List Of Critical Success Factors Research Articles

Revisiting Ishikawa's Original Seven Basic Tools of Quality Control: A Global Study and Some New Insights

The purpose of this global study is to investigate the validity of Dr. Ishikawa's statement that “95% of problems in processes can be solved using the 7 Quality Control (QC) tools” in organizations. An online survey instrument was developed, disseminated, and responded to by a total of 456 senior quality professionals from five different continents. The main finding of this article suggests that less than 25% of participants perceived that the seven tools of QC can solve above 95% of quality problems while 40% of quality professionals stated that they had incorrectly applied the tools “right first time” during the problem solving. Pareto analysis was the most widely used tool across all sectors while the least used tools are scatter diagrams and stratification. The seven QC tools were widely utilized in production or manufacturing areas but least applied in IT and finance functions. The common benefits from the use of seven basic tools of QC in all sectors include: providing structure to the problem-solving efforts; aids problem solving and helps in problem definition, measurement, and analysis. This article presents a list of critical success factors (CSFs) required for the proper application of the seven QC tools including having management support and a commitment to tool usage as well as having a continuous improvement initiative to encourage tool usage. This article is the first global research focused on investigating Dr. Ishikawa's statement: “95% of problems in processes can be solved using the 7 QC tools.” The findings further facilitate an important first step toward understanding the applicability, benefits, CSFs, and challenges to utilizing these tools in organizations across sectors and globally.

Critical success factors for public procurement of innovative solutions in Central Europe: Empirical study

This article aims to evaluate critical success factors in the use of the Public Procurement for Innovations (PPI) concept. The first part of the article deals with a systematic research literature review on the topic of critical success factors for PPI. In the second part, the authors present empirical research conducted as an add-on to the projects PPI2Innovate and RI2integrate within the Europe and Interreg Danube programs. These projects (whose research team included one of the authors of this paper) analyzed the use of the PPI concept in the EU. The authors approached the teams of experts formed in six countries for the purpose of these two projects to make a list of critical success factors, engaging the Delphi method, for the implementation of projects using the PPI method. Sixteen most frequently recurring critical success factors were chosen for further evaluation. These critical factors were then evaluated on a Likert scale in terms of their significance. This is followed by a discussion of the results of the critical factors identified within the systematic literature review with regards to other authors and existing research. In the final part of the article, possible solutions based on experience from pilot projects are proposed to strengthen the usability of the PPI concept. When comparing the key success factors resulting from the literature review with those identified within the expert research, it is apparent that they are mostly the same, although there are slight differences. The expert research identified the sharing of best practices and model projects in the country as additional key success factors.

Critical Success Factors for Building Information Modeling Implementation as a Sustainable Construction Practice in the UAE

The building sector is widely acknowledged as a driving force behind national prosperity. However, there are considerable challenges to the construction industry’s transition to sustainable practices, including regarding building information modelling (BIM) technologies. The United Arab Emirates has made significant progress in the Middle East in adopting BIM technologies. Green building approaches have been advanced through their incorporation into environmentally conscious building practices, with a large body of literature responding to this issue. Several projects in the United Arab Emirates have, however, made use of the complementary nature of BIM and UAE sustainable policies. However, not everybody has employed the full potential of BIM implementation in sustainable construction. This paper aims to identify and prioritize the critical success factors (CSFs) for effective BIM implementation as a sustainable construction practice in the UAE and examine their ranking and relationships. A list of critical success factors was gathered from a review of previous literature to identify the essential factors for successful implementation. A standardized questionnaire was distributed to consulting organizations and engineering enterprises to verify the existence of these CSFs and measure their importance in the context of the UAE’s construction industry. The survey data was analyzed using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) technique to elaborate and validate the results, which was specifically applicable to the needs of this study. The results from the AHP analysis show that the social aspects were ranked as the highest critical success factor compared to the other criteria, namely economic, environmental, and information technology. Within this criterion, it was found that effective communication among stakeholders is the most important element, as subject matter experts feel that it is imperative to have buy-in from all or most of the construction project stakeholders to achieve the strategic goal of implementing BIM. Equally anticipated are both an effective corporate framework to back up the BIM system and government funding to build the BIM system.

