Organizational readiness of a manufacturing firm for sustainable business growth with digital initiatives: The role of sales and sustainability

Sustainability and digital transformation are two megatrends that affect society and businesses. Companies must make choices about digitalization strategies to ensure sustainable business growth. In this qualitative case study, we explore the organizational readiness for digital transformation of a growth-oriented small- and medium-sized enterprise manufacturing firm. We also discuss the role of sales in sustainable business growth. Our findings reveal that new digital technologies offer many opportunities and challenges to firms’ management. Manufacturing processes can become more efficient and profitable with automation, and access to production data provides new possibilities for managing production and monitoring quality. On the other hand, the new technology must be tested and trustworthy as the production flow must be secured. Further challenges in the manufacturing ecosystem include the integration of systems and possible cybersecurity threats. Finally, cleaner production and sustainable business practices cannot be ignored. We contribute to digital transformation, B2B sales, and sustainable business literature and offer managerial takeaways for manufacturing firms to support decision-making regarding the implementation of new digital technologies or digitalization strategies for sustainable business growth.