SMEs DIGITALIZATION AND THE SHARING ECONOMY

The paper analyzes the digitalization and sharing economy influences on the doing business and opportunities of small and medium-sized enterprises. Particular consideration was given to the digital transformation of SMEs in the modern world and to the various aspects of SME strategies in relation to digitalization, identifying four core enterprise groups: Digital Business Defender, Digital Business Prospector, Digital Business Analyzer and Digital Business Reactor. Digitalization was then analyzed as a contemporary worldwide process of improving performance and competitiveness, and its advantages and disadvantages were pointed out. After that, the new digital economy, the sharing economy, is analyzed. The benefits of this approach to resources are particularly emphasized, but also the risks it entails, especially regarding job security. As inevitable, the application of modern information and communication technologies is emerging in the digital economy. The research supports the authors' conclusion that not everything is in technology, but that anything cannot be done without it. The authors also concluded that SME digitalization is influenced by both internal and external factors and that the main internal factor is the owner/manager's attitude towards modern technologies and their willingness to incorporate the technology into the business of their enterprise. A state has emerged as an external factor, which can influence the digitalization of SMEs through various incentive measures. This work can be of use to anyone who is interested in analyzing the business of SMEs in contemporary conditions, as well as to SME managers/owners.