EVALUATION OF THE CHANGE IN PERSPECTIVES OF SME EXECUTIVES TOWARDS THE INDUSTRY 4.0 PROCESS AND OPPORTUNITIES IN DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION WITH THE SWARA METHOD

Abstract

The aim of this study is to determine the perspectives of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Turkey towards the digital transformation that comes with Industry 4.0 and to determine the potential development and orientation of the information they had. In this study, the questions asked to thirty-two SME executives five years ago with a semi-structured interview were again directed to the same individuals. According to the results, it’s been seen that the executives have more knowledge of the Industry 4.0 process and have more information about the relevant technologies compared to the answers in 2017. In addition, executives have started to take more part in activities in this field. During the five-year period, the most concerned issue of executives was identified as cyber security and budget planning. In the second application of the study, it’s also aimed to determine the importance levels of some opportunities that are predicted to be caused by the Industry 4.0 transformation process on SMEs. In order to realize this aim, Step-Wise Weight Assessment Ratio Analysis (SWARA) application was made with five experts, and the first three opportunities with the highest level of importance were determined as low-cost production, competitiveness and improvement in production defects.