of the national economy.
Second, the problems in the digital transformation of small and medium-sized enterprises
Digital transformation after several years of development and practice, gradually known and familiar, digitalization is also from the original a concept, a tool gradually developed into a change. The deep integration of digitalization and industry has become a new driving force to promote high-quality economic development. The research of the relevant institutions speculates that, without taking into account the impact of the epidemic, the digital transformation can reduce the cost of manufacturing enterprises by 17.6% and increase revenue by 22.6%, reduce the cost of logistics services enterprises by 34.2% and increase revenue by 33.6%, and reduce the cost of retail enterprises by 7.8% and increase revenue by 33.3% [5]. A glimpse of the development potential of the digital economy can be seen. After the outbreak of the new crown epidemic, China's digital leaders have shown strong resilience and impact resistance, according to Accenture survey report data show that in the first quarter of 2020, the national GDP fell by 6.8%, ordinary business revenue fell by 17%, digital leaders fell by 4%; the first six months of 2020, the national GDP declined by 1.6%, the digital leaders revenue growth of over 3% [6], with extremely strong risk resistance and comprehensive operational capacity. However, the road of digital transformation of China's SMEs is not so smooth, and SMEs as a whole are still in a wait-and-see and planning state, and have not yet carried out substantial digital transformation and upgrading. This is closely related to the characteristics of small and medium-sized enterprises themselves, no capital, no talent, no technology, no platform, no resources and so on have limited the digital transformation of small and medium-sized enterprises. The SMEs' digital transformation is a difficult road.
(a) The top-level design is not mature, the path is not clear
From the analysis of the above data, it can be seen that the digital transformation has become a new impetus for the development of the enterprise, to enhance the core competitiveness of the enterprise and anti-risk ability. Whether the enterprise is active or passive acceptance, digital transformation has been a must face the subject. However, it is not easy to realize the deep integration of digitalization and industry and generate performance.
According to the SME Digital Transformation Analysis Report (2020), 89% of SMEs are in the exploration stage of digital transformation, 8% of SMEs are in the practice stage of digital transformation, and only 3% of SMEs are in the deep application stage of digital transformation. The main reason is that the strategic planning of digital transformation is still immature. Digital transformation in the end what to turn, how to turn, who to turn, turn into what effect, business managers have not yet formed a mature strategic planning. Secondly, digital transformation is more pragmatic. The effect of digital transformation is obvious, but only 3% of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have produced the effect, and part of the digital transformation of SMEs is not successful. With in-depth insights into digital transformation, business managers are more rational and pragmatic, hoping to shorten the return on investment cycle, increase the positive correlation between input and output, and preferring to be more prudent in the process of digital transformation. Third, the path of digital transformation is not clear. Digital transformation is not simply connecting business segments to the Internet even if the transformation is complete. Digital transformation is a process of process reengineering, involving management, business processes, IT technology and corporate culture and other systematic and complex engineering.
Before digital transformation, it is necessary to assess the degree of digitization of each segment of the enterprise, analyze the business requirements, determine the entry point of digitization, and formulate a clear path planning map. The company's main goal is to provide the best possible service to its customers, and to provide the best possible service to its customers in the future. The immaturity of the top-level design and the lack of a clear path to transformation have hindered the process of digital transformation.
(2) Insufficient endogenous power, survival becomes the first priority
For the digital transformation of small and medium-sized enterprises, many experts and scholars from various perspectives of the research and analysis, summed up the small and medium-sized enterprises in the face of the digital transformation of the "knowledge is easy to do is difficult". "Transformation is looking for death; do not turn is waiting for death" "do not dare to turn, will not turn, can not turn" and many other phenomena. The reason for this is still attributed to the limitations of the SMEs' own characteristics, capital, talent, management, technology and other strengths of the weak, endogenous power is insufficient.
