Date of submission: September 10, 2022; date of acceptance: December 7, 2022. * Contact information: rovier80@yahoo.fr, Faculty of Economics and Management, De- partment of Management Sciences, University of Yaoundé II, BP 18 Soa-Cameroon, phone: +237 651 60 09 10, +237 694 63 9778; ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2292-9251. ** Contact information: Letissia_mba24@gmail.com, Faculty of Economics and Man- agement, Department of Management Sciences, University of Yaoundé II, BP 18 Soa-Cam- eroon, phone: +237 696 78 84 89; ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-1347-2222. *** Contact information: Leprincemagloire@gmail.com, Faculty of Economics and Man- agement, Department of Management Sciences, University of Yaoundé II, BP 18 Soa-Cam- eroon, phone: + 237 696 90 84 84; ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9916-8019. Copernican Journal of Finance & Accounting e-ISSN 2300-3065 p-ISSN 2300-12402023, volume 12, issue 1 Djeudja, R., & Matejang, L.S., Tchatchoua Nya, M. (2023). Digitalization as a Lever of Innovation for SMEs: an Exploratory Study in the Cameroonian Context. Copernican Journal of Finance & Ac- counting, 12(1), 65–82. http://dx.doi.org/10.12775/CJFA.2023.004 rovier DjeuDja* University of Yaoundé II letissia stephanie matejang** University of Yaoundé II magloire tchatchoua nya*** University of Yaoundé II Digitalization as a lever of innovation for smes: an exploratory stuDy in the cameroonian context Keywords: digitalization, innovation, collaboration, stakeholders, digital tools. J E L Classification: D24, O31, O32. Abstract: The objective of this study is to examine the influence of digitalization on innovation in Cameroonian firms. For this purpose we used the main variables of dig- italization, namely ICT and digital technologies, to better explain innovation, wheth- er it be process, product or organizational. To achieve this, the empirical verification was carried out through qualitative data processing analyses such as: descriptive data http://dx.doi.org/10.12775/CJFA.2023.004 Rovier Djeudja, Letissia Stephanie Matejang, Magloire Tchatchoua Nya6666 analysis and MCA (Multiple Correspondence Analysis) method. This qualitative meth- odological approach enabled us to survey 20 Cameroonian SMEs with different char- acteristics during the year 2020. The study shows that digitalization has a significant influence, with positive externalities on the innovation of companies. The answers collected show that the adoption and introduction of digital tools in the exercise of the company’s activities leads to the reinvention of the company’s traditional manage- ment models. The originality of our work lies in the fact that the study attempts to use a qualitative method to question the relationship between digitalization and innova- tion in Cameroonian SMEs.  Introduction Introduction New economic growth models place innovation at the heart of development. Nowadays, innovation is not only a matter for the state, but also for all other in- stitutional sectors, which is why today’s companies are increasingly interested in innovation by investing more in the design, creativity and research of new products to be launched on the market. This is a delicate process that they need to master, manage and continuously improve and in which digital transforma- tion known as “Digitalization” or “Digitization” plays an important part. Digiti- zation is arguably currently the single most important force in entrepreneur- ship and innovation (Berger, Von Briel, Davidsson & Kuckertz, 2021). Thus, in order to continuously improve the value/cost ratio and real-time management of companies, to improve the working conditions of employees or to increase their standard of living, several companies around the world have turned to co- operation and coordination of tasks by means of digital technology as a strat- egy for innovation and as a means of making their activities more profitable. As Porter and Millar (1985), quoted by Bello, (2019), point out, digital is a tool for coordinating different activities in the production and distribution chain, but also for developing competitive advantages and new strategies. It should be noted that digital transformation encompasses several elements, since it takes into account the changes induced by it, whether at the societal, industrial or organizational level (Majchrzak, Markus & Wareham, 2016; Parviainen, Tihin- en, Kääriäinen & Teppola, 2017). In a world marked by accelerating technologi- cal progress and innovation, companies must both seize the opportunities and measure the risks associated with these changes. Continuous advances of digi- tal technologies have led to the current, unprecedented transformation of eco- nomic and social activities (Berger et al., 2021). Thus, the accelerations induced by digital technology are challenging established business models, which is digitalization as a lEvEr of innovation for smEs… 6767 why it is necessary today for companies, from the public to the private sector, to be at