Driving success: Leveraging strategic decision-making and digital technology for sustainable performance

Purpose: Technological advancements allow us to access diverse resources such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and virtual reality. As access to resources becomes easier, their effective use becomes crucial for improving companies' strategic management capacity and resource efficiency. Thus, this research seeks to explore the central role of digital technologies in the relationship between strategic decisions and actions that impact companies' sustainable performance. To achieve this objective, a survey was conducted among 400 international companies with active commercial presence in various countries and that, in turn, rely heavily on digital technologies to drive their global operations. These data were processed using a structural equation model to analyze the relationships between the study variables. Thus, the findings reveal that strategic choices significantly improve the performance of both Born Globals and Gradual Internationalizers Firms by adopting new technologies and creative business models. Furthermore, strategic activities are a key success factor in achieving sustainability across different types of organizations, especially with Born Globals. Finally, this research contributes to the academic debate by integrating the concepts of Diffusion of Innovation Theory, Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology, and Dynamic Ambidexterity Theory into the analysis. From an applied perspective, the study highlights the importance of integrating decision-making processes, implementing digital technologies, and their impact on firm performance, especially in those serving international markets.