Global Journal of Economic and Finance Research

As the industrial 4.0 digital technologies are becoming increasingly essential for bolstering a firm’s competitiveness, this seminal paper offers a critical analysis of a combination of strategies that businesses can utilize to create not only smart factories, but also the industrial 4.0 digital business models that can be used to bolster their overall competitiveness in the increasingly more complex digital era of today. The study used integrative review as the qualitative research method to evaluate and review a combination of different theories and literature on creating smart factories and industrial 4.0 digital business models. Thematic analysis of the gathered theories and literature indicated that to create a smart factory based on value-creating industrial 4.0 digital business models, the critical technologies that must be adopted encompass Internet of Things, Cyber-Physical System, 3D Printing, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Cloud Computing, and 5G technologies. Since most of the manufacturing entities are increasingly grappling with how to improve their performance in the increasingly more competitive digital world, this study offers insights that seek to enrich knowledge on how to lower costs while also improving operational efficiency to bolster the business’ overall competitiveness.

Smart Factory; Industrial 4.0 Digital Business Models; Industrial 4.0 Digital Technologies; Manufacturing Firm’s Performance

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