Combined Evaluation of Digitalization and Sustainability Maturity of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises

Sustainability and digitalization are of high importance for companies to stay competitive and cope with market requirements from internal and external stakeholders. Especially the current changes in reporting standards and frameworks increase pressure to quickly adapt internal processes and acquire the relevant data. In this context, Industry 4.0 (I4.0) is discussed to enable companies to also foster sustainability. But many small and medium sized enterprises (SME) lack of experience and capacity and need support from experienced partners to develop suitable strategies and implement technologies. Appropriate support comprises general guidance through these domains and an evaluation of current and desired state of expertise to choose suitable actions. Maturity models (MM) are well-established to initiate and support the transformation of corporate structures. There are many models available that support digital and sustainable transformation, but almost no models are available that include both dimensions what results in decoupled developments in these domains. Hence, this contribution introduces a combined model for both domains and systematically describes the extension of an existing digitalization MM (DMM) that also considers rebound effects. The MM is tested within an industrial context use case. The results are evaluated and discussed for further development of the model and workflow.