Industry 4.0 technology implementation in SMEs – A survey in the Danish-German border region

Industry 4.0, known as the fourth technological transformation towards digital-physical systems in manufacturing, creates a disruptive impact on industries. Manufacturing companies, especially small and medium-sized ones, are facing various challenges and must constantly innovate to remain competitive. One way to innovate is by implementing new technologies into company processes. In this study, we investigate how technology, company and industry related factors are associated with the implementation of Industry 4.0 in SMEs. We collect data via a survey with a focus on Industry 4.0 in SMEs. The results indicate that knowledge and expected benefits of technology are the drivers for the implementation of Industry 4.0 technologies. They also show that companies with high levels of process automation and high product variety are more likely to implement Industry 4.0 technologies. Our study creates a better understanding of the status, challenges and plans within Industry 4.0 implementation in SMEs, which will support the development of SME-friendly manufacturing tools and systems and craft managers’ and policymakers’ understanding of Industry 4.0 technologies.     

The integration of old and new technological paradigms in low- and medium-tech sectors: The case of mechatronics

This article addresses the internal transformation of low- and medium-tech (LMT) sectors from a technological perspective, analysing the absorption of radical new technologies by low- and medium-technology (LMT) firms and their integration into frameworks dominated by older technologies. Through an empirical analysis of a cluster of mechatronic companies, the paper highlights some of the main features of the integration process and provides a preliminary assessment of whether the phenomenon is more likely to occur within or between companies, that is through the absorption of new technologies by each firm individually or by means of linkages between specialised mono-technology companies.     

Long-term research on technology innovation in the form of new technology patents

Recent changes in innovation development are related to the new technological revolution (Industry 4.0), pandemic, economic crises, and new legislation. These trends provide new opportunities for the improvement of production materials, construction, processes, and capacities. Innovative technologies improve the processes of business analyses and forecasting, as well as new product development, order processing, logistics, production automation, quality control, and marketing. Modern technologies are gradually replacing ergonomically demanding and dangerous occupations. Such innovations are particularly necessary for the transformation of problem companies and regions, as they often have a significant impact on economic development. This study is part of our long-term research on the technology innovation of problem companies and regions. Its primary goal is to methodically emphasize the importance and role of technology innovation management, mainly in problem companies, and analytically compare the innovation success of regions and countries from a global perspective. The study was carried out from 2015 to 2021. The time scope of the analyzed data is 2000–2018. The results show a certain Asian dominance in technology innovation management, in terms of the number of technology patents as well as of the growth dynamics and the ability to overcome the pandemic and crises in general.     

Creative adaptation: the role of new technology based firms in Portugal

This paper reviews two recent research studies on Portuguese New Technology Based Firms (NTBFs). Attention is given to the role and contribution of NTBFs to innovation. The main argument is that, by and large, NTBFs are less concerned with the introduction of major innovations and more with creative adaptive improvements to products and services based upon new technologies first introduced elsewhere. The empirical research found that Portuguese NTBFs are a recent phenomenon associated with diffusion of Electronics and Information Technologies (EIT) during the late 1980s. They perform a wide variety of knowledge-intensive activities, which enhance local users' adoption processes and they are associated with different forms of technology transfer through external linkages. Overall, NTBFs undertake a frequently unobserved role as technology searchers and acquirers that, pushed by idiosyncratic local niche market opportunities, selectively choose among and enhance technologies developed elsewhere, introducing them into the local market.     

基于网络的汽车产品设计/制造/服务一体化研究

论述中国在汽车领域实施基于网络的产品设计/制造/服务一体化工程的重要性、紧迫性和特殊性,分析中外汽车领域应用一体化技术的现状和差距,特别是对一体化工程所涉及的关键技术群进行系统分析和识别分类,给出技术发展路线图,以作为决策的参考依据。最后,阐述实现一体化工程的不同层级与相互关系,并从国家、行业和企业等多个维度,提出协同努力、推进实施汽车产品一体化工程的具体建议。     

基于知识图谱的区块链与云会计比较及融合研究

区块链与云会计都是被会计界高度关注的新会计信息技术方向,文章应用Citespace科学知识计量发现中国区块链研究从金融领域开始正在向会计领域发展,中国云会计研究持续7年并具有长期研究热度。云会计与区块链的设计理念、竞争程度、成本节约点、技术优势等存在不同,云会计特别适合中国中小公司基数大的会计主体特点。区块链与云会计的理念融合有助于提升云会计的会计数据功能、会计信息经济职能、数据安全与伦理、会计治理模式、会计监督创新等。     

基于机器学习的新能源汽车核心技术识别及布局研究

基于机器学习和经验模态分解(Empirical Mode Decomposition,EMD)方法,构建一种从海量数据中核心技术识别方法,运用该方法识别出新能源汽车领域20项核心技术与21项潜力技术.之后,运用专利相对优势指标法(Revealed Patent Advantage,RPA)分析我国新能源汽车领域关键技术的布局现状,并与其他国家的技术布局进行对比.结果 表明我国在电池冷却或保持低温技术和车辆电池应用技术领域具有较高的相对技术优势.通过对新能源汽车核心技术的识别与分析,可以全面了解该领域的研究现状及未来发展趋势,为我国新能源汽车技术研发与战略布局提供一定的借鉴和参考.     

