Strategic Leadership and Organizational Agility of Micro Start-Up Enterprises in Region XII Towards Industry 4.0 Readiness

This study assessed the Industry 4.0 preparedness of micro start-up enterprises in Region XII (SOCCSKSARGEN) with a focus on strategic leadership and organizational agility. Based on Strategic Leadership Theory, Dynamic Capabilities Theory and the Industry 4.0 Readiness Model, the study investigated organizational capabilities that enable firms to respond to technological and market changes. The study employed a quantitative descriptive-correlational research design involving micro start-up enterprises in the region. The respondents were owners, co-founders or managers and data was collected through structured questionnaires. The levels of strategic leadership, organizational agility and Industry 4.0 readiness were determined through descriptive statistics, tests of significant differences and multiple regression analysis to examine the predictive contribution of the organizational variables. The results showed that strategic leadership and organizational agility were Highly Practiced, and Industry 4.0 readiness was Moderately Ready. Environmental Scanning was relatively a lower dimension of strategic leadership while flexibility and operational speed was relatively a lower dimension of organizational agility. Least mature dimension of Industry 4.0 readiness was Data-Driven Decision Making. Regression analysis showed that organizational agility significantly predicted Industry 4.0 readiness, but strategic leadership did not make a significant unique contribution when both variables were considered simultaneously. Based on these findings, the Strategic Agility and Industry 4.0 Readiness Enhancement (SAIRE) Framework was proposed to strengthen environmental scanning, leadership capability, organizational flexibility, operational speed, digital transformation and data-driven decision making, thus improving competitiveness, innovation, resilience and sustainable development.