Sustained Competitive Advantage In Industry 4.0 Addressed By An MNE - A Resource Based View

Abstract

The emergence of Industry 4.0 is changing the competitive landscape, thus presumably changing the resources commenced by Multinational Enterprises to sustain competitive advantage. By reason of the Resource Based View, prior research has stressed the importance of resources controlled by the firm as producers of sustained competitive advantage, which are consequently assumed heterogenous (not available to competitors) and immobile (nontransferable). However, additional stream of the Resource Based View recognize resources that are not exclusively controlled by the firm. Through a holistic perspective, this research study has evaluated a case study population in order to find eminent Industry 4.0 trends addressed by Swedish Multinational Enterprises. Consequently, a multiple case study has been chosen including Volvo, Ericsson, and H&M, where identified trends have been crossreferenced to find shared meaning. The findings suggest that, beside internal resources, Multinational Enterprises recognizes external resources and/or resources that do not entirely satisfy the criteria of heterogeneity and immobility as producers of sustained competitive advantage alike. The identified resources include Partnerships & collaborations, Synergies, Employees, the Internet of Things, Big Data, and Artificial Intelligence. Likewise, variations within the case study population suggest Multinational Enterprises address sustained competitive advantage in Industry 4.0 by virtue of their technological density. Conclusively, the purpose of this research study is to enhance the knowledge about MNE sustained competitive advantage in the fourth industrial revolution, thus, yield contribution to Resource Based View literature.