The implementation of 4.0 technologies in small businesses: A success story analysis
Industry 4.0 (I4.0) represents a broad research topic that has been studied by scholars from multiple perspectives. Many fewer studies have investigated how I4.0 investment initiatives are developed in small companies and how they affect on organization and control mechanisms. Given their peculiarities, small companies are interested in this kind of research OR interested for this kind of research. Due to their intense involvement in the core operations and the resulting concentration of decision-making, founders and owners typically hold a dominant position in small businesses. By using an interpretive case study, we find evidence that the digitalization of operating processes as a result of I4.0 initiatives acts as a stimulus for the development of a set of organizational competencies as well as of some learning processes that, in turn, result in improved managerial models characterized by shared responsibilities and information-based decision making. This evidence is consistent with the postulates of the resource-based view and dynamic capabilities view. The stages of the investment process, the difficulties faced in the implementation of I4.0 technologies, and the benefits obtained by a small family firm both in company management and in operational processes are explored in the paper. The business case makes it possible to demonstrate how organizational and individual growth brought on by I4.0 digitization supports companies in the improvement of the business idea and the consequent capacity to generate strategic value over time.
Keywords: Industry 4.0, Resource-Based view, Dynamic-Capabilities view, Digitization, Management control, Small companies
