Barriers to the adoption of industry 4.0 technologies in the manufacturing sector: An inter-country comparative perspective

Alok Raj, Gourav Dwivedi, Ankit Sharma, Ana Beatriz Lopes de Sousa Jabbour and Sonu Rajak

International Journal of Production Economics, 2020, vol. 224, issue C

Abstract: This paper examines barriers to the implementation of Industry 4.0 technologies in the manufacturing sector in the context of both developed and developing economies. A comprehensive literature review, followed by discussions with industry experts, identifies 15 barriers, which are analyzed by means of a Grey Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) approach. The ‘lack of a digital strategy alongside resource scarcity’ emerges as the most prominent barrier in both developed and developing economies. The influencing barriers identified suggest that improvements in standards and government regulation could facilitate the adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies in developing country case, whereas technological infrastructure is needed to promote the adoption of these technologies in developed country case. This study is one of the first to examine the implementation of Industry 4.0 in both developing and developed economies. This article highlights the difficulties in the diffusion of technological innovation resulting from a lack of coordinated national policies on Industry 4.0 in developing countries, which may prevent firms from fully experiencing the Industry 4.0 revolution. The results of this study may help decision makers and practitioners to address the barriers highlighted, paving the way for successful implementation of Industry 4.0 across the manufacturing sector.

Keywords: Industry 4.0; Barriers; Grey-DEMATEL; Developed economy; Developing economy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (85)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S092552731930372X
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:proeco:v:224:y:2020:i:c:s092552731930372x

DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpe.2019.107546

Access Statistics for this article

International Journal of Production Economics is currently edited by Stefan Minner

More articles in International Journal of Production Economics from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().