IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v11y2019i20p5807-d278259.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Challenges of Industry 4.0 Technology Adoption for SMEs: The Case of Japan

Author

Listed:
  • Martin Prause

    (Institute for Industrial Organization, WHU—Otto Beisheim School of Management, 56179 Vallendar, Germany)

Abstract

In the light of several national advanced manufacturing strategies such as Industry 4.0 in Germany or the Made in China 2025 initiative in China, this article examines the challenges of Industry 4.0 adoption of Japanese small and medium-sized manufacturing firms. A technology adoption model for Industry 4.0 is developed and empirically tested with 38 manufacturing companies. The results yield that the market uncertainty of the firm’s business is a significant driver for adoption in the short, medium, and long-term. Relative competitive advantage matters in the short term and top management support in the long-term. No support has been identified concerning advanced manufacturing complexity and market transparency of Industry 4.0 solutions.

Suggested Citation

  • Martin Prause, 2019. "Challenges of Industry 4.0 Technology Adoption for SMEs: The Case of Japan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(20), pages 1-13, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:20:p:5807-:d:278259
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/20/5807/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/20/5807/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. McGaughey, Ronald E. & Snyder, Charles A., 1994. "The obstacles to successful CIM," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(2-3), pages 247-258, December.
    2. Bang Nam Jeon & Kyeong Seok Han & Myung Jin Lee, 2006. "Determining factors for the adoption of e-business: the case of SMEs in Korea," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(16), pages 1905-1916.
    3. Glaeser, Edward L & Hedi D. Kallal & Jose A. Scheinkman & Andrei Shleifer, 1992. "Growth in Cities," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 100(6), pages 1126-1152, December.
      • Edward L. Glaeser & Hedi D. Kallal & Jose A. Scheinkman & Andrei Shleifer, 1991. "Growth in Cities," NBER Working Papers 3787, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
      • Glaeser, Edward Ludwig & Kallal, Hedi D. & Scheinkman, Jose A. & Shleifer, Andrei, 1992. "Growth in Cities," Scholarly Articles 3451309, Harvard University Department of Economics.
    4. Alexandre Moeuf & Robert Pellerin & Samir Lamouri & Simon Tamayo-Giraldo & Rodolphe Barbaray, 2018. "The industrial management of SMEs in the era of Industry 4.0," International Journal of Production Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 56(3), pages 1118-1136, February.
    5. Premkumar, G. & Roberts, Margaret, 1999. "Adoption of new information technologies in rural small businesses," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 467-484, August.
    6. Juan Alcácer & Wilbur Chung, 2014. "Location strategies for agglomeration economies," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(12), pages 1749-1761, December.
    7. E. Burton Swanson, 1994. "Information Systems Innovation Among Organizations," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 40(9), pages 1069-1092, September.
    8. Robert G. Fichman & Chris F. Kemerer, 1997. "The Assimilation of Software Process Innovations: An Organizational Learning Perspective," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 43(10), pages 1345-1363, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Gregory A. Harris & Daniel Abernathy & Lin Lu & Anna Hyre & Alexander Vinel, 2022. "Bringing Clarity to Issues with Adoption of Digital Manufacturing Capabilities: an Analysis of Multiple Independent Studies," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 13(4), pages 2868-2889, December.
    2. Jinwan Cho & Eunmi Kim & Insik Jeong, 2023. "Adoption of the 4th Industrial Revolution: evidence from Korean exporters in international markets," Asian Business & Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 22(1), pages 164-187, February.
    3. Eryarsoy, Enes & Kilic, Huseyin Selcuk & Zaim, Selim & Doszhanova, Marzhan, 2022. "Assessing IoT challenges in supply chain: A comparative study before and during- COVID-19 using interval valued neutrosophic analytical hierarchy process," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 108-123.
    4. Omar Ali & Anup Shrestha & Maryam Ghasemaghaei & Ghassan Beydoun, 2022. "Assessment of Complexity in Cloud Computing Adoption: a Case Study of Local Governments in Australia," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 24(2), pages 595-617, April.
    5. Marina Crnjac Zizic & Marko Mladineo & Nikola Gjeldum & Luka Celent, 2022. "From Industry 4.0 towards Industry 5.0: A Review and Analysis of Paradigm Shift for the People, Organization and Technology," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-20, July.
    6. Srivastava, Deepak Kumar & Kumar, Vikas & Ekren, Banu Yetkin & Upadhyay, Arvind & Tyagi, Mrinal & Kumari, Archana, 2022. "Adopting Industry 4.0 by leveraging organisational factors," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    7. Sunday C. Eze & Vera C. A. Chinedu-Eze & Clinton K. Okike & Adenike O. Bello, 2020. "Critical factors influencing the adoption of digital marketing devices by service-oriented micro-businesses in Nigeria: A thematic analysis approach," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 7(1), pages 1-14, December.
    8. Houyem Zrelli & Abdullah H. Alsharif & Iskander Tlili, 2020. "Malmquist Indexes of Productivity Change in Tunisian Manufacturing Industries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-20, February.
    9. Sunday C. Eze & Vera C. A. Chinedu-Eze & Clinton K. Okike & Adenike O. Bello, 2020. "Factors influencing the use of e-learning facilities by students in a private Higher Education Institution (HEI) in a developing economy," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 7(1), pages 1-15, December.
    10. Sungkon Moon & Lei Hou & SangHyeok Han, 2023. "Empirical study of an artificial neural network for a manufacturing production operation," Operations Management Research, Springer, vol. 16(1), pages 311-323, March.
