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DOI: https://doi.org/10.63345/ijrmeet.org.v11.i7.1
Dr. Sohrab Bharucha
Director Operations
Spica Group
Pune, Maharashtra, India
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4195-6191
Abstract— Family-owned enterprises are increasingly adopting digital technologies to improve operational efficiency, customer engagement, and long-term competitiveness. However, existing research on digital transformation primarily emphasizes technological adoption, digital capabilities, and innovation performance while providing limited attention to preserving organizational legacy, family values, tacit knowledge, and intergenerational continuity during the transformation process. Most existing frameworks examine innovation and digitalization independently, leaving a significant research gap in understanding how family-owned enterprises can simultaneously modernize their operations and safeguard the strategic assets that define their long-term identity. To address this gap, this paper proposes a Digital Legacy–Innovation Balance Framework (DLIBF) that integrates organizational legacy preservation, digital readiness, and innovation capability into a unified decision-support model. The framework introduces three novel assessment dimensions—the Digital Legacy Index (DLI), Innovation Capability Index (ICI), and Digital Readiness Score (DRS)—which are combined to derive a comprehensive Digital Legacy–Innovation Balance Score (DLIBS) for evaluating the effectiveness of digital transformation initiatives. A quantitative research methodology is employed using organizational assessment indicators collected from family-owned enterprises across multiple industry sectors. The proposed framework is evaluated through statistical analysis, correlation analysis, regression modeling, and reliability assessment to examine the relationships among legacy preservation, innovation capability, and digital transformation performance. Experimental results demonstrate that organizations adopting the proposed framework achieve superior outcomes in knowledge retention, innovation success, digital adoption, decision-making efficiency, customer satisfaction, and business continuity compared with conventional digital transformation approaches. The findings indicate that preserving organizational heritage and family knowledge does not hinder innovation; instead, it strengthens organizational resilience and supports sustainable digital transformation. The proposed framework contributes to the existing literature by providing a measurable and scalable approach for balancing digital modernization with legacy preservation, offering both theoretical insights and practical guidance for researchers, policymakers, and managers of family-owned enterprises.
Keywords— Family-owned enterprises, digital transformation, digital legacy, innovation management, organizational knowledge
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