Emergent properties of industrial systems and their role in ensuring sustainable competitive advantage
In the era of digital transformation, intense competition, and the emergence of Industry 5.0, the traditional levers of competitive advantage, such as proprietary technologies, resource control, or economies of scale, are losing their initial sustainability. They are becoming easily replicable or losing their value. In this context, the search for long-term, inalienable, and copy-protected growth factors naturally highlights the concept of emergence, where a system exhibits new and qualitatively distinct properties that are not present in its individual components. The importance of this research is due to the need to rethink approaches to the management of industrial systems, shifting the focus from linear, predictable models to the perception of them as complex, self-organizing entities. This study aims to develop a theoretical and methodological framework for understanding the essence of emergent properties in industrial systems. A new model is proposed to explain their emergence, along with practical tools that make it possible to use emergence as a key factor for achieving sustainable competitive advantages in the long term. The study is based on the achievements of scientific disciplines such as complex systems theory, synergetics, and the resource-based approach in strategic management. To achieve its objectives, the study employs methods such as system-structural analysis, causometry, and case analysis. The main scientific achievements include the creation of a three-dimensional classification of emergent properties, the development of the Emergence Rent model, and a comprehensive study of the risks associated with the unpredictable development of emergent phenomena. The novelty of the approach lies in adapting the concept of emergent properties to the challenges of industrial management and empirically proving its significance as a strategic resource that meets the VRIO criteria. The practical value of the work lies in creating a methodological guide ("road map") for identifying and managing emergent properties in manufacturing enterprises. In conclusion, it is concluded that sustainable competitive advantage in industry does not stem from the optimization of individual components, but from the ability of an organization to identify, direct, and replicate emergent effects at the level of the entire business ecosystem.
Dubrovina, T. A., Troshin, A. S., Vladyka, M. V. (2026), “Emergent properties of industrial systems and their role in ensuring sustainable competitive advantage”, Re-search Result. Business and Service Technologies, 12 (3), pp. 108-127. DOI: 10.18413/2408-9346-2026-12-3-0-8
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