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS IN REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMMES MANAGEMENT

In ensuring an effective implementation and maximum impact of regional development projects and programmes, the element of Critical Success Factors (CSFs) should also be considered. East Coast Economic Region (ECER) is one of five regional economic corridors established in Malaysia to facilitate the socioeconomic transformation of this region towards becoming a high-income nation by 2025. East Coast Economic Region Development Council (ECERDC) was established in 2008 as a statutory body under the East Coast Economic Region Development Council Act (Act 688) to drive the implementation of ECER Master Plan.  ECERDC also came out with a list of CSFs that serves as a guidance to achieve all the expected goals. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of ownership at all levels, creation of ECER Development Council, complementation among ECER states, complementation of ECER towards other regional developments, and private and public sector partnerships in the implementation of various regional development programmes and projects by ECERDC. This study used qualitative method which utilized in-depth interviews with 10 key informants. The obtained findings demonstrated that ECERDC has practiced all five CSFs effectively and as a return, the implementation of various regional development programmes has brought positive outcomes to the organisation. The result should help understand which factors must be given priority by the stakeholders, especially in maximising the impact of the government development projects that benefit the local community.

A Systematic Approach To Investigate BIM Implementation in Turkish Construction Industry

Architectural, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry is currently in a transition process that deeply affects the long-established way of collaboration and building information modelling (BIM) is at the centre of this transition. Achieving the smooth integration of BIM in construction projects requires companies to spend great effort and resources. In that sense, it is crucial to generate a comprehensive list of critical success factors (CSFs) of BIM adoption. This study aims to systematically identify the CSFs of BIM implementation in the construction phase and evaluate their effectiveness on real projects for Turkish construction industry. Within this context, an extensive literature review was conducted and CSFs were identified. The number of times each factor had been cited in the literature was recorded as the frequency. A comprehensive framework with 6 components was utilized including drivers, inputs, enablers, barriers, benefits and impacts. The identified CSFs were assigned to relevant components based on their contents. In an attempt to distinguish the responsibilities of the industry, firms, and project teams; each factor was categorized into three levels of influences (industry-, firm-, and project-level). A case study was employed to examine the effectiveness of each factor in practice through conducting interviews with the practitioners of 18 different construction projects. The interviewees were asked to specify the effectiveness of each factor in a 1-5 Likert Scale based on their experience in that particular project. This study is expected to promote BIM implementation in the construction industry and inform the industry professionals about the most significant factors to focus on. Further research may utilize the framework to conduct similar studies in different countries.

Analyzing the Critical Success Factors of Contactless Businesses: A Post COVID-19 Panorama in Pakistan

There has been a drastic change in the ways of doing business after COVID-19. Business world has been shifted from traditional to contactless ways and digitalization has been increased during and after COVID-19 all over the world including Pakistan. So, there has been a need to study the factors that affect the success of contactless businesses, specifically in the context of Pakistan. The aim of the study is to generate the comprehensive list of critical success factors of contactless businesses in Pakistan and to analyze their interpersonal relationships and to classify them. This study is exploratory by its nature and the methodology used for this study is Interpretive Structural Modelling (ISM) along with Multiple Cross Impact Matrix (MICMAC) analysis that corroborate the results of ISM. Data has been collected primarily from the panel of experts on the topic. Results of the study show that the most important factor that contributes towards the success of contactless businesses in Pakistan is creativity and innovation which lies at the bottom of the model. This research is useful for all the stakeholders of contactless businesses since it contributes generates the list of critical factors, their hierarchical model, their classification model and lot of new information on interaction of these critical success factors.

Delphi study for evaluating critical success factors (CSFs) for PPP power projects in Ghana

Purpose This study aims to identify the critical success factors of public private partnership (PPP) power projects in Ghana and further evaluates the most significant critical success factors (CSFs) influencing both the public and private sector participation in PPP power projects. Design/methodology/approach Ranking-type Delphi survey in two rounds was conducted to establish a comprehensive list of critical success factors of PPP power projects. Using purposive and snowball sampling techniques, experts were targeted for the Delphi survey. Mean score ranking, Cronbach’s alpha coefficient and Kendall’s concordance were used for analysis. Findings From the list of 37 critical success factors, 9 CSFs were deemed to be extremely significant. The five topmost CSFs were as follows: shared authority, trust and communication between public and private sectors; necessity of power project; debt guarantee to enable private partner to raise funds from the local or international financial markets; appropriate risk allocation and risk sharing; and thorough and realistic assessment of cost, projections and benefits. Originality/value The CSFs identified and prioritized in this study have the propensity to trigger policy development towards the PPP power sector in Ghana and developing countries that shares similar context. This is because the study has wide implications for financing, politics, procurement, regulations, legal and capacity building.

