The Impact of the Fourth Industrial Revolution on Network Business Models

Abstract

Many economists argue that industrial activity should be grouped geographically, and cluster activity affects economic indicators. Further to this, it is relevant to ask whether, in practice, the geographical proximity of research group members always contributes to innovation activity. Many research papers have shown that when teams work face-to-face, the new technologies they create are more likely to be successfully commercialized. It is also believed that, in the value chain of a given technology product, geographically close teams generate valuable innovation, while geographically dispersed teams successfully implement workflows that do not require high intellectual labour. The purpose of the study is to determine the nature of networking among business models in the fourth industrial revolution. The main objectives of the study are to identify the relationship between the innovation system of transnational corporations and the cluster system of production organization, and to establish a single conceptual apparatus for the definition of “technological cluster”. Network forms of the organization of manufacture, it is concluded, replace traditional linear-functional and divisional forms, and the cluster loses regional borders and becomes international.