Applications of Industry 4.0 for Pandemic Responses and Business Continuity: A TOE-DCV Integrated Approach

The fourth industrial revolution, also known as Industry 4.0, covers a broad range of technologies. The applications of Industry 4.0 help in interconnectivity as well as automation process and support seamless operations. Not many studies have taken place to examine how different applications of Industry 4.0 could help in turbulent situations or in crises like COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, there is a research gap. In such background, the aim of this study is to investigate how different applications of Industry 4.0 could help to respond to such turbulent situation and help in business continuity and sustainability of operations. The present study develops a theoretical model combining technology–organization–environment framework and dynamic capability view to examine the role of Industry 4.0 applications for business continuity and sustainability of business operations especially for managing any turbulent situation like COVID-19 pandemic. The theoretical model was validated using partial least square structural equation modeling technique considering 338 respondents from different industries. The study found that there is a greater need to adopt Industry 4.0 applications for managing business operations during any turbulent situation. The study also found that there is a significant moderating impact of corporate governance in adopting Industry 4.0 applications to manage business operations especially during crisis. IEEE

The Role of Management of Technology (MOT) in Unlocking Nations' Competitiveness in Post Pandemic and Global Crises

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of the massive global crisis, such as the COVID-19 outbreak and the Ukrainian-Russian conflict, on the socioeconomic level and revisit the definition of 'Competitiveness'. Furthermore, the paper illustrates a new model and framework for competitiveness in post-global crises and highlights the importance of building competitive connected and traded clusters for increasing the overall competitiveness of the nations, and the role of technology and its management in achieving such objectives. Also, the paper identifies the role of Management of Technology (MOT) in regaining competitiveness and unlocking the nations' capabilities toward establishing a path for resilience and sustainable growth in the era of massive global crises and beyond. © 2022 IEEE.

The mediating effect of IT governance between corporate governance mechanisms, business continuity, and transparency & disclosure: An empirical study of Covid-19 Pandemic in Jordan

The present study aims to assess the mediating role of IT governance between corporate governance mechanisms and business continuity, and transparency & disclosure during the pandemic of Covid-19 in Jordan. The study uses a sample of 232 questionnaires retrieved from different firms of different sectors. The sample includes a survey response from board members, senior executives, auditors, IT experts, and other practitioners. Factor analysis and structural equation modeling were conducted to estimate the results. The results indicate that IT governance exhibits a statistically significant positive effect on business continuity and transparency & disclosure. Further, the results reveal that corporate governance mechanisms are less efficient in their influence on business continuity and transparency & disclosure in the absence of the mediating effect of IT governance during the pandemic. The current study's findings provide insight and empirical evidence to the importance of IT governance and its role in business continuity and transparency & disclosure in constraining the negative effects during any crisis. The current study provides a novel contribution as it links corporate governance, transparency, and IT governance in the context of Covid-19 in an emerging country. © 2022 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Guest editorial: Digital transformation strategy and impacts during emergency situations

In line with the interdisciplinarity of the Industrial Management and Data Systems (IMDS) journal, this Special Issue (SI) was focused on exploring the digital transformation phenomenon from different angles, with particular attention on the interplay between operations management, supply chain and information systems related fields, during emergencies and environmental uncertainty contexts. [...]this SI aims to inspire debate and discussion with scholars, practitioners and decision-makers working on governments by reporting the finest science and valuable practical and policy insights to advance the literature, practices and policy formulation. 2. [...]R&D's higher prior investment creates higher levels of digital technology, supporting the firm's resilience. [...]the authors point out that retailers can use blockchain for permission marketing strategies. The results reveal that top management support plays an important mediation effect. [...]the study points out the moderation effect that environmental factors exert on big data analytics adoption.

