The energy sector has been a pioneer in the use of information and communication technologies for many years, and has undergone enormous changes in recent years as a result of the transition resulting from the fourth industrial revolution. In the paper, we examine and analyse relevant studies and their findings in order to show the current status of research on three selected aspects of digitalisation in energy sector enterprises. The paper sheds light on the diverse drivers influencing the digitalisation processes of energy sector companies. It also provides an overview of business models that are or will soon be implemented in the energy sector thanks to opportunities offered by digitalisation in response to observed trends in the energy market. Finally, it illustrates open research challenges and future dilemmas related to various aspects of energy sector digitalisation. The paper was prepared using the critical literature review method. It covers a large volume of the most recent and relevant literature referring to the three major research areas mentioned above. The literature review allowed us to identify the drivers influencing the digitalisation of energy companies and distinguish between those specific to this sector and those relating to all businesses as a part of the more general phenomena of Industry 4.0 and Industry 5.0. We also show how the digitalisation-based business model innovation presented in the literature empowers new energy producers and consumers through business models. We have also identified the most frequently indicated challenges and dilemmas in the digitalisation of energy companies related to the risk of the destabilisation of the energy market due to decentralisation, new requirements placed on the competences of energy sector workers, the new culture of interaction between energy suppliers and consumers, and the digital security of data used in the energy system.

This publication discusses the issue of small industrial business companies’ competitiveness in the context of managing competitiveness for the purpose of achieving a specific market position and gaining competitive advantage. The objective of this work is to analyse and present the specificity of competitive activities in small business entities and competitiveness management and to identify changes in their competitive position in the different long-term periods analysed. The theoretical part of the work presents a literature review of small business companies’ competitiveness and sustainable management of competitiveness. In this part of the article, the authors present the definition of competitiveness, competitiveness management, and sustainable competitiveness management and present their own model approach based on mind mapping. The study used statistical methods such as taxonomy structure, the Kruskal–Wallis test for independent analyses, and Friedman’s one-way analysis of variance for dependent data. The empirical part presents the authors’ research into the competitive position achieved and declared by companies classified as manufacturers of furniture. The research was divided into two parts: part one refers to qualitative research based on 10 micro businesses; part two presents quantitative research among SMEs. In total, the study covers 304 enterprises, divided into groups by size: 117 micro entities, 100 small entities, and 87 medium companies. The analysed period takes into account the long term, within the years 2008–2020. The main findings of the empirical research are as follows: the competitiveness of small business companies is determined by their qualitative features as well as by the adopted management system, and the sources of competitive advantage in the particular groups of SMEs are not highly diversified by size, with a larger number of medium entities attributing their competitive advantage to qualitative rather than quantitative measures. The achievement of this research objective has allowed for the authors to develop a model of sustainable development of competitiveness in small business companies and present the results of empirical studies. The conducted research is a pioneering contribution to the assessment of the competitive position of the surveyed enterprises and factors influencing their competitiveness in Poland in periods with different external conditions, including the COVID-19 pandemic. Taking into account the nature of empirical research undertaken in the article, it is necessary to point out their pioneering character and the related contribution to the development of science in the field of sustainable management and competitiveness of enterprises from the SME sector, and it is also necessary to fill the existing research gap in this field.

Considerations included in this monograph, with regard to the digital transformation of small and medium-sized enterprises in the Visegrad countries, were presented, on the one hand, from perspective of processes affecting its shape, but also with regard to the specificity of entities constituting the subject of the research, as well as conditions and challenges determining their digitalisation activities and themselves resulting from the historical and socio-economic specificity of countries in which they occur. This publication does not fully exhaust the issues related to the digital transformation of SMEs in the V4 countries, but it draws attention to its selected and, in the authors’ opinion, important manifestations and aspects. As authors, we hope that this monograph will thus constitute a kind of starting point for further research and discussion on the transformation of small and medium-sized enterprises under the imperative of digitalisation of business activities.