Identifying Digital Transformation of Business Models in Industry 4.0

Hi Everone!

I decided to choose a research assistant internship as this will shape my profession in academia. I was able to collaborate with senior lecturer Olga Chkanikova. After researching many topics I grew my interest in digitalization in business models. With the fervent guidance of the coordinator, I shaped my topic which is Identifying Digital Transformation of Business Models in Industry 4.0. This topic supports ongoing research at the university.

By the time we planned our internship the world was affected by the malevolent spreading of COVID-19 virus. The affected countries and the regions from the COVID-19 are at the heart of the global supply chain. So this has disrupted the supply chain of many industries including textiles and fashion. Due to this unfortunate situation, many of us have to face difficulties in data gathering and some of my colleagues had difficulty in finding internship opportunities in their field of interest.

The need for digitalization has become a hot topic in the business. Also, consumers tend to use digital tools in product and service offerings and consumption. In the fourth industrial revolution paradigm production and consumption transform the industrial systems through digitalization. Consequently, the businesses are having a digital transformation in their business models to capture the value and gain a competitive advantage from differentiation. From this research topic, I’m planning to identify value proposition, user engagement, and partnership of the digital business models. 

Although I wanted to conduct interviews with industrials due to the current pandemic situation this was sidelined. Therefore I am doing a content analysis literature review on this topic. I have gathered literature papers on peer-reviewed research journals to gain the validity of the research. The selected articles are from 2015 to 2020. Also I’m using industrial reports as secondary data. This research topic will explore the transformation of business models relating to the textile and apparel industry and bring worth to future research studies.

I'm exploring more about this interesting topic and hope to share them with you in my next blog. Everyone stay safe,  happy & healthy!