Abstract
Most of the authors have discussed how technology could enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of the production in various businesses. Yet, there is still a gap in literature, and little has been researched about the business inequalities which are fuelled by the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) between Small and Micro Enterprises (SMEs) and corporates. The aim of this paper is to theoretically analyse the business inequalities instigated by the 4IR between corporates and SMEs. The paper argues that the 4IR is advocated by the corporates to increase their production because they are well-resourced and is a disadvantage to the SMEs due to their poor resources. The inadequate analysis of the business inequalities due to the inception of the 4IR provides a vacuum for further conceptual investigation of the phenomenon. The paper used literature-based methodology to analyze the business inequalities brought by the 4IR between corporates and SMEs. This methodology provided an extensive conceptual review of the literature regarding the subject under investigation. This paper reveals that the critical factor of production in corporates appears to be technology which increases production. In that, the 4IR is beneficial to the corporates and a disadvantage to the SMEs. Therefore, the literature indicated that there is an inevitable huge inequality between corporates and SMEs. The paper concludes that there are great business inequalities between corporates and SMEs brought by the 4IR. Thus, the paper recommends the support structures/organizations to assist the SMEs to respond to the growing technology and attempt to close the business inequalities.
Highlights
This paper seeks to demonstrate a conceptual review of the literature on the analysis of the inequalities between Small and Micro Enterprises (SMEs) and the corporates as a result of the most spoken and anticipated phenomenon of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR)
It is significant to allude that one of the rationales behind the endorsement of the 4IR by the corporates is to quench their thirst for profit maximization (Hernandez, Prysner & Ford, 2019)
SMEs remain the only tool for local people to practice their livelihood diversification with the possibility of enhancing local economy
Summary
This paper seeks to demonstrate a conceptual review of the literature on the analysis of the inequalities between SMEs and the corporates as a result of the most spoken and anticipated phenomenon of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). Without diverting from the purpose of the paper, the advanced technological elements are afforded by the corporates, this questions their counterparts (SMEs) in respect to affording the advanced technological elements To lengthen the latter point, the low-tech SMEs have a likelihood of being unproductive, uncompetitive, ineffective due to their nature of lacking the financial resources, skills, and knowledge of the 4IR (Maloka, 2013; Mutoko, 2014). The paper submit that the problem is poor and inadequate resources that SMEs continue to endure This would lead to SMEs being left out of the competitive market and the gap of business inequalities between SMEs and corporates would continue to grow as a result. The findings and discussions of this paper are not necessarily final, they could be used by other scholars or academics who wish to further study the same phenomenon
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