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PurposeThe objective of this research is to examine empirically the effects of digital maturity (DM) on the firm's financial performance as measured by return on assets (ROA), return on equity (ROE) and Tobin's Q.Design/methodology/approachThe authors use a panel data sample of 92 observations collected from 23 listed firms on Sweden's stock exchange over four years, 2015–2018. The authors hand collect DM from the digital leader's reports and collect financial data from DataStream. Using both static and dynamic panel (generalized method of moments (GMM) estimation) regression models to perform endogeneity problem, the authors explore the impact of the DM index on ROA, ROE and Q of Tobin.FindingsThe results show that DM has a negative effect on ROA and ROE but a positive effect on Q of Tobin. This negative relationship can be explained, by the fact that information technology (IT) investment and the DM could take years to be materialized and to be captured by performance indicators. Company investment in IT will increase and basically the ROA will be negatively affected because the higher value of IT assets is not amortized. Nevertheless, in the long term, company can maximize its performance. The positive effect on Q of Tobin captures the long-run effect of digital transformation.Research limitations/implicationsThis research can be helpful for firms in their process of digital transformation to succeed with the change, create value and to understand the challenges they have to face. In the short term, firms undertaking digital transformation will face some financial difficulties which affect negatively their ROA and ROE, but in the long term they can maximize their performance (captured by Tobin’s Q) and improve their market value.Originality/valueIn previous research, the impact of digital transformation on performance has been measured in terms of revenue growth, profit margins and in terms of earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT). Even if the authors have sufficient evidence of the positive effect of digital transformation on organizational performance, there is no support of the positive effect on financial performance. So, the authors try to fill this gap. This research has also the merit of examining this relationship empirically through a dynamic panel data estimation two-step system GMM, while the majority of previous studies are qualitative in nature based on interviews and questionnaires or simple correlations.

Nowadays, the issue of corporate governance occupies central paramount position among the preoccupations of the firms' decision-makers. Noteworthy, the relationship between governance and company performance is often stressed within the context of large companies and very few are those studies dealing with this subject as regard the small and medium enterprises (SME). In fact, most of the studies dealing with the governance question have predominantly out looked this issue with respect to the SME essentially in the context of the emergent countries. In this setting of analysis, the present research magic objective consists in highlighting the interaction dominating the governance relating mechanisms, namely, the directors' characters, the ownership structure and the directors' board regarding the SME performance. Actually, an examination of the tests conducted on a sample constituting of 50 Tunisian SMEs has shown that both the ownership structure and the board of directors play a paramountly role in improving the SME performance. The results have also indicated that the directors' do not greatly affect the performance owing to several careers related to the outside external environment of the SME.

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to evaluate and compare bank efficiency between the two Maghreb countries, Tunisia and Morocco, over the period 2005–2014. Design/methodology/approach The authors follow the stochastic frontier analysis, where the preferred cost model is determined via various hypothesis tests based on the maximum likelihood estimation. Then, the first and the second derivates of the cost function are employed to determine scale elasticities, scale inefficiencies and technological progress. Findings Specification tests indicate that the Fourier Flexible form provides better fit to the data set. Further, the estimated model shows that Tunisian and Moroccan banks’ efficiency is positively affected by banking service quality, but negatively influenced by both bank capitalization and GDP growth. Overall, Moroccan banks are found to be the most efficient despite the decrease of efficiency levels in both countries. Additionally, foreign banks have a higher scale inefficiency and, therefore, a lower cost efficiency. Equally, the technical progress raises banking costs in both countries, providing a decrease in efficiency scores. Practical implications The findings of this study provide novel insights to Tunisian and Moroccan policy makers on the relevance of the smaller banks’ consolidation to improve bank efficiency by achieving unrealized economies of scale. Also, more reforms should be implemented in Tunisia to reduce non-performing loans. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first which offers a comparison between Tunisian and Moroccan banks to clarify the sources of inefficiency and to make strategic decisions.