the cutting edge of digital technology (Peretti & Frimousse, 2019), if they want to innovate from time to time or at least accelerate their innovations. All these elements constitute so many factors, facets and even motives that push us to question digitalization and the influence it can have in the innova- tion process of SMEs especially in Cameroon. “Digital transformation”, “digitalization”, or “digital revolution” are terms that abound in the literature. However, they are rarely defined precisely and are used interchangeably, sometimes incorrectly. It is therefore useful to clari- fy the purpose of this research through terminological precision. Digitization is the conversion of analogue or paper data into digital format, and by extension, digitization can be associated with making already existing processes digital (Parviainen et al., 2017). Digitization, on the other hand, is a much broader con- cept. The authors are divided as to its definition, according to Albessart, Ca- lay, Guyot, Marfouk and Verschueren (2017), digitalization is ‘the implemen- tation of a series of computerized technical devices based on the codification of various information and the algorithmic execution of a series of commands and controls’. It would therefore include both the digitization operations men- tioned, but also the phenomena of computerization and automation of tasks carried out by machines. For Brennen and Kreiss (2014), digitalization simply refers to “the adoption or increase in the use of digital technologies by an or- ganization”. This “quantitative” vision of digitalization would lead one to con- ceive of digital transformation for a company as “a stacking of technologies” within it (Autissier, Johnson & Moutot, 2014). However, Parviainen et al., (2017) emphasize that digitalization is not sim- ply digitization as it involves ‘rethinking current operations from a new per- spective made possible by digital technology’. Digitalization, by promoting con- nectivity and the use of digital tools by companies, is changing the way they operate and the relationship with their customers in a sustainable way. It de- velops creativity, innovation and increases their impact on customer satisfac- tion and loyalty (Kenmogne et al., 2018 cited by Bello, 2019). The term ‘Dig- italization’ which is an Anglicism comes from the word ‘digital’ which itself comes from the English word ‘digit’ meaning ‘number’ and means ‘digital’. In literature, it is used to designate the evolution observed in recent years in the functioning of companies thanks to the use of information and communication technologies or better still digital technologies. For Roulin, Allin-Pfister and Berthiaume (2017), “in business, the term digital transformation is often used Rovier Djeudja, Letissia Stephanie Matejang, Magloire Tchatchoua Nya6868 to translate, among other things, this rapprochement between the consum- er, the partners and the company, initiated and achieved thanks to connect- ed tools such as smartphones, tablets, laptops and all the connected objects abounding on the market today, as well as the dematerialization of relations”. Admitting that SMEs are the spearhead of production in Cameroon, the bulk of national private initiatives, is a major source of employment, income and tax revenue for the state although insufficient, compared to the entrepreneurial reality elsewhere (Evou, 2020), Digitalization would promote entrepreneur- ship, and raise economies as well as living standards not only of its employees but also of the population. Developing the capacity of businesses and entre- preneurs in science, technology and innovation deserves the attention of pol- icy makers (Bello, 2019). Therefore, the opportunity for African companies in general and Cameroon in particular is the possibility of making a break with the current management style, regardless of their current maturity (Frimouse & Perreti, 2017). The rest of the article is organized as follows: the second section presents the theoretical background and the literature review, the third section pre- sents the methodological framework, the fourth section presents the results obtained and the discussions and implications of the research. Literature reviewLiterature review Theoretical framework of the relationship Theoretical framework of the relationship between Digitalization and innovation between Digitalization and innovation Several authors and researchers have developed various theories to explain the nature, role, objective and even the importance of innovation on the organiza- tion’s strategy. The ‘sender’ model of innovation (Shannon, 1948), conceives of the compa- ny, management and innovation in a top-down manner as in the Emission, Com- munication, Reception communication model. This is the mechanical theory of communication. The idea of a “sender” model of innovation, on the one hand, evokes the fact that innovation is situated in a Schumpeterian logic, which of the innovating entrepreneur, and on the other hand, introduces the communi- cational logic of