A new wave and the ripples it makes : post-transition firm’s digital maturity and its consequences in global value chains

Objective: The objective of the article is to assess the firms' digital maturity and examine how the adoption of Industry 4.0 solutions affects global value chain (GVC) relationships. Research Design & Methods: The study combined a critical literature review with quantitative empirical research. We collected the primary data during computer-assisted telephone interviews (CATI) among 400 industrial manufacturing firms in Poland. Findings: The study demonstrates that I4.0 technologies adoption modifies the awareness of partners' progress in digital transformation, affects integration among partners, and leads to changes in GVCs' diversification, geographic scope, and governance. Thanks to the study on the digital maturity of firms from a post-transition country, we demonstrated that I4.0 still requires conceptual development and that the emerging theory of the Fourth Industrial Revolution is interdependent with the theory of GVCs. Implications & Recommendations: We focused on the disruption caused by the advancement of digital transformation in companies that operate in a constellation of relationships and are interdependent in the same GVC. The study recognizes the relationships within the GVC as channels of transmission of challenges, risks, and opportunities that emerge from the disruption. We referred to the case of a post-transition, post-communist country in Central and Eastern Europe under digital transformation, which is highly specific yet offers valuable findings transferable to other economies on the eve of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Contribution & Value Added: The novelty of the study lies in the integration of research on digital technology adoption as diagnosed among manufacturing companies in a post-transition country with the inquiry regarding their participation and role in GVCs. Thanks to this approach, we identified how firms' digital maturity reshapes their buyer-supplier relations and, thus, their position in value chains.