Digital business model innovation (DBMI) is often claimed to be a ‘game changer’ for SMEs in Malaysia. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can use digital technology to coordinate business activities and create and deliver differentiated value to customers in both domestic and global markets. The literature on DBMI is sparse in the SME context. Therefore, semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight SME top managers to investigate how SMEs in manufacturing and service sector can implement DBMI (value creation innovation, value proposition innovation, value delivery innovation, value capture innovation); the challenges encountered in the DBMI adoption process and how they can be resolved; and perceptions of DBMI (whether as a ‘storm’ or ‘silver bullet’ for SMEs competitiveness). The findings highlight that DBMI is perceived as a ‘silver bullet’ for SMEs that will allow them to improve competitiveness and sustainability in the digital age. This study contributes insights and valuable information to researchers, academics, SMEs, entrepreneurs (managers) and policy makers.

Digital business model innovation (DBMI) has been acknowledged as a new business norm which allows for increased competitiveness. By adopting the dynamic capabilities theory, this research aims to investigate the adoption of DBMI among small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) in a developing country. The qualitative data were collected using semi‐structured virtual interviews with SMEs. The findings revealed that the SMEs have redesigned their DBMI through value creation innovation, which refers to the use of new digital technology, new capability, and strong collaboration with new partners to streamline the business processes. SMEs innovate their value proposition by focusing on new product and service offerings and creating profitable customer relationships. Interestingly, SMEs also implement value delivery innovation, utilizing new delivery channels to target new market segments. In terms of value capture innovation, SMEs are concerned with obtaining new sources of revenues at a lower cost structure. Research studies on DBMI in Malaysia are scarce. The originality of this research lies in the exploration of DBMI in the real‐life business context, and the insights it will provide to SMEs and practitioners in the midst of adopting DBMI. The findings offer valuable insights for SMEs, practitioners, and policymakers in emerging economies.

Malaysia's biomass industry has a great potential to contribute to the national circular economy that offers a new stream of wealth creation to the nation. Nevertheless, there appears to be a scarcity of research that dwells on the biomass industry's organisational performance. Therefore, this study employed a secondary data analysis methodology to investigate the factors related to organisational performance. The findings from this study illuminated the effects of human resource management, organisational innovation and organisational culture on organisational performance. The pivotal contribution of this study is to highlight how these factors/resources influence organisational performance. Also, this study integrates resource-based view (RBV) theory and dynamic capabilities theory to delve into the realm of organisational performance in the biomass industry.

Industry 4.0 exerts great pressure on the organization today to innovate its business model in order to stay competitive. This study examines the positive and indirect effect of human resource management, organizational culture, knowledge management capabilities on organizational performance, with the mediating effect of organizational innovation capability among small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) in biomass industry in Malaysia. In addition, this study integrates resource-based view (RBV) and dynamic capabilities theories to investigate how the organization utilize its resources and capabilities to enhance organizational performance. Data were collected using survey questionnaire from biomass SMEs located in Malaysia. Structural equation modelling (Smart PLS 3.0) was used to test and analyze the data. The findings reveal that knowledge management capability and organizational culture exert a positive influence on organizational innovation capabilities. Similarly, organizational innovation capabilities also found to positively affect organizational performance.

Malaysia's biomass industry has a great potential to contribute to the national circular economy that offers a new stream of wealth creation to the nation. Nevertheless, there appears to be a scarcity of research that dwells into the organizational performance in the biomass industry. Therefore, the present study examined the impact of organizational culture, innovation resources, and human resources on organizational performance. The pivotal contribution of this study is to highlight how these factors/resources influence organizational performance. This study delves into organizational performance in the biomass industry through dynamic capabilities theory and resource-based view (RBV) theory.