World Research and Intellectual Structure in Digital Transformation on SMEs in Covid-19 Times

Abstract

In the business sector, digital transformation appears as a new paradigm that enables a profound transformation of business activities, processes, and models. Its relationship with SMEs has brought the academic world’s attention in recent years; however, catastrophic events caused by COVID-19 impacted the development of the various world economies and thus the business sector. This article aims to assess the scientific structure of the digital transformation in SMEs, specifically when COVID-19 appeared and developed; through the Scopus database and the bibliometric software VOSviewer. The methodology used reports a systematic process comprising four phases: (i) Search Terms for the research field, (ii) Database and document selection, (iii) Database and document selection, and (iv) Analysis of the results. This last section showed the participation of 75 countries in 612 publications in a challenging environment for the SME caused by the Covid-19 continued digital transformation process focused on its business model, Industry 4.0, IoT, and Digital Innovation and Technology. This research contributes to broadening knowledge in Digital Transformation and its implications in times of pandemic.