innovation. More recently, Rogers’ model introduced commu- nication into the heart of innovation (1962 and 1995). It shows that diffusion is digitalization as a lEvEr of innovation for smEs… 6969 a process through which an innovation is communicated, spread through dif- ferent channels to members of a social system. This theory is famous for its dis- tinction of different categories of people adopting the innovation (innovators, early adopters, the majority, the lagging majority and the laggards). For Boul- lier (1989), Rogers’ model presents a vision according to which the innovation is first completed and then the users, purely passive, will accept or not the in- novation. Indeed, it appears that from an innovation, an epidemic spread more or less mechanically to the whole (or to a subset) of the population. The “technology push” model has been the dominant model of innovation. This model sees innovation as dependent on industrial and scientific policies. Schumpeter is the key author behind such an approach. Throughout the twen- tieth century the Schumpeterian approach to innovation became dominant, or at least a simplified approach to Schumpeter’s analysis emphasizing the tech- nological aspects of innovations. This ‘technology push’ model was defined by Schumpeter in two versions. In the first version (Schumpeter, 1912), entrepre- neurs, acting at the level of more or less ‘family’ enterprises, are the actors of innovation, whereas in the second version of the ‘technology push’ (Schum- peter, 1942), the actors of innovation are mainly the engineers of the research and development departments of large enterprises. In this model, new prod- ucts or services are designed and developed in the R&D departments, with the classic distinction between basic research, applied research and experimental development. In the same perspective, authors such as Galibert, Lepine and Pelissier (2012), describe how the web is becoming a new space for the democratization of innova- tion. Two dimensions are identified: that of an open collaborative infrastructure allowing distributed design, in the extension of the bottom-up innovation model (Cardon, 2005) with knowledge sharing and collaborative intelligence processes, and on the other hand project outsourcing, with the call for external competenc- es in a logic of open innovation, described as use-assisted design. Galibert et al. (2012) describe the existing tensions between the business processes of companies and those of communities. The tensions ‘between ba- zaar and cathedral’ are strong: on the one hand ‘we observe a strong hierarchi- cal prescription of the company, a vertical coordination of its organization. This verticality is characterized by rigid, formalized and hierarchical processes. On the other hand, web communities demand a freer, less ordered organization, with no formal hierarchy; a more horizontal organization leaving the activity of Internet users free”. Rovier Djeudja, Letissia Stephanie Matejang, Magloire Tchatchoua Nya7070 Empirical: Interaction between Digitalization and innovation Empirical: Interaction between Digitalization and innovation within the companywithin the company For Denervaud, Dupuis and Labrousse (2014), digital corresponds to a contrast- ing reality and issues with variable geometry like innovation. The latter is tra- ditionally broken down into: offering innovation, whether ‘incremental’ (evolu- tions made to a portfolio of existing offerings) or ‘radical’ (a solution that is far removed from the company’s traditional business or processes); business mod- el innovation; and process or architecture innovation (Calvano & Polo, 2020). According to Benghozi and Vaast (2000) and Beaudouin, Cardon and et Mal- lard (2001), the success of companies in terms of productivity, competitive position, etc. seems to be closely linked to the uses they make of Information and Communication Technologies. Hugues and Charlier (1999) in his study on: “L’e-révolution dope le modèle managérial”, thinks that: “by the interplay of ac- tors, by the increasing speed of exchanges, in particular those relating to in- formation, markets are becoming increasingly large, decompartmentalized, with variable economic and political geometry, with the reshaping of sectors in view of integration manoeuvres, the transfer of activities and the appearance of new actors”. For Cazals (2015), the various technological developments have changed the economy, social and political relations. They point to the emer- gence of a new economy. He considers that Digitalization has enabled compa- nies to question themselves and innovate. For management, it is no longer just a question of producing innovation in order to control the market but of de- veloping agility by seizing opportunities. The relationship to constraints and threats has also changed. Teboul and Picard (2015), explain that “jugaad” companies perceive con- straints as opportunities to innovate” and that startups are thus part of “ju- gaad” innovation. Translated from Hindi, jugaad refers to the art