The Impact of Improvisational and Dynamic Capabilities on Business Model Innovation During COVID-19: A Composite-Based Approach

Dynamic capabilities embody various capabilities that drive the organization’s adaptiveness and are studied from management and information systems perspectives. However, the impact of specific dynamic and organizational capabilities, i.e., management system adaptability and improvisational capabilities, on business model innovation under tumultuous times still has to be unfolded. Therefore, this study investigates the role of these capabilities during the COVID-19 crisis. This study presents the results of analyses on obtained survey data (N = 105) from Ghana and shows that these two strategic capabilities significantly influence business model innovation. Also, this study shows that business model innovation positively influences organizational performance under COVID-19. These results extend the current knowledge base of dynamic and organizational capabilities while offering implications for practice. We also offer various practical recommendations that help overcome business model innovation challenges during tumultuous times. © 2022, IFIP International Federation for Information Processing.

Workability and Life Satisfaction: Effects of Workers' Positive Perceptions on Their Return to Jobs.

Background: The death rate of workers due to industrial accidents in South Korea (3.61 persons in 2017) is higher than the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development average (2.43) and the fifth highest among Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development member countries. Although the pandemic of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has changed, the socioeconomic aspects of Korean society, the number of Koreans suffering accidents and the number of deaths in 2020 have increased. It is necessary to take measures to prevent accidents and make comprehensive efforts to return to work. This study proposes research questions about the effect of workers' positive perception on whether to work after accidents and the impact of the experience of rehabilitation services on the return to work. Methods: This research performed a panel logistic regression analysis using data on workers' compensation insurance in Korea for two years (2018-2019). Results: This research finds that workers' positive perceptions of workability and life satisfaction contributed affirmatively to their re-employment. Several factors related to employment (e.g., work period, the number of job qualifications) also positively affect their return to work. However, the experience of rehabilitation services did not have a significant effect on re-employment. The variables of their health conditions (e.g., disability grade, feelings of health problems, age) negatively influenced their return to jobs. Conclusion: These results suggest the importance of workers' mental recovery and the need to innovate rehabilitation services for their employment. Positive thinking and self-rehabilitation could be critical for workers, parallel with social welfare policies.

Exploring the Dynamic Capabilities of Businesses to Cope with COVID-19 Challenges

The pandemic caused by COVID-19 triggered a severe disruption in businesses worldwide, with pressing changes aimed business survival and striving. In this context, the pace of the digital transformation of business was tremendously accelerated, launching managers and employees into a new world of digital challenges. In this work, we explore the dynamic capabilities of businesses to cope with the COVID-19 contingencies, focusing on survival and success measures, dynamic digital capabilities and emerging management skills. We interviewed 24 business managers using semi-structured interviews and mixed-methods research to reveal how these businesses have coped during the second wave of COVID-19 in the country. Our results show that little to no governmental and financial support was received, and overall negative impact on the business potential to succeed at several levels, with little exceptions. Most businesses reveal having dynamic digital capabilities in place and ability to take advantage of their digital presence to foster business survival and growth. These capabilities are, however, heavily built on what we believe to be core emerging business management skills, as they are associated with several areas of expertise in the domain of digital communication. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

Corporate Governance and Corporate Philanthropy during COVID-19: Mediating role of Knowledge Management

This study examines the role of corporate governance and corporate philanthropy during COVID-19, with the mediating role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) knowledge management among Chinese listed firms. The study employed secondary data obtained from the Chinese Stock Market & Accounting Research (CSMAR) database on board size (BS) and board composition (BC) as corporate governance proxies. The findings show that BS and BC have a positive but insignificant relationship with corporate philanthropy, while CSR knowledge fully mediates the relationship between corporate governance and corporate philanthropy. Additionally, we find that board size and board composition have a positive relationship with CSR knowledge. This study has practical implications for firms engaged in the process view of CSR knowledge, which actively contributes to COVID-19 philanthropy. The process view of CSR receives more information from outside stakeholders and implements their resources on the most recent CSR issue. This response creates value for the firm as it targets the most recent issue in society. © 2021 IEEE.

