What drives SMEs to adopt smart technologies in Korea? Focusing on technological factors

Abstract

As a country highly dependent on international trade, Korea has made efforts to achieve sustainable industrial competitiveness in the recent era of international supply chain transformation. The Korean government supports small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in their acceptance of key technologies of the 4th Industrial Revolution with the same purpose, but sufficient results have not yet been obtained to enable SMEs to respond flexibly to the global supply chain structure transformation. This study attempts to understand the cause of this status by examining the insufficient recognition of the technological characteristics of the key technologies of the 4th Industrial Revolution. Specifically, this study aims to ascertain Korean SMEs' perceptions of technological characteristics, and their acceptance of the key technologies of the 4th Industrial Revolution. By empirically analyzing their effects on supply chain innovation performance, this study suggests implications related to the need to improve the Korean government's policy. In this study, the key technologies of the 4th Industrial Revolution are collectively called smart technology, and their technological characteristics are divided into technological innovation, process integration, and technological convergence. The recognition of the process integration and technological convergence of smart technology was found to be significant, and the results of this empirical analysis have implications for improving the Korean government's policy.