of designing ingenious solutions. Consequently, for Baudoin et al, (2016), under the effect of digital technology, industry, the economy and society are undergoing meta- morphosis and profound transformations are appearing in their organizations, their products and their uses. New technologies and digital technologies have generally contributed to the evolution of organizations. Even in the banking sector innovation improves their market value (Zouari & Abdelmalek, 2020). According to Roux (2019), digital transformation leads to a change of scale and to an increased development of the digital in the practice of work, but also digitalization as a lEvEr of innovation for smEs… 7171 in the product and services to be offered to customers. Behind this are the ef- fects of increased performance in the use of production factors: labor produc- tivity, capital productivity, energy and raw material productivity, but also an increase in the capacity to individualize the offer. For Denervaud et al. (2014), digital transformation is having a profound ef- fect on the way companies work. It has repercussions on workplaces: develop- ment of teleworking, open third places used by those seeking to optimize their time, modes of collaboration, corporate social networks, virtual platforms, or collaboration processes between employees who act in front of the customer in synchronous time in the front office and those who handle the operations necessary for the execution of the middle and back office service in asynchro- nous time. Similarly, the development of the use of new digital tools will first of all accelerate the phenomenon of collaborative working, remote collabora- tion, working from home or mobile working (Lecam, 2014). Thus, Concerning the reorganization effects of value chains. The irruption of new players who place themselves between traditional companies and their customers requires the reinvention of business and intermediation models, particularly on the basis of the new role played by people and the new assets derived from data (Baudouin, 2016). Indeed, technologies applied to management are accompa- nied by human considerations that are just as multiple and complex as their progress, the proper conduct of changes towards platforms is critical in that they can improve the integration of processes, facilitate the development of skills (e.g. e- learning) and mobilize human interaction in the creation of val- ue (e.g. merchant-customer web platform; social media and intranet (Autissier, Johnson & Moutot, 2016; Brasseu et Biaz, 2018). In this new context, the key factor for the success and performance of or- ganizations is to recognize change and react quickly and intelligently. There- fore, new advantages are based on discovery and agility; in this environment, performance is driven by the ability to continuously exploit existing and new data sources to identifier patterns and opportunities (Davenport & Patil, 2012; Denervaud et al., 2014). Methodological approachMethodological approach In order to understand a phenomenon, one has to follow a multitude of paths, and consequently one can use various research methodologies. In this research Rovier Djeudja, Letissia Stephanie Matejang, Magloire Tchatchoua Nya7272 we aim to present the contribution of Digitalization on innovation in compa- nies on the one hand and to discover its general impact on the development and growth of companies on the other. Choice and justification of the methodological approach adopted Digitalization is an old concept, but there is too much controversy about it in the various reflections that have been made so far. Moreover, there is no real consensus among authors about this concept. The concept of innovation is dif- ferent from one author to another, only the context in which the author finds himself reveals his point of view. However, the relationship between the con- cept of Digitalization and the concept of innovation in the managerial literature remains very little developed. Therefore, in view of this lack of specificity in the literature and taking into account the objective of our research, namely “to un- derstand the influence of Digitalization on innovation in Cameroonian compa- nies”, we were led not to put forward hypotheses to be “tested” but to evolve in a qualitative analysis approach and an exploratory step, by being part of an epistemological perspective of interpretativism. The qualitative method focuses on the meaning of phenomena. This empiri- cal research strategy seems to be the most appropriate to respond concretely to the problem studied. In order to facilitate understanding and knowledge by answering the «how» and «why» questions, it is easier to draw lessons. We are in an intervention research. In the phenomenological logic, the world is socially constructed and subjective. Therefore, science is inseparable from human in- terests. Therefore, the researcher must be interested in the meaning of the phe- nomena and deduce his ideas from the data itself. In this study, it is the quali- tative aspect