A survey study on Industry 4.0 for Moroccan manufacturing

Abstract

In this article, a field study is conducted to analyze the state of enterprises in Morocco in the face of digitalization by studying large, small, and medium-sized enterprises. This study focuses mainly on researching the factors that influence their decision to adopt a digital strategy. Using the AHP multi-criterion method, a precise selection was made based on the opinions of experts in the field. To make this choice, a precise methodology was used: brainstorming and a weighted vote. An online survey was conducted, and 34 companies were interviewed to analyze the ways in which they are adopting digitalization, to present the most commonly used digital tools, and to study the impact, benefits, and obstacles of a digital strategy. A data analysis was applied by combining R with SPSS. The findings of this study show that Morocco is beginning to incorporate digitization into its practices, and more precisely, into the supply chain's operations, but that this use is still quite limited to certain tools and practices. They emphasize the underlying causes, highlight the benefits of digitization, and compare the levels of corporate maturity compared to digital. Six factors have been identified to influence this decision. This article contributes to an existing gap in empirical studies that highlight the integration of digital strategies, focusing on the case of Morocco. It provides useful data that can significantly improve management methods and encourage the integration of digital strategies, regardless of their size, making it a significant contribution to researchers and even industries.