Digital Innovation in Small Firms of Rural Canada

Abstract

Unless there are systemic investments in digitization of rural economies, rural entrepreneurs will suffer, and digital innovation activity will remain modest. Nonetheless, the authors do find examples of digital innovation practiced by firms in rural economies. These firms successfully fostered growth and revitalization due to co-evolution of business and digital strategies, investments in technology, and digitization of business processes. In this chapter, using three such small, rural firms in Ontario, Canada, the co-evolution of business and digital technology strategies and related performance impacts are described by using the lens of “digital ecodynamics,” which is defined as the holistic confluence among environmental factors, capabilities, and digital technologies—and their fused dynamic interactions unfolding as an ecosystem. The focus on the development of resources and capabilities that are critical for the survival of the firms and the local ecosystem centered around a business incubator that supports and sustains them.