Dynamic competition in the digital darwinism: focal firms responding to competitors’ digital transformation

The fierce dynamic competition in the digital age has led to digital Darwinism. Under pressure from the digital transformation of their competitors, focal firms must adjust their situation to cope with digital Darwinism. Based on the awareness-motivation-capability (AMC) framework, this study uses Chinese high-tech enterprises listed from 2012 to 2022 as the research sample. Results show that the digital transformation of the competitors and the motivation of the focal firms (competitive industry environment) significantly promote the digital transformation of the focal firms, whereas the awareness (relative scale) and ability (financing constraints) of the focal firms have the opposite effect. This research contributes to investigations on the mechanisms of the digital transformation of counter pairs within the industry by using the AMC framework.