A survey towards an integration of big data analytics to big insights for value-creation

Big Data Analytics (BDA) is increasingly becoming a trending practice that generates an enormous amount of data and provides a new opportunity that is helpful in relevant decision-making. The developments in Big Data Analytics provide a new paradigm and solutions for big data sources, storage, and advanced analytics. The BDA provide a nuanced view of big data development, and insights on how it can truly create value for firm and customer. This article presents a comprehensive, well-informed examination, and realistic analysis of deploying big data analytics successfully in companies. It provides an overview of the architecture of BDA including six components, namely: (i) data generation, (ii) data acquisition, (iii) data storage, (iv) advanced data analytics, (v) data visualization, and (vi) decision-making for value-creation. In this paper, seven V's characteristics of BDA namely Volume, Velocity, Variety, Valence, Veracity, Variability, and Value are explored. The various big data analytics tools, techniques and technologies have been described. Furthermore, it presents a methodical analysis for the usage of Big Data Analytics in various applications such as agriculture, healthcare, cyber security, and smart city. This paper also highlights the previous research, challenges, current status, and future directions of big data analytics for various application platforms. This overview highlights three issues, namely (i) concepts, characteristics and processing paradigms of Big Data Analytics; (ii) the state-of-the-art framework for decision-making in BDA for companies to insight value-creation; and (iii) the current challenges of Big Data Analytics as well as possible future directions.     

An investigation into turn-away among information technology professionals in Brazil

Two important problems have been observed fairly frequently among information technology (IT) professionals, namely turn-over – where the IT professional moves to another company but still remains in the IT sector – and turn-away, in which the IT professional abandons the area in order to occupy a position in a different area, either in the same company or in another, sometimes assuming a managerial function. Few research papers were found with respect to the latter phenomenon. Based on that, the main thrust of this work is to understand how and why IT professionals in Brazil abandon their area, identifying typical characteristics in their career transition. Thus, from a literature review about career development and the analysis of the data collected, eight research hypotheses were developed in order to be analyzed by the researchers. A multiple case study method with several units of analysis was applied in two large companies in Brazil. In-depth interviews were conducted with IT professionals who had migrated to other areas within their organizations, they being considered the unit of analysis. The results accrued from this research reveal that IT professionals in Brazil need to have more growth opportunities than either their companies have been able to offer them or it is possible to offer within the technical arena.     

Adopting internet of things for manufacturing firms business model development

The Internet of Things (IoT) has sparked a revolution in the manufacturing sector, providing numerous advantages to companies that adopt it. Using IoT, factories can boost productivity, cut expenses, and develop a more sustainable business model. The rise of digital networking and real-time communication are compelling manufacturers to adopt cutting-edge technologies in order to compete in today's fast-paced, international marketplace. The Internet of Things (IoT) to facilitate the virtualization of manufacturing processes and the gathering of real-time data to guarantee seamless supply chain operations. There has been abductive qualitative research done. Case studies of the heavy-duty vehicle sector provided empirical data, while a review of the relevant literature provided the theoretical underpinnings. Information system issues and people and structure issues were cited as barriers to analytics adoption. In this study works on challenges and security of manufacturing. Finally, suitable themes for analysis have been derived using a thematic analysis. The results show that manufacturing firms can benefit from analytics solutions for production activities even if they are not highly automated or complicated. The Internet of Things (IoT) offers numerous opportunities for growth in the business models of manufacturing companies. Businesses can boost efficiency, cut expenses, and develop a more robust business model by implementing IoT. Successfully integrating IoT, however, calls for meticulous preparation and execution.     

Determinants of Internet standards adoption: The case of South Korea

We develop an adoption model of infrastructure technologies and test it with survey data collected from companies in six industries in South Korea (hereafter: Korea). The implementation of a new Internet standard such as Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) depends on the usefulness of the technology to the adopting organizations and the environment in which they operate. The adoption of IPv6 in Korea is mostly driven by a governmental strategy that created user demand, and normative pressure. IPv6 adoption in Korea is also driven by perceived resource concentration and power due to the uneven allocation of IPv4 addresses. Conversely, killer applications, technical sponsorship and financial factors had no influence on the adoption decision by Korean companies. Taken together, the findings of our explorative study suggest the need to consider technical as well as social and policy factors to understand the adoption dynamics of infrastructure technologies.     