1, informatization, digitalization has not yet been fully established, digital transformation foundation is weak. Digital transformation is roughly divided into three steps, informatization - digital - intelligent. Most of China's small and medium-sized enterprises have implemented information technology, but the primary stage is mainly for office automation and the establishment of internal business segment database. These databases are relatively independent and dispersed, data standards are inconsistent, there is a general problem of incompatibility, it is difficult to form an integration, there are greater difficulties in breaking through the barriers between the data, and the overall degree of information management of the enterprise is low. Industry reports show that China's small and medium-sized enterprises apply digital technology to achieve the integration between key business systems accounted for 23%, to achieve production, logistics, sales, service and other aspects of business data collection accounted for 34% [2]. At the same time, small and medium-sized enterprises are small in scale, own funds less funding capacity is poor, low demand for information technology, digitalization, less investment costs, information technology, digitalization foundation is weak.
2, small own funds, weak fundraising ability, low investment in digital transformation. Small and medium-sized enterprises, product technology content is low, weak profitability, own funds. SMEs have less market share, fewer resources at their disposal, and a shortage of capital for raising funds, coupled with a single financing channel for small and medium-sized enterprises, high financing costs, and stringent standards for financing risk assessment, make it difficult for small and medium-sized enterprises to finance expensive financing. Digital transformation of the early stage of large investment, high risk of research and development, the level of scientific research strength requirements, the transformation of the benefits of the short term is not easy to show, under the premise of insufficient supply of funds, small and medium-sized enterprises are more inclined to use the funds for the expansion of reproduction. Industry reports show that 14% of China's enterprises digital transformation investment accounted for 5% of annual sales, about 70% of the enterprise digital transformation investment is less than 3% of annual sales [2], with large enterprises digital resource allocation compared to the serious lack of investment.
3, the cost of investment, transformation cycle is long, the cost of digital transformation is high. The digital transformation of the enterprise is a systematic, all-round disruptive project, involving the enterprise's organizational structure, business processes, customer terminal, internal control and other aspects of the reform. Digital transformation is based on the enterprise comprehensive information technology on the basis of iterative innovation, enterprise digital transformation needs to invest in hardware equipment, software technology to be supported, the need to be proficient in management, know how to do business, familiar with the IT technology of the leading talent to lead the way, but also need to be technical and business composite talents landing implementation. More critically, enterprise digital transformation is a gradual process that requires continuous capital investment. For small and medium-sized enterprises in the primary stage of information technology, the realization of digital transformation first need to establish and improve the overall information technology construction of the enterprise, the realization of interdepartmental data integration and collection, to break through the data and information barriers, to achieve the data, can be interacted with. After that, on the basis of informatization, we should plan the integration of digital technology and industry from a global perspective. To achieve this process for small and medium-sized enterprises, is equal to one side of the complementary information technology, standardized management, while preparing for digital transformation and upgrading, double spending increased the cost of R & D investment. On the other hand, the lack of talent has been an important factor plaguing the development of SMEs. Digital transformation and upgrading of small and medium-sized enterprises, not only need professional talents but also need technical and professional talents. In order to meet the demand for talent, SMEs will increase the cost of digital transformation, whether it is internal training or external hiring. On the other hand, insufficient cash flow is also a problem for SMEs in the process of digital transformation. Digital transformation lasts a long time, short-term results are slow, and requires continuous investment in research and development funds. In the case of limited own funds, SMEs can only raise interest-bearing or even high-interest external funds through various ways. Time costs, personnel costs, hardware costs, software costs, financing costs, etc., so that the road of digital transformation of small and medium-sized enterprises is difficult and long.
