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IT Investment Decisions in Industry 4.0: Evidences from SMEs

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Digital Business Transformation

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Information Systems and Organisation ((LNISO,volume 38))

Abstract

Organizational processes, production, business strategy, value creation and value delivery are undergoing significant change as a result of emerging new technologies in industry 4.0 context. This has drawn attention across many countries and not only organizations, but also stakeholders and policy makers as the fourth industrial revolution. While Industry 4.0 has been widely investigated in large enterprises, yet to date, little is known about how SMEs with limited financial resources make strategic decisions in particular about IT investment on diverse emerging technologies. To close this gap, this paper focused on the propensity of SMEs in IT investment in an industry 4.0 context. We analyze the responses of 1889 Italian SMEs to Government policies designed to facilitate SMEs in adopting technologies for Industry 4.0. This study aims to contribute to alignment literature by highlighting the importance of IT investment as a strategic decision in Industry 4.0. Moreover, the paper offers a set of practical implications.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Looking at data reported on digital economy society index in 2017, although Denmark, Ireland, Sweden and Belgium are leading in digital economies in the EU, the rank of Italy is 25th among 28th EU member states. To fill this gap and support digital transformation by SMEs, thus, Italian government has launched a strategic plan for digitalization in 2016.

  2. 2.

    Annex 6a, Annex 6b, INTERMINISTERIAL DECREE—List of Capital Goods eligible for the incentive, January 25th 2016.

  3. 3.

    AIDA is the Italian provider of the Bureau Van Dijk European Database. The database contains structured information on over 1,000,000 Limited Companies operating in Italy, providing updated information such as shareholding, personal data, financial and economic information, investments and M&A etc.

  4. 4.

    Europe's Digital Progress Report (EDPR) 2017, Country Profile Italy.

  5. 5.

    Source: Europe's Digital Progress Report 2017—Research & Innovation.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Business and Management, Luiss Guido Carli, Rome, Italy

    Niloofar Kazemargi

  2. Department of Information Systems, University of Agder, Grimstad, Norway

    Paolo Spagnoletti

Authors
  1. Niloofar Kazemargi
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  2. Paolo Spagnoletti
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Correspondence to Niloofar Kazemargi .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Business and Economics, Parthenope University of Naples, Naples, Italy

    Rocco Agrifoglio

  2. Department of Business and Economics, Parthenope University of Naples, Naples, Italy

    Rita Lamboglia

  3. Faculty of Law, University of Teramo, Teramo, Italy

    Daniela Mancini

  4. Department of Management, University of Turin, Turin, Italy

    Francesca Ricciardi

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Kazemargi, N., Spagnoletti, P. (2020). IT Investment Decisions in Industry 4.0: Evidences from SMEs. In: Agrifoglio, R., Lamboglia, R., Mancini, D., Ricciardi, F. (eds) Digital Business Transformation. Lecture Notes in Information Systems and Organisation, vol 38. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-47355-6_6

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