Big Data Analysis as a Digital Service: Evidence Form Manufacturing Firms

Digital disruption is propelling manufacturers to move on towards digital transformation and deliver digital services based on predictive analytics. The literature agrees that digital technologies (i.e. big data) facilitate the service innovation of manufacturers by creating digital servitization. However, little research has specifically focused on the empirical data that analyze use of digital technologies in manufacturing firms in terms of technological intensity. The present study investigates the interaction between big data analysis, as a digital service, and firm characteristics (i.e. firm size and technological intensity). Our analysis used the Serbian dataset of 240 manufacturing firms from the European Manufacturing Survey conducted in 2018. The empirical results show that, in manufacturing firms, digital service based on predictive analytics is highly utilized in medium size firms. Furthermore, results indicate that high technology manufacturing firms in Serbia are not yet utilizing digital technologies to facilitate the service innovation in comparison to other innovation intensity characteristics.