Industry 4.0 Technology Adoption and Market Scalability of Small and Medium Enterprises in Southwest, Nigeria (Published)
The study examined the relationship between i4.0 technology adoption and market scalability of small and medium enterprises in Southwest, Nigeria. The objectives of the study are to; examine the level of awareness of small and medium entrepreneurs of i4.0 technology in Southwest, Nigeria, evaluate the challenges of adoption of i4.0 technology by small and medium entrepreneurs in Southwest, Nigeria, determine the facilities required for the adoption of i4.0 technology by small and medium entrepreneurs in Southwest, Nigeria. The study adopted the descriptive research design of the survey type. Multistage sampling techniques was used to select the samples of one thousand two hundred (1,200) respondents from the owners of MSMEs in Southwest, Nigeria. Structure questionnaire was used to collect data from the respondents. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics, while regression analysis was used to test the hypotheses. Findings of the study revealed that, majority of the small and medium entrepreneurs do not awareness about i4.0 technology in Southwest, Nigeria, the challenges identified as the problem confronting the adoption of i4.0 technology in Southwest Nigeria, which are lack of expertise about i4.0 technology, financial challenges, unstable power supply. The study concluded that, there is significant relationship between i4.0 technology adoption and number of markets covered by small and medium enterprises in Southwest, Nigeria; Based on the findings of this study, it therefore recommended that, owners of MSMEs in Southwest, Nigeria should embrace the adoption of i4.0 technology to increase their profitability.
Keywords: Industry 4.0, Profitability, Small and Medium Enterprises, Technology, scalability
The 4.0 Industrial Revolution Affecting Higher Education Organizations’ Operation in Vietnam (Published)
The 4.0 industrial revolution (Industry 4.0) will affect almost every sector of the economy, but the degree of impact varies. The most influential are labor-intensive industries such as apparel and electronics. These are industries with hundreds or even thousands of workers, so there will be challenges when automation is increasing. In addition, a higher education organization’s success is influenced by factors’ operating in it’s internal and external environment; a higher education organization can increase it’s success by adopting strategies which manipulate these factors to it’s advantage. A successful higher education organization will not only understand existing factors but also forecast change, so that it can take advantage of change within the environments in which it operates. The study results showed that there were 150 persons who are the managers of higher education organization in Vietnam who interviewed and answered about 13 questions. Data collected from March 2016 to March 2017 for higher education organizations in Vietnam. The paper had been analyzed KMO test, Cronbach’s Alpha and the result of KMO analysis which used for multiple regression analysis. Managers’ responses measured through an adapted questionnaire on a 5-point Likert scale (Conventions: 1: Completely disagree, 2: Disagree, 3: Normal; 4: Agree; 5: completely agree). Hard copy and online questionnaire distributed among 1.000 managers of higher education organization in Vietnam. In addition, the exploratory factor analysis (EFA) results showed that there were three factors, which included of factors following human resource quality (X1), macro environment change (X2), technology capabilities (X3) with significance level 5 percent. In addition, all of three components affecting the higher education organizations’ operation in Vietnam with significance level 5 percent. The research results processed from SPSS 20.0 software.
Keywords: High Tech, Higher Education, Industry 4.0, Internet, Organization