Özel Hastaneler İçin Toplam Kalite Yönetimi Uygulamalarında Kritik Başarı Faktörlerinin Bulanık FUCOM Yöntemi ile Değerlendirilmesi

Toplam Kalite Yönetimi, ürün ve hizmet üretiminde, müşteri beklentilerinin en iyi şekilde karşılanması için bir işletmenin tüm bileşenlerinin kalite hedefleri doğrultusunda çalışmalarına vurgu yapan önemli bir yaklaşımdır. Bu çerçevede işletmeler, kalite ile ilgili çalışmalarında Toplam Kalite Yönetimi ilkelerini etkin şekilde uygulamaları gerekmektedir. İnsanların, hizmet sektöründen beklentilerine paralel olarak, mamul üretiminde olduğu kadar birçok hizmet işletmesinde de önem kazanan Toplam Kalite Yönetimi, sağlık hizmeti sunan özel hastaneler için de önem arz etmektedir. Bu çalışma kapsamında, özel hastanelerin Toplam Kalite Yönetimi’ne yönelik kritik başarı faktörlerinin ve bu faktörlerin önem derecelerinin belirlenmesi amaçlanmaktadır. Yapılan literatür taraması ve uzman görüşleri dikkate alınarak, kritik başarı faktörleri listesi hazırlanmıştır. Daha sonra sekiz karar verici uzmanın değerlendirmeleri ışığında, Bulanık FUCOM (Full Consistency Method) kullanılarak, bu faktörlerin önem dereceleri belirlenmiştir. Yapılan uygulama sonucunda, özel hastanelerde TKY uygulamalarının başarısını etkileyen en önemli boyutun “müşteriler ve hizmet süreçlerine yönelik faktörler (0,452)” olduğu, sonraki önemli boyutun “çalışanlara yönelik faktörler (0,319)” olduğu, son olarak da “sistem ve tekniklerle ilgili faktörler (0,229)”in geldiği tespit edilmiştir. Özel hastanelerde, hasta ve hasta yakınları ile işletme içerisinde sağlık çalışanlarının beklentilerinin karşılanmasına odaklanma şeklinde tanımlanan “müşteri odaklılık (0,222)” yaklaşımının en önemli alt kriter olduğu belirlenmiştir.

CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS FOR LARGE HYDROCARBON PROJECTS

According to World Energy Outlook 2020, investment of near about USD 1.2 Trillion is required every year to meet global energy demand for the period of 2020-30. Out of this, substantial portion of investment is expected in the hydrocarbon industry. Like many other industries, hydrocarbon industry is hit hard by Covid-19 pandemic with decrease in demand though recovery in demand picked up gradually from the latter half of year 2021. Timely execution of Large Hydrocarbon (LHC) projects within budgeted estimates is necessary to keep the faith of investors in this sector and to attract further investment. The LHC projects are more complex in nature due to various stakeholders' involvement, which may typically involve process technology licensors, owners, project management consultants, contractors, government agencies etc. The purpose of this study is to find out the Critical Success Factors (CSFs) for LHC projects. The study commenced with comprehensive literature review for identification of reported CSFs for various industries. Thereafter, data collected from expert interviews and questionnaire survey are analyzed to find out CSFs for LHC projects. The study provides a list of CSFs which may be referred as guiding tool by industry practitioners and may help in reducing the schedule and cost overruns.

Critical success factors for conducting human challenge trials for vaccine development in low- and middle-income countries

BackgroundOwing to the globalization of vaccine clinical trials, as well as advances in technologies, improved research accountability, and robust regulatory and ethical scrutiny, the choice to perform human challenge trials has become evident, and one of the most significant applications of human challenge trials is the assessment of vaccine efficacy. While human challenge trials have largely been conducted in high-income countries, the concept is relatively new in many low- and middle-income countries. Thus, the aim of this study was to identify the critical success factors for conducting human challenge trials for vaccine development in low- and middle-income countries. MethodologyUsing a two-step methodology, we first carried out a systematic literature review that was centered on identifying low- and middle-income countries that are either establishing a framework for, have conducted, or are conducting human challenge trials for vaccine development; secondly, we conducted a descriptive cross-sectional survey using a standardized semi-structured online questionnaire administered to eligible stakeholders, to identify the critical success factors for conducting human challenge trials for vaccine development in low- and middle-income countries. Seventeen low- and middle-income countries were identified and included in the survey. ResultsThe most cited critical success factors for conducting human challenge trials for vaccine development in low- and middle-income countries were Informed Consent, Risk Compensation and/or Reimbursement, Participant Safety and/or Public Protection, Community Engagement, Infrastructural Capacity, and Ethical and Regulatory Frameworks. ConclusionFrom an empirical perspective, this study provides a list of critical success factors that form the basic structure to guide the design and implementation of further human challenge trials in low- and middle-income countries. Further studies are needed to establish a standardized conceptual framework to aid in the review, approval and overall conduct of human challenge trials in low- and middle-income countries.

