How Do Industry 4.0 Technologies Boost Collaborations in Buyer-Supplier Relationships?

Overview: Business leaders often consider digital technologies an enabler of new business models and market opportunities, but they overlook their potential impact on the entire value chain. Considering three Industry 4.0 technologies—big data analytics cloud computing, track tracing, simulation modeling software—we identify opportunities challenges that emerge in context managing supply chain relationships. This study uses from international survey to test how these increase visibility integration between buyers suppliers performance. Our results show mixed evidence: although all directly improve performance, big computing also fully support collaborative models, while tracing tools create more visible chains are detrimental obtaining higher process with suppliers. Surprisingly, buyer-supplier collaboration, terms integration, matters than themselves.