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In recent years, the term Industry 4.0 has developed into a buzzword that is frequently used, but its concrete meaning is rarely questioned. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in particular have difficulties in evaluating the phenomenon subsumed under Industry 4.0 for themselves, and science has not yet supported them in this with a comprehensible conceptualization. The business model concept enables a systematic and coherent view of the phenomenon from different perspectives. It is therefore proposed to SMEs in this article as an analytical tool and the effects of Industry 4.0 on each individual business model component are analyzed, summarized in a proposition and explained using an example. The complex influences of Industry 4.0 are thus presented concisely and the implications for action become clear.