Bibliometric Analysis of Corporate Strategy and Digital Transformation Literature

1. Introduction

Corporate strategy and digital transformation have become intertwined as businesses navigate an increasingly digitalized economy. Organizations must integrate digital technologies into their strategic frameworks to maintain competitiveness, improve efficiency, and enhance customer engagement (Bharadwaj et al., 2013).

The COVID-19 pandemic brought unprecedented challenges for businesses worldwide, transforming industries and compelling organizations to rethink their strategies. It underscored the significance of corporate resilience, adaptability, and innovation in responding to global crises.

As companies faced disruptions in supply chains, workforce management, consumer behavior, and operational frameworks, leaders had to adopt flexible approaches to navigate uncertainty. Business strategies during the pandemic evolved to emphasize several key aspects:

a.      Crisis Management and Business Continuity: Organizations focused on swift responses to sustain operations and protect employees. Many adopted remote work, reinforced safety measures, and developed contingency plans.

b.     Digital Transformation: The pandemic accelerated the use of digital technologies, enabling companies to maintain communication, enhance efficiency, and engage customers online.

c.      Stronger Supply Chains: Businesses reassessed their supply networks to minimize reliance on single sources, diversify suppliers, and prioritize local sourcing to mitigate risks.

d.     Employee Well-being: The crisis highlighted the importance of supporting employees' physical and mental health through flexible work arrangements, wellness initiatives, and clear communication.

e.      Customer-Centric Innovations: With shifts in consumer priorities and behaviors, businesses pivoted their products, services, and marketing approaches to meet new demands.

f.      Sustainability and ESG Initiatives: Many organizations recognized the importance of sustainability and social responsibility, integrating environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors into their strategies to align with evolving stakeholder expectations.

By analyzing the strategies adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses can gain valuable insights into how to build resilience, adapt to disruptions, and thrive in a volatile and uncertain world. These lessons remain relevant for navigating future crises and achieving long-term success.

This work aims to undertake a comprehensive bibliometric review, outlining the key element of connection between Corporate Strategy and Digital Transformation for the next theoretical and empirical studies. We use bibliometric meta-analysis, data visualization and content analysis tools (Alon et al., 2018). As of now, there are some researches regarding Corporate Strategy and Digital Transformation that have explained the connection and relation between them. This study is structured as follows, section 2 explores Literature Review, section 3 discusses methodological, Section 4 Results and Findings and Section 5 conclusion.

2. Method

Data for this research were extracted from the Scopus database using the document analysis method. The systematic analysis and review of printed and electronic documents are defined as document analysis. The Scopus database search using both the keywords “Corporate Strategy” and “Digital Transformation” covering certain years (2011-2025). Additionally, among these results, the particle filter was used to assess only the articles. At least 1 article, using the code below to Scopus, we define those 132 documents fulfill the criteria.

The code is as below

TITLE-ABS-KEY (Corporate Strategy AND Digital Transformation) AND PUBYEAR > 2010 AND PUBYEAR < 2025 ANF (LIMIT- TO (PUBSTAGE, “final”)

Table 1: Number of Publications on Corporate Strategy and Digital Transformation

As seen in Table 1, the articles on Corporate Strategy and Digital Transformation are the most published in 2024. The language of the all publications in searches done expressly for Scopus is English.

Table 2: List of Keywords

Author, institution, country and source were used to examine the data. One hundred thirty-two publications on Corporate Strategy and Digital Transformation ran simultaneously with these analysis to eliminate overlap. The study’s main limitation is that there is only one database, Scopus, through which the publications could be retrieved.

3. Results

3.1. Top Streaming Countries

Data was analyzed at the program according to citation. The top 10 countries that produce the most publications for article studies on Corporate Strategy and Digital Transformation are listed in Table 3. The nation with the most publications and citations is China. Germany follows it in the second place.

In Figure 1 where the bibliometric network analysis is shown, it is possible to see the connections between countries with the display of common colors. The size of the circle indicates the excess number of publications belonging to the countries. Circle colors denote the existence of joint work between countries. The lines between the circles show which countries have relations with others. 

Table 3: Top Streaming Countries

Figure 1: Country Network Map (Corporate Strategy and Digital Transformation)

When findings are evaluated in terms of linkage strength, there are no countries with the highest power.

3.2. Top Publishing Institution

In the program, data were analyzed under the citation. The top 16 institutions that provide the most papers for article research on Corporate Strategy and Digital Transformation are listed in Table 4. School of Accounting, Zhongnan University and Research Center of Finance, Shanghai with 1 document and 307 citations.

Table 4: Top Publishing Institutions

In figure 2 where the network maps are shown, it is possible to see the connections between institutions with the display of common colors.

Figure 2: Top Publishing Institutions Network (Corporate Strategy and Digital Transformation)

3.3. Sources with the Most Publications

Data was analyzed at the program according to citation As seen in Table 5, the journal with the most citations in the literature is Technological Forecasting and Social Change. The most publication is Sustainability (Switzerland).

Table 5: Top Publishing Institutions

In Figure 3 where the network analysis is shown, it is possible to see the connections between sources with the display of common colors. There is no linkage. The top documents and citations number is Technological Forecasting and Social Change.

Figure 3: Public Network Map (Corporate Strategy and Digital Transformation)

3.4. Co-occurrence Keywords

The keyword analysis was done to assess the subject matter of related scientific articles. Two were determined to be the bare minimum of occurrences in this investigation. The most occurrence for keywords are Digital Transformation, Corporate Strategy and Innovation.

Table 6: Keyword Occurrence

Figure 4 displays the most popular terms associated with the idea of Corporate Strategy and Digital Transformation or the map of research trends. The circle size depicts the overuse of the keywords, the circle colors show which keywords are used in conjunction, and the lines connecting the circles demonstrate that the keywords are connected. The most linkage for occurrence keywords are Digital Transformation, Corporate Strategy and Innovation.

Figure 4: Keyword Network Map

4. Discussion

The Scopus database has been used in this study to review the literature on connection between Corporate Strategy and Digital Transformation. It uses Vosviewer, an application that makes easier to comprehend and see the data, analyses conducted regarding the keywords “country”, “institutions”, “sources”, “author” and “keyword occurrence”. The field literature is dominated by China and Germany. This circumstance also demonstrates the link between academic research and sectoral indicators. According to results; China is the country with the highest number of publications and citations. Germany follows it in the second place. For institution¸ Free University of Bozen-Bolzano at front with 2 documents and 187 citations. the journal with the most citations in the literature is School of Accounting, Zhongnan University and Research Center of Finance, Shanghai. The most publication is Free University of Bozen-Bolzano. The most occurrence for keywords are Digital Transformation, Corporate Strategy and Innovation.

Author Contributions: All authors contributed to this research.

Funding: Not applicable.

Conflict of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Informed Consent Statement/Ethics Approval: Not applicable.