of the data that is important, not the quantitative aspect. This approach seems to us to be specifically suited to the study of the contribution of digitalization in the innovation strategies of companies. Indeed, our study aims at describing and understanding what the mobilisation of digital tools can bring to the work system of companies. In short, it is a question of understanding the importance of adapting an in- novation strategy via Digitalization, and according to Kaufman (1996), qualita- tive methods aim to understand and detect behaviours, processes or theoreti- cal methods rather than to describe, measure or compare. The context of our research associated with the formulation of our theme essentially targets concepts that can be summarized as follows: Digitalization and Innovation. These were used to determine the nature of the information collected. digitalization as a lEvEr of innovation for smEs… 7373 Table 1. Operationalization of concepts CONCEPTS INDICATEURS INDICES IDENTIFICATION OF THE COMPANY Characteristics of the company – Size Number of employees – Sector of activity Trade, industry, service – Legal form of the company SA, SARL, SNC – Origin of the company Creation, takeover, inheritance – Age of employees Characteristic of the leader – Position held Number of years of existence – Level of education Primary, secondary, university, self-taught – Gender Male, female DIGITAL ASPECT DIGITALIZATION ICT Digital technology INNOVATION IN APPEARANCE INNOVATION Use of a new technique (process) Source: prepared by the authors. Data collection methodology, sampling and sample characteristicsData collection methodology, sampling and sample characteristics For the constitution of the sample, we relied on the official definition of SMEs in Cameroon. According to the new Article 3 of Law No. 2015/010 of 16 July 2015 amending and supplementing certain provisions of Law No. 2010/001 of 13 April 2010 on the promotion of SMEs in Cameroon, an SME is any enterprise employing no more than one hundred (100) people and whose annual turnover excluding taxes does not exceed three (03) billion CFA francs. In addition, we were interested in companies that do or do not use ICT in their operations. The choice of companies also took into account the availabil- ity of managers to participate in the data collection process. We wanted to in- terview as many companies as possible, but we were confronted with two lim- iting factors, namely, on the one hand, the state of health of the moment, since the interviews took place in 2020 in the peak of covid-19, and on the other hand, the reaching of semantic saturation. As stated at the outset, it is materially and physically expensive to con- tact the entire population, although this would be ideal in terms of the signifi- Rovier Djeudja, Letissia Stephanie Matejang, Magloire Tchatchoua Nya7474 cance and relevance of the results. Referring therefore to the difficulties stat- ed above, the final step was to constitute a sample for the interview guide. In our study, the method of selection of small and medium-sized enterprises was non-random but targeted. We used purposive (or purposive) sampling to iden- tify the companies. We based our selection on the legal form of the company, i.e: Our panel was made up of companies with an average age ranging from 2 to more than 10 years and operating in the trade, industry and service sectors. Thus, twenty semi-directive interviews were conducted with SME manag- ers in the city of Yaoundé. From a certain number of interviews, we believe that the threshold of semantic saturation has been reached. Indeed, by the eight- eenth interview, we realised that saturation had been reached and the major el- ements were already known since all the information provided thereafter had become repetitive. Results, discussions and implications of the researchResults, discussions and implications of the research Specificity and digital characteristics of Cameroonian companiesSpecificity and digital characteristics of Cameroonian companies Digitalization has now become an essential element in the process of devel- opment and management of structures insofar as it contributes in some way to improving the profitability of the latter but also to accelerating innovation. Digitalization means using information technology on the one hand and digital technology on the other to ensure the acceleration of innovation. Contribution of Digitalization to innovation in Cameroonian SMEsContribution of Digitalization to innovation in Cameroonian SMEs It should be recalled that the aim of our study was to examine the relationship between digital transformation and innovation. For this purpose, we set our- selves two proposals. digitalization as a lEvEr of innovation for smEs… 7575 Table 2. Proposals to be made by the study RESEARCH PROPOSALS VARIABLES DESIGNS  Proposition The main point is that digitiza- tion allows the traditional mana- gement models of the company that is the demiurge of innova- tion to be reinvented. DIGITISATION, INNOVATION – The