Examining Digital Transformation Trends in Austrian and Hungarian Companies

Andrea Katona (), Zoltán Birkner and Erzsébet Péter
Additional contact information
Andrea Katona: Institute of Applied Management Sciences, University Center for Circular Economy, University of Pannonia Nagykanizsa, 8800 Nagykanizsa, Hungary
Zoltán Birkner: Institute of Applied Management Sciences, University Center for Circular Economy, University of Pannonia Nagykanizsa, 8800 Nagykanizsa, Hungary
Erzsébet Péter: Institute of Applied Management Sciences, University Center for Circular Economy, University of Pannonia Nagykanizsa, 8800 Nagykanizsa, Hungary

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 15, 1-22

Abstract: The contemporary discourse focuses on the Fourth Industrial Revolution and its impact on companies. The research is based on a quantitative questionnaire survey of 101 business leaders in Hungary and on 54 in Austria. It was considered important to analyze these two neighboring countries, which have similar histories and cultures but different industrial and economic advantages in terms of labor costs/skills and technology. The aim of our study is to assess how ready companies are for Industry 4.0 and what key factors they take into account when implementing Industry 4.0 initiatives. To complement our quantitative analysis, we conducted four semi-structured interviews with two Hungarian and two Austrian CEOs. Based on both the quantitative and qualitative survey, we conclude that there are relevant differences in digital maturity between the two countries at both macro and micro levels, with Hungarian companies lagging behind Austrian companies in the adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies. Hungarian managers were most concerned with achieving higher profits from the adoption of an Industry 4.0 strategy, while Austrian companies were most concerned with improving their market position. Our analysis also revealed the main areas where Hungarian and Austrian companies show similar performance and improvements in line with Industry 4.0.

Keywords: Industry 4.0; corporate strategy; Industry 4.0 readiness; digital technology; industrial digitalization (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/15/11891/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/15/11891/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:15:p:11891-:d:1209084

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().