IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/vrs/poicbe/v17y2023i1p618-629n11.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Industry 4.0 in Central and Eastern Europe: Is Romania Ready to Embrace the Fourth Industrial Revolution?

Author

Listed:
  • Nedelcu Mihai-Răzvan

    (Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania; This paper was co-financed by the Bucharest University of Economic Studies during the PhD, Program)

Abstract

This research paper analyses the opportunities for the possible implementation of the latest technological innovations in the Romanian manufacturing industry. The latest trends in technology can be summed up by the term “Industry 4.0”, or the “Fourth Industrial Revolution”, which brings unprecedented levels of automation, thanks to recent breakthroughs in Artificial Intelligence (A.I.), robotics and much more. However, manufacturing sectors are not created equally and some are more susceptible to implementing new technologies than others. The industrial situation in Eastern and Central Europe is highly debated and complex. During the Cold War, most of the Warsaw Pact and COMECON countries were characterized, economically speaking, by rapid industrialization, be it heavy or light industry. This is also the case in Romania, as it saw an increase in industrial output during the communist era. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the collapse of the collectivist ideology, some manufacturing sectors collapsed, while new ones appeared, the case of deindustrialization in Central and Eastern Europe still being under scrutiny, as the industrial output has been more stable than we tend to believe. However, a shift did occur, especially in Romania. Following the transition to a market economy, industrial output suffered a metamorphosis, exchanging some sectors (such as the textile one) for new ones (such as the automotive one, following an increase in foreign direct investments from the West). These shifts in the manufacturing sector have an advantage in the unfolding context, as the new industries (such as auto-manufacturing) are more inclined to adopt Industry 4.0. These factors, in combination with the recent trend of reshoring, are prone to positively influence the future economic environment of Romania.

Suggested Citation

  • Nedelcu Mihai-Răzvan, 2023. "Industry 4.0 in Central and Eastern Europe: Is Romania Ready to Embrace the Fourth Industrial Revolution?," Proceedings of the International Conference on Business Excellence, Sciendo, vol. 17(1), pages 618-629, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:vrs:poicbe:v:17:y:2023:i:1:p:618-629:n:11
    DOI: 10.2478/picbe-2023-0058
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.2478/picbe-2023-0058
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.2478/picbe-2023-0058?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Komarčević, Miodrag & Dimić, Milovan & Čelik, Petar, 2017. "Challenges and impacts of the digital transformation of society in the social sphere," SEER Journal for Labour and Social Affairs in Eastern Europe, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 20(1), pages 31-48.
    2. Adrian Curaj & Mihai Paunica & Andreea Popa & Cosmin Holeab & Octavian-Dragomir Jora, 2020. "Sustainability Through Directed Change in the Visionary University: From Predicting to Producing the Future," The AMFITEATRU ECONOMIC journal, Academy of Economic Studies - Bucharest, Romania, vol. 22(55), pages 905-905, August.
    3. Naudé, Wim & Surdej, Aleksander & Cameron, Martin, 2019. "The Past and Future of Manufacturing in Central and Eastern Europe: Ready for Industry 4.0?," IZA Discussion Papers 12141, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lobanov, M. & Zvezdanovic Lobanova, J. & Zvezdanovic, M., 2022. "Typologization of industrial systems in the countries of Central-Eastern and South-Eastern Europe," Journal of the New Economic Association, New Economic Association, vol. 56(4), pages 92-122.
    2. Bartłomiej Bajan & Joanna Łukasiewicz & Aldona Mrówczyńska-Kamińska, 2021. "Energy Consumption and Its Structures in Food Production Systems of the Visegrad Group Countries Compared with EU-15 Countries," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-24, July.
    3. Éltető, Andrea & Sass, Magdolna, 2021. "A kapitalizmus változatai és az ipar 4.0 a visegrádi országokban [Varieties of capitalism and industry 4.0 in the Visegrad countries]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(5), pages 490-514.
    4. Luigi Capoani & Gianluca Bortoletto & Samuele Fratini & Violetta Van Veen & Cristoforo Imbesi, 2022. "The Genesis and Evolution of the Blue Banana Region," HISTORY OF ECONOMIC THOUGHT AND POLICY, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2022(2), pages 5-45.
    5. Ionut Marius Croitoru & Cosmin Alexandru Spiridon & Geanin Georgian Jurubita, 2023. "Regional Development at the European Level: A Bibliometric Analysis from 2019 to 2023," Ovidius University Annals, Economic Sciences Series, Ovidius University of Constantza, Faculty of Economic Sciences, vol. 0(1), pages 77-86, August.
    6. Zoran Aralica & Bruno Skrinjaric, 2021. "Adoption of digital and ICT technologies and firms’ productivity," Working Papers 2102, The Institute of Economics, Zagreb.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:vrs:poicbe:v:17:y:2023:i:1:p:618-629:n:11. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Peter Golla (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.sciendo.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.