Autonomous driving paper index
Determinants of smart factory adoption in emerging economies: empirical evidence from the automotive industry in Morocco and Nigeria
One-line summary
Purpose Smart factories and smart manufacturing technologies have gained significance among manufacturing enterprises, especially in developed economies.
Engineering notes
Key topics: autonomous driving, perception. See the paper for implementation details and experimental results.
Chinese explanation / 中文解读
中文解读待补充：本站会优先为端到端自动驾驶、BEV感知、3D目标检测、轨迹预测、路径规划、LiDAR感知等高价值论文补充中文说明。
Original abstract
Purpose Smart factories and smart manufacturing technologies have gained significance among manufacturing enterprises, especially in developed economies. However, less attention has been paid to this phenomenon in emerging economies. This study examines the determining factors for smart factory adoption in emerging economies using the automotive industry in Nigeria and Morocco as case studies. Design/methodology/approach The study employed a cross-sectional design. Quantitative data were collected from 167 respondents representing five companies, including three automotive manufacturing assemblies and two tier-I suppliers. The participants, who held senior to mid-level management positions, provided insights into their educational background, work experience, company size, level of adoption of smart factory technologies and plans for smart factory adoption. Data analysis was conducted using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) for descriptive statistics and SmartPLS4 for structural equation modeling. Findings The result shows a significant variation in the adoption levels of various smart factory technologies between Morocco and Nigeria. Notably, significant disparities are observed in additive manufacturing/3D printing (χ2 = 97.09, p = 0.001), big data (χ2 = 21.09, p = 0.001), robotics (χ2 = 95.24, p = 0.001), artificial intelligence (χ2 = 13.72, p = 0.001) and cyber security (χ2 = 27.86, p = 0.001). Further, the study identified key factors influencing smart factory adoption, including technological readiness, ecosystem support and management involvement. Originality/value This study contributes one of the few empirical tests of smart factory adoption determinants in Africa's automotive sector, providing comparative evidence from Morocco and Nigeria, two countries with contrasting industrial trajectories. Beyond applying technology, organization, environment (TOE), we specify how TOE relationships shift under low digital maturity and weaker innovation ecosystems, showing that adoption is driven primarily by technological readiness and ecosystem enablement, while some capability-related perceptions can behave differently under constraint. The findings therefore advance Industry 4.0 adoption theory for emerging economies and provide targeted guidance for managers and policymakers seeking to accelerate smart manufacturing in Africa.
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