International Journal of

ADVANCED AND APPLIED SCIENCES

EISSN: 2313-3724, Print ISSN: 2313-626X

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 Volume 8, Issue 7 (July 2021), Pages: 41-49

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 Original Research Paper

 Title: Navigating the future of industry 4.0 in Malaysia: A proposed conceptual framework on SMEs’ readiness

 Author(s): Mira Qerul Barriah Muhamad 1, Syed Jamal Abdul Nasir Syed Mohamad 2, *, Norzanah Mat Nor 2

 Affiliation(s):

 1Faculty of Business and Management, Universiti Teknologi Mara, Shah Alam, Malaysia
 2Arshad Ayub Graduate Business School, Universiti Teknologi Mara, Shah Alam, Malaysia

  Full Text - PDF          XML

 * Corresponding Author. 

  Corresponding author's ORCID profile: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4804-3504

 Digital Object Identifier: 

 https://doi.org/10.21833/ijaas.2021.07.006

 Abstract:

As technology keeps advancing at an accelerated rate, small and medium-sized enterprises (hereafter SMEs) must prepare to adapt to the emergence of technology under an uncertain economic realm. Growing evidence shows Industry 4.0 has brought massive opportunities in respective industries, manufacturing and information technology. Innovation capability has become a distinct possibility, set to serve better product and service reengineering and distinction. Although Industry 4.0 paradigm has emerged worldwide, it is, however, still a challenge for small firms to adopt particularly in developing countries. The adoption process of Industry 4.0 digitalization varies considerably. Coming to terms with the low involvement and unreadiness of SMEs in Malaysia towards Industry 4.0 has induced researchers to conduct this study so that by employing cloud computing, Big Data, Artificial Intelligent, and the Internet of Things (IoT) SMEs can secure a new competitive advantage thus evolve significantly over time. Therefore, this study served as a solid conceptual paper with a proposed framework that intends to highlight potential factors which are people, process, and technology (PPT) enhancing SMEs’ readiness towards Industry 4.0 in a Malaysian context. At the end of the study, it is expected to conclusively contribute to a new horizon of knowledge supporting the significant development of SMEs. 

 © 2021 The Authors. Published by IASE.

 This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

 Keywords: Industry 4.0, Industrial revolution 4.0, Digitalization, Readiness, SMEs

 Article History: Received 5 January 2021, Received in revised form 28 March 2021, Accepted 30 March 2021

 Acknowledgment 

The authors would like to acknowledge the contribution from The Journal Support Fund, UiTM for funding this paper which contributed significantly to the success of the study. The authors are also sincerely express their deepest appreciation to everyone who provided all the possibilities for the completion of this paper.

 Compliance with ethical standards

 Conflict of interest: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

 Citation:

  Muhamad MQB, Mohamad SJANS, and Nor NM (2021). Navigating the future of industry 4.0 in Malaysia: A proposed conceptual framework on SMEs’ readiness. International Journal of Advanced and Applied Sciences, 8(7): 41-49

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