Alejandro Germán Frank

Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul | UFRGS · Departamento de Engenharia de Produção e Transportes

This research investigates innovation in Brazil, one of the largest emerging economies in Latin America. More specifically, we aim to understand how innovation activities conducted in Brazilian industrial sectors (innovation input) are related to and affect innovation results (innovation output). The paper presents a quantitative analysis of a comp...

Theory discussing how to define and frame the relationship between the strategy making process (SMP) and business model innovation (BMI) is still incipient in the academic literature. Thus, this study aims at investigating the relationship between SMP and BMI by addressing (1) when firms engage in BMI within the overall SMP, and (2) how firms desig...

Industry 4.0 has been considered a new industrial stage in which several emerging technologies are converging to provide digital solutions. However, there is a lack of understanding of how companies implement these technologies. Thus, we aim to understand the adoption patterns of Industry 4.0 technologies in manufacturing firms. We propose a concep...

Industry 4.0 is considered a new industrial stage in which vertical and horizontal manufacturing processes integration and product connectivity can help companies to achieve higher industrial performance. However, little is known about how industries see the potential contribution of the Industry 4.0 related technologies for industrial performance,...

Servitization and Industry 4.0 are considered two of the most recent trends transforming industrial companies. Servitization is mainly focused on adding value to the customer (demand-pull) while Industry 4.0 is frequently related to adding value to manufacturing process (technology-push). Although some scholars address them as complementary concept...

A pesquisa busca construir um panorama da situação atual das cadeias de suprimentos de empresas brasileiras com foco no smart working e no compartilhamento de conhecimento. Isso permitirá identificar o potencial das cadeias e as áreas que precisam de maior ou menor amadurecimento para alinhar-se aos ideais de trabalho inteligente com base na transf...

Digital transformation (DT) plays a crucial role in shaping operations and supply chain management. Through real-time data sharing and automated decision-making systems, DT fosters supply chain integration (SCI), facilitated by key digital technologies like Internet of Things (IoT), cloud computing, big data, and artificial intelligence. Effective...

Purpose Supply chains are increasingly incorporating social perspectives into their activities. It is often argued that social initiatives in supply chain management (SCM) are a response to external pressures. However, it is still undetermined whether these initiatives can improve economic performance. Additionally, it is proposed that digital tran...

Purpose This study aims to provide an overall framework that connects and explains a macro-perspective of the findings from the five studies of this special issue. Through this, we aim to answer two main questions: How can Lean and Industry 4.0 be integrated, and what are the outcomes for workers from such integration? Design/methodology/approach...

Industry 4.0 has been conceived to enhance factory productivity, significantly impacting social aspects such as hierarchical structures, workers' skills, and operational routines. As digital technologies reshape factory activities, the need to support workers and their social environment has become crucial. This paper discusses the importance of vi...

Collaborative robots (cobots) are a type of Industry 4.0 technology designed to support manufacturing workers and create smart working environments (also called as Industry 5.0). However, little is known about how the use of cobots shapes workers’ skills. We analyse this in four types of human-cobot interaction: coexistence, synchronism, cooperatio...

This study organized existing research on digital governance models. The question that guided this research is: How can digitization models be used by governments, and what are the advantages and challenges of these models? Descriptive models were found about digital governments (e-Gov), their benefits, and the challenges of their implementation. T...

Faced with the changes that happen all the time in the industry and the growing need for consumption, it is necessary to think of approaches that meet these demands without harming the environment. Within this context, the main objective of this study is to explore how digital technologies can be used in the waste reduction, reuse, and recycling of...

With the advent of Industry 4.0 (I4.0), companies were induced to invest in technologies to remain competitive and make their processes more efficient. However, the scarcity of structured processes is pointed out in the literature as one of the biggest barriers to the I4.0 transition since companies need implementation guides warning about possible...

The servitization literature has evidenced that the development and provision of Smart Product-Service Systems usually happen through collaborative ecosystems, but little is known about the different arrangements that ecosystem's actors can follow to provide digital solutions. We aim to define collaborative configurations of ecosystem actors in dig...