Shifting to a Technology-Driven Work Mode: Workplace Learning and Dynamic Capability in the Case of a Public-Sector Service Organisation

Learning to operate in technology-driven working modes is topical in many organisations today due to the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. The pandemic has forced especially knowledge-work organisations to quickly shift to remote or hybrid working modes, where all or some of the staff are operating and collaborating via digital tools. The aim of this qualitative case study is to explore and explicate a learning story of an organisation within the public sector transitioning quickly to a technology-driven hybrid working mode during the crisis. As findings, the paper presents the identified immediate and evolving facilitators that point to the organisation’s learning to develop capabilities for operating effectively in the enforced and volatile conditions. Additionally, the potential long-term organisational development effects stemming from the situation are considered. In the findings, social aspects of work, such as open communication, collaboration, and awareness gained emphasis, while digital technology is one of the ground enablers. We apply a frame of dynamic capabilities together with workplace learning and aim to provide new insights into their development processes with a cross-organisational approach. In terms of practical implications, we suggest new understandings for the management on how organisations may learn and fare under uncertainty, volatility, and transitioning to digital collaboration. © 2022, IFIP International Federation for Information Processing.

Enhancing engineering students’ project management skills in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic: An online project-based learning experience

Teaching project management and industrial optimization to engineering students requires real-world experiences in which they can explicitly integrate, apply and develop work-ready skills, such as critical thinking, communication, and teamwork. This paper presents an exploratory case study research describing an online Project-based Learning (PjBL) experience aimed at tackling the challenge of decreasing the ecological footprint in the university campus generated by the local locomotion of students from university-home and/or home-university. The experience was implemented from February to June 2020, in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, with 9 participating students enrolled in the ‘Industrial Management I’ course, part of the Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro (UTAD), Portugal. We firstly describe the course in terms of the key driving question, the learning goals, the educational activities, the collaboration among students, the scaffolding technologies, and the tangible artefacts produced. We further discuss the preliminary results of the study by taking into account the main tangible learning artefact produced by the students - a carpooling model proposal for the UTAD student community – as well as the data collected from a post, self-completion questionnaire on students’ perceptions about the PjBL experience. Finally, we outline implications for the teaching practice and some concerns that need to be addressed in future course editions. © 2021 IEEE.

Conceptualizing Cybersecurity Management Impact on Performance: Agility and Information Technology Governance

It is inevitable that the era of Industrial Revolution 4.0 is here, businesses are digitalizing their processes especially under the uncertainty inflicted by the COVID-19 pandemic to stay competitive. However, businesses and governing agencies soon realizes the potential pitfall of excessive digitalization without addressing the security aspect of it with the sharp rise of cybersecurity incidents. Consequently, the area of cybersecurity management (CM) has been identified as one key area that can help businesses enjoy the full benefits of modern technology. Despite this, it is observed that not all business owners are convinced of the importance of cybersecurity management. This paper proposes a framework through the theoretical lens of Dynamic Capability View (DCV) and the Agency Theory to study what impact CM has on a firm's performance, providing a foundation for more in-depth study on the matter for practical and academic purpose. © 2021 IEEE.

Industry 4.0 for PLM in Pandemics: Towards a Smart Digital Agile PLM

Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) is a business strategy, aiming to streamline the flow of information about products and related processes throughout the whole product Lifecycle such that the right information in the right context at the right time can be made available. Currently, the COVID-19 pandemic meant major improvements to the way service companies operate, changing the schedule and activities of their workers. The introduction of Industry 4.0 also launched emerging technology that could promote certain operations, thus alleviating the consequences of COVID-19. The aim of this research is to, first, investigate how this pandemic has impacted the product lifecycle, and secondly, explore how industry 4.0 technologies can address these challenges by proposing a Digital Smart Agile PLM framework. © 2022, IFIP International Federation for Information Processing.

