Servitization 4.0 as a Trigger for Sustainable Business: Evidence from Automotive Digital Supply Chain

Anja Jankovic-Zugic, Nenad Medic (), Marko Pavlovic, Tanja Todorovic and Slavko Rakic
Additional contact information
Anja Jankovic-Zugic: Faculty of Technical Sciences, University of Novi Sad, Trg Dositeja Obradovica 6, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia
Nenad Medic: Faculty of Technical Sciences, University of Novi Sad, Trg Dositeja Obradovica 6, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia
Marko Pavlovic: The Institute for Artificial Intelligence of Serbia, Fruskogorska 1, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia
Tanja Todorovic: Faculty of Technical Sciences, University of Novi Sad, Trg Dositeja Obradovica 6, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia
Slavko Rakic: Faculty of Technical Sciences, University of Novi Sad, Trg Dositeja Obradovica 6, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 3, 1-13

Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic strengthens the use of digital services in the supply chains of manufacturers and suppliers in the automotive industry. Furthermore, the digitalization of the production process changed how manufacturing firms manage their value chains in the era of Industry 4.0. The automotive sector represents the ecosystem with rapid digital transformation, which provides a strong relationship between manufacturing firms in supply chains. However, there are many gaps in understanding how digital technologies and services could better shape relations between manufacturers and suppliers in the automotive industry. Accordingly, this study investigates the relations in deliveries of digital services in supply chains of the automotive industry. The data set was obtained through annual reports of the automotive firms, both from suppliers and manufacturers, between 2018 and 2020. From the network perspective, throughout the years, authors have used Social Network Analysis (SNA) method. SNA evaluates the relationship between actors (i.e., manufacturers and suppliers) in the use of services in their business models. The research results demonstrate how suppliers influence car manufacturers to deliver digital services to their customers. Finally, this study provides information that the combination of digital technologies with product-related services enables a stronger relationship between manufacturers and suppliers in the manufacturing ecosystem. These relations support the manufacturing ecosystem to survive the influence of different environments.

Keywords: digital servitization; digital technologies; digital supply chain; automotive industry; Industry 4.0; social network analysis (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: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/3/2217/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/3/2217/ (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:3:p:2217-:d:1046361

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 ().