Digital information product development: lessons from a small-sized German enterprise

PurposeThis case study examines the new product development (NPD) process of digital information products (DIPs) and its critical success factors (CSFs) in a small-sized German enterprise.Design/methodology/approachA case study was conducted with a small firm focused on the development of DIPs; data were obtained through semi-structured interviews, direct observation and document analysis.FindingsThe firm uses an informal and cross-functional NPD process (idea generation, idea validation, product creation and product launch) in converting an idea into a sellable product. Peculiar aspects of each stage within the process as well as ten CSFs to NPD projects were verified.Research limitations/implicationsLimitations are attributed to its qualitative nature, which does not allow generalizations, though careful attention was given to validity and reliability issues through the use of data source triangulation.Practical implicationsThe paper provides a conceptual process that may benefit further initiatives for developing and launching DIPs, as well as a comprehensive list of CSFs for such projects.Originality/valueThis paper is the first one to schematize the NPD process and practices for DIPs, as well as key capabilities. It contributes to the NPD literature in discussing dynamic aspects that are typical to the firm analyzed and to others operating in a digital context. At the same time, it reinforces other traditional aspects that have become overlooked in digital business debates.

A study on the Ishikawa's original basic tools of quality control in South American companies: results from a pilot survey and directions for further research

PurposeThe main purpose of this study is to revisit Dr. Ishikawa's statement: “95% of problems in processes can be accomplished using the seven quality control (QC) tools” from his book “What is Quality Control?”. The authors are interested in critically investigating if this statement is still valid nowadays. It involves the analysis of the usage of the seven QC tools in the manufacturing and service sectors and the benefits, challenges and critical success factors (CSFs) for the application of the seven QC tools.Design/methodology/approachIn order to evaluate Kaoru Ishikawa's statement and how valid his statement is for manufacturing and service industries nowadays, an online survey instrument was developed, and data collection was performed utilising a stratified random sampling strategy. The main strata/clusters were formed by senior quality professionals working in operational excellence, quality consultants, quality directors, quality engineers, quality managers and quality supervisors working in both manufacturing and service sectors from South American companies. A total of 97 participants from different countries in South America responded to the survey.FindingsThe main finding of this study is that only about 20% of respondents felt that the original seven basic tools of QC can solve above 80% of quality related problems in their businesses. This is quite different from the findings reported by Dr Ishikawa in his work in between 1970 and 1980s. Another relevant finding presented in this paper is that Pareto analysis, histograms and cause and effect analysis are the most used tools in both manufacturing and service sectors. This paper also revealed that the seven QC tools proposed by Dr. Ishikawa were least used by human resources (HR), information technology (IT) and finance functions. This work presents a list of critical success factors required for the proper application of the seven QC tools.Research limitations/implicationsAll data collected in the pilot survey came from professionals working for South American companies. So, this paper does present limitations in terms of generalisation of the results. Also, data were collected at an individual level, so parameters such as the inter reliability of judgements on a particular survey item could not be evaluated. It is important to highlight that n = 97 is a low sample size, enough for a preliminary survey but reinforcing the limitation in terms of generalisation of the results.Originality/valueAuthors understand that this is the very first research focused on challenging Dr. Ishikawa's statement: “95% of problems in processes can be accomplished using the seven quality control (QC) tools” from his book “What is Quality Control?”. The results of this study represent an important first step towards a full understanding of the applicability of these tools in manufacturing and service industries in a global scale.

Can critical success factors of small businesses in emerging markets advance UN Sustainable Development Goals?