Developing knowledge to battle the pandemic

The article explains the use of organizational resources in formulating a vision of knowledge management improvement for the COVID-19 pandemic recovery. It mentions the negative impact of excessive structure on knowledge management. Among the factors that affect the use of modern knowledge management techniques are the structure, culture, and strategic planning of an organization. Also noted is the lack of empirical support to measure the role of resources in knowledge management development.

Role of Cultural Dimensions and Dynamic Capabilities in the Value-based Performance of Digital Healthcare Services

Global lockdowns due to COVID-19 pandemic prompted healthcare providers to accelerate the utilisation of digital technologies in healthcare services, yet despite this push, the pace of deploying digital healthcare services is still unsatisfactory. While researchers in the field have mainly focused on the role of technology, the role of a country's cultural dimensions as antecedents of dynamic capabilities responsible for driving the digitalisation of the healthcare services is largely under-researched. Consequently, we aim to investigate the role of country's cultural dimensions and dynamic capabilities in the value-based performance of digital healthcare services. The study rests on multiple-case-study design, which was applied to examine the interlinkages between the cultural dimensions, dynamic capabilities and the value-based performance of digital healthcare services across Lithuania, the United States and Spain. Information was gathered through conducting 66 interviews with healthcare ecosystem stakeholders. The study results show that the low-scoring cultural dimensions of power distance, uncertainty avoidance and long-term orientation and high-scoring dimensions of individualism, masculinity and indulgence are antecedents of strong dynamic capabilities, specifically with regards to strong environment scanning, employee engagement and organisational learning. Furthermore, strong dynamic capabilities were found to be associated with a more advanced implementation of digital healthcare services. © 2022

Relacional: Easing the Crisis Effects in the Education Sector.

This teaching case addresses the need for change in Relacional's business strategy, driven by the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Brazilian educational sector in the first half of 2020. The startup is a software warehouse whose systems seek to solve specific problems of educational institutions, from basic to higher level, such as relationship, attraction, and retention of students. In the midst of a scenario of probable crisis in the sector, the partners seek business alternatives to assist educational institutions while wanting to ensure the growth and continuity of the company itself. Applicable in Entrepreneurship, Marketing, and IT courses in undergraduate and graduate Business Management programs, this case addresses concepts of Information Economy, models of offer and pricing of software. (English) [ FROM AUTHOR] Este caso de ensino aborda a necessidade de mudança na estratégia de negócios da startup Relacional, impulsionada pelos efeitos negativos da pandemia de COVID-19 no setor educacional brasileiro, no primeiro semestre de 2020. A startup é uma desenvolvedora de sistemas de informação que busca solucionar problemas específicos das instituições de ensino, desde o nível básico até o superior, como relacionamento, atração e retenção de alunos. Em meio a um cenário de provável crise no setor, os sócios buscam alternativas de negócio para auxiliar as instituições de ensino ao mesmo passo em que procuram garantir o crescimento e a perenidade da própria empresa. Indicado para aplicação em disciplinas de Empreendedorismo, Marketing e TI em cursos de graduação e pós-graduação em Administração de Empresas, este caso aborda conceitos da Economia da Informação, modelos de oferta e precificação de softwares. (Portuguese) [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of RAC - Revista de Administração Contemporânea is the property of Associacao Nacional de Pos-Graduacao e Pesquisa em Administracao (ANPAD) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

Advancing Circular Economy: Research Roadmap for Circular Integrated Production Systems

The coronavirus crisis had a critical impact on supply chains and production worldwide. In particular, closed borders often prevented companies from obtaining the components required for their production. Such disruptions are the results of globalization, with suppliers spreading all over the world. The circular economy is an opportunity to overcome this challenge since components from end-of-life items may substitute supplies from afar. However, many barriers exist in the implementation of circular processes, as manufacturers perceive it as a radical change to their procedures. Therefore, we propose not to use completely new lines for the circular economy, but to use already existing systems. This paper presents the definition of circular integrated production systems (CIPS) and suggests a research roadmap for such to investigate what challenges and potentials arise, and what future research will be needed. © 2021, IFIP International Federation for Information Processing.