process – The product – Information and communication technologies – Digital technologies  Viral proposition: low-digital companies struggle to innovate. DIGITALIZATION, INNOVATION Source: prepared by the authors. Results and discussion of the exploratory studyResults and discussion of the exploratory study These results are divided into variables of interest on the one hand and con- trol variables on the other. The variables of interest are those that are directly linked to Digitalization, the variables that are specific to Digitalization and that make it possible to explain innovation within companies. Table 3. Cross-tabulation between digital tools and innovation in companies Digital tools Innovation Application Whatsapp Facebook Others Total Innovent 4 4 8 1 17 Do not innovate 2 0 0 1 3 Total 6 4 8 2 20 Source: prepared by the authors. This is a cross-tabulation between digital tools and innovation in the company, in fact, of the 20 usable interviews, four (04) out of six (06) resource persons think that applications play a role in innovation, as do users of WhatsApp (04), Facebook (08) and the other tools (01) out of (02). The innovative companies are those that use Facebook and WhatsApp as 100% of these companies are in- novative. Rovier Djeudja, Letissia Stephanie Matejang, Magloire Tchatchoua Nya7676 Table 4. Cross-tabulation between the variable digital perception and innovation in companies Perception of digital Innovation Very good Good Indifferent Poor Total Innove 9 4 1 2 16 Do not innovate 1 3 0 0 4 Total 10 7 1 2 20 Source: prepared by the authors. The table above relates the perception of digital in the companies to their in- fluence on innovation variables such as process and product. Of the companies that innovate, nine (09) give a very good rating, four (04) a good rating while one (01) is indifferent and two (02) think that digital is not too important in the company. Thus, despite the fact that the tools are not totally present in the companies, the managers and their employees know that they will be of great help if they are introduced in their production, distribution and other mecha- nisms. Their introduction will help them to carry out some of their tasks and projects with great willingness, to solve easily some problems that could not be solved efficiently without digital. The control variables are variables that indirectly explain digitalization, they are just secondary to it, but by their modalities, one could deduce and prove the use of digital devices in a company. Table 5. Table between the variable Sector and Innovation Sector Innovation Trade Industry Service Total Innove 8 2 7 17 Do not innovate 1 1 1 3 Total 9 3 8 20 Source: prepared by the authors. This table allows us to highlight the relationship between the control variables (sector of activity) and innovation, we note that of the enterprises that inno- digitalization as a lEvEr of innovation for smEs… 7777 vate, seven (07) are commercial, two (2) are in industry and the rest in servic- es. A comparative study shows that companies that innovate quickly are those that are in commerce and in services. We are convinced that this privilege is due to the ease with which these sectors allow entrepreneurs to set up in them, as they do not require huge capital. Table 6. Table between the variable company origin and innovation Origine entreprise Innovation Création Reprise Héritage Total Innovent 10 4 2 16 N’innovent pas 2 1 1 4 Total 12 5 3 20 Source: prepared by the authors. This table shows that, on the one hand, out of the 20 exploitable interviews con- stituting our sample, twelve (12) are creations and among these creations ten (10) are innovative, five (5) are takeovers, four (4) of which are innovative, and finally three (3) are inheritances, two (2) of which are innovative. A compara- tive analysis shows that the enterprises that innovate are those that are creat- ed or taken over. The managers of the start-ups have seen their company evolve over time in line with the trends of the moment and those of the takeovers have studied the deficit of the previous owners in order to better establish and eval- uate their next innovation strategy with a view to identifying the one that could take the company to the top of the competition. Contribution of MCA to the Digitalization and innovation of companiesContribution of MCA to the Digitalization and innovation of companies Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) is a method that makes it possible to study the association between at least two qualitative variables. It allows us to produce representation maps on which we can visually observe the proximity between the categories of qualitative variables and the observations. The objective here is to determine the existing interrelations between the Digitalization variables on the one hand and the innovation variables on the Rovier Djeudja, Letissia Stephanie Matejang, Magloire Tchatchoua Nya7878 other. The analysis focuses here on the indicators of digital transformation and those of innovation. For