A SWOT-SWARA Analysis of the Digital Transformation in Turkish SMEs

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) face increasing challenges in sustaining their operations in today's highly competitive business environment. To keep up with evolving technologies and maintain their activities under competitive pressure, they should implement the requirements of digital transformation. In this study, a SWOT analysis was conducted on digital transformation, focusing on SMEs in Turkey. The reason for selecting this sample is that the vast majority of businesses operating in Turkey are SMEs. The current situation was identified through the SWOT analysis. The factors obtained from the SWOT analysis were then weighted using the SWARA technique, one of the multi-criteria decision-making methods. Among all the sub-factors ranked according to their weights, the top five sub-factors with the highest weights have been identified. As a result of the purposed integrated model, it has been determined that the following factors play a critical role in the digital transformation of SMEs: Threat of Economic Fluctuations, Weakness of Financial Resource Constraints, Threat of Cybersecurity Risks, Opportunity of Industry 4.0 and Smart Manufacturing Systems, and Strength of a Young and Tech-Savvy Workforce. For these sub-factors, strategies have been developed to prioritize and enhance the areas that require focus. The study concluded that it was determined that implementing strategies such as developing new models to seek financial resources to eliminate transformation risks, preparing support programs to mitigate cybersecurity risks, creating incentive programs for transitioning to smart manufacturing models, and establishing various training programs to increase digital awareness would contribute significantly to the transformation process of SMEs.