4, talent reserves, a lack of composite talent, digital transformation bottleneck. SMEs are small in scale, have a small market share, are in a weak position in the market competition, are not attractive in terms of talent recruitment, salary compensation is low compared to large enterprises, the lack of scientific talent training program, the excellent staff can be limited to the development of space, resulting in the attraction of talent, can not be retained, the reserve is less. In the face of the tide of digital reform, digital composite talents have become the pursuit of major enterprises, enterprises are eager to realize the deep integration of industry and digitalization through digital talents, enhance efficiency and improve marginal output. The imbalance between the large demand for digital talents and the shortage of supply of digital talents by enterprises has led to the competition for talents among enterprises and caused the flow of highly skilled talents. Digital composite talents gradually gather to the leading enterprises that dominate in scale, and SMEs are even poorer in highly skilled talents. At the same time, digital transformation is an all-round, full-chain, full participation in the change, strategy, management, business, human resources, processes, systems and so on, each link of each position is involved in digitalization, all need to be presented in the form of digitalization. From management to ordinary employees, only with a digital mindset can we guarantee the smooth implementation of top-level design and implementation. This endogenous digital talent training is a more effective way of digital transformation of small and medium-sized enterprises, but requires a longer incubation process. According to relevant statistics, the average proportion of digitization-related talents in enterprises is 20%, and the proportion of enterprises that have established a digital training system is 15% [2]. The shortage of internal and external digital talents has become an important factor hindering the digitalization process of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
Third, the path of digital transformation of small and medium-sized enterprises
Small and medium-sized enterprises, as an important part of China's national economy, play an important role in stabilizing employment, safeguarding people's livelihoods, and promoting the development of small and medium-sized enterprises, the digitalization of small and medium-sized enterprises upgrading of the transformation of the economy and society is of great significance. In response to the difficulties and problems encountered by SMEs in the process of transformation, many national ministries and commissions have introduced a variety of related policies and measures, such as the "Special Action Program for Digital Empowerment of SMEs" issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the "Cloud Computing and Digital Empowerment" initiative launched by the National Development and Reform Commission and the Central Office of the Internet Information Office, and the "Cloud Computing and Digital Empowerment" initiative launched by the National Development and Reform Commission in cooperation with 16 departments including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. The "Digital Transformation Partner Action" launched by the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and 16 other departments*** brings together resources from all sides to empower small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to accelerate their digital transformation and foster the development of the new economy in terms of capacity support, financial inclusion, and the establishment of an ecosystem. The digital transformation of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is a full-chain, all-encompassing change that needs to rely on the government's policy support, but also needs to strengthen the cultivation of its own capabilities and enhance its core competitiveness, so as to ensure that the various supportive policies come into effect and guarantee the smooth progress of the digital transformation.
(1) Enhance their own strength
SMEs due to the limitations of their own qualities, the foundation of the digital transformation is relatively weak, the transformation process is faced with the management of the various aspects of the pressure of money, talent, technology, to a certain extent, hindered the process of digital transformation of the enterprise. Therefore, SMEs still need to practice hard, change their concepts, standardize their management, broaden their financing channels, maximize the use of existing resources, enhance their profitability, take the initiative to adapt to the new situation, give full play to their own strengths, promote self-transformation and digital empowerment, and enhance their own strengths to provide the necessary conditions for digital transformation, and improve their ability to cope with risks and sustainable development.
(2) Cultivate digital talents
The most urgent need in the process of digital transformation is the cross-discipline know-how of digital talents, including digital management talents, digital technology talents and digital business talents. Digital transformation is a handful of projects, managers of digital sensitivity and insight ability, in order to develop a digital transformation of the strategic development of the layout, to find the pain points of business operations and digital transformation of the entry point; technical talent with digital professional ability or business talent with digital technical ability, in order to understand the digital transformation of the strategic layout of the enterprise, to promote the depth of the integration of digital technology and business, the digital transformation work implementation and deeper. Digital transformation work to implement and go deep. SMEs can organize their employees to make full use of the online platforms such as "enterprise microcourses" and online learning platforms for technical and skilled talents in industry and information technology to learn digital networked intelligent skills and cultivate digital talents from within the enterprise. At the same time to strengthen communication and cooperation with universities and research institutions, universities and research institutions to provide digital technology, enterprises to provide digital cultivation base, *** with the construction of long-term efficient talent incubation mechanism. Through both internal and external training, borrowing the strength of the trend, targeted talent training methods, small and medium-sized enterprises can cultivate reserves suitable for their own needs of digital talent, to avoid blindness, improve the effectiveness of the training costs, become a proven shortcut to the training of digital talent.
