Assessment of digital transformation in the Russian mining industry: a resource-based approach

The paper examines the need for mining companies to invest in modern digital technologies in order to remain competitive in the international market and to meet the increasingly stringent requirements of environmental legislation. The subject of the study is the digitalisation of the domestic mining industry, which is inevitable for its development. The main hypothesis is a moderate increase in the intensity and scope of digitalisation in this sector of the economy. The study aims to assess the digital transformation of mining companies from the perspective of the resource-based research paradigm. According to this paradigm, the authors analyse the indicators that reflect the use of financial and information resources, which are so important at this stage of the development of the digital economy. The authors assess the intensity and scale of digital transformation in mining companies using value and non-value indicators. The former include the cost of implementing and using digital technologies, the cost of purchasing and renting software, while the latter include the prevalence of CRM, ERP, SCM systems in the industry, the amount of software used by leading companies, the amount of software products of Russian developers used in the industry, the number of advanced production technologies, and the extent of various types of new digital technologies. As far as the value indicators of digital transformation are concerned, it is concluded that there is significant growth, but it is of low quality due to stricter legislation and rising prices. The analysis of the non-value indicators shows a moderate intensity and scope of digitalisation processes in the industry. At the end of the assessment, the authors verify the hypothesis.