64% of Small and Medium Enterprises Lack Strategies to Prepare for Global Digitalization

Korea Federation of SMEs

[Asia Economy Reporter Donghyun Choi] It has been revealed that 64.3% of domestic small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) lack strategies to prepare for global digitalization.

The Korea Federation of SMEs announced on the 8th the results of the "2022 Digital Maturity of SMEs" survey conducted from November 30 to December 14 last year, targeting 300 domestic and export SMEs.

Only 19% of domestic SMEs are strategically preparing for digitalization, while 64.3% are not preparing any digitalization strategies. Among export companies, 23.8% were preparing digitalization strategies, whereas only 9.2% of domestic market companies were doing so.

The digital maturity of domestic SMEs scored only 40.7 out of 100 points, indicating that digital transformation capabilities remain insufficient. By industry, manufacturing scored 41.4 points, higher than non-manufacturing at 39.2 points. Within manufacturing, export companies scored 43.1 points, higher than domestic companies at 31.6 points. Similarly, in non-manufacturing, export companies scored 41.3 points compared to 38.2 points for domestic companies, showing that export companies have relatively higher digital maturity.

To prepare for digital transformation, SMEs responded that the necessary measures are ▲ securing digital technology devices and programs (27.0%) ▲ changing corporate culture (23.7%) ▲ education on utilizing digital technology (23.0%) ▲ professional consulting on digital technology utilization (22.7%) ▲ connecting with online platform service providers (15.3%), in that order.

Choo Moon-gap, Head of Economic Policy at the Korea Federation of SMEs, said, “Digitalization of SMEs is an inevitable trend after COVID-19, but our SMEs are still inadequately prepared. It is necessary to actively support digital transformation, such as securing digital technology devices and programs, to strengthen the basic capabilities of export SMEs facing various difficulties such as high interest rates, exchange rate fluctuations, and export declines, thereby enhancing competitiveness on the global stage.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.