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Construction industry (CI) has great prominence for the world economy, and it is expected that, with the use of the innovative technologies and approaches of Industry 4.0 (I4.0), the new industrial paradigm, construction can reach higher levels of productivity. This study aims to develop a model (readiness model) to assess the level of use of I4.0 technologies by the construction sector in Brazil and its most relevant applications.

The methodology used was bibliographic research, design-science research and a survey to validate the model, carried out with 162 companies, considered among the main ones in the sector in Brazil. The literature review revealed 13 technologies of I4.0 applied to construction; hence, the views of industry experts were based on these technologies.

The Digital Advancement Within CoNstruction (DAWN) readiness model was proposed, showing that among the 13 evaluated technologies of I4.0 and their applications, the Brazilian construction companies had a low level of utilization; both high and middle-income companies presented this low level of use; some technologies with a greater number of scientific publications were less used in practice in the Brazilian construction.

The originality and theoretical contribution are to present a readiness model to assess the level of use of I4.0 technologies and their most relevant applications in the CI in countries with an economy similar to Brazil’s, making it possible to measure the level of adoption of these technologies.

This paper proposes the “fields and weapons of the competition model applied to business networks” – CAC-Redes (in Portuguese, Campos e Armas da Competição – Redes de negócio), an extension of the fields and weapons of the competition model (CAC) – to study the competition and competitiveness of companies operating in business networks in a competitive environment while integrating organizational competencies, interorganizational ties and company positioning to provide competitive advantage.

CAC-Redes is born from the cross-fertilization process of various theoretical perspectives, namely, industrial organization, traditional view of operational activities and resources, relational view, strategic alignment, transaction cost theory and social perspectives in networks, structured according to systems theory and under the mantle of competitive advantage theory. To discover the structure of existing models of competitiveness in networks, a bibliographic search was conducted in the Scopus database. Quali-quantitative empirical research was undertaken in companies from six different economic sectors through structured questionnaires and personal interviews to understand how companies competed and discover the determining factors of their competitive advantage.

Only seven models of competitiveness in network were found, and their structures and characteristics are quite different from those of CAC-Redes. Empirical research confirms all the hypotheses that support CAC-Redes, which, combined with those of CAC, indicate the CAC-Redes corroboration.

CAC-Redes does not apply to networks without intercompany competition, studies on network governance and corporate strategy formulation.

CAC-Redes is effective in studying complex competitiveness phenomena because it considers multiple influences; provides a process based on qualitative and quantitative variables that increase the probability of formulating successful competitive strategies; simplifies the differentiation of skills from core competencies and determines them; proposes a competitive advantage criterion to select suppliers; creates a unifying language to represent the different strategic specificities of companies, competitors, suppliers, customers and the company environment and provides a library containing 181 weapons (resources) and dozens of interorganizational ties that can be used in empirical studies with other methodologies.

CAC-Redes, due to its originality and peculiarities, theoretically contributes to theory of resources because it dispenses with the assumption, “unique resource, source of competitive advantage”; to relational view because it considers interorganizational relationships as a competence and treats it quali-quantitatively and to core competencies because if the strategy changes, different core competencies will be needed. Furthermore, it is an alternative to the dynamic capabilities perspective, and it transforms the five manufacturing performance objectives into nine for the entire company.

CAC-Redes is an original model because its structure and characteristics comparatively differ from those of existing models, and 14 singularities are detected.

This study aims to broaden the understanding of the additive manufacturing (AM) body of knowledge, presenting a model better suited to the current level of technological development that supports the decision to implement AM in industries, based on the experience of companies in the industry of orthopedic medical implants.

Based on the design-science research, the model for the decision to adopt the AM was designed and submitted to experts from the industry of orthopedic implants in Brazil for refinement. For the empirical test of the final model, interviews were used in a company that was considering implementing AM and in another that was not, to evaluate the model.

