Industry 4.0 has been considered a new industrial stage in which several emerging technologies are converging to provide digital solutions. However, there is a lack of understanding of how companies ...implement these technologies. Thus, we aim to understand the adoption patterns of Industry 4.0 technologies in manufacturing firms. We propose a conceptual framework for these technologies, which we divided into front-end and base technologies. Front-end technologies consider four dimensions: Smart Manufacturing, Smart Products, Smart Supply Chain and Smart Working, while base technologies consider four elements: internet of things, cloud services, big data and analytics. We performed a survey in 92 manufacturing companies to study the implementation of these technologies. Our findings show that Industry 4.0 is related to a systemic adoption of the front-end technologies, in which Smart Manufacturing plays a central role. Our results also show that the implementation of the base technologies is challenging companies, since big data and analytics are still low implemented in the sample studied. We propose a structure of Industry 4.0 technology layers and we show levels of adoption of these technologies and their implication for manufacturing companies.
•We study Industry 4.0 technology patterns in 92 manufacturing companies.•We propose a framework with front-end and base technologies of Industry 4.0•Our method is based on cluster analysis and independence tests.•The main contribution is a maturity model showing technology patterns.•Big Data, analytics and the implementation of flexibilization are the main challenges.
Industry 4.0 is considered a new industrial stage in which vertical and horizontal manufacturing processes integration and product connectivity can help companies to achieve higher industrial ...performance. However, little is known about how industries see the potential contribution of the Industry 4.0 related technologies for industrial performance, especially in emerging countries. Based on the use of secondary data from a large-scale survey of 27 industrial sectors representing 2225 companies of the Brazilian industry, we studied how the adoption of different Industry 4.0 technologies is associated with expected benefits for product, operations and side-effects aspects. Using regression analysis, we show that some of the Industry 4.0 technologies are seen as promising for industrial performance while some of the emerging technologies are not, which contraries the conventional wisdom. We discuss the contextual conditions of the Brazilian industry that may require a partial implementation of the Industry 4.0 concepts created in developed countries. We summarize our findings in a framework, that shows the perception of Brazilian industries of Industry 4.0 technologies and their relations with the expected benefits. Thus, this work contributes by discussing the real expectations on the future performance of the industry when implementing new technologies, providing a background to advance in the research on real benefits of the Industry 4.0.
•We study the expected contribution of Industry 4.0 on industrial performance.•Three outputs are considered: product, operational and side-effects.•We use a dataset of 27 industrial sectors representing 2225 Brazilian firms.•The results show positive and negative potential benefits of the Technologies 4.0.
Purpose
While it is known that digital transformation facilitates data flow in supply chains, its importance on green supply chain management (GSCM) has not been investigated concisely. This paper ...aims to expand the theory of digital transformation in GSCM by investigating the interconnections between these concepts and providing an integrative view of a smart green supply chain management (Smart GSCM).
Design/methodology/approach
This adopts a configurational perspective on digital transformation and supply chain management (SCM) to investigate the different dimensions of Smart GSCM and their contribution to green performance. Therefore, this paper analyzes data from 473 manufacturing companies using regression techniques.
Findings
The results show how smart supply chain contributes to green performance through managing green relationships (external GSCM activities) and establishing green operations (internal GSCM activities). Furthermore, this paper finds partial mediating effects for external and internal GSCM activities on green performance. These findings show that smart supply chain (i.e. digital transformation strategy and front-end technologies, supported by several back-end technologies) is directly associated with higher levels of GSCM. It is specifically associated with one of the internal dimensions of green operations, namely, green purchasing activities. Hence, the findings suggest that digital transformation alone is insufficient to achieve green performance, needing a GSCM configuration to mediate this effect.
Practical implications
This study calls attention to how managers should integrate these at least three different perspectives of SCM: digital transformation, external relationships and internal operations to increase green performance.
Originality/value
As the main contribution, this study provides a configurational and holistic understanding of the different dimensions and mechanisms in Smart GSCM.
The mobile telecommunications industry is highly dynamic. Strategic, marketing and technological disruptive changes are the norm in this industry. In such a context, strategy formulation and ...implementation is a challenge for mobile network operators (MNOs). The aim of this study is to propose an interpretative framework to support MNO's strategic decision making in a dynamic competitive context characterized by disruptive changes in technology and business dimensions. The proposed framework was applied in an explorative multiple case study conducted on the four MNOs operating in Italy. Data collection involved semi-structured interviews with seven top and middle managers of each company. The application illustrates how the proposed framework allowed the identification of drivers for potentially disruptive change and their implications on Italian MNOs' business models. The research also highlights the main strategic routes that Italian MNOs have at their disposal to face the turbulent competitive times. Although the specific issues reported relate to the Italian context, it can be argued that they are reasonably representative of most Western markets.
•The framework helps to relate disruptive change factors to business model dimensions.•The framework relates six disruptive change factors to seven business dimensions.•All four mobile network operators that operate in Italy were studied.•Data were collected through face-to-face interviews with top and middle managers.•Results show drivers of disruptive change and their business model implications.
Theory discussing how to define and frame the relationship between the strategy making process (SMP) and business model innovation (BMI) is still incipient in the academic literature. Thus, this ...study aims at investigating the relationship between SMP and BMI by addressing (1) when firms engage in BMI within the overall SMP, and (2) how firms design a new business model (BM) or improve their current BM within the overall SMP. The research questions are tackled by means of a mixed‐method research, combining (1) a quantitative survey on 138 firms involved in SMP and BMI (to understand when BM design and improvement occur) and (2) a qualitative multiple‐case study focused on four firms (to address how BM design and improvement evolve). The findings empirically validate the arguments that BM design and improvement are more likely to be positioned in the strategic alternatives implementation step of the SMP, and BM is related to strategy execution; on top of this, light is shed on the inherent dynamics of the BMI process for different types of BMI.
