COVID-19 as an entrepreneurship, innovation, digitization and digitalization accelerator: Spanish Internet domains registration analysis

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to comprehend and determine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on business organizations and society, together with its relationship to entrepreneurship, innovation, digitization or digital transformation, by means of analysis of the Spanish Internet domains registration data set.Design/methodology/approachFollowing existing literature regarding time series analysis, the authors have designed a SARIMA methodology involving the forecasting of a non-COVID-19 data set from the available data and compared it to the existing COVID-19 data set in order to validate the formulated hypothesis.FindingsThe COVID-19 pandemic was found to be an unfortunate accelerator, regarding entrepreneurship and innovation as a digitization and digital transformation lever, with the results of the Internet domain registration analysis as a reliable indicator.Originality/valueThis research confirms the existence of new non-invasive approaches to complementary information, such as Internet domain registration analysis, that could serve as an early and quick indicator of innovation and entrepreneurship initiatives within business activities.

Entrepreneurship, innovation, digitization and digital transformation toward a sustainable growth within the pandemic environment

“…The results, as shown by Gavrila Gavrila and de Lucas Ancillo (2021a, b), suggest that the measure of the increase of Internet domain registration as an effect of the pandemic supports the fact of the COVID-19 pandemic fostering EIDaD initiatives. Furthermore, it seems that the lockdown and business activity shutdown not only did not paralyze digital channels but accelerated their development, increasing their online presence and creating new business opportunities.…”

“…During the lockdown months, there was a major increase of Internet domain registrations indicating that organizations were forced to explore survival actions and chose to establish or consolidate their own dedicated website or eCommerce, shifting from traditional channels to digital channels, in order to adapt to the new market reality (Gavrila Gavrila and de Lucas Ancillo, 2021a).…”

“…According to Gavrila Gavrila and de Lucas Ancillo (2021a, b), lockdowns and temporal shutdowns have a direct negative impact on the business itself and the economy; however, it can be seen as an opportunity for (1) organizations to learn from the past and reshape their future by rethinking their business models, pivoting them or even embracing digital transformation toward a more sustainable growth approach; (2) startups, due to their leaner and agile business model, as compared to traditional companies, to pivot their business model according to the new market situation (HBR, 2020); and (3) individual self-entrepreneurship that would ideally result in a digital business as there are indications that social distancing will be a long-term constraint.…”

“…In their research, Gavrila Gavrila and de Lucas Ancillo (2021a, b) provide significant information regarding the Internet domains registration (IDR) evolution and figures, and demonstrate their relationships with entrepreneurship, innovation, digitization and digital transformation (EIDaD), especially within the pandemic environment. This can contribute to a wider understanding of organizations' EIDaD within the COVID-19 context (Ketchen and Craighead, 2020; Kotarba, 2017; KPMG, 2020) by providing a practical tool that could serve as an early and quick indicator of innovation and entrepreneurship initiatives within business activities, which could help individuals, organizations and governments not only to take better decisions (Ashraf, 2020; Kraus et al , 2020; Sarabia et al , 2020) but also to act more proactively.…”

“…The research includes an introduction section explaining the entrepreneurship, innovation, digitization and digital transformation relationship between business activity and sustainable business growth within the COVID-19-derived crisis together with their practical outcomes, further portrayed within the theoretical framework section by extending some of the literature identified by Gavrila Gavrila and de Lucas Ancillo (2021a, b). The third section explains the research methodology to be followed along with the selection of the datasets, while the fourth section depicts the outcomes of the applied correlation techniques and analyzes the results.…”