Servitization implementation in the manufacturing organisations: Classification of strategies,definitions, benefits and challenges

The integration of products and services into a bundled product/service offering by manufacturing organisations is seen as a global trend in today’s competitive business environment. The shift of product-based manufacturers towards offering business solutions and value-added services to consumers is termed as ‘Servitization’. Contrary to the potential benefits expected by adding service activities to the offerings, advocates voice their concerns towards experiential problems and challenges in employing the servitization strategy – termed as ‘Servitization Paradox’. Nevertheless, the shift from product-based delivery to a service-based provision has the potential to significantly impact on developing sustainable and eco-friendly environment. To provide greater insights to the servitization phenomenon, this paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the servitization implementation in manufacturing organisations. In order to respond to the latter, we propose the following three research questions “Q1 – what are the different types of servitization strategies”, “Q2 – what are the different servitization definitions”, “Q3 – what are the potential benefits in selecting a servitization strategy?”, “Q4 – what are the challenges in transitioning towards servitization?”. A systematic literature review is carried out to understand the past trends and extant patterns/themes in the servitization strategy research area, evaluate contributions, summarise knowledge, thereby identifying limitations, implications and potential further research avenues. The key findings confirm servitization studies have contributed both conceptually and empirically to the development and accumulation of intellectual wealth to the manufacturing operations and supply chain discipline. Moreover, the findings clearly indicate the potential of servitization in transitioning manufacturing organisations (e.g. benefits) and utilising innovative technologies to generate business value. Nevertheless, some voices are backing further research/development in the area of servitization due to the several existing challenges.     

冗余资源、资源拼凑与创业机会识别的非线性关系研究

   创业机会的本质是了解企业家如何运作并形成机会,发现或识别作为创业机会发展的开端尤为重要。资源作为维持企业内部稳定、建立竞争优势的资本,企业必须有效地拼凑资源,以实现资源价值。本文主要研究冗余资源对创业机会识别的影响,并探索冗余资源与资源拼凑的倒U型关系。实证结果显示：已沉淀冗余与未沉淀冗余均可有利于企业识别创业机会;随着未沉淀冗余的增加,其对资源拼凑具有正向影响,当超过一定的节点,未沉淀冗余负向影响资源拼凑。本文为企业合理利用冗余资源,培养资源拼凑能力,以识别有利可图的商业机会提供指导。     

The strategic use of artificial intelligence in the digital era: Systematic literature review and future research directions

Artificial Intelligence tools have attracted attention from the literature and business organizations in the last decade, especially by the advances in machine learning techniques. However, despite the great potential of AI technologies for solving problems, there are still issues involved in practical use and lack of knowledge as regards using AI in a strategic way, in order to create business value. In this context, the present study aims to fill this gap by: providing a critical literature review related to the integration of AI to organizational strategy; synthetizing the existing approaches and frameworks, highlighting the potential benefits, challenges and opportunities; presenting a discussion about future research directions. Through a systematic literature review, research articles were analyzed. Besides gaps for future studies, a conceptual framework is presented, discussed according to four sources of value creation: (i) decision support; (ii) customer and employee engagement; (iii) automation; and (iv) new products and services. These findings contribute to both theoretical and managerial perspectives, with extensive opportunities for generating novel theory and new forms of management practices.     

技术甄选行为对技术收购后价值创造的影响研究

企业如何通过技术收购活动实现价值创造是一个非常重要而又缺乏深入探讨的问题。本文构建了技术甄选行为、技术知识利用方式、收购经验以及价值创造之间的理论模型,并以高科技企业为研究对象,利用257份有效问卷进行了实证研究。研究结果表明：技术甄选行为和技术知识利用方式之间存在相互对应的匹配关系,技术知识利用方式有助于企业新价值的创造,收购经验对技术甄选行为和技术知识利用方式之间关系有差异性的调节效应。研究结果丰富并扩展了企业如何通过技术收购创造价值的相关理论,较好的回答了“成功的技术购买者如何做到物有所值”这一现实问题。     

Co-ownership of intellectual property: Exploring the value-appropriation and value-creation implications of co-patenting with different partners

Combining both interview data and empirical analyses at the patent and firm levels, we explore the value-appropriation and value-creation implications of R&D collaboration resulting in the co-ownership of intellectual property (i.e. co-patents). We make an explicit distinction between three different types of co-patenting partners: intra-industry partners, inter-industry partners, and universities. Our findings indicate that the value-appropriation challenges of IP sharing are clearly evident with intra-industry co-patenting, where partners are more likely to encounter overlapping exploitation domains. Co-patenting with universities is associated with higher market value, since appropriation challenges are unlikely to play a role and collaboration may signal novel technological opportunities. Although we find some evidence that co-patenting corresponds to higher (patent) value, patents co-owned with firms are significantly less likely to receive self-citations, indicating constraints on the future exploitation and development of co-owned technologies.     