The implementation of Industry 4.0 is usually built around core technologies that integrate different complementary hardware and software to coordinate activities within and across the company's borders. These technologies can operate as platforms, becoming the base of technology integration in the digital transformation journey. However, the speci...

The literature has considered purchasing and supply management activities from a strategic perspective, but the tactical role of purchasing operations has yet to be explored. Purchasing operations represent the internal modus operandi for transactions with suppliers, comprising three main activities – purchasing transactions, purchasing document ma...

Objetivo: Diante da crescente relevância dos riscos nas cadeias de suprimentos, melhorar a sua compreensão é muito importante, uma vez que permitirá avaliar a fase de gestão dos riscos na cadeia de suprimentos e, com base nisso, melhorar as abordagens existentes ou apresentar abordagens inteiramente novas. O objetivo principal do estudo foi des...

Productivity, quality, and flexibility are key production targets pursued by companies that adopt Industry 4.0. However, it is unclear how Industry 4.0 technologies can help achieve these different and sometimes competing targets. This study investigates this relationship through a survey of 92 manufacturers. The study employs Exploratory Factor An...

Humanity has faced many crises in the past, such as pandemics, wars, and economic crises, and other crises are certain to come in the future; however, emerging technologies have a role to play in improving companies' resilience in the face of such crises. The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has led to human, technological, and managerial constraint...

Esta pesquisa tve por objetivo de construir um panorama a partir da atual situação das cadeias de suprimentos de empresas brasileiras com uma atenção voltada ao âmbito sustentável. Com isso, será possível identificar o potencial das cadeias e os aspectos que necessitam de maior ou menor amadurecimento para alinharem-se aos ideais de desenvolvimento...

Industry 4.0 (I4.0) literature has been concerned with how to implement digital technologies in manufacturing processes. However, the I4.0 concept also comprises broader changes in the company's business model (BM) through digital transformation, which deserves more attention, especially from the technology providers' perspective. As they are essen...

The growing environmental business uncertainties have forced companies to focus on developing more flexible supply chains. Digital transformation has been considered a key means to achieving such flexibility, but the literature lacks empirical evidence about how digital technologies effectively contribute to it. Thus, this study aims to analyze how...

Purpose While it is known that digital transformation facilitates data flow in supply chains, its importance on green supply chain management (GSCM) has not been investigated concisely. This paper aims to expand the theory of digital transformation in GSCM by investigating the interconnections between these concepts and providing an integrative vie...

Services for Smart Product-Service Systems (PSS) business models can be delivered through multiple digital channels like smart products, cloud systems, and workers enhanced by virtually augmented systems. Since these channels are data-intensive dependent, they usually require data sources from the company's service ecosystem. Prior studies have sho...

This study analyses the paradoxical tension between sources of resources for digital transformation management in supply chain integration processes. We analyse the effect of the internal digital resources (RBV) and the external digital resources (RV) on the supply chain integration processes and the companies' performance. A cross-industry survey...

Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) may find it challenging to acquire the technologies and capabilities associated with Industry 4.0. This chapter investigates the role of collaboration within supply chains for the development of technologies and solutions in Industry 4.0, with a specific focus on SMEs. We explore collaboration in the digit...

Purpose This paper focuses on understanding the contribution of Industry 4.0 technologies to manufacturing flexibility. Design/methodology/approach A multiple-case study was conducted through interviews and complementary data from 12 adopters of Industry 4.0 technologies from the industrial sector. To enable a broad perspective, cases from 5 indus...

Digital transformation in business solutions is offering opportunities for servitization to become more digitalized. In this context, digital servitization requires the actors involved to perform new roles and develop new capa- bilities. Although servitization actor capabilities in the digital transformation context have been addressed in prior stu...

Companies that want to adopt Industry 4.0 (I4.0) technologies may face difficulties evaluating the return on I4.0 investments. The complexity of implementing such technologies and uncertainties regarding the technological requirements, benefits, and organizational impacts make investment decisions challenging in this context. We propose an investme...

