Ready, Steady, Go!?? – A V4 Country Comparison of Readiness for the Future of Production

Abstract

Technological changes have been addressing universal and global challenges in production, i.e. in producing and marketing goods and services since less than a decade. The ongoing phenomenon of technological changes has several names, like Industry 4.0, and Fourth Industrial Revolution. The paper provides an overview on this phenomenon first. Some initiatives for assessing the resilience of the industry for preparing and managing them will be also discussed. World Economic Forum is among the global institutions, which has been working on uncovering, and grapping the evolving phenomenon and articulating, and formulating suggestions for key stakeholders. A report was published recently by them, which is taken as a base for comparison of the V4 countries. Two of the V4 countries, Czech Republic and Poland among the leading group of the 100 assessed countries, and the other two, Hungary and Slovakia are left behind by the report. By comparing the data, which underpin these positions, the paper provides some insights into the fields, where the two lagging behind countries signal underperformance. The first results are divers. They suggest that the over-performing fields have underperforming subfields and vica versa. Comparisons like this may support not only future discussions on where and how to move on but also may give orientation for businesses and policy makers.