Entrepreneurs take few digital risks – Economy

Researchers from the Business Administration Department at Uppsala University have examined the appearance of so-called digital intrapreneurship in Swedish companies. It's about how already established businesses and organizations are able to grow digitally.

The survey is based on data from about 4,000 private and public employees.

The report highlights the major geographical differences in digital innovation. The competence and willingness to propose new solutions and new products are concentrated in the big cities.

Digital renewal is often conducted in the private sector. For companies to maintain their competitiveness, we must add a lot of profits to reinvest. We could look like it because it is our electrification today. This will be done later in the countryside and in the public sector, "said Katarina Blomkvist, one of three authors of the study.

Fourth industrial revolution

In the long run, digital conversion will provide competitive advantages and increased efficiency to the data subject.

For example, if some places end up in the long term, care will be more expensive and schooling less effective. If you do not reduce this distance, it will have consequences, "says Katarina Blomkvist.

Men in particular lead the development of new digital products and services. One scientist's explanation is that digital renewal is overrepresented in industries with more men than women. Innovation is also related to positions of responsibility, where men are overrepresented.

Katarina Blomkvist emphasizes that it is difficult to know exactly what are due differences between the sexes.

If you think that some of the structures and systems we are living today have been designed by men, you may be wondering if you want even the fourth industrial revolution to be driven by men, she says.

This will have consequences for the way we organize our future lives. And today, the development of men is driven.

Low risk taking

The researchers also found that Swedish companies did not innovate digitally. More than 90% of investments are made with low risk taking in existing technologies or groups of customers, which is problematic in a market where global players are using more and more resources.

Sweden offers very good quality products, but if companies were involved in this change, they had to change. In order for us to maintain our business and ensure that they are an important part of the value chain, we must take risks.