Archetypes for industry 4.0 business model innovations

Industry 4.0 (I4.0) also known as the fourth industrial revolution has emerged for describing the digitalization of manufacturing industries. In practice, the transition to I4.0 is crucial for manufacturing firms to sustain competitive advantage and seize new opportunities. Most research focuses on the technological aspects of I4.0 in form of product and process innovations. Despite I4.0’s rising attention among both researchers and practitioners, there exists only little research about I4.0 business model innovation (BMI), even though business model (BM) innovators can be more successful than product or process innovators. To address this research gap, we analyze 15 case studies of I4.0 BM innovators. We develop a taxonomy to characterize I4.0 BMs and derive 13 archetypes of I4.0 BMIs that describe transitions towards I4.0 BMs. The three identified super-archetypes are integration, servitization and expertise as a service. Our study deepens the understanding and structure of I4.0 BMs and I4.0 BMIs