Leadership, Alliance, and the 4th Industrial Revolution

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About this Research Topic

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Background

We are currently witnessing and experiencing the 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR) ‒ a fusion of advances in artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, the Internet of Things (IoT), 3D printing, etc. This 4IR is considered the key driving force of both domestic and multinational enterprises’ innovations. Moreover, 4IR, e.g., AI, plays a significant role in the advances of enterprise relationship networks. The implementation of 4IR, e.g., the AI revolution, often requires specific arrangements, such as specific resources, strong connections, and alliances with other partners. The relationship between enterprises and business partners varies among cultures and countries. Under the influence of globalization in relation to 4IR, increasing cooperation and alliances came into being. Managers and employees perceive new technologies with different expectations, processing methods, and different leadership styles.

The research on 4IR in the management and international business fields is still in its infancy. Based on the abovementioned information, with the rise of the 4IR, it is necessary to expand our knowledge about its impact on domestic and multinational enterprises and their leaders. For example, among many leadership styles, explore which kind of leadership is most suitable for the AI revolution. In the era of technological innovations, what changes will happen to domestic and multinational enterprise strategies? Will the individual connections and alliances between enterprises be more united or loose from each other? What means or methods should the enterprises implement to achieve a close or loose relationship? Although there has been some previous research, we still have very little knowledge about the enterprise alliance and the alliance performance in relationship with the current 4IR. Moreover, we need to try to find a new bridge between leadership and alliances, as well as further explore the role of human or interpersonal factors. To fill the research gaps and encourage further research, we encourage submissions that address the abovementioned questions.

We seek conceptual, theoretical, and empirical papers, as well as literature reviews, that may address, but are not limited to, the following list of potential research questions:
- Changes in domestic and multinational enterprise strategy brought by 4IR, e.g., the AI revolution
- Transformation and development of enterprise relationship network under 4IR
- Human-computer interaction in the era of 4IR
- Enhance the AI discourse power of enterprises from multiple perspectives
- Differences in leadership and promotion in the era of 4IR
- Organizational performance and human factors (e.g., human resources)
- Interpersonal and corporate relationships
- Opportunities and challenges of 4IR under enterprise alliance and cooperation
- Knowledge sharing culture and corporate cooperation and alliances
- Ways to improve alliance performance under 4IR
- Create intra-organizational and inter-organizational performance by combining cultural diversity with 4IR
- Business and government relationship under 4IR

Keywords: Leadership, Interpersonal and Interorganizational Relationship, Alliance, the 4th Industrial Revolution, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Human Factor, Network

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