Responding to Crisis in Industry 4.0: Sustainable Marketing Innovation in Uncertain Times

Dear Colleagues,

Currently, we are witnessing the fourth industrial revolution (so-called ‘Industry 4.0’), where an increased emphasis on digitisation and value chain integration has transformed the way that many businesses design, develop and deliver their products and services. To this end, some contemporary businesses are recognising that productivity and profitability can be achieved by minimising human involvement while maximising the power of interconnected computers, smart materials, information development, and information sharing (Beier et al., 2020; Gilchrist, 2016). However, beyond economic performance and tangible yields, discourse has shifted to investigate the importance of how the characteristics of Industry 4.0 can contribute to sustainable development on multiple levels, with this considered a vital precursor to long-term adoption across the value chain: “the sustainability impacts of Industry 4.0 and the way it can contribute to sustainable economic, environmental, and social development is increasingly gaining attention” (Ghobakhloo, 2020, p.2). Accordingly, previous studies (e.g., Gilchrist et al., 2016; Varela et al., 2019) argue that sustainability serves as the key driver of successful innovation ecosystems, lean manufacturing, value co-creation and marketing management, with this likely to be heightened under Industry 4.0, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) “due to their limited financial resources to acquire the interdisciplinary knowledge and capabilities required to develop complex solutions independently” (Benitez et al., 2020, p.2). Therefore, smart business solutions centred on co-creation may expedite the development of new markets and avenues for sustainable marketing innovation during the fourth industrial revolution.

Nevertheless, given its emphasis on collaboration, digitisation and integrated value chains, maintaining sustainable global services can prove complicated, particularly during unforeseen emergency situations such as the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic (Longo et al., 2019; Taheri et al., 2019). This has led to the global supply chain in the Industry 4.0 era experiencing hitherto unknown levels of disruption, with challenges emerging concomitantly for those tasked with developing sustainable marketing innovations. Thus, the business drivers of Industry 4.0 in a post-crisis world may be assessed differently in terms of competitive advantage; business continuity; cost reduction; productivity; sustainability; and innovation (cf. Djalante et al., 2020). To this end, the priority for many businesses is survival—evaluating the immediate financial impacts of business disruption while reducing future risk and organisational damage. Consequently, recent months have witnessed increased investment in emergency management. Morakabati et al. (2017, p.299) argue that “emergency management is about the way in which organizations respond to crises such as natural disasters, terrorism, outbreaks of disease such as pandemic influenza and Ebola, as well as unforeseen impacts on business activities”. The field of emergency management has been theoretically and empirically studied over the last three decades in relation to several underpinning areas, such as crisis management, panic-buying behaviour, disaster management, risk and terrorism (Bundy et al., 2017). Such risk-related situations have serious implications for sustainable marketing innovation under Industry 4.0, changing the “rules of the game” across multiple sectors.

To this end, the aim of this Special Issue is to showcase current research on sustainable marketing innovation under Industry 4.0. We hope to provide a platform for original research that provides rich evaluation of new approaches to sustainable marketing innovation pre-, during and post-unforeseen emergency situations (e.g., the Covid-19 pandemic). Beyond the topics listed below, we welcome all types of high‐quality submissions, including both theoretical and empirical papers. Emphasis will be placed on progressing those that build upon and extend existing research and scholarship into sustainable marketing innovation under Industry 4.0. We also encourage studies that use a range of methodologies, including qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods. To this end, the Guest Editors welcome empirical and applied research including, but not limited to, the following themes:

• Innovative approaches to sustainable marketing under Industry 4.0;
• Methodological, data science and data availability challenges;
• Application of AI, VR, robotics, automation, blockchain and other digital technology approaches;
• Supply chain management and the circular economy;
• SME approaches to business model innovation within Industry 4.0;
• Industry 4.0 and the Internet of Things (IoT);
• Sustainable marketing innovation under Industry 4.0 in the time of the Coronavirus;
• The future for sustainable marketing innovation under Industry 4.0 in the post Covid-19 paradigm;
• Green lean Six Sigma;
• Consumer behaviour and B2B marketing;
• Emergency management, crisis management and Industry 4.0;
• Cyberphysical Systems (CPS).

Prof. Dr. Babak Taheri
Dr. Martin Gannon
Guest Editors

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• sustainability
• sustainable marketing
• Industry 4.0
• marketing management
• emergency management
• supply chain management
• innovation ecosystems
• SMEs and family businesses