Pandemic Effect on the Industry 4.0 Readiness: A Case Study in Vietnamese Industry

The COVID-19 pandemic has seriously affected the global supply chain because many links in the chain have been broken or severely delayed. Different epidemic response policies from other countries also have had a significant impact on logistics activities and the operations of businesses. The considerable influence of this pandemic also has caused companies to change their strategies for risk management and apply advanced technologies to handle disruption in the future. This study explores the pandemic's impact on the decision to apply Industry 4.0 technology in the production process using qualitative research. The leaders from 4 selected manufacturing firms were interviewed with open-end questions and thematic and cross-case analyses were applied to analyze their strategic orientation to use Industry 4.0 technology in their businesses during and after COVID-19. The results show that COVID-19 influenced the decision to implement Industry 4.0 technology in international and local companies within the global market. In contrast, the pandemic has not affected the decision to implement Industry 4.0 technology in a local company with a local market. The following policy recommendations are based on these findings. The government should establish a policy to provide vital support to local SMEs because their employee capability is too low to implement Industry 4.0 technology and deal with the pandemic crisis. Moreover, executive training for giving essential knowledge for Industry 4.0 should be provided to the owners of SMEs.