The path towards industry 4.0. A comprehensive methodology for researching Serbian manufacturing industry. A research proposal

Since Industry 4.0 (I4.0) has become the guiding principle of manufacturing companies and policymakers in the majority of developed countries, many emerging economies have also adopted this concept to improve their national competitiveness and catch up with Western economies. The previous research presented that there are three main conditions for successful adoption and implementation of I4.0: technological, environmental, and organizational. Moreover, due to complexity caused by, e.g., cultural, political, economic, etc. differences, the conceptualization of such a methodology for emerging economies like Western Balkan countries is particularly challenging. Following the identified gap in lacking comprehensive research on the manufacturing sector's readiness for industrial digital transformation in Western Balkan region (e.g. Republic of Serbia), in this paper is presented a research proposal for researching the I4.0 readiness of the Serbian manufacturing industry.