Economics and management of enterprises

Adaptation of small and medium-sized enterprises in the service sector to the conditions of Industry 4.0 and Society 4.0: evidence from the Czech Republic

Economic Annals-XXI

Economic Annals-ХХI: Volume 191, Issue 7-8(1), Pages: 67-87

Citation information:
Dvořáková, L., Horák, J., Caha, Z., Machová, V., Hašková, S., Rowland, Z., & Krulický, T. (2021). Adaptation of small and medium-sized enterprises in the service sector to the conditions of Industry 4.0 and Society 4.0: evidence from the Czech Republic. Economic Annals-XXI, 191(7-8(1)), 67-87. doi: https://doi.org/10.21003/ea.V191-06

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Lilia Dvořáková
CSc. (Economics),
Professor,
Finance and Accounting Department,
Faculty of Economics,
University of West Bohemia
8 Univerzitní Str., Pilsen, 301 00, Czech Republic
ldvorako@kfu.zcu.cz
ORCID ID:
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6389-381X

Jakub Horák
Ing. (Economics),
School of Expertness and Valuation,
Institute of Technology and Business in České Budějovice
517/10 Okružní, České Budějovice, 370 01, Czech Republic
horak@mail.vstecb.cz
ORCID ID:
https://orcid.org/ 0000-0001-6364-9745

Zdeněk Caha
PaedDr., PhD (Economics),
Faculty of Corporate Strategy,
Institute of Technology and Business in České Budějovice
517/10 Okružní, České Budějovice, 370 01, Czech Republic
caha@mail.vstecb.cz
ORCID ID:
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2363-034X

Veronika Machová
Ing. (Economics),
School of Expertness and Valuation,
Institute of Technology and Business in České Budějovice
517/10 Okružní, České Budějovice, 370 01, Czech Republic
machova@mail.vstecb.cz
ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5479-6655

Simona Hašková
PhD (Economics),
School of Expertness and Valuation,
Institute of Technology and Business in České Budějovice
517/10 Okružní, České Budějovice, 370 01, Czech Republic
haskova@mail.vstecb.cz
ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4971-7972

Zuzana Rowland
PhD (Economics),
School of Expertness and Valuation,
Institute of Technology and Business in České Budějovice
517/10 Okružní, České Budějovice, 370 01, Czech Republic
rowland@mail.vstecb.cz
ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7792-8873

Tomáš Krulický
Ing. (Economics),
School of Expertness and Valuation,
Institute of Technology and Business in České Budějovice
517/10 Okružní, České Budějovice, 370 01, Czech Republic
krulicky@mail.vstecb.cz
ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0378-2699

Adaptation of small and medium-sized enterprises in the service sector to the conditions of Industry 4.0 and Society 4.0: evidence from the Czech Republic

Abstract. Research background. The need for an in-time, efficient and effective adaptation of small and medium-sized enterprises in the service sector to the technical, economic, social and environmental conditions of Industry 4.0 and Society 4.0 is a current problem caused by the introduction of new information and communication technologies, cyber-physical systems and artificial intelligence into all economic industries and areas of human life. The advent of new technologies is changing the entire value chains of Industry 4.0 – Labor 4.0 – Education 4.0 – Thinking 4.0, creating conditions for new business models but also pressure on flexibility and personalization of services or triggering new requirements for cyber security and the interdisciplinarity of access of small and medium-sized enterprises – providers and users of services. The current global COVID-19 health pandemic (2020-2021), with its economic and social impacts on all economic industries, has accelerated the use of disruptive technologies, principles, procedures, methods and tools of Industry 4.0 and Society 4.0 and the need for the support of small and medium-sized enterprises in the service sector in adapting to changes in the business environment.

Purpose of the article. The main objective of the research is to validate, evaluate and discuss the functionality and content of the created methodology of adaptation of small and medium-sized enterprises in the service sector to the implementation of the principles, procedures, methods and tools of Society 4.0 and its applicability in business practice, specifically focusing on small and medium-sized enterprises in the area of knowledge-intensive services. An integral part of the research is to assess selected negative and positive impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on business processes in the context of issues being tackled.

Methodology. The methodological procedure to validate the functionality and content of the created methodology of the adaptation of small and medium-sized enterprises in the service sector to the conditions of Society 4.0 is based on the strategy of mixed research. An explorative sequence design was used as a key design of mixed dynamically oriented research, during which quantitative data collection, analysis and evaluation formed the basis for qualitative analysis and evaluation, which resulted in the interpretation and discussion of the research results and, at the end of the paper, the formulation of the issues that will be the next area of scientific research activity of the author’s team. In the quantitative part of the research, Fisher’s exact test was used for the verification of difference statistics in data obtained from testing a sample of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises and from external project application sponsors providing services to this category of enterprises. In the qualitative part of the research, the Atlas.ti software was used for the evaluation of information obtained with respect to the methodology of adaptation of small and medium-sized enterprises for encoding, processing and interpretation of qualitative data and semantic networks were created for the individual sub-categories of evaluation.

Findings & Value Added. The research result proved that the adequacy of the content and functionality of the checked methodology of adaptation of SMEs strongly corresponds to the needs and requirements of micro and small enterprises in particular that conduct business in the area of knowledge-intensive services. Barriers, limits, needs and potential in individual categories of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises were identified which are related to the use of technologies and tools of Society 4.0, to new requirements for knowledge and skills qualifications of labor and to the relation of SMEs to innovations in business processes. The results of validation of the methodology of adaptation of SMEs in the knowledge-intensive service sector confirmed that the created methodology of adaptation of small and medium-sized enterprises is applicable to the implementation of the principles, procedures, methods and tools of Society 4.0. in the real conditions of business practice.

Keywords: Industry 4.0; Society 4.0; Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs); Methodology of Adaptation of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises; Knowledge Intensive Services

JEL Classifications: L21; L80; M19; O14

Acknowledgements and Funding: This paper was created as the output of the project «TL02000136 – Knowledge-intensive services sector adaptation to the conditions of Society 4.0» of the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen, Faculty of Economics and of the Institute of Technology and Business in České Budějovice, with state support from the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic within the ÉTA programme.

Contribution: The authors contributed equally to this work.

Data Availability Statement: Dataset and other relevant materials are available from the authors upon request and on the website https://fek.zcu.cz/azis/#dokumenty.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.21003/ea.V191-06

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Received 9.04.2021
Received in revised form 19.04.2021
Accepted 29.04.2021
Available online 10.08.2021

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