Disruptive innovations are currently changing the landscape of many industries and
their business models. Because of increasingly digitalized processes and an exponential
growth of sensible data, supply chains are also impacted by the fourth industrial
revolution. The strategic management requires a more transparent understanding
of the currently available and interrelated technologies and concepts. Since the
supply chain will obviously undergo an organizational change, a theoretical framework
is necessary to understand which activity is impacted from a holistic management-
perspective. In this paper, the term “Industry 4.0” is defined and its seven characteristic
and interrelated features are highlighted. Furthermore, related technologies
and concepts are validated to determine their contribution to the future development
of the industrial revolution. Out of initially 49, the 15 most relevant technologies
and concepts are identified through a conceptual analysis. A theoretical framework
is proposed to evaluate key technologies and concepts with respect to their
impact on the supply chain. According to Cachon (2012), three interesting hypothesis
are stated, concluding on the impact of Industry 4.0 from a structural, technological
and organizational perspective. All results are based on a structured literature review.