Digitalización y su influencia en MIPYME’S de Azogues durante la pandemia COVID -19

Abstract

This article analyzes the influence of digitalization on the profitability of MSME'S in the commerce and service sector, in the urban area of the city of Azogues, Ecuador; during the COVID - 19 pandemic, in the period 2020-2021. As a consequence of the pandemic, the companies had to paralyze their activities completely or partially, which caused monetary losses and even several businesses disappeared. MSMEs, in their eagerness to adapt to the changes caused by the pandemic, chose to implement several strategies, among these is the digitization of their value chain. In order to measure the impact of digitalization, an index was constructed based on 9 industry metrics and 5 company metrics. The information for the analysis was obtained from the database of the research and linkage project "Economic Reactivation in a COVID-19 context through the Digitalization of Value Chains. Case of the city of Azogues". The method of analysis is stratified random sampling (sample size 631) and the tools used for data processing are those of descriptive and inferential statistics using methods such as multivariate regression analysis, hypothesis testing and correlation analysis. The results showed that the digitalization index is average 0.31 and it does have an influence on the usefulness of the companies, even though the MSME'S do not prioritize it. The findings suggest socializing on the development of digital transformation strategies, as a way of orientation for companies; and implementing public policies that allow owners of micro, small and medium enterprises to have technical and financial support