Factors influencing sustainability in start-ups operations 4.0

Abstract

Given that the previous industrial revolution brought about significant and occasionally unanticipated changes in the “economy,” “the environment,” and “society,” industry 4.0’s sustainability effects deserve all of academia's attention. The study of the start-up operations 4.0 sustainability effects is in its infancy, and more research is needed to fully understand the sustainability implication of start-up operation 4.0 in terms of the influence of digitization on the economy, the environment, and society. Though research on sustainability in industry 4.0 has been performed, a study on the factors influencing start-up operations 4.0 to achieve sustainability has not received the necessary attention. To address this issue and gap, the current study models the factors influencing start-up operations 4.0 to achieve sustainability. Through review of literatures and experts’ opinion, ten factors have been identified. To identify how the factors interact, the “Modified-Total Interpretive Structural Modelling (M-TISM)” technique is employed, and the “MICMAC method” is used to “rank and categorize” the factors. The findings shows that the key importance should be given to the “management support for sustainability adoption,” “decentralized system,” “green design,” and “machine learning system.” The developed hierarchical link between variables provides a comprehensive understanding of how sustainability helps start-ups competitiveness and what elements are responsible for this impact. The management of the start-ups can utilize this framework to enhance start-up operations 4.0 since our study uses factors often studied separately but not combined. This study will help academics, and key stakeholders understand the aspects that lead to sustainability in start-up operations 4.0.