Prior studies considered external conditions that trigger the adoption of servitization in product firms, but little is known on the decision to provide standardized vs. customized services. We analyze this tradeoff when companies face market and technological turbulence. We follow the capability-based switching costs theory, which considers the co...

One of the key principles of Industry 4.0 is the implementation of vertical integration, which considers the integration of information systems from different hierarchical levels in a company to support decision-making with real-time data flows. Companies face challenges when they want to implement vertical integration, which is not trivial due to...

Prior studies have investigated the relationship between Industry 4.0 technologies and work. This paper acknowledges the contributions of such studies and builds on their perspective to broaden the understanding of the contribution of Industry 4.0 technologies to specific worker capabilities and manufacturing activities. The aim is to build a conce...

Renewable Energy Systems (RES) have been proposed as an effective solution for sustainable development. However, the impact of municipal contextual conditions on the development of RES is still unclear. One of the literature gaps is the lack of understanding of whether the balanced development of economic, social, and environmental aspects of susta...

Purpose As the level of implementation of Industry 4.0 increases, misalignments between adopted technologies and organizational factors may result in benefits below expected. This paper aims to analyze how organizational factors can contribute to a higher level of adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies. The paper uses a sociotechnical perspective le...

The Industry 4.0 literature has exponentially grown in the past decade. We aim to understand how this literature has evolved and propose future research opportunities. We focus on four smart dimensions of Industry 4.0: Smart Manufacturing, Smart Products and Services, Smart Supply Chain, and Smart Working. We perform a machine learning-based system...

Este estudo objetiva avaliar o impacto de cursos stricto sensu no trabalho de servidores públicos universitários não vinculados ao exercício da docência. A partir de uma survey, foram coletadas 211 respostas válidas, submetidas à análise descritiva de dados, análise fatorial confirmatória, análise de correlação e regressão linear múltipla. Identifi...

Este artigo explora os conceitos e tecnologias da Indústria 4.0 ao analisar o modelo de negócios de empresas de pequeno e médio porte do setor metalmecânico brasileiro. O objetivo é identificar o quanto as empresas estão preparadas para a transformação na forma de fornecer serviços e produtos, além de apontar quais tecnologias podem auxiliar no des...

Os processos de trabalho vêm sendo alterados com a implementação das tecnologias da Indústria 4.0, o que pode gerar oportunidades e ameaças ao futuro do trabalho no Brasil. Dessa forma, o presente artigo buscou realizar uma análise do atual cenário brasileiro frente a especialização do trabalho a partir da implementação de tecnologias 4.0. Para tal...

Purpose This paper aims to propose that knowing in practice can be used as a mechanism to enhance social exchange in collaborative new product development (NPD) with suppliers to reduce glitches. Practic00es of inter-organizational knowing should consider the levels of supplier involvement adopted. Design/methodology/approach This paper studies tw...

This paper studies the mediating role of purchasing operations' configuration (transaction, documents, and assessment) on the suppliers and firm performance relationship. We conducted a survey with 234 companies and applied OLS regression. Purchasing assessment process completely mediates this relationship, whereas the purchasing transaction proces...

Purpose Open innovation breadth (OIB) considers the diversity of external collaboration partners for innovation. The authors investigate the moderating effect of OIB on the relationship between industrial innovation activities (innovation inputs) and industrial innovation results (innovation outputs). Design/methodology/approach This study is base...

Purpose The provision of Industry 4.0 solutions demands a vast range of technology domains. To provide these solutions, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) may need the support of different supply chain actors through an inbound open innovation strategy. The authors study the contribution of four types of supply chain actors for inbound open...

Purpose The purpose of this study is to analyse the effect of different forms of service supplier involvement on the service business dimensions necessary for servitisation and on the resulting servitisation performance. Design/methodology/approach Three different configurations of service supplier involvement are considered in this study: black b...

Purpose-The provision of Industry 4.0 solutions demands a vast range of technology domains. To provide these solutions, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) may need the support of different supply chain actors through an inbound open innovation strategy. The authors study the contribution of four types of supply chain actors for inbound open...