(3) Eat through the good policy
In order to help SMEs alleviate difficulties, reduce the cost of digital transformation, and promote the integration of digitalization and industrialization, the state has issued a series of targeted policies and measures from the government level. The company has also introduced a series of targeted policies and measures to reduce the cost of digitalization. From tax cuts and tax incentives, to promoting cooperation between SMEs, digital service providers and financial institutions, to enlisting and promoting digital service providers and excellent digital products and services, to promoting digital empowerment benchmark SMEs and practice cases, to organizing digital product and solution docking activities, to constructing an on-line technical training platform, and to launching the SMEs' digital transformation "cloud computing" and "digital empowerment" campaigns. The "Cloud and Digital Empowerment" campaign has brought together the strengths of many parties to support the digital transformation of SMEs in all aspects. SMEs should also take the initiative to optimize organizational management, improve institutional mechanisms, deploy internal and external resources, and take advantage of the support policies to ensure that key projects, key products, key services to take effect, and enhance efficiency and effectiveness.
(4) Benchmarking
Currently, most SMEs are still in the exploration period of digital transformation, and are not very clear about the path of transformation and the focus of transformation, and need to be driven by the leading enterprises. The leading companies also need to interact with the small and medium-sized enterprises in the eco-chain to optimize their production through the synergistic effects of ****sharing production, ****sharing data, and so on, and to optimize the production of mutual ****winning. Leading enterprises can play a leading role in demonstrating and sharing successful experiences and practical cases in transformation, so that enterprises still in the exploratory period can benchmark and optimize their paths, reduce risks and lower transformation costs. Leading enterprises, especially those with strong technical strength, can take the key business and key business of the industry as the breakthrough of digital transformation program, build an open***high-performance industrial Internet platform, drive small and medium-sized enterprises to "go to the cloud and use the number", and promote the transformation of the production mode of the enterprise from the assembly line to the networked manufacturing, and gradually realize digitalization, networking and intelligence, and then gradually realize digitalization, networking and intelligentization. The company's products and services have been developed to meet the needs of the industry, and have been used in a variety of industries, such as automotive, aerospace, medical, and electronics, and other industries.
(5) Small steps
The digital transformation of enterprises is a long-term complex systematic project, investing more money and generating slow benefits. The small and medium-sized enterprise financial strength is weak, professional talents are few, the technical force is thin, survival is still the primary task of the enterprise, a one-time heavy investment in digital technology reform, obviously not very realistic. Business managers should stand at the height of the overall situation, the overall planning of digital transformation strategy, analysis and screening of enterprise development pain points, digital maturity points, value enhancement points, operational key points as the entry point for digital transformation, the development of a clear and feasible implementation of the transformation path. At the same time, other business segments maintain normal operation, sustain the development of the enterprise, supply the resources required for digital transformation, and ensure the smooth implementation of digital transformation. "The whole process of planning, implementing, and running in small steps is a step that should be considered in the implementation of the digital transformation of small and medium-sized enterprises.
The digital economy has become an important part of the national economy, and promoting the digital transformation of enterprises has become an inevitable trend, and small and medium-sized enterprises are no exception. The industry qualities are different, the development stage is not the same, the demand for digital transformation is not the same. Regardless of the urgency of the demand, enterprises need to be based on their own reality, based on long-term planning, to improve the quality of development, enhance the development potential, and promote sustainable development as the goal. Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) digital transformation, danger and opportunity at the same time.
This is the first time I've ever seen a digital camera.