Relating Industry 4.0 and the SME Internationalization Process

Abstract

The automatization, dematerialization, and innovative digital systems and technologies, named Industry 4.0, are transforming the economic and social system, encompassing opportunities and challenges for growth and international expansion. In Portugal, SMEs face great difficulties and challenges because innovative digital businesses and systems enhance globalization and intensify competition. Exploratory research was designed to explore how Industry 4.0 and digitalization will influence the organization, competitiveness, and internationalization process of the SMEs under study. Results indicate that Industry 4.0 appears to be critical because it positively affected the value chain and the organizational and competitiveness level. Therefore, the companies were better positioned in their competitive advantages. This work provides insights for the study and joint understanding of digitalization and business internationalization because it integrates and relates two autonomous, complex, and strategic fields of research, with no applied studies for the Portuguese SME background.