Managerial challenges of industry 4.0: a case study in the portuguese footwear sector

In the manufacturing industry, the increasing intelligence of products and systems, their intra-company cross-linking, and their cross-company integration into value creation networks are referred to as Industry 4.0 (I4.0). Academics and practitioners largely agree that I4.0 offers far-reaching opportunities while having a presume ably disruptive impact on today’s markets, business models, supply chains, and the world of work in general. In line with the above trend, academic contributions dealing withI4.0 have increased dramatically within the last few years. This chapter strives to establish I4.0 as a challenging but promising field for management research and aims to assist scholars in engaging with the topic. First, we gather and analyses extant contributions through a systematic literature review on the topic and then, we present empirical research, conducted on the Portuguese footwear industry. On this basis, we derive managerial challenges in this industry and present an empirically backed research agenda, and suggest fruitful avenues for future research.