The dependent Industry 4.0 development path of the Visegrád countries

Abstract

The dependency of the Visegrád countries on foreign direct investment has been emphasized in the typologies of capitalist models. Today, the question is whether this development path can be sustained. In past years democratic backsliding and a change towards more inward-looking policies have taken place in this region that may also change their attractiveness to foreign investors. The general slowdown in capital flow can weaken the dependency of these countries on FDI, but the fourth industrial revolution can conversely strengthen it. Based on interviews we conducted with business and academic experts in the Visegrád countries, it is shown that the implementation experiences of Industry 4.0 point to the reinforcement of the duality of firm-level developments and dependency on foreign-controlled enterprises. Therefore, we argue that the FDI-based economic growth path of the Visegrád countries has led to the development of FDI-led industrial transformation.