Some countries have chosen to focus on bottom-up initiatives to enhance the development of renewable energy systems (RES), using the local level (municipalities) as a pillar in this development. Municipalities need to expand their innovation policies to support such transition toward renewable energies. The triple helix (TH) model, based on univers...

Smart dust is an autonomous sensing, computing, and communication system that can be packed into a cubic-millimeter mote to form the basis of integrated, massively distributed sensor networks. The purpose of this manuscript is to identify potential applications of smart dust in product lifecycle management with a focus on the industrial economic se...

Paper aims: The objective is to make a comparative analysis between different transportation modes used in the Metropolitan Region of Porto Alegre and to analyze its performance in relation to time, cost and carbon emissions. Originality: Investigation of the urban mobility situation on the perspective of sustainability in a Latin American city, in...

This paper investigates how Information Technology (IT) leveraging capability supports buyer-supplier collaboration in New Product Development (NPD). IT-leveraging capability is defined as the ability to effectively use IT functionalities to support IT-enabled NPD activities. We consider three dimensions of this capability: effective use of Project...

Scholars and practitioners have considered Industry 4.0 a comprehensive set of emerging technologies that establish a new industrial perspective based on the “Internet of Things”. As smart manufacturing is at the core of the Industry 4.0 concept, production planning and control (PPC) should play a key role in Industry 4.0 activities. Prior research...

Technological innovations are increasing the opportunities to develop technically and economically feasible Smart Products. However, the development of Smart Products requires knowledge and capabilities that single companies usually do not possess, thus creating new opportunities for cooperation through the establishment of innovation ecosystems fo...

Industry 4.0 considers complex interrelated IoT-based technologies for the provision of digital solutions. Such a complexity demands a vast set of capabilities that are hard to be found in a single technology provider, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Innovation ecosystems allow SMEs to integrate resources and cocreate Indu...

Resumo: indústria atual passa por um período de mudança, no qual as tecnologias estão mais evidentes e integradas, considerado por muitos como a Quarta Revolução Industrial, a chamada Indústria 4.0. Essa nova era traz consigo inúmeros desafios para as empresas brasileiras, tanto para as que usam tecnologia de manufatura de produtos, quanto para as...

Goal: The purpose of this paper is to present an analysis of Industry 4.0 concepts and technologies through the lens of practitioners and scholars with considerable expertise in this field. Design / Methodology / Approach: A qualitative research was conducted based on seven semi-structured interviews guided by an open questionnaire, which was deve...

Paper aims To shed light on how knowledge is shared between companies during a collaborative new product development (NPD) process. Originality It is the first study of different knowledge sharing levels for each stage of the NPD process in an inter-organizational context. Research method A research framework was created based on the literature. Gu...

The use of digital technologies can increase firms’ performance and competitiveness. In product-service system context, digital technologies can improve both the innovation process, by facilitating the orchestration and collaboration, and the outcome, since they can offer new functionalities and deliver value through a digital solution. Although th...

Servitization is considered as a strategic option for manufacturers who need to develop higher-value offering. As a result, a manufacturer can include service to its product offer, in order to obtain different types of product service-systems (PSS). Several companies have been relying on digital technologies to enhance the PSS, especially those tha...

Abstract Paper aims To define a model that describes the relationship among the main factors influencing knowledge transfer (KT) between new product development (NPD) teams. Originality We offer a systemic vision of the relationship between the KT factors. All main KT factors are analyzed together considering the interdependence among them. Researc...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to study service innovation in product companies (servitization) by considering the relationship (moderation) between product companies and service suppliers. Methodology – Using a relational view of the firm, we propose that there are three main business dimensions that product companies have to manage in s...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to study service innovation in product companies (servitization) by considering the relationship (moderation) between product companies and service suppliers. Design/methodology/approach Using a relational view of the firm, the authors propose that there are three main business dimensions that product companies...

Many companies allocate significant resources to implementing lean on the manufacturing shop floor, but fewer resources to implementing lean in the product development processes. Despite a rich literature on lean manufacturing (LM) and a growing literature on lean product development (LPD), there is limited research on the relation between these tw...