Crisis Management : A qualitative study about the difference between the dynamic capabilities of born-digital and non-digital companies during DSC

Abstract: Today there is an ongoing world crisis COVID-19, which has affected our daily lives related to health, survival, economy, work and so on. Much of our daily life is now moved online, for example work, which is possible because of the digitization. For work forces to handle COVID-19, crisis management is crucial. Crisis management is not only relevant for today's situation, but also for future crises. A crisis is something that has happened, is happening and will happen, which means crisis management is needed for all enterprises to be prepared for future crises in the best possible way.  The purpose and focus of this study are on crisis management for non-digital and born-digital companies. The investigation for the thesis is what ordinary- and dynamic capabilities are for non-digital and born-digital companies. Due to these capabilities, there was an interest in knowing which company would handle a dramatic social change crisis the best. To be able to answer the purpose of this study, the method that was used was a qualitative study with a deductive and exploratory approach. There were two case studies conducted, more specifically two in-depth interviews.  The main findings from this study were that both a non-digital and a born-digital company have ordinary and dynamic capabilities. The core finding from the case studies stated that for neither company the DSC was dramatic due to the current COVID-19 pandemic. Another finding was that DSC is only in a crisis when the core business model is threatened. For the non-digital company, its core business was unaffected, agile, resilient and able to transform rapidly. The last main finding was that the role of digital, means easier adaptation to this particular crisis (COVID-19) which demanded digitization for firm survival. Not to forget, more research is needed to fulfil the purpose of this thesis.