The effect of Industry 4.0 technologies on operational performance: The moderating role of open innovation
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2024-07-01
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en
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The research question aims to investigate to what extent Industry 4.0 technologies and open innovation contribute to operational performance and, how SMEs in the manufacturing industry enable this relationship effectively. The question was addressed by conducting mixed-method research to uncover the mechanisms enabling this effect and to test the statistical significance of the relationship between the concepts. Industry 4.0 technologies and open innovation were assumed to positively impact operational performance. However, verifying this relationship uncovered the triangulation that makes the problem more complex for manufacturers. The risk companies are facing is not only what value they get from using digital technologies but also managing the uncertainty these technologies bring.
Interestingly, no direct significant effect was found for the impact of open innovation on performance in the quantitative study. Furthermore, operational performance can be partly enhanced by leveraging the complementary effect of technological innovations and open innovation particularly in decreasing product lead time, but no noteworthy effect was observed for quality, scrap rate, or delivery delay. Moreover, qualitative research about Dutch SMEs has further substantiated quantitative findings by providing a contextual understanding of the current state of digitalization and the open innovation paradigm. Interview findings have provided insights about companies' preoccupation to continuously achieve higher production efficiency and the need to always innovate to sustain their competitive advantage. With regards to open innovation, it is mainly through collaboration projects with suppliers, customers, and research institutions to speed up the innovation process, getting things done more efficiently and acquiring the knowledge unavailable in-house
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen