Technological Collaboration and the Industry 4.0 Transformation: Evidence for Spanish Manufacturing Firms

The aim of this paper is to analyze the role of external sources of knowledge as drivers of digital transformation process of firms in the so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution. Based on the Survey on Business Strategies, an analysis is carried out for a representative sample of Spanish manufacturi...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Corcoles González, David, Triguero Cano, Ángela, Cuerva Narro, María del Carmen
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2025
País:España
Institución:Fundación Dialnet. Universidad de La Rioja
Repositorio:RUIdeRA. Repositorio Institucional de la UCLM
OAI Identifier:oai:ruidera.uclm.es:10578/46721
Acceso en línea:https://doi.org/10.1007/s13132-024-02501-y
https://hdl.handle.net/10578/46721
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Collaboration
Digitalization
Industry 4.0
Open innovation
Spanish manufacturing firms
Descripción
Sumario:The aim of this paper is to analyze the role of external sources of knowledge as drivers of digital transformation process of firms in the so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution. Based on the Survey on Business Strategies, an analysis is carried out for a representative sample of Spanish manufacturing companies. The research identifies three stages of digitalization: the endowment of physical and human technological resources, the Industry 4.0 technologies, and the e-Business and online marketing use. The starting hypothesis is that each stage of digitalization is affected positively by different external sources of knowledge and the breadth of this network of collaborators. The results show that collaboration with universities and technological centers, and competitors has a positive effect on the adoption of technological resources and Industry 4.0 technologies. Furthermore, collaboration with suppliers fosters the endowment of technological resources. On the contrary, external relationships do not seem to have a significant effect on digitalization associated with e-Business. In this case, the export orientation and the development in dynamic markets are more decisive.