Empirical study on innovation motivators and inhibitors of Internet of Things applications for industrial manufacturing enterprises

Abstract

Industrial manufacturing enterprises in export-oriented economies rely on product or service innovation to maintain their competitive advantage. Decreasing costs of computing power, connectivity and electronic components have facilitated a wide range of innovations based on Internet of Things (IoT) applications. However, only few successful IoT applications specific to industrial manufacturing enterprises are known. Although academics have been investigating challenges related to realising IoT, existing literature does not explain this situation integrally. Therefore, interest and engagement in and motivators and inhibitors of IoT application development and deployment are investigated based on a literature review and empirically based on a survey with N=109 participants from enterprises in the Swiss metal, electrical and machine industries. Most enterprises are interested and are often engaged in IoT application development. Improving service and aftersales activities through IoT applications is a common motivator. Inhibitors from four domains hinder the development of IoT applications: business, organisational, technological and industrial. Business and organisational inhibitors are perceived to be more challenging than the technological and industrial ones. The business and organisational issues presented herein have essential impacts on the success of innovation in IoT applications. The results indicate future research directions for the innovation and development of IoT applications, and they can be used by organisations interested in IoT-based innovations to refine policy and decision-making.