this analysis, we have retained the process and the product for the innovation variable on the one hand, and digital technologies and ICT for Digitalization on the other. The threshold for clearing the modalities is 10%. In fact, the threshold allows us to get rid of the small number of modali- ties that disrupt the analysis. The responses belonging to these infrequent cat- egories will be randomly distributed among the other categories of the variable. The following graph represents all the modalities of the variables concerning the link between Digitalization and innovation in the plane constituted by the first two axes. It allows us to explore the existing relationships between them. Figure 1. Innovation, digital technology and information and digitalization technology 13 Source: authors based on XLSTAT software. The analysis of this graph leads us to confirm the proposition that Digitalization can be considered as a lever of innovation. Indeed, several of their modalities are 'close' in the plan. Thus, we see that the modalities "Tech digit" and "tic" (digital technology and ICT) of the Digitalization variable, which are represented here by "app, fab, wath, ttapplic" representing respectively (other application, Facebook, whatsapp, all applications) are very close to the modalities "Prod" and "Proc" (representing respectively: the product and the process) of the "Innovation" variable. This translates into the fact that Digitalization positively affects the innovation process, Digitalization does not prevent innovation, on the contrary it allows it to be improved, this is materialized in each of the frames of the graph, in fact, the closer a modality and a variable are to the factorial axis, the more their relationship or combination is conducive to innovation. CONCLUSION Digitalization occupies an inescapable place nowadays in companies that want above all to innovate. Thus, by studying the influence of digitalization variables on the innovation of SMEs, we were able to shed new light on the types and modes of operation of Cameroonian companies. This study was guided by two main objectives: to show that digitalization allows the reinvention of traditional management models of the company as a demiurge of innovation on the one hand, and on the other hand, to show that companies with low levels of digitalization struggle to innovate. These objectives are the summary of the central research question: "How can digitalization be considered as a lever of innovation for digitalisation-wath&facdigitalisation-applic digitalisation-ttapplic digitalisation-wath digitalisation-fab innovation-proc&prod innovation-proc innovation-prod E1 E2 E3 E4 E5 E6 E7 E8 E9 E10 E11 E12 E13 E14 E15 E16 E17 E18 E19 E20 -2 -1,5 -1 -0,5 0 0,5 1 1,5 2 -3 -2,5 -2 -1,5 -1 -0,5 0 0,5 1 1,5 2 2,5 3 3,5 F2 (8 ,6 0 % ) F1 (91,40 %) Symmetrical graph (axes F1 et F2 : 100,00 %) Variables Observations S o u r c e : authors based on XLSTAT software. The analysis of this graph leads us to confirm the proposition that Digitalization can be considered as a lever of innovation. Indeed, several of their modalities are ‘close’ in the plan. Thus, we see that the modalities “Tech digit” and “tic” (dig- ital technology and ICT) of the Digitalization variable, which are represented here by “app, fab, wath, ttapplic” representing respectively (other application, Facebook, whatsapp, all applications) are very close to the modalities “Prod” and “Proc” (representing respectively: the product and the process) of the “Innova- digitalization as a lEvEr of innovation for smEs… 7979 tion” variable. This translates into the fact that Digitalization positively affects the innovation process, Digitalization does not prevent innovation, on the con- trary it allows it to be improved, this is materialized in each of the frames of the graph, in fact, the closer a modality and a variable are to the factorial axis, the more their relationship or combination is conducive to innovation.  Conclusion Conclusion Digitalization occupies an inescapable place nowadays in companies that want above all to innovate. Thus, by studying the influence of digitalization varia- bles on the innovation of SMEs, we were able to shed new light on the types and modes of operation of Cameroonian companies. This study was guided by two main objectives: to show that digitalization allows the reinvention of tradition- al management models of the company as a demiurge of innovation on the one hand, and on the other hand, to show that companies with low levels of digital- ization struggle to innovate. These objectives are the summary of the central research question: “How can digitalization be considered as a lever of innova- tion for Cameroonian SMEs? To answer this question, we conducted a literature review that enabled us to highlight the contribution or effects of digitalization on innovation in Cameroonian companies. The discussion on digitalization and innovation led us to put forward two research proposals. The exploration of these research proposals was done through