Determining Factors in the Implementation of Industry 4.0 in Argentine SMEs

Abstract

Industry 4.0 represents a new paradigm in the production of goods and services, through the unification of digital technologies and the Internet with conventional industry. The objective of this work is to analyze the determinants of the implementation of the industry 4.0 in SMEs. We study the effect on implementation of factors such as size, seniority, gender, level of technical training of management, the presence in the SME of an internal responsible for Industry 4.0 and whether it is a family business or not. To this end, an attempt was made to develop an empirical study based on a sample of 1,142 Argentine SMEs. As a methodological strategy, a model was defined to be developed in two stages. In the first, a confirmatory factor analysis was proposed to determine the latent variable: industry 4.0 by company, and in the second, a linear regression model was developed based on the chosen variables as probable determinants. The main results allow us to affirm that the age and size of the organization can have a favorable implication for the incorporation of Industry 4.0. tools to the organization. We also found a positive association between the male gender of management, the manager's training in related technical issues and the presence of an internal person responsible for the digitalization process, in the implementation of technologies associated with Industry 4.0. At the same time, we did not find a significant relationship between the implementation of the industry 4.0 and the family business. The conclusions may be useful for directing public promotion policies on the youngest and smallest companies and facilitating their possibilities of incorporating the new production paradigm, as well as the formulation of policies with a gender perspective.