The model considers seven dimensions for decision analysis of AM implementation: legal constraints, financial, technological, operational, organizational, supply chain and external factors, being subdivided into 42 criteria that play a relevant role in the implementation decision. The analysis factor of each dimension and criteria are also presented.

The model seeks to be as complete as possible and can be used by various industrial productive sectors, incorporating the analysis of the requirements of health regulatory agencies, suitable for the analysis of the decision to implement AM for the manufacturing of medical implants, not found in other models.

The purpose of this paper is to identify, characterize, classify and conceptualize different perspectives on strategic alignment still in use, propose a taxonomy and definitions that allow understanding the various coexisting concepts, as well as investigate the implications of strategic alignment for data-driven sustainable performance of firms and supply chains.

Bibliographic review was used.

The taxonomy proposes two classes of strategic alignment: (1) Align – more rigorous types of alignment: structure alignment, strategic congruence and strategy alignment; (2) Fit – less rigorous types of alignment: contingency strategic adjustment, strategic coalignment and strategic consistency. Companies are accumulating large amounts of data, which relevance varies widely. The strategic alignment can define criteria to select only the data that have strategic value, which restricts the amount of data to be analyzed. Each of the six types of strategic alignment is appropriate for a given situation in companies and/or supply chains.

The limitations stem from the exclusive use of the taxonomy of strategic alignment, without considering the most diverse perspectives of strategy.

Decision makers will be able to identify more objectively which classes of data should be explored in each situation.

Theoretical implications – The taxonomy proposal and the definition of each of the strategic alignment perspectives solve generalized misunderstandings resulting from the lack of a clear delimitation between the perspectives and the conceptual divergence between authors, who use them as equivalent or synonymous.

From 1961 to 2019, no paper was found proposing taxonomy, typology, systematization, ranking, distribution or classification of strategic alignment. The strategic alignment can define criteria to select, within the large amount of data accumulated by the company, only those that have strategic value, what restricts the quantity of data to be analyzed and facilitates the decision of the leaders.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the research landscape of LSS 4.0 papers published in two well-known repositories, Scopus and Web of Science (WoS), in terms of publication trends, article distribution by author, journal, affiliations and country, and article clustering based on keywords, authors and countries. In addition, a literature review was carried out to build a conceptual framework of integrated Lean Six Sigma and Industry 4.0 (LSS 4.0) that encompasses operational, sustainability and human factors or ergonomics aspects.

The literature review of integrated Lean Six Sigma and I4.0 publications published in Scopus and WoS databases in the current decade was conducted for the present study. This study categorizes LSS, I4.0 and related research articles based on publication patterns, journals, authors and affiliations, country and continental-wise distribution and clustering the articles based on keywords and authors from the Scopus and WoS databases from 2011 to 2022 using the search strings “Lean”, “Six Sigma”, “Lean Six Sigma” and “Industry 4.0” in the Title, Abstract and Keywords using Biblioshiny, VOS viewer and Microsoft Excel.

In the recent three years, from 2020 to 2022, LSS 4.0 has been substantially increasing and is seen as an emerging and trending area. This research identifies the most influential authors, most relevant affiliations, most prolific countries and most productive journals and clusters based on keywords, authors and countries. Further, a conceptual framework was developed that includes the impact of operational, sustainability and ergonomic or human factors in LSS 4.0.

This article assists in comprehending the trends and patterns of LSS 4.0. Further, the conceptual framework helps professionals and researchers understand the significance and impact of integrating LSS and Industry 4.0 in the aspects of human factors/ergonomic, sustainability and operations. Also, the research induce professionals to incorporate all these factors while designing and implementing LSS 4.0 in their organization.

This conceptual framework and bibliometric analysis would aid in identifying potential areas of research and providing future directions in the domain of LSS 4.0. It will be beneficial for academicians, professionals and researchers who are planning to apply and integrate techniques of LSS and technologies of I4.0 in their organizations and research.