Industry 4.0: the future of manufacturing from the perspective of business and economics – a bibliometric literature review

This paper aims to provide a comprehensive, systematic review of the literature on Industry 4.0 – and on the trends and implications of the digitalization of manufacturing – from the perspective of business and economics.

A bibliometric methodology was used, allowing to extract rigorously the relevant literature, leading to a purposefully constructed database of peer-reviewed publications depicting the state of the art in this area. A quantitative analysis of the key characteristics of – and trends emanating from – the literature was performed, and results were presented in a graphic way using the VOSViewer software as a mapping tool. Relevant thematic clusters were identified, and promising future research avenues were identified.

This literature is extremely recent – 90% of the publications are from 2019 and 2020, and the leading journal publishing in this area is the Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management. Key clusters identified relate digital transformation to value chains; a close link is observed between Industry 4.0 technologies and business models; a strong connection to sustainability is also clear; and the implications of Industry 4.0 for human resources management are, not surprisingly, extremely relevant.

This is, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, the most comprehensive systematic review linking specifically Industry 4.0 to the business and economics literature, bridging with recent, state-of-the-art research in the economics/business and technological fields. This contribution may be very helpful to researchers interested in understanding the key trends and opportunities offered by this area.