Abstract:The introduction of information technology into all aspects of our lives has brought forth qualitative and quantitative changes on such a large scale that this process has come to be known as the Fourth Industrial Revolution, or Industry 4.0. The aim of this paper is to fill in the gaps and provide an overview of studies dealing with Industry 4.0 from the business and economic perspectives. A scoping review is performed regarding business, microeconomic and macroeconomic economic problems. Four investigators performed a literature search of the Web of Science, Scopus, and Science Direct. The selected period spanned from 2014 to 2018, and the following keywords were used for the search: Industry 4.0, economics, economic development, production economics, and financial sector. A total of 2275 results were returned. In all, 67 full papers were screened. Results obtained from the relevant studies were, furthermore, divided into the following categories: work and skills development; economy growth and macroeconomic aspect; sustainability; intelligent manufacturing; policy; and change in business processes. Findings show that the aspects of work and skills development, smart technology adoption, intelligent manufacturing, and digitalization are very well described. The government and its policies usually play the role of a needed supportive element. Usually studies lack a coherent view of the topic in question and solve partial questions.

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Currently, there is a dynamic and progressive growth of substitution labour by capital. The introduction of new technologies, digitization, and automation of production is referred to as the fourth industrial revolution or Industry 4.0. The initiative Industry 4.0 also causes changes in the labour market. Industry 4.0 should increase production effi ciency, increase work productivity, reduce costs, customize solutions, and increase business fl exibility. The higher effi ciency of production and automation will enable the implementation of sustainable development. These market changes bring with them the need to measure the effi ciency and performance of production and industry. Current performance indicators are insuffi ciently refl ected in dynamically changing market conditions. For this reason, more and more companies, as well as governments around

The current pandemic has far-reaching consequences for people's lives, employment and family life; has also changed the economic environment. The Covid-19 pandemic had, among other things, significant effects on the labour market, which has undergone significant changes. Thanks to the support of the Czech government and its program, the unemployment rate in 2020 remained so far at 3.51%, which is the lowest unemployment rate of all EU countries. The labour market also opens up space for a more significant implementation of the Industry 4.0 concept, which can increase the competitiveness of companies. The aim of the article is to analyse the dynamic development of basic values observed in the labour market (employment, unemployment, wage developments, etc.) in individual quarters since 2018. Furthermore, the Czech government's employment support programs and the main changes that may occur as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic were presented. The paper presents a multilevel analysis of given condition, as it also takes into account the framework of global changes, which we became part of before the arrival of Covid-19. Without these changes, it is not possible to move advance in with the Industry 4.0 initiative.

This paper empirically investigates the impact of cognitive board diversity in education, expertise, and tenure facets on financial distress likelihood in the emerging economy of China. This study examines how this relationship varies across State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) and Non-State-Owned Enterprises (NSOEs). Paper argues that the Chinese stock market, as a typical emerging market, is an excellent laboratory for studying the impact of board diversity on the probability of financial distress. Its underdeveloped financial system and inadequate investor protection leave firms unprotected from financial hardship. A sample of 12,366 observations from 1,374 firms from 2010 to 2018 shows that cognitive diversity qualities are positively linked with Z-score, implying that directors with different educational backgrounds, financial skills, and tenures can assist in reducing the probability of financial distress. Cognitive board diversity reduces the likelihood of financial distress in SOEs and NSOEs. However, tenure diversity is insignificant in all cases. Furthermore, the robustness model “two-step system Generalized Methods of Moments (GMM)” demonstrated a positive association between educational diversity, financial expertise, and financial distress scores. The results have significant implications for researchers, managers, investors, regulators, and policymakers.

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