Digital Transformation in the Manufacturing Industries of Russia: an Analysis of the Business Tendencies Observations Results

Abstract

The spread of digital technologies in the economy changes production processes and business models. The technologies associated with the fourth industrial revolution, such as the industrial Internet of Things and additive manufacturing, have a significant impact on the production cycle in manufacturing. Based on short-term and medium-term entrepreneurial opinions and intentions, this paper examines key aspects of the digitalization process in Russian enterprises, using the method of conjuncture observations and surveys, which supplements quantitative statistics. Taking into account the differentiation of the manufacturing industries into low-, medium- and high-tech, a set of trends in the digital technologies development, the industrial participation in digital transformation in the forms of the business processes digitalization and the digitalization of labor, as well as many other important indicators not measured or only partially measured by quantitative statistics is presented. For all industries, factors hindering digital transformation were identified and ranked. A survey of managers showed significant variation in entrepreneurial judgment regarding most aspects of production digitalization. Despite the fact that the transition to Industry 4.0 is taking place in Russia against the background of unfavorable trends in the business climate, the resulting opinions allow us to state that progress is obvious, although the level of immersion into digitalization processes is not yet deep. Consideration of digital activity from the point of industrial separation view, as well as taking into account the classification of industries as low-, medium- and high-tech, allowed us to identify the industrial features of this digital transformation. In particular, some technologies, such as the industrial Internet of Things, were predominantly distributed in the medium and high-tech segment, while others, such as 3D printing and radio frequency identification tags, were represented in most manufacturing industries. Promising areas for continuing research on digital transformation in the Russian manufacturing include expanding the conjuncture observation program by including other industries, the development of appropriate composite indicators, an analysis of the relationship between economic indicators and digitalization, and a foresight study of the qualitative aspects of digital transformation.