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Filling the void of family leadership: institutional support to business model changes in the Italian Industry 4.0 experience

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  • Marco Cucculelli

    (Università Politecnica delle Marche)

  • Ivano Dileo

    (University of Bari ″Aldo Moro″)

  • Marco Pini

    (Centro Studi delle Camere di Commercio ″Guglielmo Tagliacarne″)

Abstract

We examine whether the probability of innovating a company’s business model towards the Industry 4.0 paradigm is affected by external institutional support and family leadership. Industry 4.0 is the information-intensive transformation of global manufacturing enabled by Internet technologies aimed at reinventing products and services from design and engineering to manufacturing. Using a sample of 3000 firms from a corporate survey on the manufacturing industry in Italy, our results showed that family leadership has a significant positive influence on the adoption of Industry 4.0 business models, but only in terms of family ownership. By contrast, family management has a negative influence on the probability of adopting a new business model. However, this negative influence is almost totally offset by the presence of the Triple Helix, i.e. the external support by public institutions and universities, which counterbalances the lower propensity of family managers to adopt Industry 4.0 business models. This supporting role only occurs when institutions and universities act together.

Suggested Citation

  • Marco Cucculelli & Ivano Dileo & Marco Pini, 2022. "Filling the void of family leadership: institutional support to business model changes in the Italian Industry 4.0 experience," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 47(1), pages 213-241, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jtecht:v:47:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1007_s10961-021-09847-4
    DOI: 10.1007/s10961-021-09847-4
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