Industry 4.0/5.0 evolution: When operational implementation goes hand in hand with Business Model Innovation

Xiaomei He () and Thierry Burger-Helmchen ()
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Xiaomei He: BETA - Bureau d'Économie Théorique et Appliquée - AgroParisTech - UNISTRA - Université de Strasbourg - Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA) - Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA) Mulhouse - Colmar - UL - Université de Lorraine - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement
Thierry Burger-Helmchen: UNISTRA FSEG - Faculté des sciences économiques et de gestion [Strasbourg] - UNISTRA - Université de Strasbourg, BETA - Bureau d'Économie Théorique et Appliquée - AgroParisTech - UNISTRA - Université de Strasbourg - Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA) - Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA) Mulhouse - Colmar - UL - Université de Lorraine - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement

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Abstract: This paper examines the shift from Industry 4.0 to Industry 5.0 as implementation moves beyond operational efficiency toward business model innovation. Building on research on digital transformation and business models, we propose a process framework that links operational implementation stages (preparation, implementation, and operation), to increasing degrees of business model innovativeness (captured through sensing, seizing), and transforming. The framework is illustrated through a longitudinal single-case study of Henkel, based on archival evidence covering the period from 2013 to 2023. The findings show that business model change is progressive rather than immediate. Early investments focus on digitization, experimentation, and local pilots that primarily enhance efficiency within the existing business model. As connectivity, integration, and routinization expand across plants and functions, firms reorganize value creation and value delivery through data-driven coordination, automation, new roles, and governance mechanisms, while value capture changes remain more limited and emergent in the available evidence. The transition toward Industry 5.0 introduces human-centric, sustainability, and resilience priorities, which reinforce the need to redesign processes, decision rights, and performance indicators.

Keywords: Artificia intelligence; Digital tansformation; Business model Innovation; Industry 5.0; Industry 4.0 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-12
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-05705540v1
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Published in Strategic Business Research, 2026, 2 (1), pp.100239. ⟨10.1016/j.sbr.2026.100239⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05705540

DOI: 10.1016/j.sbr.2026.100239

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