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The study sheds light on the internal enabling factors towards emerging market (EM) small and medium-sized enterprises’ (SMEs) preparedness for Industry 4.0 (I4.0) using three dimensions: managerial, operational and technological readiness.

The study uses convenience sampling, having online and paper-based surveys and collecting 110 responses from manufacturing Malaysian SMEs. This sample allowed assessing the relationships of the hypothesized variables through the structural model of data analysis.

This study’s findings demonstrate that financial capability and perceived benefits enhance Malaysian SMEs' managerial, operational and technological readiness.

Using Malaysia's case, this paper extends the discussion of the key drivers that underline the decision of EM firms to adopt I4.0.

This study’s results provide valuable insights for policymakers to improve the digital ecosystem. Also, understanding critical drivers for I4.0 readiness would encourage SMEs in Malaysia to embrace new digital technologies.

Although digital transformation towards I4.0 for manufacturing SMEs would be decisive, little is known about how ready these Malaysian firms are to adopt it or the driving factors that motivate them. Meanwhile, inadequate readiness causes a high failure rate in implementing new technology, processes or organizational changes.

The logic models at the center of leading environmental, social and governance (ESG) reporting programs, such as the global reporting initiative, impose a dualistic relationship between organizations and social-ecological systems. Coupled with the lack of a real-world alternative, their dualistic approach results in widespread systems thinking-based reducibility errors in business responsibility. To help develop a nondualistic alternative, this study aims to present the idea of neltilistli or “rootedness,” as developed by the ancient Nahua indigenous peoples of Central Mexico. From the perspective of the Nahua, rootedness involves a holistic relationship with one’s body, community and the creative force called “teotl.”

The authors draw on the past to speculatively theorize an imagined future using the method of prospective theorizing to draw on a historical social context that is largely missing from current management scholarship. In doing so, the authors engage in a process of imagining a radically different future reality.

Integrating a rootedness approach into ESG reporting, particularly in terms of stakeholder relations, enriches it both spatially and temporally. This approach allows researchers and practitioners to replace dualistic thinking with a more holistic approach.

This paper complements the dualistic assumptions behind ESG reporting programs with a holistic approach based on the rootedness concept of ancient Nahua thought.