制造业领军企业如何培育关键核心技术持续创新能力?

   本文以特变电工为案例研究对象,深入分析并探讨了制造业领军企业培育关键核心技术持续创新能力的关键要素。研究发现：持续的自主创新投入、构建产学研深度融合的创新联合体、建立企业自主创新平台、通过持续重组和并购整合行业关键技术和创新资源、汇聚与整合全球创新资源并融入全球创新链和产业链、持续引进与培养科技领军人才是培育关键核心技术持续创新能力的关键要素。同时,中央和地方各级政府的支持是培育关键核心技术持续创新能力的重要推动力。本文拓展了企业创新能力培育以及持续创新等的相关研究,并为我国关键核心技术突破的实践提供了启示。     

基于专利分析的动力型锂离子电池发展态势分析

为了更好地服务于动力型锂离子电池产业发展的需要,本文开展了动力型锂离子电池专利分析研究。研究基于德温特专利数据,采用文献调研、技术生命周期、企业竞争六要素等分析方法,对动力型锂离子电池技术领域全球专利的总体发展趋势、细分技术、专利布局以及重要申请人进行了分析。结果显示动力型锂离子电池技术有步入成熟期的迹象,且存在下游产业整合上游产业的趋势;细分技术中电池组管理系统与隔膜原材料技术略显热门;在申请人方面,日本厂商占据技术优势,韩国厂商发展迅猛,中国厂商数量多,但专利分散,核心专利少,且尚未形成规模;此外,值得注意的是日本和韩国已开始在中国进行专利布局,而中国仍然主要针对本国市场。     

Testing future societies? Developing a framework for test beds and living labs as instruments of innovation governance

Test beds and living labs have emerged as a prominent approach to foster innovation across geographical regions and technical domains. They feed on the popular “grand societal challenges” discourse and the growing insight that adequate policy responses to these challenges will require drastic transformations of technology and society alike. Test beds and living labs represent an experimental, co-creative approach to innovation policy that aims to test, demonstrate, and advance new sociotechnical arrangements and associated modes of governance in a model environment under real-world conditions. In this paper, we develop an analytic framework for this distinctive approach to innovation. Our research draws on theories from Science and Technology Studies (STS) and Innovation Studies, as well as in-depth empirical analysis from two case studies – an urban smart energy campus and a rural renewable energy network. Our analysis reveals three characteristic frictions that test beds face: (1) the limits of controlled experimentation due to messy social responses and co-creation activity; (2) a tension between lab-like open-ended experimentation and pressures to demonstrate success; (3) the opposing needs of local socio-cultural specificity and scalability, i.e. the inherent promise of test bed outcomes being generalizable or transferrable because the tested “model society” is presumed to represent a future society at large. These tensions suggest that thinking of test beds as mere technology tests under real-world conditions is insufficient. Rather, test beds both test and re-configure society around a new set of technologies, envisioned futures, and associated modes of governance – occasionally against considerable resistance. By making social order explicitly available for experimentation, test beds tentatively stabilize new socio-technical orders on a local scale in an “as-if” mode of adoption and diffusion. Symmetric attention to the simultaneous co-production of new technical and social orders points to new opportunities and challenges for innovation governance in test-bed settings: Rather than mere enablers of technology, test beds could serve as true societal tests for the desirability of certain transformations. This will require rethinking notions of success and failure, planning with a view towards reversibility, and greater scrutiny of how power is distributed within such settings. Likewise, rather than envisioning test beds as low-regulation zones to drive innovation, they could be strategically deployed to co-develop socially desirable governance frameworks in tandem with emerging technologies in real-time.     

企业如何走出“整合”还是“自治”的困境？

   企业如何走出技术收购后“整合”还是“自治”的困境是一个十分重要而又缺乏深入探究的问题。以高科技企业为研究对象,构建了收购前技术甄选、资源重叠以及收购后战略模式选择三者间的理论模型,并提出研究假设,运用多元线性回归分析对所提研究假设进行实证检验。研究结果表明：界内技术甄选对整合型战略选择有显著的正向影响,但对自治型战略选择的影响不显著;跨界技术甄选对自治型战略选择有显著的正向影响,但对整合型战略选择的影响不显著。技术重叠正向调节界内技术甄选与整合型战略选择之间的关系,而负向调节跨界技术甄选与自治型战略选择之间的关系;关系重叠负向调节界内技术甄选与整合型战略选择之间的关系,而正向调节跨界技术甄选与自治型战略选择之间的关系。研究结论从整体价值创造层面揭示了技术收购后收购方企业如何进行战略模式选择的内在机制,为我国企业有效解决技术收购后“整合”还是“自治”战略这一现实问题提供了理论依据。