Do Digitalization Efforts Result in Supply Chain Process Development?: An Empirical Analysis of Hungarian firms

Abstract

When used effectively, various digitalization tools can improve companies' performance and responsiveness to external disruptions and negative events. However, if they are used without the right expertise or are not used effectively, they waste scarce resources which leads to declining firm performance and competitiveness. The aim of this study is to outline a research framework in which it can be examined whether digitalization efforts result in supply chain process development. Survey data with responses from 335 Hungarian medium sized and large firms are analysed with regression modelling. Empirical findings highlight a positive association between digitalization efforts and supply chain process development. Regression results also reveal that at different quantile values there is heterogeneity in this effect so that digitalization effort may have a larger effect if the supply chain process development is relatively low. These results also highlight the importance of digitalization in supply chain development.