PhD Defence: Luis Prato Viermas

Abstract

We are living through a new industrial revolution where Smart Manufacturing and Industry 4.0 are reshaping how companies create and capture value. Digital technologies (DTs) now connect machines, people, and data in real time, offering unprecedented visibility, efficiency, and precision. These developments have also enabled new business models, such as Performance-Based Contracting (PBC), where outcomes, rather than transactions, measure success. This dissertation examines the impact of digital transformation on the success of PBC in the manufacturing sector. Drawing on successful and failed case studies from the food and beverage industry, this study examines the opportunities and challenges of implementing digitally enabled performance measurement systems and proposes strategies to enhance contract effectiveness.

The work is organized into a literature review and three empirical studies. Chapter 2 maps the current state of PBC research in digitally enabled manufacturing contexts, highlighting gaps and emerging themes. Chapter 3 explores how DTs improve outcome measurability and help address principal–agent conflicts, while also revealing the barriers firms face in adopting new technologies. Chapter 4 discusses the dynamic capabilities suppliers need to implement effective PBCs in Smart Factories. Chapter 5 emphasizes organizational learning as the process through which firms turn data into actionable performance knowledge. The research concludes that technology alone does not drive transformation. Sustainable success happens when firms combine digital literacy with dynamic capabilities, strategic alignment, and continuous learning.