Key enablers of industry 4.0 development at firm level: Findings from an emerging economy

Organizations in both developed and developing economies are paying great attention to the Industry 4.0 revolution and associated uses of technologies due to its potential benefits to the manufacturing industry. However, there are a limited number of empirical studies due to its early stage of adoption around the world, especially regarding the key technological factors that are necessary. This article addresses this research gap by identifying the factors that enable successful Industry 4.0 technologies adoption in an emerging economy country, grouping them, and ranking the groups based on priorities for adoption. The study adopts a mixed-method research methodology. Q-sort technique and analytic hierarchy process, respectively, were used to group enabling factors and prioritize the groups for Industry 4.0 technologies adoption. Thereafter, semistructured interviews of key stakeholders in the manufacturing sector in Thailand were carried out to validate and support findings from the quantitative analysis. Five industry experts from automotive and electronic parts/components manufacturers were interviewed. The results show that human capital is the most important readiness dimension for Industry 4.0 technologies implementation. Interoperability and data handling were found to be the next in importance. On the contrary, hardware and technology systems, such as data security and technological infrastructure, were identified as the least important of the technology readiness dimensions. These findings provide a different perspective to extant studies that posited that technology-based factors as the most important for Industry 4.0 success

Exploring Factors and Impact of Blockchain Technology Adoption in the Food Supply Chains

Globalization has also increased the complexity and difficulty of addressing these issues and enhancing efficiency in FSCs. The adoption of blockchain technology (BCT) has been proven to have the potential to transform the FSC based on its potential benefits. BCT promises to improve FSC processes. However, little is known about the factors that drive blockchain adoption within the FSC and the impact of BCT supply chain processes, as empirical evidence is scarce within the existing literature. This study, therefore, explores key factors, impacts, and challenges of blockchain adoption in the FSC

Strategies to Protect Against Security Violations During the Adoption of the Internet of Things by Manufacturers

Security violations have been one of the key factors affecting manufacturers in adopting the Internet of Things (IoT). The corporate-level information technology (IT) leaders in the manufacturing industry encounter issues when adopting IoT due to security concerns because they lack strategies to protect against security violations. Grounded in Roger’s diffusion of innovations theory, the purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore strategies corporate-level IT leaders use in protecting against security violations while adopting IoT for manufacturers. The participants were senior IT leaders in the eastern region of the United States. The data collection process included interviews with corporate-level IT leaders (n = 6) and examination of company documents (n = 10). The data analysis process involved searching patterns for words, codes, or themes and their relationships to confirm the findings. During analysis, four major themes emerged: relevance of securing IoT devices in IoT adoption, identifying and separating personal and confidential data from analytical data, adequate budget for securing IoT network devices and infrastructure as key factors in IoT adoption, and risk mitigation policy relevant to securing IoT devices. The implications for positive social change include the potential for corporate-level IT leaders to develop tools that will detect threats, prevent malicious attacks, and monitor IoT networks for any IoT device vulnerabilities. Improved protection from security violations may result in more efficient ways for people to use natural resources. Additionally, there may be a wider usage of smartphones connected to IoT to simplify people’s lives