Purpose
This paper aims to propose that knowing in practice can be used as a mechanism to enhance social exchange in collaborative new product development (NPD) with suppliers to reduce glitches. ...Practic00es of inter-organizational knowing should consider the levels of supplier involvement adopted.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper studies two opposite situations of supplier involvement in NPD projects, namely, white and black box configurations. This paper adopts a qualitative comparative analysis method to identify necessary and sufficient configurations of knowing in practice in 36 projects from 3 different companies.
Findings
Social exchange is important even when the NPD collaboration is based on contractual relationships as in white and grey box collaborations. There are different combinations of practices for inter-organizational knowing that can limit glitches in each supplier configuration. This paper proposes a theoretical model that explains these relationships and contributions to the reduction of glitches.
Originality/value
This paper combines social exchange theory with knowing in practice in the supplier involvement context. The theoretical model contributes to the understanding of knowing in practice in white and black box configurations.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to understand the relationship between the implementation of Lean shop floor (LSF) practices and Lean supply chain management, and their effect on quality and ...inventory turnover.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey-based research method was conducted and data were collected from 110 plants located in Brazil. The research constructs were validated through rigorous procedures (unidimensionality and discriminant validity and reliability) through confirmatory factor analysis and two hypotheses were tested using ordinary least square regression.
Findings
The results indicate that: Lean supplier relationship positively moderates the effect of LSF practices on inventory turnover; Lean customer relationship negatively moderates the effect of LSF practices on inventory turnover; and Lean supplier relationship positively moderates the effect of LSF practices on quality.
Originality/value
From a theoretical perspective, the results of this study provide evidences supporting the importance of understanding the systemic relationships between Lean implementation at the shop floor and the firm’s relationships with supply chain partners, that was not tested before. As managerial implications, the results suggest that managers should take a decision to foster a Lean supply chain management depending on which performance metrics they need to improve: quality or inventory turnover.
Many companies allocate significant resources to implementing lean on the manufacturing shop floor, but fewer resources to implementing lean in the product development processes. Despite a rich ...literature on Lean Manufacturing (LM) and a growing literature on lean product development (LPD), there is limited research on the relation between these two streams and their interaction effects on operational performance. This paper draws on configurational theory to investigate the moderating role of LPD on the effects of LM on quality and inventory performance. We used a survey instrument to collect responses from firms implementing lean across their enterprises. We tested our hypotheses using ordinary least squares regression models with moderation tests. We find that LPD practices positively moderate the effects of LM on quality performance. Although our research concerning the same moderating effect on inventory turnover is inconclusive, we find that the implementation of LPD has a direct and positive association with improvements in inventory turnover. Overall, our research suggests that companies can get more out of their lean implementations if they pursue a systematic implementation of both LPD and LM, rather than following the more common isolated approach.
Manufacturing companies that adopt the servitization strategy usually show lack of knowledge regarding the service offering associated to their manufactured products. Acquiring external knowledge ...from service suppliers can be a way to tackle this problem. The objective of this study is to understand how manufacturing companies aiming at a servitization-driven business model innovation (BMI) integrate such knowledge from service suppliers. We focus on different types of collaboration that can occur and on the knowledge sharing (KS) dynamics of this collaboration. We employ a multiple-case study approach to analyze nine BMI processes from companies that transformed their traditional business model (BM) to a servitized BM. As a result, we obtain a theoretical framework that presents six possible KS dynamics for the servitization design by originally combining two main approaches for servitization-driven BMI (i.e. product-oriented and service-oriented product-service systems) and three main configurations of relationships with service suppliers based on traditional new product development classifications of buyer-supplier integration (i.e. white, grey and black box configurations). Implications of combining a BMI and a buyer-supplier KS perspectives to investigate the process of servitization for manufacturing companies are then discussed.
•We study types of buyer-supplier integration for servitization of manufacturing firms.•Two servitization-driven BMI types are considered in our conceptual framework.•We analyze the knowledge sharing dynamics in service suppliers' involvement.
Purpose
This paper aims to understand the patterns of lean production implementation, and the relationship between three context factors (i.e. firm size, positions within the supply chain and time ...length of the lean initiative) and the adoption of lean production practices in firms of the automotive supply chain in Brazil.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors collected data from 65 companies of the automotive supply chain in Brazil. For data analysis, first a cluster analysis was performed to identify common characteristics in the companies’ context factors when considering patterns of lean implementation. Then, multivariate analysis of variance was used to investigate the differences between the context factors and the degree of use of lean practices.
Findings
High lean adopters had better performance than low lean adopters in terms of lead time, inventory and turnover. Firms at the first and second tier of the automotive supply chain were “leaner” than firms at the third tier. Large-sized firms were more likely to have a higher degree of use of lean practices than medium and smaller ones. Some, but not all, lean practices followed these patterns. Results also showed that some lean practices were most commonly adopted at the beginning of the lean journey, whereas others took more time to mature.
Originality/value
This paper demonstrated how lean practices were implemented at different positions within the supply chain, and the patterns of implementation often followed. It also considers lean in the context of developing countries such as Brazil.
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