## 5 Discussion of Results
through growth in investments;
3. Major investments are required to develop the ICT infrastructure across the country. They can be attained not only by the governmental financing but also by creating a competitive atmosphere; \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{l l l} \hline \hline \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Internal Factors**} \\ \hline Strengths & & Weaknesses \\ \hline \(\bullet\) & The majority of the companies (60\%) are implementing & \(\bullet\) & A low level of awareness about I4.0 and its benefits are prevailing, including top management; \\  & more than three projects towards I4.0; & \(\bullet\) & A wide misconception of the I4.0 term; \\  & The most popular elements of I4.0 are Big Data, ERP, and IoT, which promise significant positive results in the future; & \(\bullet\) & The low qualification of the workforce; \\  & The high number of active international collaborations; & \(\bullet\) & Highly centralized decision-making approach; \\  & The high number of “self-learners” from international & \(\bullet\) & Absence of the long-term strategy; \\  & experience; & \(\bullet\) & Lack of communication in the organization; \\  & Achieved improvements in business performance after & \(\bullet\) & Absence of the established process of work with foreign partners; \\  & implementation of I4.0 solutions. & \(\bullet\) & Culture (fear of automatization, of uncertainties, of international collaborations, resistance to changes). \\ \hline \multicolumn{2}{c}{**External Factors**} \\ \hline  & Opportunities & & Threats \\ \hline \(\bullet\) & High bureaucracy level; & \(\bullet\) \\  & \(\bullet\) & Inflexible governmental regulations; \\  & Government support (tax deductions, financial leasing, & \(\bullet\) \\  & state programs and others); & \(\bullet\) \\  & Increasing competitiveness; & \(\bullet\) \\  & Opportunities to acquire international partners; & \(\bullet\) \\  & Possibilities to enter the global value chain; & \(\bullet\) \\  & Positive social impact. & \(\bullet\) \\  & & applying international experience; \\  & & \(\bullet\) \\  & & \(\bullet\) \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 5: SWOT analysis of enterprises in Kazakhstan in the I4.0 context. * Investments or other tools (special credit terms, leasing mechanisms, and others) for renewal/renovation of the factories are needed as well. They will slow down the equipment aging for industries;
* Transparency of processes should be increased to minimize the corruption level, one of the possible solutions to toughen laws on corruption and exceeding authorized duties, close all avenues to shadow business using digitalization tools;
* Creation of the correct \"ecosystem\" (tax free for the initial few years, identification of the pool of promising areas/businesses, improving their conditions through covering the needs) within the country would allow local companies to reach the global supply chain;
* Official regulations should be updated to keep up with modern technologies. Costly projects with high possibilities to optimize processes and efficiency frequently fail because of legislative issues;
* The communication between the government, industry, and academy should be improved to prepare skilled professionals. The lack of professionals pushes domestic enterprises to seek solutions outside the country. This option is not affordable to most of the companies due to the high cost of international consultants. One of the options possible is to legally oblige related businesses pass training about Industry 4.0, in the universities/educational organizations approved by government;
* The technological culture should be promoted. Currently, some managers are punished for initiatives. Others are too conservative for innovations and resilient to them. The paradigm shift will help to overcome the fear of digitalization and uncertainty and decrease the resistance to change;
* The adoption of international experience should account for cultural differences. Unfortunately, this factor is sometimes ignored.