The trend of artificial intelligence is arriving in public administrations, even if this is happening at a slower pace than in other sectors. Today, there are already some public administrations which use artificial intelligence in data analysis, decision-making, fraud detection and irregularities, and the provision of public services. The use of artificial intelligence creates a number of challenges for public administrations that need to be addressed, such as the current lack of transparency, the biases and discrimination, the decrease in guarantees in the processing of administrative procedures, the responsibility for damages caused by the use of artificial intelligence, and its impact on public employment. Artificial intelligence is one of the foundations of intelligent governance; it must include all people in order to contribute to a sustainable development.

This article analyses the reasons that limit the adoption of new technologies and slow down the digital transformation process of companies in the industrial sector. Beyond technical or economic aspects, the origin of the slowdown lies in the lack of transversality of existing professional profiles in the context of Industry 4.0. In view of this, the article also analyses the labour impact and the new professional profiles that will be necessary to deal with the digital transformation process, as well as the role that will be played by experts, working groups and diagnostic tools in this process.

The technologies based on artificial intelligence and robotics are one of the leading challenges facing us now with regards to the future of human work. The so-called Industry 4.0 is placing various business models in doubt, transforming training requirements for the system of production, and is progressively impacting on the distribution of profit.

The Spanish labour market provides a good example of how this new wave of technological change can have an impact on the levels and especially the structure of employment. A growing polarisation can be seen in labour demand and employment opportunities in accordance with educational levels and the various effects of labour imbalance, which are principally attributable to the characteristics of a dominant production model that is intensive in tasks of a routine nature but not particularly active in the incorporation of emerging technologies.

This article analyses the concept of industrial revolution, from its origins at the end of the 19th century up to the current excitement surrounding a supposed Fourth Industrial Revolution. Despite being an idea that is firmly embedded in the Western cultural imagination and in the field of academics, numerous historiographic, economic and sociological studies carried out in recent decades have deeply questioned it. In this article we will explore, on the one hand, its most widely-known deficiencies – which for many make it a spurious concept, loaded with erroneous suppositions and an obsolete vision of technological development - and, on the other, some of the ideological and political effects of its use.

This article analyses the relationship between the uses of Industry 4.0 technologies (I4.0), the value generation and firm results. Based on a sample of 1,525 Spanish industrial firms for 2014, the uses of four basic I4.0 technologies are identified: 1) computer-aided industrial design (CAD); 2) robotics; 3) flexible production systems; and 4) the activity’s numerical control machinery and software, an additional indicator is constructed and the statistical association with the value generation and firm results are studied. The research has obtained three main results. First of all, it is worth noting its incipience. 72.5% of Spanish industrial firms either do not use or use very moderately the I4.0 technologies. Despite of this and secondly, it should be noted that the uses of these technologies are associated with a value generating process in industrial firms which is more intensive in R&D and human capital, more innovative, more digital and more sustainable. And, thirdly, the research also concludes that firms with more intensive uses of I4.0 technologies have better results in terms of sales, value added, exports and gross operating margin. Productivity and employment results are especially relevant. I4.0 intensive industrial firms are 30% more efficient than firms that do not use these technologies. They are also able to take on a much larger number of employees (twice the industrial average) and to pay them much better (12.4% above the industrial average). Finally, the article also discusses the role that I4.0 could play as a new general purpose technology.

Just as the mobile revolution has had a profound impact on society, has created new economic activities and modified existing ones, the marketing research industry has not remained at the margin of all these transformations. As we will see below, mobile technologies have represented new challenges and opportunities for the professionals in the sector, creating new ways to collect data from consumers who participate in market research studies. However, in spite of the advantages that the use of mobile methodologies involve for industry, their adoption and diffusion as a technique to collect information still remains fairly limited. This article includes the data on research methodologies used by the sector and identify the main factors that have influenced the adoption of mobile market research, whether to incentivise or limit their use.

E-commerce is generating important changes in our way of life and consumption habits. More and more people are buying all types of products online at any time using different devices. Shopping for food stands out in this context, as it is gaining more market share and increasing in popularity. Digital commerce faces more barriers to entry than others in the mass consumption sector and supermarkets must be able to create a positive browsing and shopping experiences for the consumers who visit their online sites. Understanding digital consumers’ purchasing behaviour and the factors that have an influence on the optimal browsing and consumption experience is of vital importance for every company in the sector. In this sense, flow is an important determinant of digital consumer behaviour that influences important aspects such as their intention to shop online and their e-loyalty.

Most people claim that they would definitely prefer to lose their wallet before losing their phone. Although the phrase may seem a bit of an exaggeration, it encompasses part of the reality that we often do not see, or that we do not want to see, specifically the amount of information which we have on our smartphone and the capacity that we have to obtain information immediately. Online communication has led to instantaneous information searches, both personal as well as professional. This new digital channel has given rise to an exponential growth of the data stored on the network so that end users can get to know what is happening in any part of the world at any time. Connected to this increased amount of information available, so-called influencers have appeared, who use this new on-line channel and do image-based digital marketing linked to a company, brand or product. Their followers (previously known as fans...) are potential product purchasers. As such, managing this digital asset is very important for companies and their marketing departments. Properly utilising and following up on influencers can greatly help to generate higher sales through a digital marketing channel that still has a long road ahead of it.

Millions of users follow and interact with each other on different social networks. Companies must adapt to the new phenomena of social communication as part of this context. This article analyses the impact of social networks on company communications, new social consumers and their new purchasing habits, the opportunities for companies on social networks, and finally the trends and challenges in the immediate future.