an empirical study by means of in- terviews carried out in certain companies in the country. It was clear that digi- talization is a real lever for innovation in a company, because it allows not only to improve archaic management models, but also to review the working condi- tions of employees. Digitalization is becoming a very effective and significant device for making a place for itself in the current entrepreneurial market, as it is important firstly for increasing the performance of companies, since it allows the disappearance of spatial and temporal barriers through the optimization and coordination of work with partners, collaborators and other stakeholders. Translating or de- fining what is meant by process innovation. Secondly, they contribute to the de- centralization of decision-making, transforming closed horizontal structures with rigid decision-making into open vertical structures with flexible and agile decision-making. Similarly, digitalization invites better communication within the various actors surrounding the company and also strengthens the custom- Rovier Djeudja, Letissia Stephanie Matejang, Magloire Tchatchoua Nya8080 er relationship. Digital technologies supplement or complement human behav- ior for tasks with high mental or physical demands, which has a considerable influence on organizational or managerial innovation. Digitalization is there- fore considered to be a slope that leads to the development of companies, as technology has undergone considerable development in recent years, placing it at the center of concerns for both users and companies. The literature review conducted during the conceptual phase of our writing provided information on various aspects of our study: From a managerial point of view, our work will enable companies to position themselves on the interna- tional market through their virtual image, creating added value and thus con- tributing to improving their performance and economic situation. Empirically, this research will provide a database or model that can guide and support other researchers and practitioners in their work on similar research areas. The recommendations that we can bring to Cameroonian SMEs are the fol- lowing: In order to accompany change in organizations and adapt to the new situation, organizations should apply change strategies, adapt to new manage- rial practices and integrate new technologies, generally digital, into their daily activities, because the culture established in companies must support and fa- cilitate change, while ensuring the technical implementation of new strategies so that employees can adapt to them. Also, given the current health situation of Covid-19, this form of work should be of interest to the majority of Cameroonian entrepreneurs. The State should also be able to put in place all the mechanisms at the legislative, regulatory, judicial and administrative levels to enable the de- velopment of the digital economy. It should also show the way forward because as the country’s leading company, it must be the driving force behind the adop- tion of innovations and digital technology. However, it should be noted that the value of the lessons learned is subject to the limitations of this work. Firstly, the lack of complete control over the pri- oritization of our ideas represents the first limitation of this study, secondly, the responses obtained during the interviews and the size of the sample. In- deed, we will not be able to fully verify the veracity of the interview responses and validly estimate the error we make in generalising the results to all com- panies. A more in-depth study involving a considerable number of companies could give more weight to this work. Therefore, new avenues of research can be suggested. Indeed, the perspectives implied by this subject are considerable, and other case studies would seem more promising in order to better understand the workings of digital transformation digitalization as a lEvEr of innovation for smEs… 8181 and innovation in companies. The latter could raise the limits of its managerial practices, measure the financing capacities of companies in the adoption of such a support process or underline the difficulties encountered by these companies in the digitalisation of their structures and work systems. In sum, further research efforts are necessary and beneficial to foster the evolution and growth of econom- ic institutions and a strong rise in digital economies.  References References Albessart, C., Calay, V., Guyot, J-L., Marfouk, A., & Verschueren, F. (2017). La digitalisa- tion de l’économie wallonne: une lecture prospective et stratégique. Rapport de re- cherche de l’IWEPS. Autissier, D., Johnson, K.J. & Moutot, J-M., (2014). La conduite du changement pour et avec les technologies digitales. Question(s) de Management, 3(7), 79-89. http:// dx.doi.org/10.3917/qdm.143.0079. Autissier, D., Johnson, K.J., & Moutot, J-M., (2016). L’innovation managériale: rupture ou évolution du management. 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