COVID-19 as a Jump Start for Industry 4.0? Motivations and Core Areas of Pandemic-Related Investments in Digital Technologies at German Firms
Academic studies prior to the pandemic rather emphasized that the progression towards Industry 4.0 happened in an incremental manner. However, the extraordinary circumstances of the pandemic have led to considerable investments that were widely interpreted as a (generalized) digitalization push. How...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-07-01
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| Series: | Sci |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2413-4155/5/3/28 |
| _version_ | 1797577134018920448 |
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| author | Florian Butollo Jana Flemming Christine Gerber Martin Krzywdzinski David Wandjo Nina Delicat Lorena Herzog |
| author_facet | Florian Butollo Jana Flemming Christine Gerber Martin Krzywdzinski David Wandjo Nina Delicat Lorena Herzog |
| author_sort | Florian Butollo |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Academic studies prior to the pandemic rather emphasized that the progression towards Industry 4.0 happened in an incremental manner. However, the extraordinary circumstances of the pandemic have led to considerable investments that were widely interpreted as a (generalized) digitalization push. However, little is known about the character of such investments and their effects. The goal of this contribution is to provide an empirically based overview of recent investment in digital technologies in six economic sectors of the German economy: mechanical engineering, chemicals, automotives, logistics, healthcare, and financial services. Based on 36 case studies and a survey at 540 companies, we investigate the following questions: 1. How much did the COVID-19 pandemic reduce existing obstacles for investments in digitalization measures? 2. Is there a universal digitalization push due to the COVID-19 pandemic that differs from the trajectory before the pandemic? The results show that the pandemic affected investment in an unequal manner. It was driven by the immediate need to sustain business operations through the virtualization of communication among employees and with external partners. However, there was less dynamism in shop-floor-related digitalization, as it was less related to epidemiological concerns and is more long-term in nature. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T22:04:45Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-cb84253ad0714404a1c07d54c5be8342 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2413-4155 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T22:04:45Z |
| publishDate | 2023-07-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Sci |
| spelling | doaj.art-cb84253ad0714404a1c07d54c5be83422023-11-19T12:51:55ZengMDPI AGSci2413-41552023-07-01532810.3390/sci5030028COVID-19 as a Jump Start for Industry 4.0? Motivations and Core Areas of Pandemic-Related Investments in Digital Technologies at German FirmsFlorian Butollo0Jana Flemming1Christine Gerber2Martin Krzywdzinski3David Wandjo4Nina Delicat5Lorena Herzog6Weizenbaum Institute for the Networked Society, 10623 Berlin, GermanyBerlin Social Science Center, 10785 Berlin, GermanyBerlin Social Science Center, 10785 Berlin, GermanyBerlin Social Science Center, 10785 Berlin, GermanyBerlin Social Science Center, 10785 Berlin, GermanyBerlin Social Science Center, 10785 Berlin, GermanyBerlin Social Science Center, 10785 Berlin, GermanyAcademic studies prior to the pandemic rather emphasized that the progression towards Industry 4.0 happened in an incremental manner. However, the extraordinary circumstances of the pandemic have led to considerable investments that were widely interpreted as a (generalized) digitalization push. However, little is known about the character of such investments and their effects. The goal of this contribution is to provide an empirically based overview of recent investment in digital technologies in six economic sectors of the German economy: mechanical engineering, chemicals, automotives, logistics, healthcare, and financial services. Based on 36 case studies and a survey at 540 companies, we investigate the following questions: 1. How much did the COVID-19 pandemic reduce existing obstacles for investments in digitalization measures? 2. Is there a universal digitalization push due to the COVID-19 pandemic that differs from the trajectory before the pandemic? The results show that the pandemic affected investment in an unequal manner. It was driven by the immediate need to sustain business operations through the virtualization of communication among employees and with external partners. However, there was less dynamism in shop-floor-related digitalization, as it was less related to epidemiological concerns and is more long-term in nature.https://www.mdpi.com/2413-4155/5/3/28Industry 4.0digitalizationremote workCOVID-19investment |
| spellingShingle | Florian Butollo Jana Flemming Christine Gerber Martin Krzywdzinski David Wandjo Nina Delicat Lorena Herzog COVID-19 as a Jump Start for Industry 4.0? Motivations and Core Areas of Pandemic-Related Investments in Digital Technologies at German Firms Sci Industry 4.0 digitalization remote work COVID-19 investment |
| title | COVID-19 as a Jump Start for Industry 4.0? Motivations and Core Areas of Pandemic-Related Investments in Digital Technologies at German Firms |
| title_full | COVID-19 as a Jump Start for Industry 4.0? Motivations and Core Areas of Pandemic-Related Investments in Digital Technologies at German Firms |
| title_fullStr | COVID-19 as a Jump Start for Industry 4.0? Motivations and Core Areas of Pandemic-Related Investments in Digital Technologies at German Firms |
| title_full_unstemmed | COVID-19 as a Jump Start for Industry 4.0? Motivations and Core Areas of Pandemic-Related Investments in Digital Technologies at German Firms |
| title_short | COVID-19 as a Jump Start for Industry 4.0? Motivations and Core Areas of Pandemic-Related Investments in Digital Technologies at German Firms |
| title_sort | covid 19 as a jump start for industry 4 0 motivations and core areas of pandemic related investments in digital technologies at german firms |
| topic | Industry 4.0 digitalization remote work COVID-19 investment |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2413-4155/5/3/28 |
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