The 4th Industrial Revolution and its features. Possible business models and evidence from the field

The objective of this paper is to analyze the impact of Industry 4.0 on business models considering technological change as a driver of strategic innovation. The research aims to provide the key to interpreting a process of innovation that, starting from the technological transformation, translates it into a broader change of business models. A structured literature review has been developed analyzing 144 sources divided into scientific papers, reports from consultancy firms and institutional reports. This method allowed to identify the importance given by the literature to the technologies and their impact on the single building blocks of the business model. The research has led to the identification of 12 business models that can represent a framework to interpret the Industry 4.0 phenomenon strategically. A questionnaire analysis of a sample of 111 companies based in Italy allowed us to compare the results of theoretical research with the perceptions of Italian entrepreneurs.