BARRIERS AND RISKS OF THE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION OF THE ENTREPRENEURIAL SECTOR

Abstract

The article investigates the barriers and risks of digital transformation in the entrepreneurial sector in the context of the structural modernisation of the national economy. Digitalisation is interpreted as a multidimensional process that reshapes the technological, organisational and institutional architecture of business models, while simultaneously generating a wide range of constraints that slow down the implementation of innovative solutions. On the basis of a critical analysis of Ukrainian and international research, as well as generalisation of applied studies, the author identifies key groups of barriers - technological, financial, human resource, organisational, regulatory and information-security - and reveals the specifics of their manifestation in Ukrainian enterprises under conditions of increased economic and geopolitical turbulence. Special attention is paid to the interdependence of these barriers and the cumulative nature of the risks arising from their simultaneous impact. The study shows that outdated IT infrastructure, limited investment capacity, shortage and migration of qualified IT specialists, low digital culture of personnel, institutional fragmentation and growing cyber threats form a complex barrier environment that deepens structural disproportions in the level of digital maturity of enterprises and strengthens digital inequality between different groups of business entities. To ensure a systematic interpretation of these processes, a structural-logical model is proposed, which visualises the causal links between the determinants of digital transformation, groups of barriers, specific risk manifestations and their economic consequences for entrepreneurial structures. The model demonstrates how the combined influence of constraints leads to technological failures, organisational dysfunctions, increased transaction costs, direct financial losses, disruption of business processes and a decline in competitiveness at both enterprise and sectoral levels. It is substantiated that overcoming the identified barriers requires an integrated approach that combines modernisation of digital infrastructure, development of human capital and digital competences, improvement of regulatory support and mechanisms of state assistance, as well as the introduction of risk-oriented management tools for planning and monitoring digital projects. The obtained results form a methodological basis for further development of diagnostic instruments for assessing the digital maturity of enterprises, for designing public policy measures aimed at reducing digital fragmentation, and for researching the impact of artificial intelligence and advanced analytics on the sustainability and adaptability of the entrepreneurial sector in the digital economy.