Challenges of Industry 4.0 for Companies in Emerging Economies: Some Inputs for the Research

Abstract

New technologies are revolutionizing the business world, such as the Internet of Things, cloud computing, data analytics, big data, robotics, and artificial intelligence. With their developments and “smart” applications, these technologies are named Industry 4.0. Industry 4.0 is creating smart factories and companies endowed with higher operational efficiency and flexibility, a higher level and speed of production, better product quality, generating increased sales, cost reduction, and higher business performance (Szász et al., 2020; Duman & Akdemir, 2021). Benefits are enhanced when operational data and technological developments are combined with suppliers and customers, moving towards a smart value chain.