Purpose

The conventional notion that adopting Artificial Intelligence (AI) positively affects firm performance is often confronted with various examples of failures. In this context, large-scale empirical evidence of the economic performance implications of adopting AI is poor, especially in the context of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs). Drawing upon the Resource-Based View and the Digital Complementary Asset literature, we assessed whether the adoption of AI affects SMEs’ revenue growth.

Design/methodology/approach

First, we examine the relationship between the adoption of AI and SMEs’ revenue growth. Second, we assess whether AI complements the Internet of Things (IoT) and Big Data Analytics (BDA). We use firm-level data from the European Commission in 2020 on 11,429 European SMEs (Flash Eurobarometer 486).

Findings

Among the key findings, we found that ceteris paribus, the adoption of AI positively affects SMEs’ revenue growth and, in conjunction with IoT and BDA, appears to be even more beneficial.

Originality/value

Our results suggest that AI fosters SME growth, especially in combination with IoT and BDA. Thus, SME managers should be aware of the positive impacts of investments in AI and make decisions accordingly. Likewise, policymakers are aware of the positive effects of SMEs’ reliance on AI, so they may design policies and funding schemes to push this digitalization of SMEs further.

中文翻译：

---

欧洲中小企业的人工智能采用和收入增长：与 IoT 和大数据分析的协同作用

 目的

采用人工智能 （AI） 对公司绩效产生积极影响的传统观念经常面临各种失败的例子。在此背景下，关于采用人工智能对经济绩效影响的大规模实证证据很差，尤其是在中小企业 （SME） 的背景下。借鉴基于资源的观点和数字互补资产文献，我们评估了人工智能的采用是否会影响中小企业的收入增长。

设计/方法/方法

首先，我们研究了人工智能的采用与中小企业收入增长之间的关系。其次，我们评估 AI 是否补充了物联网 （IoT） 和大数据分析 （BDA）。我们使用了欧盟委员会 2020 年对 11,429 家欧洲中小企业的企业层面数据（Flash Eurobarometer 486）。

 发现

在主要发现中，我们发现 ceteris paribus，人工智能的采用对中小企业的收入增长产生了积极影响，并且与物联网和 BDA 相结合，似乎更加有益。

 原创性/价值

我们的结果表明，人工智能促进了中小企业的发展，尤其是与物联网和 BDA 相结合。因此，中小企业管理者应该意识到投资人工智能的积极影响，并做出相应的决策。同样，政策制定者意识到中小企业依赖人工智能的积极影响，因此他们可能会制定政策和资助计划，以进一步推动中小企业的数字化。