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International Symposium on Industrial Engineering and Automation

ISIEA 2022: Managing and Implementing the Digital Transformation pp 177–188Cite as

Industry 4.0 in Family Firms

Part of the Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems book series (LNNS,volume 525)

Abstract

Family firms’ innovative behaviour is the subject of substantive research that has seen a steep development in the last decade. Initially, innovation of family firms was compared to non-family firms. Recently, the examination has taken an in-depth perspective into the heterogeneity of family firms, becoming more scientifically rigorous and yielding deeper insights into the topic. However, the recent crucial trends of digitalization and Industry 4.0 have been little examined into the family business context. Industry 4.0 is the next industrial revolution and will transform many industries. From an Industry 4.0 perspective and for this transformation process it is important to understand the different types of firms that inhabit the economy. Thus, the need to understand how family firms, the most ubiquitous type of organization in any world economy, adopt Industry 4.0 technologies is fundamental. Currently, although there is rationale for synthesis, the two research areas are siloed and this creates a gap in knowledge. This study contributes to the development of such synthesis between family firm and Industry 4.0 research, by first discussing each area’s core characteristics, generating motivation and rationale for specific research questions to be answered in future studies.

Keywords

  • Industry 4.0
  • Family firms
  • Innovation

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Acknowledgment

The research was financed by the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano (project: MasterMIL - Call ID 2020).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Universität Platz 5, 39100, Bolzano, Italy

    Samuel Wayne Appleton, Miriam Beltrami, Marco Mismetti, Guido Orzes, Alfredo De Massis & Dominik Matt

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  1. Samuel Wayne Appleton
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  2. Miriam Beltrami
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  3. Marco Mismetti
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  4. Guido Orzes
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  5. Alfredo De Massis
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Correspondence to Samuel Wayne Appleton .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Industrial Engineering and Automation, Faculty of Science and Technology, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Bolzano, Italy

    Dominik T. Matt

  2. Industrial Engineering and Automation, Faculty of Science and Technology, Free University of Bolzano, Bolzano, Italy

    Prof. Dr. Renato Vidoni

  3. Industrial Engineering and Automation, Faculty of Science and Technology, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Bolzano, Italy

    Erwin Rauch

  4. Industrial Engineering and Automation, Faculty of Science and Technology, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Bolzano, Italy

    Patrick Dallasega

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Appleton, S.W., Beltrami, M., Mismetti, M., Orzes, G., De Massis, A., Matt, D. (2022). Industry 4.0 in Family Firms. In: Matt, D.T., Vidoni, R., Rauch, E., Dallasega, P. (eds) Managing and Implementing the Digital Transformation. ISIEA 2022. Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems, vol 525. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-14317-5_15

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