PurposeThis study contributes to answering the question, can critical success factors of small businesses in emerging markets advance United Nation (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)? Specifically, this study aims to explore the critical factors contributing to the success of small businesses and ultimately the UN SDGs in the emerging market of Nigeria.Design/methodology/approachThe design is survey research testing the Lussier success vs failure prediction model for small businesses in Nigeria. The methodology includes a logistic regression model to better understand and predict the factors that contribute to success or failure using a data set of 201 small businesses in Nigeria.FindingsThe findings support the validity of the Lussier model (p = 0.000) in Nigeria as the model accurately predicted 84.4% of the small businesses as successful or failed with a high R-square value (R = 0.540). The most significant factors (t-values < 0.05) that predict the success or failure of businesses support the findings that business owners that start with adequate capital, keep records and financial controls, use professional advice, have better product/service timing, and have parents who own businesses can increase the probability of success.Practical implicationsThe study provides a list of critical success factors contributing to the growth of small business in Nigeria, the largest economy in Africa. The findings can help entrepreneurs avoid failure and advance UN SDGs 1, 2, 8 and 10. Implications for current and future entrepreneurs, public agencies, consultants, educators, policymakers, suppliers and investors are discussed.Originality/valueThis is the first study to determine the factors that contribute to the success or failure of small businesses in Nigeria using the Lussier model. It also discusses how to advance four of the UN sustainability goals. Results support the Lussier model's global validity that can be used in both emerging and developed markets, and it contributes to the development of theory.

Empirical Investigation of Influencing Factors Regarding Offshore Outsourcing Decision of Application Maintenance

Global Software Development (GSD) has been an emerging trend in the development of software globally, for the last two decades. Information Technology (IT) outsourcing includes application development, application maintenance, infrastructure management and business process outsourcing. Software maintenance aims to keep the IT system operational and to fulfill the client requirements. The maintenance is considered the longest phase of software life cycle that consumes about 60-70% of the total software budget. Maintenance of software is not only time consuming but also requires a significant human resources’ ratio. Mostly, software acquisition and maintenance consume a big portion of the total IT budget. The current study aims to evaluate the findings of the systematic literature review and to derive a list of critical success factors regarding offshore outsourcing decision of application maintenance. Thus, an empirical study is performed to validate the influencing factors that were identified by using systematic literature review. These factors are further validated by 93 outsourcing experts from 30 different countries. The collected data through online survey is analyzed based on variables such as respondents experience level, respondents’ locations (continents), experts’ positions. Similarly, the data is analysed based on Chi square test (linear by linear association) and Spearman Rank Correlation. Additionally, the identified factors through survey and systematic literature review are ranked by two different methods. Consequently, a project assessment model is proposed, based on the critical success factors for the sourcing decision of application maintenance.

Evaluating critical success factors in public – private partnership water supply infrastructure projects

Research background: Public-private partnership (PPP) has been implemented in Vietnam since 1995 in the field of water supply. It is worth noting that not all governments are successful in implementing the PPP policy. According to studies in many countries in the region on the factors affecting the success of a PPP project, there are many similarities. However, differences in politics and administrative systems of each country can lead to changes in the influencing factors, changes in the degree of influence of the above factors on the success of the PPP project. Purpose of the article: This article aims to identify critical success factors (CSFs) that enable successful project execution, contributing to knowledge for practitioners in assessing the likelihood of success in executing a public-private partnerships PPP water supply project. Methods: In-depth interviews with PPP specialists in the water supply sector have confirmed the list of CSFs, after which the attributes are weighted to evaluate among different types of PPP by applying the AHP approach. The influences of CSFs were evaluated by data collected using a sample survey of 20 experts involved in the water supply sector and PPP projects in Vietnam. In Vietnam, the study finds seven CSFs affecting the success of PPP projects in the domestic water supply sector, including political environment, commitment of partners, strong consortium, asset quality/social support, national PPP unit, good governance, and project feasibility. Findings &amp; Value added: The results reveal that the political environment is CSF that has the strongest impact on the success of the projects. As suggested by AHP, the BOO contract type of a PPP project in Vietnam water supply industry is chosen above the BOT contract.

Implementing Fuzzy AHP and FUCOM to evaluate critical success factors for sustained academic quality assurance and ABET accreditation.

The Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) accredits the tertiary education programs in the areas of applied and natural science, computing, engineering, and engineering technology. ABET offers accreditation in the United States and other regions in the world that lack such entities such as Gulf Cooperative Counties (GCC). Though ABET accreditation is voluntary, graduates of the ABET-accredited programs are considered equivalent in knowledge, behaviors, and attitude with global standards. The process of ABET accreditation takes months or years depending upon the gap with readiness and resources. The objective of this study is to compile and prioritize the list of critical success factors (CSFs) to commit resources optimally for sustained academic quality assurance and ABET accreditation. The triangulation research designed has been employed. Firstly, the observation of the ABET accreditation process of multiple programs at King Khalid University (KKU) helped in identifying 11 CSFs in three categories namely Program design and execution, Quality culture and excellence, and Institutional infrastructure and support. Further, these CSFs have been explored in the literature in the area of ABET accreditation. Finally, the research employs a fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (Fuzzy AHP) and full consistency method (FUCOM) to rank the relative importance of these CSFs and their dimensions for sustained academic quality assurance and ABET accreditation. The incorporation of these CSFs will help institutions in the GCC and other regions to get their academic programs ABET-accredited in an optimal manner.

SAP ECC to S/4HANA System Conversion Critical Success Factors

SAP ECC to S/4HANA conversion is a critical part of an enterprise’s Digital transformation strategy which prepares their ERP system to become more agile, robust, intelligent & standardized. The journey to attain improved user experience, in memory capabilities of HANA database, flexible API’s, real time analytics to gain competitive advantage is further accelerated by SAP’s 2027 deadline to phase out support for SAP ECC forcing customers to embrace SAP S/4HANA. SAP install base customers have 2 options - either follow a single step approach by moving from any database to S/4HANA in one step with single downtime or opt for a two-step approach where we first move database to SAP HANA and then convert to S/4HANA. In both the approaches, there is overwhelming complexity of dependencies and activities which create a lot of pressure on organizations to navigate with caution and gain learning curve. To address this need, this article provides a list of critical success factors in SAP ECC to S/4HANA system conversion journey and the available SAP tools which can give a head start and make organizations better prepared to undertake this journey. This article explains what the key critical success factors which the install base customers need to plan for upfront to ensure the conversion is seamless.

Critical success factors in implementing Industry 4.0 from an organisational point of view: a literature analysis

Industry 4.0 is an emerging technological innovation inspired by the advent of intelligent systems such as the internet of things, cloud computing, cyber-physical systems and smart manufacturing. However, its implementation faces significant challenges such that understanding the crucial factors in its successful integration into organisational processes becomes an interesting point of departure. Thus, this paper establishes a list of critical success factors (CSFs), mostly derived from the general innovation domain, that would aid in organisational strategy development in implementing Industry 4.0. As such, 29 CSFs from the relevant domain literature are initially extracted from 78 published articles. By removing redundant and irrelevant CSFs, a list of seven CSFs is established. This work contributes to the literature as it is one of the relatively few papers to develop a list of CSFs devoted to Industry 4.0. Stakeholders would find it beneficial as it provides them a framework in facilitating the adoption process efficiently.

Critical success factors in implementing Industry 4.0 from an organisational point of view: a literature analysis

Industry 4.0 is an emerging technological innovation inspired by the advent of intelligent systems such as the internet of things, cloud computing, cyber-physical systems and smart manufacturing. However, its implementation faces significant challenges such that understanding the crucial factors in its successful integration into organisational processes becomes an interesting point of departure. Thus, this paper establishes a list of critical success factors (CSFs), mostly derived from the general innovation domain, that would aid in organisational strategy development in implementing Industry 4.0. As such, 29 CSFs from the relevant domain literature are initially extracted from 78 published articles. By removing redundant and irrelevant CSFs, a list of seven CSFs is established. This work contributes to the literature as it is one of the relatively few papers to develop a list of CSFs devoted to Industry 4.0. Stakeholders would find it beneficial as it provides them a framework in facilitating the adoption process efficiently.

An overview of critical success factors for implementing 3D printing technology in manufacturing firms

Additive manufacturing, also known as 3D printing or digital fabrication technology, is a process of accumulating deposited layers to form solid 3D objects from 3D models in digital files. 3D printing technology is a fast-emerging technology. Nowadays, 3D printing technology is successfully applied in shaping the globe and producing most of the products used today, from simple plastics to advanced ceramics and metallics. 3D printing technology can print an object layer by layer, by directly depositing the material using computer software, with only just one click. This paper gives an overview of the Critical Success Factors (CSFs) for 3D printing technology in manufacturing firms. The literature found in this paper is mainly from Emerald Insight, Science Direct, Google Scholar and Additive Manufacturing. Briefly, the list of Critical Success Factors can be divided into nine major factors, which are cost, technology, business and support, management and organisation, materials, quality and accuracy, demand, the environment and lastly, research and development.