    11. Virmani, Naveen & Sharma, Shikha & Kumar, Anil & Luthra, Sunil, 2023. "Adoption of industry 4.0 evidence in emerging economy: Behavioral reasoning theory perspective," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 188(C).
    12. Vimal K.E. K & Sivakumar K & Jayakrishna Kandasamy & Vaibhav Venkat & Raghuraman Srinivasan Mani, 2023. "Barriers to the adoption of digital technologies in a functional circular economy network," Operations Management Research, Springer, vol. 16(3), pages 1541-1561, September.
    13. Abirami Raja Santhi & Padmakumar Muthuswamy, 2022. "Pandemic, War, Natural Calamities, and Sustainability: Industry 4.0 Technologies to Overcome Traditional and Contemporary Supply Chain Challenges," Logistics, MDPI, vol. 6(4), pages 1-32, November.
    14. Ghobakhloo, Morteza & Asadi, Shahla & Iranmanesh, Mohammad & Foroughi, Behzad & Mubarak, Muhammad Faraz & Yadegaridehkordi, Elaheh, 2023. "Intelligent automation implementation and corporate sustainability performance: The enabling role of corporate social responsibility strategy," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gianluca Vagnani & Corrado Gatti & Luca Proietti, 2019. "A conceptual framework of the adoption of innovations in organizations: a meta-analytical review of the literature," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 23(4), pages 1023-1062, December.
    2. Carlino, Gerald & Kerr, William R., 2015. "Agglomeration and Innovation," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: Gilles Duranton & J. V. Henderson & William C. Strange (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 349-404, Elsevier.
    3. Hervas-Oliver, Jose-Luis & Lleo, María & Cervello, Roberto, 2017. "The dynamics of cluster entrepreneurship: Knowledge legacy from parents or agglomeration effects? The case of the Castellon ceramic tile district," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 73-92.
    4. Richard J. Boland & Kalle Lyytinen & Youngjin Yoo, 2007. "Wakes of Innovation in Project Networks: The Case of Digital 3-D Representations in Architecture, Engineering, and Construction," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 18(4), pages 631-647, August.
    5. Kevin Zhu & Kenneth L. Kraemer, 2005. "Post-Adoption Variations in Usage and Value of E-Business by Organizations: Cross-Country Evidence from the Retail Industry," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 16(1), pages 61-84, March.
    6. Li, Xibao, 2015. "Specialization, institutions and innovation within China's regional innovation systems," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 130-139.
    7. Sharath Sasidharan & Radhika Santhanam & Daniel J. Brass & Vallabh Sambamurthy, 2012. "The Effects of Social Network Structure on Enterprise Systems Success: A Longitudinal Multilevel Analysis," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 23(3-part-1), pages 658-678, September.
    8. Nelson, Matthew L. & Shaw, Michael J., 2005. "Interorganizational System Standards Diffusion: The Role of Industry-Based Standards Development Organizations," Working Papers 05-0126, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, College of Business.
    9. Mohammad Alamgir Hossain & Mohammed Quaddus, 2015. "Radio frequency identification (RFID) adoption: A cross-sectional comparison of voluntary and mandatory contexts," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 17(5), pages 1057-1076, October.
    10. Marco-Lajara, Bartolomé & Claver-Cortés, Enrique & Úbeda-García, Mercedes & Zaragoza-Sáez, Patrocinio del Carmen, 2016. "A dynamic analysis of the agglomeration and performance relationship," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(5), pages 1874-1879.
    11. Corey M. Angst & Ritu Agarwal & V. Sambamurthy & Ken Kelley, 2010. "Social Contagion and Information Technology Diffusion: The Adoption of Electronic Medical Records in U.S. Hospitals," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 56(8), pages 1219-1241, August.
    12. Mohammad Anisur Rahman & Xu Qi & Mohammad Shahfayet Jinnah, 2016. "Factors affecting the adoption of HRIS by the Bangladeshi banking and financial sector," Cogent Business & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 3(1), pages 1262107-126, December.
    13. Kristina McElheran, 2015. "Do Market Leaders Lead in Business Process Innovation? The Case(s) of E-business Adoption," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 61(6), pages 1197-1216, June.
    14. Rajiv D. Banker & Robert J. Kauffman, 2004. "50th Anniversary Article: The Evolution of Research on Information Systems: A Fiftieth-Year Survey of the Literature in Management Science," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 50(3), pages 281-298, March.
    15. Abhay Nath Mishra & Ritu Agarwal, 2010. "Technological Frames, Organizational Capabilities, and IT Use: An Empirical Investigation of Electronic Procurement," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 21(2), pages 249-270, June.
    16. Speldekamp, Daniël & Knoben, Joris & Saka-Helmhout, Ayse, 2020. "Clusters and firm-level innovation: A configurational analysis of agglomeration, network and institutional advantages in European aerospace," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(3).
    17. von Krogh, Georg & Spaeth, Sebastian & Lakhani, Karim R., 2003. "Community, joining, and specialization in open source software innovation: a case study," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(7), pages 1217-1241, July.
    18. Tarafdar, Monideepa & Vaidya, Sanjiv D., 2006. "Challenges in the adoption of E-Commerce technologies in India: The role of organizational factors," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 26(6), pages 428-441.
    19. Mohamed Saleh Abd AL Khuja & ZainalAbidin Bin Mohamed, 2016. "Investigating the adoption of E-Business Technology by Small and Medium Enterprises," Journal of Administrative and Business Studies, Professor Dr. Usman Raja, vol. 2(2), pages 71-84.
    20. Claver-Cortés, Enrique & Marco-Lajara, Bartolome & Manresa-Marhuenda, Encarnación & García-Lillo, F. & Seva-Larrosa, Pedro, 2017. "Location Decisions and Agglomeration Economies: Domestic and Foreign Companies," INVESTIGACIONES REGIONALES - Journal of REGIONAL RESEARCH, Asociación Española de Ciencia Regional, issue 39, pages 99-135.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:20:p:5807-:d:278259. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.