This study addresses Industry 4.0 from a managerial perspective. A systematic literature review is used to identify the Industry 4.0 enabling technologies, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, i.e. its ‘E-SWOT’ elements. Then, these elements are analysed interviewing the managers of 39 companies of different sizes, industrial sectors, and service levels. The results show that there are differences in the adoption rates of the enabling technologies depending on the size of the firms, across the four industrial sectors represented. On the other hand, no difference in the adoption rates has been observed among manufacturers with different service levels. The managers view Industry 4.0 as a bundle of technologies facilitating end-to-end industrial process monitoring, and fail to perceive the prospects of developing value-added solutions for their customers. Furthermore, managers are worried that the wave of ‘4.0 innovation’ could enable big and ‘savvy’ tech companies to enter their market and threaten their survival. Based on these results, the research argues that Industry 4.0 represents an ‘evolution’ in factory operations and a potential ‘revolution’ in the manufacturers’ value proposition, and concludes that most manufacturers have so far failed to seise the Industry’s 4.0 revolutionary opportunities.

Purpose: Previous research reports mixed results regarding the performance impact of servitization in manufacturing firms. To resolve this, the purpose of this paper is to develop a conceptually consistent and comprehensive measurement framework for both dimensions, servitization and its performance effect, and apply in a configurational analysis to reexamine previous evidence, arriving at a configurational theory of the relationship between servitization and firm performance.Design/methodology/approach: Combining systematic literature review (SLR) and inductive reasoning, the existing indicators for servitization and performance are identified and clustered into groups that adequately represent both dimensions. The dataset is reanalyzed against the resulting framework to identify the configurational patterns and to formulate the theoretical propositions.Findings: Financial and nonfinancial indicators of servitization and its performance impact are organized into a comprehensive measurement framework grounded on existing research. The subsequent meta-analysis shows that the positive or negative impacts of servitization on performance depend on how firms implement servitization strategies and which performance aspects are examined.Research limitations/implications: The results explain when servitization can be successful and confirm the existence of the so-called servitization paradox. The meta-analysis identified patterns that explain the previous mixed results, shaping a configurational theory of servitization. Thus, the measurement framework is conceptually robust and has sufficient detail to capture servitization and its performance outcome as it feasibly distinguished between different organizational configurations.Originality/value: The framework provides a comprehensive portfolio of indicators for both managers and scholars to measure servitization intensity and performance. This supports managers of servitizing firms in leading this organizational transformation while avoiding its organizational and financial paradoxes.

This study reviews systematically the literature on the measurement of the firm-level degree of servitization. The results show that servitization measures are inconsistent across studies, even among those investigating similar research questions, and that a theoretical reference for their appropriate use is still missing. Focusing on these shortcomings, this study conceptualizes the firm-level servitization degree in three classes, i.e. ‘extension’, ‘infusion’, and ‘orientation’. Hence, measures to operationalize each class are derived from the literature review and subsequently discussed with a panel of experts. In addition, servitization measurement is further conceptualized other than firm-level degree, as a measurement at the regional, product, and individual employee levels, other than at the firm level. This study is the first to provide a systematic review on the topic and to develop a general conceptualization and operationalization of servitization measurement. Furthermore, this research is the first to employ an international standard classification of economic activities as a basis to identify objectively firms’ service offerings. This research supports both scholars and practitioners because it brings consistency across studies and applications, thus fostering assessment and comparability of servitization experiences.

Scholars and practitioners have increasingly focused on how business contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is disclosed through SDG reporting. However, corporate sustainability literature and practice suggest that SDG reporting may be purely symbolic, potentially leading to SDG washing. This paper proposes two indices to detect, through their discrepancy, the presence of symbolic approaches to SDG reporting. The SDG Coverage Index measures the completeness of the disclosed SDG‐related data, while the SDG Commitment Index describes the level of detail in the disclosed data, assessed according to SDG‐related Global Reporting Initiative indicators. The paper presents a content analysis of the sustainability reports of 376 companies to measure SDG coverage and commitment. The results suggest that, although companies tend to cover a wide range of SDG‐related indicators, this does not necessarily translate into significant commitment to the SDGs, revealing the presence of symbolic approaches and potential SDG washing practices.