DIGITAL COMMUNICATION AND SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA

In the world, digital revolution transforms the entire human activities field such as policies, businesses, humanities, educations. Similarly, in a disruptive context of COVID-19, the commitment and lockdown accelerated the digital appropriation in institutions, schools, collective and individual daily practices. In this challenging context, Social and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) strategies were disrupted from traditional approaches to digital in order to overcome this worldwide commitment. This paper aims at describing and interpreting the digital communication transformation in business strategies through the Industry 4.0 paradigm and TOE (Technology, Organization, and Environment) Model. In a multi-site ethnography qualitative case study, participants were workers involved in the digital communication strategy implementation in the business approach of twelve SMEs installed in Cote d’Ivoire and Tanzania, two Africa countries. After observations, interviews, and focus groups, findings enabled the getting of SMEs digitalization challenges and outcomes according technological, organizational and environmental contexts influencing social representation of digital devices and platforms adoption in users experience for a web marketing to maintain business communication with stakeholders. As a recommendation, supporting SMEs digital communication sustainability in developing countries calls to rethink these enterprises' business strategies, take initiative for digital transition leadership, support conversation through community and social media management strategies.