Through firms’ eyes: How SMEs define technological spaces and trajectories in the digital era

How do small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) set up their technological portfolio, orient their future technological choices, and contribute to shaping the evolution of a specific economic structure? Technology adoption in SMEs has been recognized as a learning path but how this process is characterized in the digital era remains rather unclear. The paper aims to address this research gap by analysing how a population of manufacturing SMEs builds and follows its technological trajectories. By taking advantage of data on a large sample of manufacturing firms, we employ network analysis to map the evolution in the adoption of digital technologies. Findings show a common path of adoption and learning within the population of manufacturing SMEs. However, while some firms are on the edge, riding the learning curve and providing key meaning to the contextual setting of operations and strategies commonly taken under the technological evolution, others lag in their learning process, risking digital devices.